OPM | The Contracting Education Academy

October 8, 2020 By cs

Contractors seek clearer, uniform guidance for returning to offices

Lack of such guidance is a “huge hole” in the federal government’s pandemic response, industry group says.

A lead trade association would like federal agencies to issue uniform guidance for their contractors’ return to workplaces amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The approximate 4.1 million federal contractors play an integral role in the functioning of the government, but are often managed differently than the 2 million federal employees. After calling on the Trump administration to issue guidance regarding telework at the onset of the pandemic, the Professional Services Council, which represents over 400 companies that work with the federal government, now would like to see agencies issue some form of uniform guidance regarding returning to workplaces.

The Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management outlined in April how federal agencies should consider bringing employees back to offices, while noting it will vary based on the region. Although there have also been questions, confusion and concerns, individual agencies have been issuing their own reopening plans for their employees.

“The guidance needs to be clearer, it needs to be more uniform, it needs to be consistent and it needs to be visible, transparent,” David Berteau, PSC president and CEO, told Government Executive during an interview last week. “I think it’s a huge hole in the government’s response. They don’t tend to think of contractors as part of an integrated workforce when they absolutely are.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2020/09/contractors-seek-clearer-uniform-guidance-returning-offices/168668/

The Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech has established a webpage where all contract-related developments related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) are summarized. Find the page at: https://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/coronavirus-information-for-contracting-officers-and-contractors/

October 9, 2019 By cs

Background investigations move to their new home at the Pentagon

The Department of Defense formally became the lead agency for conducting background investigations for current and potential feds and contractors Oct. 1, fulfilling congressional and administration requirements that the Pentagon take charge of such investigations at the start of the 2020 fiscal year.

According to a Department of Defense official who spoke on background to reporters Oct. 1, the transfer consisted of approximately 2,900 federal employees from the Office of Personnel Management’s National Background Investigation Bureau to the DoD’s new Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, which encompasses both background investigation duties and industrial and technological security.

“We’ve created what is arguably the single largest security-focused agency in the federal government,” the official said.

Employees of the background investigation agency moved from being Title 5 employees at OPM to Title 10 employees at DoD, a position that is effectively the same, according to the official, and only a handful of employees chose to take discontinued service retirement rather than move to DoD.

“Merging the components into one organization will allow us to execute our two core missions: personnel vetting and critical technology protection, underpinned by counterintelligence and training,’’ said Charles Phalen Jr., acting director of DCSA, in the news release on the merger.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/management/2019/10/01/background-investigations-move-to-their-new-home-at-the-pentagon

June 20, 2019 By AMK

Government innovation? Weirdness comes in threes

How often have you heard that the government is stodgy and resistant to change? Large bureaucracies, both in business and government, do trend that way. But three curious initiatives from federal agencies occurred in the days leading to the long Memorial Day weekend.

Unrelated, they nevertheless connect thematically by showing an instinct towards government innovation, that is, a government willing to try something different.

First was the appointment of Jose Arrietta as the chief information officer of the Department of Health and Human Services. I’ve interviewed Arrietta a couple of times. He’s a smart cookie. He’s possesses good technology chops, having been one of the people trying to prove how blockchain can work in federal settings. In his relatively short time at HHS, Arrietta saw to it that the first blockchain application received authority to operate. That in itself is radical.

But as Jason Miller reported, Arrietta is an unconventional choice to lead an IT complex as vast and diverse as that of HHS. It’s government innovation in personnel. He’s mainly an acquisition guy, and acquisition is an important part of technology and information management. The blockchain application is in fact acquisition. Now Arrietta will have to show he can widen his viewpoint and make things happen in all areas overseen by a CIO.

Keep reading article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/tom-temin-commentary/2019/05/government-innovation-weirdness-comes-in-threes/

May 28, 2019 By AMK

Another initiative to enhance cyber workforce launched

A White House order on strengthening cybersecurity nationwide in general includes a provision to create a rotational program to boost those skills in the federal workforce, the latest of many such initiatives.

The order instructs OPM and OMB to establish within three months a “rotational assignment program, which will serve as a mechanism for knowledge transfer and a development program for cybersecurity practitioners,” with provisions for training and mentoring.

Also, within six months OPM and other agencies are to “identify a list of cybersecurity aptitude assessments for agencies to use in identifying current employees with the potential to acquire cybersecurity skills for placement in reskilling programs to perform cybersecurity work.” Agencies are to incorporate those assessments into their personnel development programs.

The Senate recently passed a bill to create a similar rotational program and efforts have been under way for years to better define which federal positions involve cybersecurity skills and where there are shortages. The government meanwhile has increased its use of shortcut hiring procedures and incentive pay and has started a program of retraining employees to take on such roles.

Keep reading article at: https://www.fedweek.com/fedweek/another-initiative-to-enhance-cyber-workforce-launched/

May 7, 2019 By AMK

USDS applying its own lessons learned to fix federal hiring, acquisition

The Department of Health and Human Services is testing out an effort to improve the federal hiring process, kicking the effort off with a job notice on USAJobs.gov on April 5. The notice said HHS and USDS would accept the first 100 applicants over a two-day period to hire four people with skillsets around: IT specialist, IT customer support, IT data management and IT policy and planning.

The idea and plan has been in the works for the better part of the last six months.

“We are trying to take some of what we’ve learned about attracting some 300-to-400 really highly talented people to come work for the government, using impactful mission, the way we vet people in the interview process, code reviews, design portfolio reviews and that kind of thing,” said Eddie Hartwig, the deputy administrator of the USDS, in an interview on Ask the CIO. “The idea would be to work around an 80-90 day hiring pipeline so that lets us run a hiring project and learn from it to test out some of these theories.”

Hartwig said USDS is working closely with OPM on how they can improve the federal hiring process. He said USDS would like to conduct two or three pilots over the course of 2019.

“The goal is to get the career hiring up and running. We are on the tour of duty hiring model, but that is not sustainable for the lifetime of the government. We need great career people taking those jobs,” he said. “But we are open to working with partners in other specialty fields. The idea would be subject matter experts involved in the hiring process and vetting process so that we can deliver better results when we get to the point of hiring so you don’t get 2,000 people who are qualified for the job, but a nicely vetted list of people who are qualified and then with the preferences allowed in government are applied.”

Keep reading article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/ask-the-cio/2019/04/usds-applying-its-own-lessons-learned-to-fix-federal-hiring-acquisition/

Lack of such guidance is a “huge hole” in the federal government’s pandemic response, industry group says.

How often have you heard that the government is stodgy and resistant to change? Large bureaucracies, both in business and government, do trend that way. But three curious initiatives from federal agencies occurred in the days leading to the long Memorial Day weekend.

A White House order on strengthening cybersecurity nationwide in general includes a provision to create a rotational program to boost those skills in the federal workforce, the latest of many such initiatives.

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