Stars and Gripes

M ilitary personnel and veterans may be wondering which Stars and Stripes to salute.On one side, there's the Defense Department's Stars and Stripes newspaper, which publishes editions for troops stationed overseas. On the other side, there's a private domestic publication by the same name for veterans that recently was acquired by an online publishing company.

Since the dot.com purchased the veterans paper this year, the company has begun a marketing campaign. But DoD officials say the campaign has been intentionally misleading people into thinking the dot.com's Stars and Stripes is the same as DoD's.

The company, called iServed.com, says it has never tried to pass its paper off as part of the Defense Department. In fact, company officials say they own the Stars and Stripes trademark--and originally gave DoD permission to use the name.

DoD isn't waving the white flag, though. Officials say they are considering their legal options.

Pentagon

Procurement Pros Pack It Up

T he Defense Department is facing a huge wave of retirements among its acquisition workforce in the next five years, and officials are taking drastic measures to stem the brain drain.

In the past decade, DoD has cut the ranks of acquisition specialists by half. Now the Pentagon wants to avoid the loss of specialized knowledge from the retirement of procurement experts.

In May, DoD launched a task force to figure out how to better attract and retain procurement professionals and began tapping contract pros both from within government and from the private sector for their ideas. The task force has set a July 31 deadline for establishing a program that will look at ways to boost recruiting and slow attrition in the acquisition field.

The task force's goal is to reduce the time it takes to fill procurement positions with the right people.

Slightly New and Improved SES

T he Office of Personnel Management did some minor dusting of rules governing its executive cadre in May but fell short of the full-scale Senior Executive Service scrubbing it promised two years ago.

Draft regulations giving federal
employees a greater say in executives' performance evaluations were made public in May. Under the regs, employee satisfaction would be weighed equally with customer satisfaction and business results as the three criteria used to judge executives' performance.

"By institutionalizing the use of balanced measures, the government acknowledges what its best executives have always known: Leading people and building customer coalitions are the foundation of organizational success," the draft regulations say.

The performance evaluation change is among only a handful of proposals for revamping the SES that have been approved since OPM began considering SES reform in 1998.

Another piece of that package, regulations ordering agencies to make executive leadership the most important skill requirement for SES applicants, was finalized in late May.

A host of other ideas --including proposals to increase executive movement among agencies, create more special appointment authorities, extend the SES probation period, make it easier to remove executives, and restructure performance evaluations--were either dropped or watered down.

OPM officials say more heavy-duty improvements are on hold until 2003, including a proposal to split the SES in half, with one half consisting of high-level professionals such as engineers, attorneys and scientists, and the other made up of management executives.

Pop-Top Bonuses

Y ou might not get a bonus each year at evaluation time, but how about Cash in a Flash? Fewer federal agencies are giving employees bonuses at the time of their annual performance evaluations, the Office of Personnel Management said in a May report.

Instead, agencies are rewarding
outstanding performance through
group awards and on-the-spot cash awards throughout the year.

The Commerce Department, for example, has boosted on-the-spot awards, known as Cash in a Flash, to $1,000 a pop.

In a 1999 survey, only 31 percent of federal employees agreed that recognition and rewards are based on merit.

So OPM set about to see what agencies are doing to improve the situation. In addition to giving on-the-spot bonuses instead of awarding them annually, agencies are increasingly using Web-based systems to administer recognition programs. The Commerce Department has created an online system that allows managers to easily and quickly nominate employees for awards via the Web.

Looking Beyond A-76

T he Defense Department in April issued new guidance directing defense agencies to go beyond the public-private competitions it has traditionally used to cut costs
and use additional methods, including restructuring and direct privatization.

The guidance clarifies the department's effort, which it calls "strategic sourcing," to restructure and streamline Defense operations.

"It is clear that commanders and directors who use both strategic and competitive sourcing programs will become more efficient resource managers and leaders in the future," Jacques Gansler, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, wrote in a memo introducing the strategic sourcing guidance. The memo included a flowchart explaining the various options for cost savings that competitive sourcing involves.

Competitive sourcing involves public-private competitions under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76. Gansler says that DoD isn't backing away from contracting out jobs under A-76 but points out that strategic sourcing is an all-inclusive tool that allows managers to privatize or eliminate jobs not covered under the circular.

"The strategic sourcing approach encompasses all functions or activities that could be reengineered or consolidated regardless of whether they are inherently governmental, military essential or commercial activities--and competition must remain an integral part of this overall strategy," Gansler wrote.

Best Practices in

Claims Processing

I t has been five years since the Veterans Benefits Administration was ordered to develop a method of identifying and sharing best practices for improving claims processing, but the agency's regional offices still haven't received any ideas from headquarters, according to a new General Accounting Office report.

VBA field offices are responsible for processing veterans' disability claims and reporting to the central office. The agency has a history of inaccuracy and inefficiency in claims processing that could be cleaned up if
field offices shared ideas that worked,
GAO says.

"Evaluation of potentially beneficial practices is needed to help regional offices focus their attention on the most promising," the report says

VBA hasn't been ignoring the problem. In fact, the agency has initiated several efforts to improve claims processing. But GAO auditors say the efforts aren't quite enough. Many fundamental questions, such as how ideas would be identified and who would evaluate them, remain unanswered, the report says.

GAO has suggested that the undersecretary for benefits at the Veterans Affairs Department take charge of this project and establish a formal plan with deadlines and goals.

Civil Rights Get Mixed Reviews

A recent Agriculture Department report says the agency is making strides in improving its civil rights practices, but critics say the claims aren't justified.

In 1997, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced a new civil rights policy and a series of reforms to address the department's legacy of discrimination.

The May report, "Commitment to Progress: Civil Rights at the United States Department of Agriculture," points to several areas of improvement, including: settling a class action suit filed by a group of farmers, increasing farm lending, expanding outreach efforts, improving diversity through hiring, and changing USDA's organizational culture.

But Lawrence C. Lucas, president of the Coalition of Minority Employees, an organization for USDA employees that seeks to end discrimination at the agency, says that a March audit by Roger C. Viadero, USDA's inspector general, casts USDA's civil rights efforts in a much different light.

Viadero reported that the civil rights office's equal employment opportunity database "is an unreliable repository of information and its case files are in too chaotic a condition to provide an accurate clarification of the status of complaints," adding that the situation is unlikely to improve anytime soon.

Glickman acknowledges that USDA still has a ways to go. "This report shows our efforts are having a real impact on USDA's programs and people. However, this is not a victory lap, it is a progress report, one that we intend to build on in the coming years," he says.

Truthful Reporting

W hen it comes to letting the public know about its successes and failures, the Agency for International Development is the cream of the crop.

A recent study from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University says three agencies--the Agency for International Development, the Transportation Department and the Veterans Affairs Department--are top-notch when it comes to telling people the truth about how they're doing.

Every federal agency issued annual reports this year, much as corporations issue annual reports to their shareholders. The main difference is that federal agencies are reporting to taxpayers.

The Mercatus Center gave a thumbs-down to annual reports from the National Science Foundation, the
Agriculture Department and the Com-
merce Department.

Most agencies did a good job saying what their goals are. But agencies could do a better job explaining how their efforts improve the lives of Americans, the report says.

Protecting Parents

P resident Clinton issued an executive order in May prohibiting workplace discrimination against parents in the federal government.
The order authorizes the Office of Personnel Management to develop guidance that prohibits discrimination against employees based on their status as parents. It amends Executive Order 11478, which originally prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Federal regulations already prohibit discrimination on the basis of such factors as race, religion and gender. The new order adds parental status to the list.

Under the order, parents are defined as biological, adoptive, foster, step or custodial.

"quote/unquote"

Legal Briefs

Every Friday on GovExec.com , Legal Briefs reviews cases that involve, or provide valuable lessons to, federal managers. Check it out online at www.govexec.com .

Protecting the Whistleblower

An Interior Department employee blew the whistle on a fellow employee who was granted a promotion unfairly. But the whistleblower was then passed up for a promotion and suspended for 14 days.

The Merit Systems Protection Board ruled that the suspended employee's disclosures weren't protected by the Whistleblower Protection Act because they didn't deal with gross waste of funds, abuse of authority or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.

The board eventually reversed its initial decision and said the WPA also protects violations of rules that govern personnel practices.

Lesson: Whistleblowing-It's not just for fraud any more.

Ganksi v. Department of Interior, Merit
Systems Protection Board (MSPB No. PH-1221-98-0111-M-1), May 4, 2000.

First Amendment Manager

Deane Zeller, an Interior Department manager who alleged retaliation for being demoted shortly after his opinions on the agency's affirmative action program were published in
Government Executive magazine, has settled his case.

Interior put a letter of reprimand in Zeller's file for using his official title in a letter involving a matter of personal interest. Zeller was then reassigned to what he called a "meaningless, dead-end job."

Zeller's defense team argued that government ethics rules do not prohibit employees from speaking out against agency policies.

The case settlement is confidential, but the Office of Special Counsel termed it "favorable."

Lesson: Punishing employees for expressing opinions is a tricky business.

Office of Special Counsel petition to the Merit Systems Protection Board on behalf of Deane H. Zeller, Oct. 19, 1999.

Weak E-Government

A s the federal government moves toward increasingly paperless operations, it must do a better job keeping up with the private sector, both in Web site design and employee compensation, according to industry and government representatives.

The government must provide more leadership; maintain better security, privacy and infrastructure; and recruit more skilled tech workers if an "e-government" is ever going to be possible, George Molaski, the Transportation Department's chief information officer, told House lawmakers at a May hearing before the Government Reform Committee's Government Management, Information and Technology Subcommittee.

Industry professionals agreed that the federal government isn't moving fast enough to benefit from being online.

"Today's Web-savvy user knows that one-stop shopping based on the customer's needs is the de facto standard of service in commercial Web sites. Tomorrow's Web-savvy citizen will accept nothing less from government sites," says Donald Upson, Virginia's secretary of technology.

Career Corner

Troutman's Tip of the Month:

Change your writing style

Take a look at your resume, OF-612 or SF-171 and see if you have any of these phrases in your work experience: "helped with," "responsible for" and "performed." This is an old style of writing that is passive and generic. Instead, you need to be writing in an active style with specific references to examples.

Paid Parental Leave

R ep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., introduced legislation in late May to give federal parents six weeks of paid maternity or paternity leave.

"In a federal government that says it is family friendly, public employees should not lose pay for becoming parents," said Maloney.

Currently, the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act allows federal employees to take up to 13 days of paid sick leave to care for newborns--and only five days if they maintain a balance of fewer than 10 days in their sick leave reserves. Parents can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid maternity or paternity leave.

Maloney's bill, the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act, would grant paid leave for employees to care for either newborn or adopted children. The bill would create a separate category of leave to allow new parents to take up to six weeks of paid time off. The time would not come out of accrued sick leave.

Reps. Tom Davis, R-Va., Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., and Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., joined Maloney in support of the bill, along with Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, and David Schlein, vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees.

"If we in the federal government are to compete with the IBMs and Banks of America out there, we must pass this legislation. Respecting the need for parents of newborn children to spend time at home without losing pay or in some cases their jobs, is a major component of moving toward a competitive, family-friendly environment in the federal government," said Davis.

Fraud Audit

Fraud Audit

In late May, a House committee approved a bill (HR 4079) ordering the General Accounting Office to complete within six months a careful review of certain Education Department accounts for evidence of fraud.

Before the vote, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., said the department had failed its last two audits, for fiscal years 1998 and 1999.

"Real fraud is actually taking place," he said. For example, a contract employee stole $300,000 worth of computer equipment; an employee and a co-worker received $600,000 in falsely claimed overtime pay from the department, "aided and abetted by a full-time department employee who oversaw his work"; and the department "has issued over $100 million in duplicate checks to grantees since October 1999," Hoekstra said.

The committee adopted by voice vote a substitute text offered by Hoekstra, which added the specification that the audit focus on accounts thought to be particularly susceptible to waste, fraud and abuse, rather than auditing all the accounts in the department.

Flying From the Air Force

A s many as 1,000 civilian Air Force employees could be offered early retirement under a three-year pilot program debated on Capitol Hill early this summer. Reps. Tony P. Hall, D-Ohio, and David Hobson, R-Ohio, attached an amendment to the Defense Department's fiscal 2001 authorization bill (HR 4205) aimed at opening job slots for up-and-coming scientists and engineers with valuable technical skills. The Senate was scheduled to take up the measure in June.

Under the current system, early outs can only be used for reducing the number of employees affected by reductions in force. The Hall-Hobson provision lets the Air Force use incentives of up to $25,000 to maintain a highly skilled workforce.

Under the legislation, the pilot program would be limited to 1,000 employees and would expire on Dec. 31, 2003.

"You cannot develop a cadre of experts in modern aerospace technology over- night, and we have to start building the next generation of aerospace leaders today," said Hobson.

The General Accounting Office has reported that in the next five to seven years more than 35 percent of the federal workforce will be eligible for retirement. The amendment in the House bill seeks to spread out over several years the retirement of senior workers to avoid a sudden, dramatic loss of brain power.

The Air Force estimates that it will save more than $60,000 over five years under the Hall-Hobson measure for each slot vacated. Salaries for employees eligible for retirement are typically twice that of a replacement hire.

Honoring Peak Performance

E ight federal organizations with exemplary records in quality management and customer service have been honored as the winners in this year's President's Quality Award program.

The program was created in 1988 to highlight peak-performing federal operations. A panel of government and private sector quality management specialists choose the winners. For the second year in a row, however, no organization won the program's top prize, the Presidential Award for Quality.

In the program, which is administered by the Office of Personnel Management, applicants are reviewed in a rigorous three-phase process: a written application review, an on-site visit and a final evaluation by a panel of judges from government and the private sector.

This year's winners:

AWARD FOR QUALITY

IMPROVEMENT

James A. Haley Veterans Hospital and Clinics provides health care for veterans, operating more than 600 hospital and nursing home beds in central Florida. The hospital began its quality improvement program in the early 1990s, and has received numerous awards over the last few years for outstanding service, including a President's Quality Merit Award in 1998. The hospital has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments: decreasing the turnaround time for radiology exam reports from eight days to one; shortening the reporting time for routine lab reports from more than four hours to 30 minutes; reshaping the inpatient substance abuse care program, resulting in a much greater number of patients treated (from 4,100 to 16,400) over four years; and implementing a telemedicine pilot program, known as TeleHomeCare, for spinal cord injury and geriatric patients, resulting in a 40 percent to 60 percent reduction in admissions and inpatient hospital days.

The Defense Supply Center, a unit of the Defense Logistics Agency headquartered in Philadelphia, buys more than $4 billion worth of food, clothing, medicine and industrial supplies for the nation's warfighters, their dependents and other customers worldwide. The organization's Web-based ordering system has helped increase commercial sales from $1.1 billion per year to $2.5 billion since 1993, while at the same time reducing overall costs to the supply center and its customers. Orders are filled in less than six days --a marked improvement from 1993, when the typical response time was about 30 days.

The Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey provides the military with its firepower. ARDEC created a customer advocate and stationed customer service representatives at major customer sites. In the past two years, the organization has saved $30 million through value engineering efforts and reduced work-year costs, saving customers about $70 million. Product quality initiatives have reduced ammunition accidents to zero, and 81 new engineers and scientists came aboard in fiscal 1999.

MERIT AWARD

Operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the Federal Aviation Administration Logistics Center (FAALC) in Oklahoma City helps keep the skies safe, repairing and supporting a host of air traffic control systems, including navigation and landing products. The logistics center has been a model for reinvention in the public sector, earning certification in the international standard for quality, ISO 9000, and helping other organizations in government and industry obtain certification. A customer-care center responds to more than 18,000 calls a year from 7,000 technicians around the nation who maintain the country's air traffic control system. Seventy percent of orders leave FAALC within six hours or less, and 94 percent are shipped within 24 hours.

The 7th Infantry Division and Fort Carson, Colo., strive to maintain combat-ready forces while providing a caring environment for soldiers and their families. A $3 billion initiative to build 840 new family housing units and renovate almost 2,000 existing units is in the works, and the post's Family Readiness Center, the first of its kind in the U.S. military, helps employees and their families avoid financial woes and meet physical and mental health needs. The Mountain Post Car Wash, a public-private partnership, has been so successful that annual revenues are expected to exceed $32,000 and another car wash is in the works.

PROGRAM FINALISTS

The Defense Contract Management Command (DCMC) in Santa Ana, Calif., makes sure military service members receive top-quality products and services on time and at reasonable prices. The organization's "One Team-One Focus" philosophy when it comes to customer service has increased and maintained customer satisfaction ratings of over 5.5 on a 6-point scale. A recipient of Vice President Al Gore's Hammer Award, DCMC created an internal process review checklist, available on its Web site, as part of its Management Control Review Program.

Winner of eight Hammer Awards, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division in Keyport, Wash., tests the Navy's weapons and systems, helping to ensure the dependability of torpedoes, mines and other undersea warfare systems. In 1998, Keyport established a customer advocacy group to provide customers with a single point of contact and an on-site advocate. NUWC has also forged a strong partnership with its employees: No unfair labor practices have been filed at the center since 1985.

Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va., repairs naval warships, provid-
ing round-the-clock quality service to the Navy by running a tight internal ship. A 6,800-employee workforce is linked together by state-of-the-art information systems
to better serve customers. The Leadership Committee, composed of 46 senior managers and union leaders, emphasizes customer service and strong partnerships between the shipyard and its stakeholders. Eight smaller teams focus on issues such as strategic management, human resources and customer satisfaction, using performance measures to set goals and monitor performance.

The award winners will be honored at a ceremony on July 13 during the Excellence in Government Conference in Washington.