The big story before the Labor Day holiday was the release of the final report by the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan (CWC). According to the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), the enormous dollar volume of waste and the assumption of the over-reliance on contractors for contingency operations was the focus ofRead… Read more »
A report prepared for the UK Department for Transport recommends replacing ticket agents with machines at 675 rail stations in England and Wales, according to the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association. “Not only are unmanned stations less secure, tickets bought from machines are usually more expensive,” said TSSA leader Gerry Doherty. Bob Crow, general secretary ofRead… Read more »
Sep 13, 2011 at 7:00 pm MonkeyWrench Books 110 E. North Loop Austin, TX 512-407-6925 Please join MonkeyWrench Books and the Texas Observer for this conversation with Abby Rapoport. As the “education reform” movement has come to dominate policy, more and more education dollars find their way into mega-corporations. Testing contracts alone are worth hundredsRead… Read more »
How many times have you walked out of a situation and said ” I did not get ANY of the things that I wanted!” If this has happened, you walked in without knowing your BATNA. BATNA stands for Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement. It’s your backup plan; your plan B. Quite simply, when youRead… Read more »
Follow-On Contractors Must Hire Eligible Incumbent’s Employees In the latest chapter in the political tug-of-war over hiring displaced workers, the Dept. of Labor has published a final rule requiring follow-on contractors to give the right of first refusal to incumbent contractor’s employees on SCA-covered contracts. After 42, 3-columned pages of discussion and explanation, the LaborRead… Read more »
At Code for America, we’re encouraged to release work product often – what the techy entrepreneur crowd terms an iterative, lean, agile development process. The net result forces you to embrace mistakes, rather than be in denial about them. In this way, work product is available, even if it is in an imperfect state, toRead… Read more »
Day 24 Safety Meeting Today was the first Thursday of the month and that means safety meeting day! The whole public works staff attends the monthly safety meeting, and the topic today was backhoe safety. If I get a chance I’ll put up a post on it later this week because it was interesting andRead… Read more »
TODAY’S FEC MEETING. The Federal Election Commission meets today and the meeting agenda is here. UNION SUPER PAC PURPOSE. The Hill. “AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Wednesday that the super PAC being set up by the labor federation will help unions earn their independence from political parties.” KEVIN RING IN THE NEWS. Commentary here. “IRead… Read more »
You may know that GSA has recently converted to using the E-Mod and E-Offer system for virtually all contract modifications and submissions. The one action that cannot be done through the eMod system is the contract extension, which occurs every five years. But not for long! GSA recently announced that they will begin using eModRead… Read more »
You may have know my love, nay — obsession — with Just Right, the greatest cereal ever created. See, it was simply delicious and ridiculously good for you. (Check out the nutritional facts at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Right). I ate this cereal everyday, sometimes 6 bowls a day, from ages 8 to 15. Unfortunately, Americans lost their tasteRead… Read more »