By Natalie Alms
The National Academy of Public Administration s congressionally mandated report on Office of Personnel Management concludes that the federal human resources agency should remain independent.
The report was ordered in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act at the behest of House Democrats who had thwarted the Trump administration s plan to merge OPM into the General Service Administration and wanted a top-down look at the functioning of the agency. OPM as we know it today really needs to rebuild staff capacity, encourage innovation and adopt a more data-driven, accountable and forward looking human capital management approach, NAPA president and CEO Terry Gerton said on a Wednesday call with reporters.
By Natalie Alms
Within 24 hours of receiving its most substantial boost yet, the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) awarded the Department of Labor $9.6 million to modernize its enterprise data infrastructure on Friday.
The announcement of the 11
th ever TMF project came the day after the fund received a $1 billion funding boost from the American Rescue Plan. That s a dramatic expansion for the fund, which has been getting appropriations of around $25 million. The news of the Technology Modernization Fund getting a $1 billion boost from the American Rescue plan couldn t have come at a better time said David Shive, GSA Chief Information Officer and TMF Board member, in a General Services Administration announcement about the decision.
Quick Hits
Deb Haaland, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, to lead the
Department of the Interior by a vote of 51 to 40 on Monday. Haaland becomes the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary. The Interior Department employs more than 60,000 people and spends $1.4 billion on IT annually.
Stefanie Tompkins was sworn in on Monday as the 23rd director of the
Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency. Tompkins is returning to DARPA after a stint as vice president for research and technology transfer at Colorado School of Mines. Previously, Tompkins has been DARPA s acting director, chief of staff and director of the Defense Sciences Office.
Essential federal employees will be eligible for vaccines in the District of Columbia next month.
Employees are considered essential if they can t perform their job duties remotely or via telework and have to report to work in-person during the pandemic, according to guidance released by the District on Monday. The Phase 1C Tier 3 that covers them will open up the week of April 12. This week, employees at the Postal Service also became eligible in the district.
That expansion, however, won t include federal employees working in-person, but not in the city. More than 80% of federal employees live and work outside of the D.C. region, including many employees working in-person at the Internal Revenue Service, said Tony Reardon, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union.