Federal Manager's Daily Report: Monday, November 29, 2004 FEDweek is the largest information resource in the federal government with now over one million weekly readers. To Subscribe, Go to http://www.fedweek.com/subscribepopup.htm *********************************************************** Valued Added Service to Our Readers:
Federal Job Search http://www.fedweek.com/Jobs/default.asp Job Bulletin Board http://www.fedweek.com/Jobs/default.asp Unlimited Internet Access for as low as $10.90 http://fedweeknet.com Our Readers Will Get Special Discounted Travel Rates Including, Airfare, Hotels, RV's, Car Rentals, and Special Weekend Getaways--Anywhere in the world http://www.fedweek.com/images/adart/travel_redirect.htm ********************************************************** In This Week's Issue 1. Union Official Calls Advisory Council Proposal 'Absurd' 2. GAO: Stronger Management Needed For FAA's Designee Programs 3. More Battles Ahead on Contracting *********************************************************** 1. Union Official Calls Advisory Council Proposal 'Absurd' A union official compared a federal advisory council proposal to install surveillance cameras in government vehicles to ensure that employees are buckling up, to the MTV television series "Pimp My Ride," in which contestants have their cars outfitted in tacky extravagance, saying the idea "redefines the word absurd." "At the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a spending freeze has left officers in the lurch when trying to fill the tanks of their official vehicles, as their government gas cards were declined for lack of payment. But we've got millions for high-tech gadgets? I'm sure the American taxpayer will be greatly amused," said Mark Roth, general counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees. 2. GAO: Stronger Management Needed For FAA's Designee Programs The Federal Aviation Administration needs to more consistently oversee and apply program policies to the thousands of "designees" it uses for safety certifications, the Government Accountability Office has said. It said the "technically qualified individuals and organizations" perform 90 percent of its certification activities, something that frees up resources for more critical safety functions such certifying complex aircraft designs. However, according to GAO-05-40, "inconsistent FAA oversight and application of program policies are key weaknesses of the designee programs." The report said headquarters has only evaluated six of the18 designee programs in seven years, and that the agency carried them out ad hoc and lacks criteria for ongoing evaluations. An internal FAA study found that field offices sometimes fail to oversee designee activities according to agency policy, and that inspectors were not annually reviewing pilot examiner work as required by program policy, said GAO. It cited as potential reasons for inconsistent oversight: incomplete databases that FAA uses to manage its oversight of designees; workload demands for FAA staff that limit the time spent on designee oversight; and, the lack of adequate training for FAA staff who oversee designees. 3. More Battles Ahead on Contracting Action on a wrapup spending bill for the current fiscal year left several issues involving federal contracting-out policy unresolved and likely to surface again in the new Congress convening in January. In crafting the bill, House and Senate negotiators dropped language that had been passed by the full House and by the Senate Appropriations Committee that would have effectively killed the Bush administration's 2003 revisions to Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76. The action came after repeated statements of opposition from the White House, including a veto threat. In a similar situation last year, a compromise was reached in which those restrictions were applied only to agencies covered by the bill that serves as the vehicle for the language, the Transportation-Treasury bill. However, this year, the White House succeeded in getting the language dropped entirely. (A House provision that would have barred the IRS from contracting for debt collection services also was dropped.) Backers of the restrictive language--prominently, federal unions and certain members of Congress active in civil service issues--say they will try again. They point to the full House vote as evidence of bipartisan support for blocking at least some of the provisions of the 2003 change. In particular, they intend to target the new policy that decisions can be made on the basis of quality and other non-cost factors, instead favoring language requiring that studies must show savings of at least 10 percent or $10 million before work can be converted to contract. They also note that they succeeded in enacting this year similar restrictions at the Defense Department, which has about two-thirds of the jobs scheduled for contracting comparisons. In addition, as part of a defense bill, a government-wide provision was enacted that grants the in-house side a right to appeal contracting decisions to the Government Accountability Office, although management officials--not employees or unions--would have to file the appeals. FEDweek Publisher, Don Mace VP of Marketing, Kevin Couch Website: http://www.fedweek.com 11541 Nuckols Rd. 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