The Debates Are Over — So What Matters to You? Plus the 7 DorobekINSIDER Stories

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER:

• Depending on which stats you look at and depending on which group you talk to, federal employees are either WAY underpaid or WAY overpaid. How can those divergent numbers exits? We drill down the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics’ numbers with the Washington Post’s Eric Yoder. Click here for the full recap.
• Pay is one important factor that individuals consider when searching for employment or assessing their satisfaction with their current job. However, research conducted by the Partnership for Public Service for their annual Best Places to Work rankings indicates that pay is not THE most important factor. What is? Click here for the full recap.

The Debates Are Over — So What Matters to You?

Last night was the third presidential debate — the last presidential debate before election day one week from now… and for the third time, there was little attention paid to issues focusing on what either of these men will do as CEO in Chief. Check out our interview with Dwight Ink about what a CEO-In-Chief should do.

There is generally little if any focus on government issues. In general, that’s fine because when government issues do draw attention, it is more often as a way of saying how government is inefficient.

But this year has been exceptional in the almost total lack of focus about how these candidates would be as chief executives.

That being said, there are only two weeks left until election day 2012.

Twitter Blog: The Final 2012 Presidential Debate

The SEVEN stories that impact your life

1. Mutual funds could be coming to your thrift savings plan. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board is considering allowing beneficiaries to direct a portion of their assets to private mutual funds. Government Executive reports the Board is researching the option and will present a paper on the issue in the next year.
2. The government crackdown on federal worker travel and conference spending has taken a toll on the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting and exposition in Washington this week, where organizers are expecting about 5,000 fewer attendees,Defense News reports. Army Secretary John McHugh has given soldiers the OK to attend this year’s AUSA event, the largest military trade show in the U.S., but only after service officials pledged to significantly scale back exhibit hall space.
3. More than half of the conference spending reported by the Commerce Department in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 was based on estimated and unsupported costs, according to a new inspector general’s report, Federal Times reports. The IG found that 65 percent, or $1.1 million of the total $1.7 million, in conference spending reported by Commerce was not based on actual costs for things such as meals, incidental expenses, transportation and lodging costs. This also included budgeted expenses the department could not provide sufficient documentation for.
4. The threat of sequestration continues to loom over the federal government, and the only thing more evident than concerns about deep budget cuts is the sense of paralysis surrounding the possible implementation, Federal Computer Week reports. It is still far from certain that the 10 percent, $1.4 trillion across-the-board cuts to federal spending will actually kick in on Jan. 2. And directives from the White House have reinforced that sense of mere possibility, offering little in the way of concrete guidance for agencies to prepare for the so-called fiscal cliff.
5. A new White House executive order would direct the government to share intelligence about cyber threats with companies operating electric grids, water plants, railroads and other vital industries, the Associated Press reports. The seven-page draft order, which is being finalized, takes shape as the Obama administration expresses growing concern that Iran could be the first country to use cyberterrorism against the U.S.
6. If you need a federal fact, you may want to check the State Department’s website. Or try DHS.gov, the Homeland Security Department’s site. State and DHS came in first and second in a General Services Administration-supported report on federal websites. Federal News Radio reports, researchers looked at 75 government websites. They separated the sites into three categories: Learning portals, ike State and DHS’ sites; sites that visitors use to interact with agencies, the IRS’ site falls into that category; and portals like USA.gov, which link to other sites. Criteria included per-visit numbers, appearance and how easy the sites are to navigate.
7. And on GovLoop, with the increased emphasis on cybersecurity in government, open source software places a critical role in keeping government information secure. In our next training, “OSS and Cyber Security for Government,” we will discuss open security projects and techniques that support and protect government cyber assets.