The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has announced a government-wide freeze on Senior Executive Service (SES) hires effective December 7, 2016. Acting OPM Director Beth Colbert said in a memo issued last week that the freeze will “ensure the incoming head of the agency will have the full opportunity to exercise his or her prerogative [...]
With the end of the current FY2017 Continuing Resolution (CR) set to run out on December 9, Congress appears likely to pass an extension until March 2017. Congressional Republicans, who now control both houses of Congress seem ready to defer action on the final 11 remaining FY2017 appropriations bills until March 2017. There had been [...]
President Obama sent Congress a FY2017 budget amendment request last week that would provide $5.8 billion in additional Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). This funding will support U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Middle East The FY 2017 OCO amendment of $5.8 billion [...]
Presidential transition teams open for business this week at federal agencies to provide for the transition of power to the new administration. A prime subject during transition at the Department of Defense is usually how to make the department run more efficiently and effectively. Each new administration develops its own set of defense management and [...]
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced a set of innovation practices that he said supports DoD’s aggressive move “toward a more innovative future.” Speaking at a conference held by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) conference (Assessing the Third Offset Strategy) last week, Carter said he will implement three of the recommendations made [...]
The Department of Defense has recently released the fourth in a series of annual performance reviews of the DoD acquisition system. Frank Kendall, who has been Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics for five years said the report “continues my long-term effort to bring data-driven decision making to acquisition policy.” Kendall said [...]
The Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced that the final FY2016 federal budget deficit was $587 billion, up $148 billion from FY2015 ($439 billion). The administration had estimated in the annual Mid-Session Review in July that the FY2016 deficit would be $616 billion. This is the first increase in the [...]
Federal civilian retirees are set to receive a 0.3 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2017. Retirees covered under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) will see the increase reflected in their January 2017 payment. This small increase results from continuing low inflation throughout the year, primarily due to [...]
Beginning in November, the probationary period for new civilian hires will be two years instead of one year, the Department of Defense announced this week. In a memorandum to DoD human resources directors, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civilian Personnel Policy Julie Blanks said the change would affect personnel appointed to permanent positions in competitive service [...]
Health Insurance premiums for employees covered under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program will increase an overall average of 4.4 percent in 2016, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced this week. The increase is lower than the 6.4 percent increase registered in 2016, but higher than the increases in 2015 (3.2 percent), 2014 [...]