Government Executive - Authors - Amanda Palleschi

Maryland lawmakers urge Treasury to halt relocation of 450 jobs

Amanda Palleschi — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 16:53:56 -0400

Maryland lawmakers are urging the Obama administration to head off a Treasury Department proposal to move 450 Financial Management Service employees out of the area.

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Maryland Democrat Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin opposed the move, which involves merging FMS and the Bureau of Public Debt into the new Fiscal Service. The plan involves relocating 450 FMS employees who currently report to work in Hyattsville, Md., to either Kansas City, Mo., or Parkersburg, W.Va.

“These are good middle-class jobs for hundreds of trained accountants who have spent their careers in Maryland,” the senators wrote. “It is expected that only 10 percent to 15 percent of all workers will actually be able to pick up and move their families to the communities where their jobs are moving. This move is a direct hit to the middle class in Prince George’s County, a middle class that FMS helped build.”

The senators also said the move would be “a terrible loss for taxpayers who would lose the benefit of the training, expertise and institutional knowledge of the duty-driven civil servants of Prince George’s County.”

The letter also questioned Treasury’s authority to conduct such a move, saying the Congressional Research Service had informed them that the “failure to specify that the lease for the Parkersburg, W. Va., facility would not be construed as approval of co-locating BPD and FMS,” and the House of Representatives had not yet approved Treasury’s draft of changes on a lease for the Hyattsville facility.

Maryland Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Donna Edwards, Chris Van Hollen and Elijah Cummings also have “engaged” the administration to head off the proposal, according to a statement from the National Treasury Employees Union, which praised the Maryland lawmakers for their efforts.

“The Maryland delegation has shown its commitment to listening to and representing the interests of its constituents while also urging the agency to conduct a thorough analysis of the relocation of jobs to ensure that the interests of taxpayers and the rights of federal employees are being protected,” NTEU President Colleen Kelley said.

“We will use every tool at our disposal to prevent unwanted relocations, ensure that the rights of the federal workers are protected, push for a thorough analysis on the impacts of any proposed relocations and make certain that all efforts are made to minimize the impact on employees,” Kelley added.

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Thrift Savings Plan funds make few, if any, gains in October

Amanda Palleschi — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:10:56 -0400

October was a lackluster month for the Thrift Savings Plan, with three of the basic funds posting barely perceptible gains and two ending the month in the red.

International stocks in the I Fund remained the strongest performers in October, gaining just 0.85 percent. The fund has risen 6.41 percent during the past 12 months, however. The government securities (G) fund finished October up 0.12 percent and gained 1.53 percent for the past 12 months. The fixed income bonds in the F Fund earned 0.20 percent for the month and 5.33 percent for the past 12 months.

The C Fund, invested in common stocks on Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, and the S Fund, which is invested in small and midsize companies and tracks the Dow Jones Wilshire 4500 Index, both ended October in the red. The C Fund had losses of 1.86 percent while the S Fund lost 1.31 percent. Both stocks still have posted solid performances during the past 12 months, with the C Fund gaining 15.32 percent and the S Fund, 13.11 percent.

All five of TSP’s life-cycle funds, which move participants to less risky portfolios as they near retirement, finished October in the red. The L Income Fund, for employees who already have started withdrawing money from their TSP accounts, fell 0.11 percent, but has increased more than 4 percent during the past 12 months. L 2020 was down 0.45 percent for October; L 2030 fell 0.60 percent, L 2040 fell 0.71 percent and L 2050 fell 0.80 percent.

All life-cycle funds have posted positive returns during the past 12 months. L 2020 increased 8.03 percent, L 2030 gained 9.51 percent, L 2040 is up 10.58 percent, and L 2050 rose 11.44 percent.

The TSP was closed for transactions Oct. 29-30 due to Hurricane Sandy, and beneficiaries were unable to conduct transactions until the afternoon of Oct. 31.

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Thrift Savings Plan closed for Hurricane Sandy, along with the financial markets

Amanda Palleschi — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:00:15 -0400

Thrift Savings Plan participants who submitted transactions after noon on Oct. 26 will have to wait until Wednesday for those transactions to be processed, TSP has announced.

Like U.S. financial markets, TSP was closed Oct. 29-30 due to Hurricane Sandy.

TSP said transactions it received after noon on Oct. 26 will be processed by close of business on the day the market reopens. TSP and the U.S. markets plan to reopen Wednesday.

Transaction response times also could be slower than usual this week due to daily routine system maintenance backups between 12 a.m. and 4 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, according to TSP’s website.

(Image via wrangler/Shutterstock.com)

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Funds roll in for feds hit by Hurricane Sandy

Amanda Palleschi — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:33:56 -0400

The Federal Employees Education and Assistance Fund said Tuesday it is processing a $35,000 donation from Blue Cross Blue Shield to help it provide disaster grants to federal employees affected by Hurricane Sandy.

FEEA pledged to provide disaster grants of up to $500 to federal employees hit hard by the storm, but the nonprofit organization said its funding was running thin. Robyn Kehoe, FEEA’s director of field operations, said Tuesday the organization expects the Blue Cross funds to be available for grants within the next two days. The group also has received $1,000 in donations from individuals, she said.

FEEA has offered funding to feds affected by previous natural disasters. In 2008, the organization gave about $800,000 in grants and loans to more than 1,700 feds, Kehoe said. After Hurricane Katrina, the group provided more than $1.8 million in aid to 4,000 federal employees. Most recently, FEEA helped almost 600 employees in the Gulf Coast with more than $80,000 in disaster grants and no-interest loans following Hurricane Issac.

The group is still accepting donations through credit cards at www.feea.org/Give, or by checks made payable to FEEA and sent to: FEEA Headquarters, 3333 S. Wadsworth Blvd., Suite 300, Lakewood, Colo., 80227.

(Image via RAGMA IMAGES /Shutterstock.com)

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Unnamed top USPS official’s compensation exceeds legal limit, IG says

Amanda Palleschi — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:48:39 -0400

A U.S. Postal Service officer earned more than $300,000 in salary, pension and bonus in 2011– exceeding the legal limit maximum compensation for the agency’s executives, according to an audit from the USPS’ inspector general.

According to Federal Times, the Postal Service and the IG disagree over whether the pension should count in determining the top officer’s total compensation. The unnamed officer received a total compensation of $306,250, exceeding the $276,840 pay limit for his position.

A recent IG audit points to a 2006 law setting that cap for “critical positions” within the agency, but USPS officials say the officer’s $131,952 annual pension should not have been considered as part of compensation package under those limits. The audit defined “basic salary” as the officer’s pension plus his annual salary of $113,048, plus a bonus of $61,250, Federal Times wrote.

Five officials, including Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, Chief Financial Officer Joe Corbett and Chief Operating Officer Megan Brennan, are considered to have “critical positions,” according to the report, although three other posts have the same designation.

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Employees can contribute more to their Thrift Savings Plans in 2013

Amanda Palleschi — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:19:27 -0400

Federal employees will be able to contribute more to their Thrift Savings Plan investments in 2013, thanks to an inflation adjustment announced by the Internal Revenue Service.

The dollar limit on TSP investments will rise to $17,500 a year from $17,000 allowed this year, marking the second straight year for a $500 increase, according to The Washington Post. Participants age 50 and older still will be allowed to make additional “catch-up” investments of $5,500.

Both traditional TSP and the new Roth option are combined when accounting for the dollar caps, which also apply to other 401(k) participants and similar employer-sponsored retirement plans.

An increasing number of TSP participants are choosing the new Roth option. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board announced earlier this week that as of Sept. 30, a total of 51,354 federal employees had invested about $48.7 million into the Roth plan. The traditional TSP plan has about 4.5 million participants.

(Image via karen roach/Shutterstock.com)

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More than 50,000 choose Thrift Saving Plan’s new Roth option

Amanda Palleschi — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:59:37 -0400

An increasing number of Thrift Savings Plan participants are choosing the new Roth option, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board announced Monday.

As of Sept. 30, a total of 51,354 federal employees had invested about $48.7 million into Roth, said the board’s director of external affairs, Kim Weaver.

The number is in keeping with the steady increase officials projected: At the end of August, about 20,000 federal employees had invested about $13 million in the Roth plan.

Board members also announced Monday that the Defense Financial Accounting Service went live on Oct. 1 with its Roth enrollment options for civilian and Defense Department employees and service members. DFAS’ payroll systems serve 1.2 million of the 2.1 million executive branch federal employees, not counting postal service workers, but the DFAS was not able to enroll its beneficiaries in the Roth option during the official rollout in May, due to discrepancies between Army, Navy and Air Force payroll structures.

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Thrift Savings Plan advisory board considers mutual funds

Amanda Palleschi — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:55:34 -0400

The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board is in the early stages of deciding whether or not to allow Thrift Savings Plan beneficiaries the ability to direct a portion of their assets to private mutual funds.

FRTIB is researching the option and will present a paper on the issue in the next year, Executive Director Greg Long said Monday at the board’s monthly meeting. The issue has been pending since Congress passed the 2009 Thrift Savings Plan Enhancement Act, which gave FRTIB the authority to allow TSP participants to invest in mutual funds of their choosing.

“The board has the ability, but not the requirement, to establish a mutual fund plan where a participant who has, say, five core funds plus five life-cycle funds, would eventually direct a portion of those assets to an external platform that has an almost unlimited menu of mutual funds,” Long explained. “The open question is whether that would be a good idea.”

Some TSP participants have said they are too limited by the TSP’s current offerings. For example, there is no mechanism for a government employee to buy gold or invest in international bonds. “That’s the pro,” Long said of the potential new option. “It allows you to pick very specific investments that we don’t have.” A downside to allowing beneficiaries to invest in private mutual funds is “if you give people enough rope, they can hang themselves,” he said, adding, “and the cost.”

FRTIB Director of External Affairs Kim Weaver said the Employee Thrift Advisory Council, which represents several large federal unions and meets with the board at least once a year, is “leery” of allowing the mutual fund option. “They do not see much demand for a mutual fund window for participants,” Weaver said, referring to ETAC members. The Labor Department has had similar concerns about cost to the government, she added.

“One of the big things here is we have to do more than just say, ‘We think it’s going to be expensive,’” Long said. “Well, how expensive? That requires significant homework on the marketplace.”

(Image via JohnKwan/Shutterstock.com)

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Performance pilot launching at Veterans Affairs

Amanda Palleschi — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 17:39:49 -0400

The Veterans Affairs Department's National Cemetery Administration is joining a growing list of agencies signing on to a pilot program that aims to change performance appraisal procedures.

NCA will use the Goals, Engagement, Accountability and Results pilot to examine how supervisors and employees assess performance, according to a Federal News Radio report.

Until now, the agency has not defined employee performance above a basic level. GEAR focuses on enhancing feedback to employees and aligning employee performance with agency performance. It aims to encourage employees to discuss skills they have that their employers might not be taking advantage of, as well as capabilities the employee wants to develop that would benefit the agency.

The National Cemetery Administration’s program will focus on cemetery representatives, caretakers and equipment operators -- jobs that play a key role in maintaining the cemetery and represent about 66 percent of the division’s positions in 36 regional locations, FNR reported.

The National Cemetery Administration's southeast region, which includes Puerto Rico, Arkansas and North Carolina, will begin testing this approach Nov. 1, FNR said.

The pilot was launched by the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations in November 2011. The Energy and Housing and Urban Development departments and the Office of Personnel Management began their GEAR programs earlier this year, FNR said. The U.S. Coast Guard will launch its program in April 2013.

Members of the Senior Executive Service have been under new performance standards since early this year. Under the GEAR program, SES members receive an “outstanding” ranking only if the agency’s scores on some aspects of the Employee Viewpoint Survey have risen by 5 percent. This aspect of GEAR has drawn mixed reviews from labor unions.

(Image via nasirkhan/Shutterstock.com)

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Lawmakers urged to adopt tighter caps on contractor pay

Amanda Palleschi — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 16:58:00 -0400

Federal employee unions and government accountability and public interest groups urged lawmakers Thursday to adopt Senate language that would cap the federal government’s reimbursements for defense contractor compensation at $230,700 per employee.

The Senate Armed Services Committee approved that cap in June, as an amendment to the fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act. The House has not adopted the provision, however, and House-Senate negotiators will have to work out the difference. The bill has not yet gone to conference.

Leaders of advocacy groups, including the National Treasury Employees Union, the American Federation of Government Employees, OMB Watch and the Project on Government Oversight, signed an Oct. 18 letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, arguing the current reimbursement cap of $763,029 is too high.

“Due to concerns about both fiscal responsibility and fairness, we believe it is important to reduce the compensation priced and/or reimbursed under U.S. government prime and subcontracts to defense contractor employees,” the leaders wrote. “With budget cuts and sequestration looming, it is fiscally irresponsible to allow private contractors to charge escalating and exorbitant rates to the government.”

The letter cited “estimates obtained from senior [Defense Department] personnel” indicating lowering the cap on allowable reimbursement of compensation would result in savings of about $5 billion annually. The groups noted that since 1998, the compensation cap has more than doubled.

The most recent adjustment to the ceiling, authorized in April, “represented a 10 percent increase in allowable compensation for contractors while military personnel -- the brave men and women actually risking their lives in defense of the nation -- saw an increase of less than 2 percent and the pay of other federal employees was frozen,” the letter said.

“It is unconscionable that taxpayers may pay more than $700,000 to some contract employees,” NTEU President Colleen Kelley said in a statement Thursday. “It is time to rein these costs in and this legislation does just that. I hope that Congress will adopt this measure and bring some fiscal sanity to the contracting process.”

Although labor unions have long supported caps on reimbursements, the contractor group the Professional Services Council has opposed reducing the caps, citing concerns the move would harm both government and industry’s ability to access critical skills.

The advocacy groups’ letter noted that contract firms can still offer salaries that exceed the cap, if they are willing to make up the difference out of their own pockets rather than charging the government.

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Army spent 13 times as much on 2010 conference as GSA spent in Vegas

Amanda Palleschi — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:13:47 -0400

The Army in 2010 spent $10.7 million on an educational conference, roughly 13 times the amount that the General Services Administration spent on a controversial training event in Las Vegas that year, according to a report from Bloomberg Businessweek.

According to records obtained by Businessweek through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Army spent $10.7 million on its annual three-day conference organized by the Association for the U.S. Army, an Arlington, Va.-based advocacy group. It spent another $10.6 million on that same conference in 2011, the report said. In total, taxpayers paid $37.7 million during the past four years for 9,805 service members and civilians to participate in the conference, Businessweek found.

The report comes as Congress is investigating several incidences of overspending on conferences in the federal government. In addition to GSA’s $820,000 Las Vegas conference, which included a mind reader and commemorative coins, the Veterans Affairs Department has come under fire for two 2011 human resources training events in Florida that together cost $6.1 million and had 1,800 attendees. Part of that cost was a $50,000 video spoofing the movie “Patton.”

Army spokesman Michael Brady told Businessweek that “a comparison to GSA or even VA would not only be inaccurate, but unfair.” Brady described the three-day Army conference as “an education forum on topics such as cyber warfare for military members, civilians, lawmakers and journalists and not an occasion for feting employees.” He said the Army understands the importance of reining in spending and told the publication in an interview that although the Army attends the conference, “we do not put this on.”

He added: “They got in trouble for spa treatments and iPods. That just doesn’t happen here.”

The Army accounts for as much as a quarter of the conference’s attendance, and the event commands about 35,000 participants and 600 industry and military exhibits. This year’s conference, which takes place next week, will cost $1.3 million for 400 attendees, an 88 percent reduction from prior years, but still significantly more than the GSA spent on the Las Vegas conference for about 300 attendees, according to the records obtained by Businessweek. The report also noted a July memo indicating that the Army would allow just 10 organizations and commands to display exhibits at this year’s event.

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Most feds get an extra pay period’s worth of leave this year

Amanda Palleschi — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:41:13 -0400

Most federal employees will earn an extra pay period’s worth of leave by the end of 2012, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

A new memo from Angela Bailey, OPM’s associate director of employee services, instructs chief human capital officers to inform employees that most will accrue an additional four, six or eight hours of annual leave during the 2012 leave year, which began on Jan. 1, 2012, and ends on Jan. 12, 2013.

A leave year begins on the first day of the first full biweekly pay period in a calendar year and ends on the day immediately before the first day of the first full biweekly pay period in the following calendar year. Employees with three years but less than 15 years of service accrue 10 hours of annual leave in the last full biweekly pay period of the leave year, which ends Jan. 12, 2013, for most employees. This means leave year 2012 will have 27 pay periods. For some agencies, the first pay period in calendar year 2012 started Jan. 8, and the new guidance does not apply.

The maximum carryover ceiling -- the “use it or lose it” policy -- remains in effect, the memo stated. For most employees, the ceiling is 240 hours of accrued leave. It is 360 for those overseas, and 720 for Senior Executive Service members and senior level scientific and professional employees. Bailey instructed agencies to advise affected employees that they will accrue additional hours in 2012 and must use any annual leave above those maximum ceiling hours before Jan. 12, 2013.

Agencies still may restore annual leave that was forfeited due to “an exigency of the public business or sickness of the employee only if the annual leave is scheduled in writing before the start of the third biweekly pay period prior to the end of the leave year,” the memo stated.

Bailey’s memo noted that most employees will still have 26 pay days in 2012. “Leave accrual is affected by the number of pay periods, not the number of pay days, in a calendar year,” it said.

(Image via sergign/Shutterstock.com)

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Thrift Savings Plan Roth participation grows steadily

Amanda Palleschi — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 14:19:07 -0400

Just four months after its inception, about 40,000 federal employees, including 5,300 Marines, have opted into the Thrift Savings Plan’s Roth option, according to Federal Times.

At the end of August, about 20,000 total federal employees had invested about $13 million into the Roth plan.

The TSP Roth option, unveiled in May, allows beneficiaries to invest money that already has been taxed and cannot be taxed again upon withdrawal, unlike traditional TSP investments. With Roth’s addition, participants now can invest pretax or after-tax dollars in any of TSP’s offerings as long as their total contributions are within Internal Revenue Service’s limits. The IRS increased the cap on annual individual TSP contributions in 2012 from $16,500 to $17,000, tracking a change in the cost-of-living index. Employees 50 and older can contribute an additional $5,500 a year.

Marines, Coast Guard members, reservists and Defense Department civilians were among the first to be able to make Roth contributions this summer. Discrepancies between Army, Navy and Air Force payroll structures delayed the ability of service members to enroll until Oct. 1.

Military service members are among those most likely to benefit from the Roth option. For younger service members who receive an annual allowance of $20,000 to $25,000, a Roth plan would ensure they are taxed on those earnings in the current year, rather than on presumably higher income upon retirement.

Military reservists are among the few TSP participants still waiting for Roth availability, which is slated for late fall 2013.

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Military families must pay to extend TRICARE coverage to adult dependents

Amanda Palleschi — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:55:00 -0400

A popular component of the 2010 Affordable Care Act allowing adult children to stay on their parents’ health care plans until age 26 has been a little less popular among military members. That’s because military families covered by TRICARE must pay as much as $200 a month to benefit from extended coverage.

According to The Wall Street Journal, families must pay either $176 or $201 a month per young adult dependent to prolong coverage, depending on their specific TRICARE plan. Most families in private plans do not pay for the extension. The 2010 health law did not apply to TRICARE, but a separate law required the military health plan to adopt the popular provision of the Affordable Care Act. Legislators, however, would not support providing the extended coverage to TRICARE beneficiaries for free, the Journal reported Monday.

The Defense Department told The Wall Street Journal that the fee has deterred military families from seeking the extension: of 230,000 young-adult dependents of service members who could have signed up, only 20,740 had opted for an extension by the August deadline.

Before the Affordable Care Act, TRICARE allowed children to stay on their parents’ plans only until age 21, or 23 if the child was a full-time college student. Children of civilian federal employees covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan were eligible for extended coverage under the law starting in January 2011. Children who lose FEHBP coverage when they turn 26 qualify for temporary continuation of coverage for up to 36 months.

TRICARE fee hikes are on the table this budget cycle as part of the Defense Department’s efforts to rein in spending. The Obama administration’s budget request includes new TRICARE co-pays, additional increases to TRICARE Prime enrollment fees, initiation of standard and extra annual enrollment fees, and adjustments to deductibles and catastrophic coverage caps. These efforts are expected to save the department as much as $12.1 billion during the next 10 years. Lawmakers, however, have resisted plans to increase fees.

Most TRICARE beneficiaries do not pay premiums to participate, and the cost of premiums for each young adult under TRICARE is expected to fall to $152 or $176 per month. The fees are based on data for medical costs incurred by similar dependents and administrative expenses, according to the Journal.

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OPM: Feds should ‘rarely’ need time off to vote

Amanda Palleschi — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 14:33:00 -0400

A memo from Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry to chief human capital officers advises agencies on the government’s long-standing policies governing excused absences for voting. Berry told agencies that such absences “should rarely be needed” since most polling places now are open for extended periods of time, with some offering early voting options.

Excused absences for voting can be granted in cases where an employee must vote early, has an extended commuting time, or attends a polling place that is not open at least three hours either before or after regular working hours. The policy applies to federal, state, county and municipal elections.

An agency may grant “a limited amount of excused absence” to permit an employee to report to work three hours after the polls open or leave from work three hours before they close if that employee’s polling place is not open in a three-hour window either before or after their regular work hours. The employee must choose whether to leave early or arrive late based on whichever requires the lesser amount of time away from work.

This means if an employee regularly works from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the polling place is open from 7 a.m. to 7p.m., the employee could be granted half an hour of excused absence from 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. if he or she requests. But if that polling place were open until 8 p.m., then the employee would not be eligible for excused absence, since that would allow at least three hours after the end of the workday to vote.

During the 2008 elections, OPM acting Director Michael Hager denied a request from members of Congress to give federal employees up to five hours of excused absence for voting.

If an employee’s voting place “is beyond normal commuting distance” and that employee cannot vote by absentee ballot, he or she would be eligible for up to one day to make the trip to cast a ballot. If more than a day is needed, he or she can request leave without pay.

An employee also can be granted an excused absence for early voting if he or she is unable to vote on Election Day due to work-related activities, such as travel, and cannot vote by absentee ballot. If that employee chooses early voting, but the hours of the polling place are shorter than those on Election Day, however, the employee would not be eligible for an excused absence because the employee opted to vote early.

(Image via Lisa S./Shutterstock.com)

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Thousands of USPS mail handlers and postmasters accept separation incentives

Amanda Palleschi — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:47:00 -0400

Nearly 3,000 U.S. Postal Service mail handlers and more than 4,000 postmasters have opted for separation incentives the agency offered as part of its efforts to save money by reducing its ranks.

According to USPS spokesman Mark Saunders, 2,952 mail handlers accepted the agency’s offer of $15,000 to leave voluntarily, and 4,189 postmasters accepted its offer of $20,000. The total came close to the 7,400 postmasters and full-time mail carriers the agency predicted in July would sign up for the incentives.

The new numbers are final, Saunders said.

The incentives are part of USPS’ plans to whittle down its workforce to help generate about $500 million in savings. It also expects to downsize through attrition. The agency offered the incentives to 21,000 postmasters and its 43,000 full-time mail handlers.

Full-time career employees opting to leave will receive half their payment at the end of 2012 and the other half in 2013.

USPS also is offering part-time retirement programs to early retirees. Earlier this week, USPS announced plans to offer more than 110,000 career employees represented by the American Postal Workers Union up to $15,000 to voluntarily retire or leave the agency. The full $15,000 is available for APWU-represented clerks, mechanics, vehicle drivers, custodians and administrators who have worked 1,520 paid hours in the 26 pay periods prior to the date of their departure; part-time employees can receive a prorated portion of the $15,000.

USPS’ financial outlook remains bleak. The agency defaulted last week on a $5.6 billion congressionally mandated obligation to prefund retiree health benefits, marking the second time in two months it defaulted on its payments; the agency also failed to pay $5.5 billion for fiscal 2011 prefunding obligations, originally due to the Treasury Department in September 2011.

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Officials nab fugitive felon posing as a federal agent

Amanda Palleschi — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 14:54:00 -0400

A fugitive felon posing as a Homeland Security Department agent was arrested last week in Florida, the DHS inspector general announced.

The fugitive, Thomas W. Connors, was wanted on several felony probation violations, including attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, felony assault and several felony fraud charges. Homeland Security auditors worked with the U.S. Marshals Service and the Orange County, Fla., sheriff’s office to conduct the investigation that led to Connors’ arrest in Winter Park, Fla., on Sept. 26.

The country sheriff’s office tipped off the IG that Connors had contacted the office to report criminal activity at his girlfriend’s apartment complex, identifying himself as “DHS agent Thomas Morgan.” Connors was allegedly trying to gather law enforcement information about the apartments.

During their probe, which began in August, investigators found that Connors also unlocked cellular phones for a local communications company and posed as an FBI agent to threaten local competing cellular phone companies with a shutdown. In addition, he outfitted his car with emergency lights, the IG said.

The IG’s field office in Orlando, Fla., is working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida to determine whether to press additional charges against Connors.

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Postal Service offers more buyout incentives

Amanda Palleschi — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 15:11:00 -0400

The U.S. Postal Service will offer career employees who are members of the American Postal Workers Union up to $15,000 in incentives to voluntarily retire or leave the agency.

The full $15,000 buyout is available for APWU-represented employees who have worked more than 1,520 paid hours in the 26 pay periods prior to the date of their retirement or resignation. Part-time employees can receive a prorated portion of the $15,000 based on number of hours worked during that same time frame.

The American Postal Workers Union represents more than 187,000 USPS clerks, mechanics, vehicle drivers, custodians and some administrators: 69,709 employees are eligible for retirement now and 44,233 are eligible for voluntary early retirement. To qualify for early retirement, employees must have at least 20 years of service and be 50 years of age, or must have 25 years of service at any age, according to a statement from APWU.

The offer comes on the heels of several buyout incentives offered to other USPS employees last spring and summer. The agency has estimated that 7,400 total employees, including postmasters, would take separation incentives granted in May, and 3,800 postmasters had accepted those incentives by the end of July. USPS is aiming to reduce its workforce by 150,000 during the next three years.

Eligible full-time career employees who accepted incentives offered to APWU workers will be paid in two installments: $10,000 on May 24, 2013, and $5,000 on May 23, 2014.

Most eligible full-time employees, except employees with non-traditional full-time duty assignments of less than 40 hours per week, must notify USPS of their intent to accept a buyout offer by Dec. 3, 2012, and leave their jobs effective Jan. 31, 2013, unless they already are scheduled to retire at an earlier date. Part-time employees and employees with nontraditional full-time assignments of less than 40 hours per week have a Feb. 28, 2013, separation deadline.

A buyout package for APWU-represented employees had been tangled up by a dispute over whether USPS was abiding by the terms of a contract ratified in 2011. The union had criticized part-time retirement programs for early retirees in the past, claiming that reducing hours and switching career postmasters to noncareer, postmaster relief positions violated the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. But in a statement Monday, APWU President Cliff Guffey indicated the union was pleased with the current negotiation.

“Our goal was to achieve an incentive for members who are ready to end their postal careers to ensure that no groups of employees are excluded and to lessen the hardships of excessing for those who remain,” Guffey said. “This agreement accomplishes those objectives.”

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Top Veterans Affairs HR exec resigns ahead of IG report

Amanda Palleschi — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:16:47 -0400

This story has been updated.

The Veterans Affairs Department’s Chief Human Capital Officer John Sepulveda resigned Sunday in advance of an inspector general report on VA’s spending on human resources training conferences.

The report alleges Sepulveda failed to properly advise his senior executives, did not attempt to keep costs down but said said he did, and lied about his knowledge of an expensive parody video.

A VA spokesman confirmed in a statement to Government Executive that the department had accepted Sepulveda’s resignation -- news first reported by Federal News Radio.

Reports surfaced this summer that VA’s inspector general’s office was investigating two extremely costly human resources training conferences at which employees may have received improper gifts.

The IG’s office released its final report on that investigation Monday. It concluded that the department spent more than $6 million on two 2011 conferences in Orlando, Fla.

The report said Sepulveda “abdicated his responsibilities when he failed to provide proper guidance and oversight to his senior executives.” The IG’s office also said Sepulveda made false statements while under oath during the investigation. According to the report, Sepulveda said he was not involved with a $50,000 George S. Patton parody video, but several individuals testified that he had in fact viewed the videos. Sepulveda had written in a memo before the conferences saying the planning committee was “pursuing all efforts to constrain and control cost,” but investigators said actions did not reflect this.

VA said two other employees have been “place on administrative leave pending review,” but would not elaborate on which two employees, citing privacy considerations. Eleven employees, including several “high-grade, supervisor-level” workers, violated federal law in accepting gifts from contractors. The gifts included free meals, transportation, gift baskets, spa treatments and tickets for a Rockettes performance.

The report specifically named several VA executives in addition to Sepulveda for leadership failures -- including Alice Muellerweiss, dean of the VA Learning University, and Tonya Deanes, deputy assistant secretary for the Human Resources Management Office -- and redacted the names of many others.

“While the IG report makes clear that ‘VA held these conferences to fulfill valid training needs’ and ‘offered legitimate, substantive training courses at the conferences,’ this does not excuse the misconduct of even a few individuals,” VA said in a statement Monday. “Misuse of taxpayer dollars is completely unacceptable. The actions cited in the report represent serious lapses in oversight, judgment and stewardship.”

Sepulveda served as VA’s assistant secretary for human resources and administration since May 2009. He previously worked as deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management during the Clinton administration and at the Housing and Urban Development Department and the Federal Housing Administration.

Sepulveda told Federal Times in an interview that he stepped down because of the IG report. The VA said Monday that Secretary Eric Shinseki will appoint senior officials to review evidence of wrongdoing and the department placed two other employees on administrative leave, pending review.

Eric Katz contributed to this story.

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Thrift Savings Plan funds stay in black

Amanda Palleschi — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:02:46 -0400

The Thrift Savings Plan continued its steady climb upward in September, with every fund posting a positive return for the second consecutive month.

International stocks in the I Fund were the strongest performers in September, gaining 2.96 percent. The fund edged up more than 3 percent in August and has risen more than 15 percent during the past 12 months.

The C Fund, invested in common stocks on Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, and the S Fund, which is invested in small and midsize companies and tracks the Dow Jones Wilshire 4500 Index, also had solid performances in September, finishing up 2.57 percent and 2.51 percent, respectively. Both are up more than 30 percent during the past 12 months.

The government securities-based G Fund grew 0.10 percent in September. The fixed-income bonds in the F Fund grew 0.15 percent. Since January, the F Fund has gained more than 4 percent, and the G Fund has grown 1.12 percent.

TSP’s five life-cycle funds, for beneficiaries seeking to move to less risky portfolios as they near retirement, also ended September in the black. The L Income Fund, for employees who already have started withdrawing money, rose just 0.62 percent in September, but has increased more than 4 percent since January. L 2020 gained 1.52 percent; L 2030 is up 1.87 percent; L 2040 climbed 2.12 percent, and L 2050 posted the largest gain of all the life-cycle funds in September, gaining 2.38 percent.

L Income is up 6.67 percent during the past 12 months; L 2020 is up more than 15 percent during that same period; L 2030 grew 18.64 percent in the past year. L 2040 and L 2050 have each gained more than 20 percent during the past 12 months.

(Image via Pavel Ignatov/Shutterstock.com)

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USPS advised to delay facility closures

Amanda Palleschi — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 18:07:43 -0400

A plan to close hundreds of postal facilities would not save as much as the U.S. Postal Service has projected, according to an analysis released Friday.

The Postal Regulatory Commission advised USPS to delay its Mail Processing and Network Rationalization initiative until it considers the report’s recommendations -- including alternatives that would avoid cutting back services such as overnight mail.

USPS has said the plan to close and consolidate 229 of 461 processing plants to match declining mail volumes would save approximately $1.6 billion. PRC estimated the plan’s savings could be as low as $46 million annually unless further measures were taken.

PRC said to achieve the $1.6 billion in savings, USPS would have to improve systemwide productivity by more than 20 percent: “The commission cautions that improvements of this magnitude are remarkably ambitious and involve some risk.”

The commission had difficulty replicating the Postal Service’s initial analysis of cost savings by adopting the initiative.

“In order to balance the risk of achieving projected savings with the risk of possible volume and revenue loss, the commission encourages the Postal Service to better measure potential volume losses associated with its multiple recent proposals for altering service,” PRC wrote.

Earlier this summer, the Postal Service proceeded with a phased implementation plan that included interim service standards until January 2014. That plan would preserve overnight first-class mail service and consolidate 140 plants.

“The commission believes that the phased implementation of MPNR provides an excellent opportunity for the Postal Service to study the effects of service standard changes, to inform its decisions on how to preserve as much of the current services as possible and to make adjustments before full implementation,” PRC chairwoman Ruth Goldway said in a statement Friday.

PRC’s advisory opinion included some alternative options for the USPS’ consolidation effort, including developing a plan to better inform customers of any services changes, establishing a transportation hub to be developed and made known to mailers.

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One in eight feds have witnessed workplace violence in past two years

Amanda Palleschi — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:43:32 -0400

One in eight federal employees observed or experienced workplace violence in the past two years, according to a new report from the Merit Systems Protection Board.

The findings are part of MSPB’s 2010 Merit Principles Survey, which asked 71,910 full-time, permanent, nonpostal federal employees for their perceptions of their jobs, work environments and supervisors. The board received 42,020 responses -- a 58 percent participation rate.

Thirteen percent of the respondents said they had witnessed an act of violence in their workplace. More than half the perpetrators were current or former federal employees; one-third were agency customers or clients. In only 11 percent of these incidents, the perpetrator was an individual who had no connection to the workplace. The survey defined violence as physical attacks, threats of attack, harassment, intimidation or bullying.

“These behaviors demand the attention of federal managers because they poison the work environment and may lead to more serious physical violence,” MSPB Chairwoman Susan Tsui Grundmann said. She added the majority of instances involved threats, harassment, intimidating or bullying, not physical injury or property damage.

The results reflect similar findings in other sectors, although federal employees working in public safety and medical occupations reported higher rates of workplace violence. According to MSPB’s findings, 26 percent of federal employees in medical and hospital occupations and 21 percent of those involved in law enforcement and security said they observed an incident of workplace violence in the past two years.

Of these violent incidences, 15 percent resulted in physical injury, 10 percent lead to property loss or damage, and 75 percent resulted in neither.

MSPB recommended agencies adopt violence prevention programs that take into account geographic location, mission and occupation; and human resources and address employee stress related to workplace violence. Although 73 percent of the survey’s respondents said they believed their agencies take sufficient steps to ensure their safety, Grundmann noted preventing and mitigating workplace violence perpetrated by federal employees is challenging.

“Limiting physical access to federal workplaces is not enough because the vast majority of perpetrators of federal workplace violence are individuals who, for the most part, have a legitimate reason to be in the workplace,” she said.

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State government employees out-earn private sector peers by 6 percent, study finds

Amanda Palleschi — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:05:00 -0400

The debate over how public and private sector compensation stacks up is playing out at both the state and the federal levels. On average, state government employees make 6 percent more than their private sector counterparts, a study released Thursday finds.

The study, released by the nonprofit group Citizens Against Government Waste, was conducted with the research firm John Dunham and Associates. Researchers analyzed state government employee wages and benefits in all 50 states, comparing public and private sector workers across 22 occupational categories provided by Bureau of Labor Statistics breakdowns of specific career fields such as architecture, engineering and transportation. According to Citizens Against Government Waste President Thomas Schatz, this study differs from others comparing public and private sector pay because it looks at details within individual states and across occupations.

According to the study, no state government pays its employees at or below private sector wages. Texas has the largest difference between public and private sector pay, researchers found, while Utah and Montana have the smallest disparities.

“The disproportionate public sector compensation is a major driver of unfunded state and municipal pension liabilities across the country, which has been accurately described as looming financial crises by pundits and experts of all political stripes,” Schatz said in a statement.

Schatz was joined at a press conference unveiling the study by city councilman Pete Constant, who discussed the negative effects that rising public sector salaries and pensions have had on public services such as law enforcement, fire protection and infrastructure repair for San Jose taxpayers.

“Politicians should not be asking hardworking taxpayers in the private sector to pay more for the pay and benefits of their better compensated public sector counterparts while making devastating cuts to the essential services our residents rely on,” Constant said.

The study emphasizes the plight of bankrupt municipalities -- Stockton, Calif.; Harrisburg, Pa.; and Boise County, Idaho -- where high salaries, and particularly unfunded pension liabilities, have contributed to dire fiscal realities.

“Without real changes to the existing system, entire states may find themselves insolvent,” Schatz said.

Another organization, the Economic Policy Institute, called the findings in the CAGW report Thursday “bunk,” and cited other studies that have found contradictory results.

EPI said in a statement that the CAGW report fails to mention that employee pensions have been underfunded because of the stock market collapse between 2007 and 2009 and that poor municipal funding often is the result of “political and moral failure of politicians to make the contributions that are required every year.”

The group added, “rather than treat pensions as an obligation, many elected officials failed to make some or all of the actuarially required contributions during the bull market years of the last decade.”

The gap between public and private compensation also has been in dispute at the federal level. This summer, the Government Accountability Office concluded that comparing public and private sector pay at the federal level is difficult and opposing conclusions are reached depending on the data used and the bias of the group conducting the study.

(Image via Maciej Walczak/Shutterstock.com)

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USPS prepares for second default in two months

Amanda Palleschi — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 17:02:29 -0400

The U.S. Postal Service will default this week on a $5.6 billion congressionally mandated obligation to prefund retiree health benefits, marking the second time in two months the cash-strapped agency has done this.

The Postal Service last month failed to pay $5.5 billion for its fiscal 2011 prepayment obligation, which originally was due September 2011 but was deferred by Congress until Aug. 1. That was the first time it ever defaulted on a payment to the Treasury Department. The $5.6 billion due this week, on Sept. 30, represents this fiscal year’s obligation.

Prior to this year, Congress helped USPS defer prefunding payments required by a 2006 congressional mandate. Postal reform has challenged this Congress. Lawmakers warn that when they revisit the issue after the November election they likely won’t reach agreement on as major an overhaul as some deem necessary. USPS lost $5.2 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2012, $2.1 billion more than during the same time period in 2011.

Health care for current retirees is paid for from USPS’ general operating budget and will not be affected by the default. The agency’s inability to make its payments will not affect mail delivery or employee pay, said USPS spokesman David Partenheimer.

The Senate passed a postal reform bill this spring and its architects have derided the House for stalling on a vote on its version of the bill. The two bills have some similarities, but would address USPS’ retiree health care prepayment obligations differently. The Senate bill restructures the prepayments to make them more manageable; the House bill, which passed out of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee earlier this year, requires the agency to pay $1 billion of its fiscal 2011 prepayment obligations and make up the remainder in fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2016.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the chief architect of the House bill, wanted to include postal reform measures in the six-month continuing resolution passed by Congress last week, but the proposal failed to make it into the legislation.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., a sponsor of the Senate bill, called that House effort a “piecemeal, short-term fix.” He also said the default this week further erodes confidence in USPS’ future.

“I urge the House to come together and pass a bill quickly so we can work out our differences in a conference committee and help achieve our shared goal of preserving the Postal Service for future generations,” Carper said in a statement provided to Government Executive.

Partenheimer said USPS continued to encourage comprehensive reform in the current Congress -- which is in recess. “Comprehensive reform of the laws governing the Postal Service is urgently needed in order for the Postal Service to fully implement its five-year business plan and return to long-term financial stability,” he said.

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TSP board finds a ‘happy medium’ with the fiscal 2013 budget

Amanda Palleschi — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:42:35 -0400

The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board approved a $170.5 million fiscal 2013 budget Monday, a figure that exceeds last year’s budget by $27 million and could increase during the year.

Executive Director Gregory Long presented the board with a $175.5 million fiscal 2013 budget, which included $166.3 million for “steady state” services -- functions already the board performs that are necessary to maintain its current level of service to the TSP’s more than 4.6 million beneficiaries -- and an additional $9.1 million for new initiatives. He said a $175.5 million budget for fiscal 2013, about $32 million more than the $143.1 million budget for fiscal 2012, was the “most prudent” figure.

Several members expressed concerns that $175.5 million was too high; the number of assets the board will manage next fiscal year cannot be precisely estimated.

The board agreed to a $170.5 million budget, with the stipulation that it estimates a target budget-to-assets ratio of five budget points. This means the board can reevaluate throughout the year based on growth in its assets and increase the budget. FRTIB Director of External Affairs Kim Weaver said it is not likely the board would end up spending more than the $175.5 million that Long requested. FRTIB Board Chairman Michael Kennedy called the $170.5 million a “happy medium” that preserves the important aspects of Long’s budget request and accommodates the concerns of other board members.

The budget approved Monday includes all of Long’s $166.3 million in requested funding for steady state services such as record-keeping, data and call centers, accounting, communications and agency staff, plus $4 million for new initiatives. Two of the new efforts are labeled “mission critical:” $3.6 million for the implementation of an Enterprise Information Security and Risk Management directive to ensure the TSP complies with congressional information technology security requirements, and more than $150,000 to hire additional human resources staff.

The other new initiatives included in Long’s request that were not approved as part of the official $170.5 million Monday include acquisition and risk management strategies, benchmarking studies and new media communications. Long also provided the board with a budget estimate for fiscal 2014 of $202 million to $211 million, depending upon which new budget initiatives are adopted in fiscal 2013. The board did not vote to approve plans for fiscal 2014.

The board said this summer that it anticipates managing an additional 4.4 percent in TSP assets by fiscal 2017 and growing the size of its budget by 25 percent to accommodate an increasing number of federal retirees, more investment options -- such as the new Roth offering -- and more participants withdrawing partial amounts from their accounts in the next five years.

The board has spent about 99 percent of its $143.1 million fiscal 2012 budget.

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