DorobekINSIDER: 7 stories you need to know: TSA hands out the biggest disciplinary action in its 10 year history

The SEVEN stories that impact your life for Tuesday the 5th of June, 2012

1. Federal unions are combing through a new House spending bill for any hints of extending the government-wide pay freeze. Government Executive says last week the House passed a bill prolonging the pay freeze for some Defense and Veterans Affairs department employees. The American Federation of Government Employees says historically the fiscal 2013 Financial Services appropriations bill contains governmentwide pay measures.
2. The General Service Administration awarded bonuses to 87 percent of its staff last year. The Federal Times says that makes GSA the most generous agency when it comes to issuing bonuses for its employees. And at GSA’s troubled Public Buildings Service — which is at the center of an ongoing controversy over excessive conference spending — roughly 94 percent of employees got bonuses last year. The size of bonuses varies greatly at GSA, from $58 to $6,220.
3. Five TSA workers have been fired in Florida after they failed to perform random screenings. An additional 38 workers have been disciplined. The Washington Post says this is the largest disciplinary action in TSA’s 10 year history. The TSA said that during a two-month period last year, as many as 400 passengers who underwent routine screening at the airport never got additional random checks.
4. Agencies are on track to save more than $3 billion dollars in real estate and facility maintenance costs by the end of September. The Office of Management and Budget’s comptroller, Danny Werfel, says agencies have already saved $2.4 billion dollars. He says the 2005 base realignment and closure process saved more than $3.2 billion. Federal Times reports a 2012 presidential memo called on agencies to save a combined $3 billion in real estate costs by the end of fiscal 2012.
5. If you ever wondered what demographics make up your town — look no further — because the Census Bureau has an app for that. NextGov reports, the plan is to launch an application programming interface in the next month that will stream its data straight to developers. Developers will then be able to use data from the APIs to build apps that helps homebuyers find neighborhoods with similarly aged children or help restaurants, movie theaters and bowling alleys find the prime locations for their target audiences.
6. The TSP numbers for May… well, bleak is probably the best word. Just about all of the Thrift Savings Plan funds were down for the month of May excluding the G fund, which never has a bad day… it was up 14th hundredths of a point… the F fund, made up of bonds, also saw gains of nearly 1 percent. But all of the other funds were down ranging from the 1 percent for the L Income fund to the I Fund, made up of international stocks. It was down more than 11 percent. Year to date, however, all funds are in positive territory except for the I fund, which is down more than 20 percent for the year so far. Click on the image to enlarge it.

1. On GovLoop…our Next Generation of Young Government Leaders Training Summit is quickly approaching. And we want your help picking the speakers. More than 80 people submitted their stories. Most of these story submissions are based on innovative projects being worked on in government or ideas that have and are revolutionizing government. We’ve whittled the list down to 12 finalist and now we need your help. Who would you like to hear from. Head over to our homepage and vote for your favorite.

On today’s program

• Could BYOD — Bring your own Device — help solve the budget deficits? The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is testing out a new pilot. You’ll meet the woman in charge.
• The challenges facing local governments are enormous — tight budgets, new media, public outreach. One of the groups trying to help is ICMA — International City/County Management Association. You’ll meet their Chief Operating Officer.