Happy Tuesday! The Eye is feeling MUCH better after flu-like symptoms over the weekend (thanks for asking). Send good vibes towards Mrs. Eye, who’s still recuperating at home. The Obama administration launches its Open Government Plan today at 11 a.m. ET. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra and Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra roll out theRead… Read more »
The Federal Aviation Administration ranks so low on government employee satisfaction surveys that the agency may struggle to retain and recruit employees in the next four years, according to a new government audit. Thirty-eight percent of FAA employees will be eligible to retire in 2013, the Government Accountability Office said Monday in a new report.Read… Read more »
Angry employees at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing say the cash-strapped agency is giving taxpayer money to government employees to return government printers. At least 534 mostly senior bureau employees have individual printers to ensure that sensitive documents — related mostly to personnel issues — don’t end up in the wrong hands. But nowRead… Read more »
Happy Monday! • The Government’s Art: A cool Wall Street Journal sideshow depicts some of the most notable pieces from the collections of the House, Senate and State Department. • More Obama Nominees Announced: The president on Friday tapped Maria Sally Matiella to serve as assistant secretary of the Army for financial management; Paul L.Read… Read more »
Happy Tuesday! The military, president, Supreme Court and your local government rank higher than federal agencies in a national Gallup survey released Monday. Still, federal employees beat general perceptions of state governments and Congress. Americans named the Defense Department as most important to the country’s future, followed by the Education Department. Most notably, a largeRead… Read more »
Happy Monday! As the Obama administration nears some big decisions on the future of government contracting, it has for the first time proposed new rules on how some contractors should deal with potential conflicts of interest among their employees. The new proposed rules, issued Friday in the Federal Register, are aimed specifically at companies thatRead… Read more »
Letters sent to tens of thousands of employees in the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program contained errors in calculating potential premiums, the Office of Personnel Management announced Friday. The errors mean enrollees now have until March 15, 2010 to review their options and make final decisions on coverage. OPM learned of the errors fromRead… Read more »
Happy Tuesday! The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered two agency attorneys to remove a YouTube video they produced that criticizes climate change legislation backed by the Obama administration. Laurie Williams and Allan Zabel, who are married and live in San Francisco, received clearance from EPA to post the video, but were told they could mentionRead… Read more »
Happy Monday! It may soon get much harder for political appointees to “burrow” into their agencies at any time — not just during presidential election years. Currently agencies must only seek permission from the Office of Personnel Management to move a political appointee into a career job during a presidential election year. But starting Jan.Read… Read more »
Very few people really understand the complexities of government contracting, so perhaps it’s no surprise that President Obama dodged a very specific question Thursday morning about the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program. As The Eye has reported before, the program is designed to ensure that minority-owned small businesses — especially Native American-owned shopsRead… Read more »