Pay & Benefits
TSP Catch-Up Contribution Change Coming Soon, and More
A weekly roundup of pay and benefits news.
Management
House Democrats Urge OPM to Halt Implementation of Order Politicizing Civil Service
House Oversight and Reform Committee leaders want to investigate the development and analysis of the effort to strip wide swaths of the federal workforce of civil service protections.
Pay & Benefits
Your Tax Bill Is On Sale, But Probably Not for Long
Federal employees shouldn’t overlook the potential advantages of investing in a Roth TSP or Roth IRA.
Oversight
Bipartisan, Bicameral Bill Seeks to Formally Authorize IG Website
Oversight.gov was created in 2017 to consolidate IG reports for easy access.
Sponsor Content
How Wireless Connectivity Services Drive Effective Digital Government
CommScope’s Federal VP Chris Collura lays out what agencies can do to ensure their employees have the wireless connectivity solutions they need to be successful.
Route Fifty
A City’s 48-Hour Push to Maintain 311 Service With At-Home Staff
The Buffalo, New York program highlights how the coronavirus has forced many state and local governments to quickly adopt new technology. Some officials see lasting value in the changes.
Nextgov
Administration Adds 16 Months to Transition from DUNS to Unique ID
The General Services Administration will extend Duns & Bradstreet’s services while agencies get more time to patch and test systems.
Route Fifty
Who Will Get the Covid Vaccine First? A New Tool Aims to Help States Decide
A tool developed by epidemiologists and data scientists can be used to help states and counties decide how to allocate limited vaccine doses to high risk populations.
Sponsor Content
The State of DoD Cloud
While the Department of Defense (DoD) seems to have magnified its cloud appeal, what do the very employees who witness agency technological transformation think?
Nextgov
Pentagon Expects to Deploy New Telework Tool in June 2021
The Defense Department’s Commercial Virtual Remote Environment enabled the rapid shift to mass telework during the pandemic, but a solution to handle more sensitive data is on the way.
FEATURED INSIGHTS
Route Fifty
Attention, Lazy Garbage: This Bot Will Insult You Until You Vote
The free service, a product of the nonprofit Fight For The Future, sends daily text messages that urge you—impolitely—to go vote.
Workforce
Coronavirus Roundup: High-Ranking State Dept. Official Tests Positive; Career FDA Leader Says Americans Can Trust the Vaccine Process
There's a lot to keep track of. Here’s today’s list of news updates and stories you may have missed.
Management
The Speed of Workforce Change Is Undermining the Civil Service
Personnel practices rooted in blue collar work from the last century continue to hold government back.
TSP TICKER
FUND
G
F
C
S
I
OCT 28 CLOSE
$16.4841
$21.0248
$48.5359
$59.1582
$29.4311
DAILY CHANGE
0.0003
-0.0132
-1.7761
-1.6763
-0.9704
THIS MONTH (%)
0.06
-0.11
-2.65
1.62
-3.44
FUND
L 2060
L 2050
L 2040
L 2030
L INCOME
OCT 28 CLOSE
$10.4859
$22.4306
$38.4576
$34.9794
$21.4199
DAILY CHANGE
-0.3531
-0.6207
-0.9326
-0.7088
-0.1590
THIS MONTH (%)
-2.24
-1.84
-1.63
-1.37
-0.48
FUND
OCT 28
CLOSE
CLOSE
DAILY
CHANGE
CHANGE
THIS
MONTH
MONTH
G
$16.4841
0.0003
0.06
F
$21.0248
-0.0132
-0.11
C
$48.5359
-1.7761
-2.65
S
$59.1582
-1.6763
1.62
I
$29.4311
-0.9704
-3.44
L 2050
$22.4306
-0.6207
-1.84
L 2040
$38.4576
-0.9326
-1.63
L 2030
$34.9794
-0.7088
-1.37
L 2020
$None
None
L INCOME
$21.4199
-0.1590
-0.48
Oversight
Records Show Trump’s Border Wall Is Costing Taxpayers Billions More Than Initial Contracts
As the presidential election nears, a review of federal spending data found modifications to contracts have increased the price of the border wall by billions, costing about five times more per mile than it did under previous administrations.
Defense
Raytheon Sheds People, Offices, Divisions as Pandemic Crushes Commercial Sector
The company’s defense business is one bright light.
Workforce
GovExec Daily: The Problem with the Diversity Training Executive Order
Stan Soloway joins the podcast to discuss how the order conflicts with the government's role in promoting civil rights and inclusion.
Route Fifty
Judge Strikes Down Michigan Ban on Open Carrying Guns at Polls
STATE AND LOCAL ROUNDUP | New report warns of increased militia activity … A Nevada county and airport fined by state for President Trump’s rally violating Covid rules … Pandemic negotiations falter before election.
Route Fifty
These State Legislative Chambers Are Most Likely to Flip Blue
Democrats could take control in a handful of states, including North Carolina and Texas. But it won't be easy.
Route Fifty
1-in-4 Adults Say Household Finances Deteriorated From March to September
New survey data from the Urban Institute presents these and other troubling findings about how many Americans are faring economically as the coronavirus pandemic wears on.
Workforce
Federal Employees Donate $1.8M in Presidential Race, Mostly to Biden
Those contributing to Trump’s campaign overwhelmingly came from the Defense and Homeland Security departments.
Nextgov
DOD’s First Agreement with Accreditation Body on Contractor Cybersecurity Nears End
Lead official grapples with the challenge of resourcing a federally funded research and development center to act as a gateway for the Pentagon’s certification program.
Management
Global Media Agency CEO Revokes Regulation Clarifying ‘Firewall’ Protecting Journalistic Integrity
The move is at most symbolic and a "weird Hail Mary" days ahead of the presidential election, said a whistleblower attorney.
Management
Union Sues and Democrats Introduce Bill to Block Trump Order Politicizing Civil Service
As opponents of the president’s effort to convert chunks of the federal workforce into at-will employees kick off their efforts to stop the initiative, the administration has signaled that agencies can push forward ahead of schedule.
Nextgov
Lawmaker Proposes Federal Institute of Technology and New Contracting Set-Aside
The 21st Century Jobs Package would create a federal agency for training the workforce of the future and incentivize federal contracting officials to buy from vendors who hire rural American workers.
Management