Federal Newscast

The General Services Administration has removed the AbilityOne Commission and National Prison Industries' exception from the Trade Agreements Act for all of its contracts. In a deviation to GSA's acquisition regulations, the agency will now require the commission and all of its non-profits like SourceAmerica and the National Industries for the Blind, to only use products from countries that have existing trade agreements with the U.S. This means there are 78 countries, including China, Vietnam and Thailand, that the AbilityOne Commission and NPI can no longer import products from. This deviation comes on the heels of a letter from GSA to AbilityOne seeking more information about the products they are selling through the schedule contracts.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Up to 400 federal positions can now earn salaries of $400,000. A new final rule from the Office of Personnel Management allows the higher pay rates for hundreds of workers under an authority known as “critical position pay.” The authority is meant to help agencies recruit and retain highly qualified and specialized government workers in mission-critical roles. OPM’s final rule this week aligns with President Donald Trump’s orders earlier this year to use the pay authority for up to 400 national security roles.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal wildland firefighters can now earn higher pay rates for more types of work. A recent final rule from the Office of Personnel Management authorizes a 25% “hazard pay” boost for work on prescribed burns. That’s in addition to firefighters already getting hazard pay when working on uncontrolled wildfires. OPM says the final rule creates “pay parity,” since both types of work involve similar health and safety risks from fire and smoke.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thousands of federal employees who left the government via the deferred resignation program have essentially been replaced. That's according to new data analysis from the Partnership for Public Service. The nonprofit finds that the agency and occupational series for more than 20,000 employees who took the DRP can be matched to a position later filled in the same category. The turnover marks a loss of institutional knowledge and capacity, the Partnership says.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The National Security Agency doesn’t appear to be complying with federal laws that require the agency to outline whistleblower protections in its nondisclosure agreement. The NSA’s inspector general said the agency doesn’t have a central repository of its NDAs or an overarching policy. But for four of the five agreements the IG did find, whistleblower protection notifications were left out entirely. The agency said it has a plan in place to fix the issue.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.