The Buzz

Oceanic Organization

A plan to reorganize administrative services at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is based on shaky advice, a Commerce Department audit has found.

In a report made public in late March, Commerce Inspector General Johnnie Frazier says a consultant's study recommending the changes lacks adequate supporting documentation and should not be the sole basis for NOAA's decision to restructure.

The consulting firm, Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., projected in February 2004 that NOAA could save $19.1 million by eliminating its regional finance and administration service centers and realigning staff under eight functional managers. "Although Booz Allen's reports indicate extensive data gathering, we had many concerns with the support for the findings, recommendations and assumptions contained in those reports," Frazier wrote in a memo accompanying his audit.

Frazier said auditors were not able to validate the projected cost savings and productivity gains or assess the validity of the recommendation, despite reviews of both interim and final reports and interviews with Booz Allen officials who conducted the study. The company's explanation of its methodology is attached to the audit, but Frazier said that it, too, is inadequate.

Booz Allen officials disagreed with the findings. "We cooperated fully with the inspector general's investigation into this matter, and stand behind the work we delivered to NOAA," a company spokesman says.

Attacking The Tax Gap

As Americans stared down the deadline for paying their taxes in April, the IRS announced the results of a study showing that the "tax gap"-that is, the difference between what people owe in taxes and what they actually pay-topped $300 billion in 2001. But audits of individual taxpayers aimed at closing the gap are on the rise.

Source: IRS

Speaking in Tongues

In early April, the Defense Department announced "a major initiative" to develop foreign language experts among the uniformed and civilian workforce. "We simply must develop a greater capacity for languages that reflect the demands of this century," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. "No technology delivers this capability; it is a truly human skill that our forces must have to win, and that we must have to keep the peace."

The initiative came a month after a Government Accountability Office report found the Pentagon had dismissed 322 military personnel with critical language skills-in Arabic, Farsi or Korean-for violating the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue" policy on homosexuality.

Pentagon officials said they would set up a Defense Language Office, under the direction of David S. Chu, the Defense undersecretary for personnel and readiness. They also set several other goals, such as creating language crash courses for deploying forces.

Under the initiative, the Pentagon will seek to boost Foreign Language Proficiency Pay "substantially" by the end of this year. "Retention rates are lower among military personnel with language skills in some services," a Defense report found.

Pending legislative approval, officials also intend to develop a pilot program for a Civilian Linguist Reserve Corps.

Stinky Study

Never let it be said that the Agricultural Research Service isn't focusing on issues of importance to Americans. Olfactory importance, that is.

"Unmistakable cattle manure odors have become a bigger issue during the last several years as more and more people move from cities and suburbs to rural areas," the agency noted on its Web site in late March.

So scientists at the agency's Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Neb., are "studying beef cattle diets to see if they can change them to reduce unpleasant odors while still raising productive animals."

Telecommuting Calculations

In an effort to increase teleworking, a new Web site allows federal workers to calculate how much money they spend commuting to work.

The Telework Exchange Web site (www.teleworkexchange.com) calculates the annual amount an employee spends traveling to and from work, the percentage of after-tax income spent, and the weight of the pollutants produced from a worker's commute.

The Telework Exchange is funded by four companies serving the federal market: CDW Government Inc., Intel Corp., Citrix and Juniper Networks. O'Keeffe and Co., a marketing and public relations firm, will manage the Web site.

The exchange's advisory board consists of representatives from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management, staff from congressional committees, and industry executives.

The Web site also will include a federal teleworker chat room, a resource center and a newsletter, The Teleworker.

Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, praised the Telework Exchange effort. Using a public-private partnership approach to sharing information, Davis said, "harnesses the power of the industry to get this initiative in gear."