News Briefs

THE DAILY FED

News Briefs

The following news summaries are from OPM AM, the daily newsletter of the Office of Personnel Management. OPM AM is available on OPM Mainstreet, the agency's electronic bulletin board, at 202-606-4800.

REINVENTION--"When Vice President Gore began his 'reinventing government' project, he laid out an ambitious goal: an overhaul of the government's budgetary, personnel and procurement systems. Now, as he faces a second term in office, Gore is shifting tactics. Rather than push again to overhaul budget and personnel practices in one fell swoop across the government, the vice president plans to move agency by agency to achieve his goals. His new goal is to convert as many federal agencies as possible into 'performance-based organizations' (PBOs)" (The Washington Post).

THE FEDERAL DIARY--"It will be difficult for federal retirees to pick a bad health plan during the coming open season. But they easily could wind up paying too much in premiums unless they shop carefully, according to retiree health benefits specialist Bill Smith" (The Washington Post).

HR DEVELOPMENTS--Managers responsible for delivery of human resources (HR) services are faced with pressures to simultaneously increase productivity, improve service delivery cycle time, and increase service quality. Effective strategies which have emerged are reengineering, information technology tools, and use of alternatives to in-house performance (The Public Manager, Fall 1996).

OF INTEREST--There's a Web site for everything. Even disgruntled workers (The Washington Post, CyberSurfing)...FEEA celebrates 10 years (Geico Direct, Fall 1996).

OTHER VIEWS--"The use of the silent PPO technique is 'a highly questionable means of obtaining discounts,' one Congressman recently charged"(Business & Health, Montvale, NJ, September)...The Learning Group Corp., was reawarded the TMA contract from OPM (Rockville Gazette, Rockville, MD, October 16)...Allied Resources Corp. will do research and development for OPM (Hartford Courant, Hartford, CT, October 21)...OPM authorizes early retirements at eight agencies (Chief, NY, NY, October 4; KC Star, KC, MO, October 15).