Lawmakers want to take a closer look at how agencies address the problem of improper payments.

Top lawmakers on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee are calling on the government watchdog to take a closer look at how agencies handle the problem of improper payments. They are asking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review what agencies are doing to prevent improper payments and whether they have access to the right data to do the job. The agencies saw a spike in improper payments at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as they distributed nearly $5 trillion in emergency aid. The GAO estimates that the federal government earned more than $200 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2023.
Following false claims that FEMA was suspending hurricane relief, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is offering support to local federal workers. The union that represents FEMA employees said the threats harmed workers’ mental health and well-being. AFGE encourages FEMA employees to report any urgent threats to their supervisors and call 911 if they feel unsafe in any situation. The union also reminds federal authorities of resources available for stress management and mental health services.
The State Department views staffing increases as a key feature of its modernization program. Over the past three years, the department has increased its civil service workforce by more than 20%. This is the biggest surge in hiring in decades. The State Department is also hiring one of the largest classes of new foreign service officers in the last 10 years. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the department needs a more efficient hiring process and a congressional budget deal for the remainder of the fiscal year to fill staffing shortfalls.
Three new members have joined the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) board. The board added Pritha Mehra, chief information officer of the U.S. Postal Service, and Katherine Sickbert, deputy director for technology strategy and monetary affairs at the Federal Reserve Board, as permanent members. He also added Matt Montaño, deputy director of information technology for the National Park Service, as an alternate member. The seven-member TMF Council, chaired by Federal CIO Claire Martorana, reviews proposals and oversees investments to help accelerate agencies’ IT modernization projects.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has appointed its chief artificial intelligence officer. Mark Munsell will serve as NGA’s director of artificial intelligence. He will take on this role and also lead the agency’s data and digital innovation team. Munsell has already played a key role in leading NGA’s key artificial intelligence programs such as Maven. The geospatial agency specializes in using artificial intelligence and machine learning to derive insights from vast volumes of imagery and other data. NGA recently launched a pilot program to accredit GEOINT AI models to ensure they are reliable, secure, and reliable.
The head of the National Archives and Records Administration is reminding agency leaders to be mindful of the federal records law during presidential transitions. In an Oct. 28 letter to agency heads, National Archivist Colleen Shogan outlines their responsibilities under the Federal Records Act. She said records management becomes increasingly important during periods of transition. She says agency leaders should work with records staff to ensure departing employees are aware of record retention requirements.
Six federal contractors are charged with bid rigging, kickbacks and bribery. A federal grand jury in Baltimore indicted six people for their roles in schemes to rig bids, defraud the government, and pay bribes and kickbacks in connection with the sale of IT products and services to federal government buyers. The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and its procurement collusion task force said the defendants’ actions inflated spending by the Department of Defense and other agencies by millions of dollars. The DOJ said executives used their positions to obtain classified, confidential procurement information and developed proposals to artificially determine non-competitive and non-independent prices to obtain contracts. These are the first charges in the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation of IT manufacturers, distributors and resellers.
Many agencies have difficulty recruiting and retaining employees, but in remote parts of the United States it is much more difficult. In Hawaii, Alaska and the U.S. territories, agencies face increased challenges in recruiting and retaining the federal workforce. A recent Government Accountability Office report found that these areas face particular challenges in using pay incentives and encouraging job seekers to apply to USAJobs. These issues could also have a ripple effect, GAO spokeswoman Dawn Locke said. “This can create a lot of workload and have a huge impact not only on existing employees and their growing workloads, but it can also impact customer service and the customer experience,” Locke said in an interview.
The proposal for the Defense Information Systems Agency’s point-to-point enterprise transportation management contract will be released by the end of November. Contract award is scheduled for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025. The contract will support the Pentagon’s day-to-day operations, infrastructure and maintenance of its networks. ETM 2.0 is a complete purchase agreement and small business exclusion. The estimated cost of the contract will be from 100 to 250 million dollars.
The DoD pilot program now covers 51 health conditions that previously disqualified them from military service. A pilot medical entry project allows recruits with disqualifying medical conditions to enlist without being turned away. Kathy Helland, director of military joining policy in the office of the undersecretary for personnel and readiness, said the goal of the pilot is to understand how quickly the department can process applicants with these conditions. “We are seeing mostly positive results and we will continue to monitor the data to make decisions about these conditions and whether we can include them in our standards guidance.”