Weekly Roundup: November 28 - December 2, 2016

John Kamensky

The Long-Promised HR Regs Rewrite. Federal News Radio reports:  “The Office of Personnel Management promised a major rewrite of the policies and procedures that govern federal human resources more than three years ago. . . . . final rule should be published in the Federal Register in the first quarter of calendar year 2017. . . . In the proposed regulation, OPM said the changes would focus on four areas, including creating a human capital strategic review (HCSR) process and developing a new HR framework to integrate four human capital systems — strategic planning and alignment, performance culture, talent management and evaluation.”

Legislating the Presidential Innovation Fellows Program. NextGov reports: “A bipartisan trio of senators wants to make sure the path for private-sector technologists to work short-term assignments for the government becomes permanent. . . . Since the initial class of 18 fellows, more than 100 people have gone through the program to work on projects such as redesigning Data.gov, creating an interagency website for veterans’ employment and improving data interoperability for electronic medical records. Many fellows opted to continue government work on new teams such as the U.S. Digital Service and General Services Administration’s 18F.”

Is IT Modernization Bill Stalled?  FedScoop reports that Cong. Will Hurd, lead sponsor of the Modernizing Government Technology Act, is concerned that time will run out to act on this bill before Congress leaves town on December 16.  The bill “would create individual IT working capital funds for each of the 24 CFO Act agencies and a centralized IT modernization fund housed in the Treasury Department that executive branch agencies could apply to draw from and repay in a given time.”

Should Agency CFO Worry?  According to Government Executive, “The government’s chief financial officers expressed “a clear fear that a new administration will either take a different path or slow progress that would diminish the benefits of ongoing [management] initiatives” such as the move to shared services and enterprise risk management, an annual survey found. . . . Its message on behalf of CFOs: “Don’t make us start over.”  In an interview with Federal News Radio, OMB controller David Mader was more hopeful: “We’ve been through it before as a community, and I think that the transition will just play out like every other transition.”

Replacing the CAC Card.  Federal News Radio reports: “The Defense Department expects to begin pilot programs to test out new IT authentication mechanisms shortly after the Christmas holiday, an early step toward the DoD chief information officer’s objective of completely eliminating the Common Access Card within the next two years.” 

Transition Freeze!  Government Executive reports:  “The Obama administration has issued a freeze on hiring new top career officials through the remainder of his presidency, effective Dec. 7, saying the pause will better empower President-elect Donald Trump’s appointees to influence their agencies upon taking office. . . . . The announcement follows President Obama's request that all non-termed political appointees send him their resignations by Dec. 7, the same day the moratorium will go into effect.”

Transition:  Restructuring the Executive Office of the President? “President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is evaluating the entire structure of the Executive Office of the President, a source with knowledge of the transition efforts underway toldFedScoop.”

Mid-Sized Cities Measure Performance.  Government Executive reports: “Early lessons have begun to emerge from the three-year, $42 million effort launched last year by Bloomberg Philanthropies to help 100 mid-sized cities improve their performance through open data, performance management, evaluation, and results-driven contracting” . . . . . with lessons for federal agencies.

Michael Keegan

OPM pledges faster turnaround for background checks, retirement claims. The Office of Personnel Management is behind on its background security checks and retirement claims processing for fiscal 2016. In the agency’s financial report, OPM acting Director Beth Cobert pledges a continued effort to make up the difference through a variety of efforts like new contracts and using electronic records.

How the IRS is prepping its workforce of the future. The IRS says it’s rethinking its workforce strategy as it begins preparations to implement several sweeping changes to the agency. IRS Chief Human Capital Officer Daniel Riordan says he’s developing new career models, as many new employees with have different jobs as the agency’s operations change. 

OPM CIO: Data at heart of modernizing legacy IT. The Office of Personnel Management’s CIO says modernizing legacy IT systems at civilian agencies like OPM is more than just updating software.

OMB’s Mader confident CFO community will weather transition. The Office of Management and Budget Controller David Mader says the chief financial officers community will handle the presidential transition just fine, thanks in part to the community’s work on budget, shared services, risk management and data transparency.

Reorg of DHS congressional oversight picking up steam, House chairman says. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas) said he will propose an amendment to the House Rules package this year that would change congressional jurisdiction for DHS. The idea is gaining momentum with House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and other lawmakers, he said. Anywhere between 92 and 108 committees and subcommittees now have oversight responsibilities for the department.

IG: Challenges remain in GSA's DATA Act implementation. With roughly six months remaining before the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act implementation deadline, the General Services Administration still lacks the ability to reliably track spending and certify the accuracy of data submissions, according to an inspector general audit released Nov. 30.

How agencies use social media to recruit the next workforce. Government agencies are using social media to directly engage with broad audiences, and they believe that greater access to the more interesting aspects of government work can reach new audiences and recruit the next-generation workforce.

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Next Week’s The Business of Government Radio Show.  What is the information technology strategy for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency? How is the What are the IT priorities for the US Department of the Navy? How is the Navy leveraging mobility solutions? What is the US Navy doing to enhance its IT security. Join host Michael Keegan as he explores these questions and more with Rob Foster, Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of the Navy.

Broadcast Schedule: The show airs Monday at 11 a.m., and Friday at 1 p.m. on Federal News Radio 1500AM WFED.

If you can't wait, though, you can listen to (or download) this week's program and all our previous interviews at businessofgovernment.org.