Weekly Roundup: August 31- September 4, 2020

Heal Thyself! Government Executive reports: “The Partnership for Public Service this week said that federal agencies don’t have to wait for legislation or new regulations from the Office of Personnel Management to implement improvements to how they attract and hire talent. . . . In a new report, A Time for Talent, published Thursday, the good government organization highlighted a number of steps federal agencies can make to hire better candidates more quickly and to make themselves more attractive to jobseekers.”

Centers of Excellence 101. NextGov reports: “The Centers of Excellence program started out working with agencies one at a time. But in less than three years, the program has sped up, staffed up and spread out across government.”

Temporary COVID-Driven Fix to Become Permanent. Federal Times reports: “Navy Chief Information Officer Aaron Weis said the Pentagon’s Commercial Virtual Remote Environment, a temporary Microsoft Teams platform that provided collaboration tools during mass telework for department employees, has changed the service’s approach to post-pandemic work. . . . The virtual environment, however, has led to realizations by senior IT leadership across the department that collaboration tools will have to stay>”

CBO Updates Debt Figures. The Peterson Foundation reports: “In January, CBO projected that debt would reach 81 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of this fiscal year and reach 98 percent of GDP by 2030. . . . CBO now expects that the debt-to-GDP ratio will be 98 percent of GDP by the end of this fiscal year and exceed its previous high of 106 percent of GDP [after WWII] by the end of 2023.”

Making Telework Permanent. Federal News Radio reports: “Defense leaders far and wide have acknowledged that the productivity of their workforces in an almost-all telework situation has taken them by surprise. And though some of them have hinted at the idea that they’ll be more open to telework after the pandemic is over, at least one large command is actually laying the groundwork for that. . . .[the] Air Force Materiel Command.”

Presidential Transition Update. The Partnership for Public  Service’s Presidential Transition Blog reports: “According to the Presidential Transition Act, within three days after the last convention ends, the federal government is required to provide presidential transition teams with specific support. By Sept. 1, 2020, [a number of] changes will take place. (see list in the blog post!).“