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Tue, 05 Jul 2022 19:39:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/cropped-icon-512x512-1-60x60.png Management – Federal News Network https://federalnewsnetwork.com 32 32 One sign of women’s progress: A rise in the percentage of copyrights they receive https://federalnewsnetwork.com/people/2022/07/one-sign-of-womens-progress-a-rise-in-the-percentage-of-copyrights-they-receive/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/people/2022/07/one-sign-of-womens-progress-a-rise-in-the-percentage-of-copyrights-they-receive/#respond Tue, 05 Jul 2022 19:39:05 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4135874 var config_4135497 = {"options":{"theme":"hbidc_default"},"extensions":{"Playlist":[]},"episode":{"media":{"mp3":"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/pdst.fm\/e\/chrt.fm\/track\/E2G895\/aw.noxsolutions.com\/launchpod\/federal-drive\/mp3\/070522_Lutes_Waldfogel_web_yjk3_ac4727b2.mp3?awCollectionId=1146&awEpisodeId=adb03981-4634-450e-b0e8-1316ac4727b2&awNetwork=322"},"coverUrl":"https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FD1500-150x150.jpg","title":"One sign of women’s progress: A rise in the percentage of copyrights they receive","description":"[hbidcpodcast podcastid='4135497']nn<em>Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive\u2019s daily audio interviews on\u00a0<\/em><a href="https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/federal-drive-with-tom-temin\/id1270799277?mt=2"><i>Apple Podcasts<\/i><\/a><em>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href="https:\/\/www.podcastone.com\/federal-drive-with-tom-temin?pid=1753589">PodcastOne<\/a>.<\/em>nnIf copyrights are a measure of women's long-term rise in economic participation, trends show progress but still a ways to go. A recent <a href="https:\/\/www.copyright.gov\/policy\/women-in-copyright-system\/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study<\/a> by the U.S. Copyright Office shows that over a 40-year period, women's share of registrations rose from 28%, to 38% in 2020. Joining the\u00a0<a href="https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/category\/temin\/tom-temin-federal-drive\/"><em><strong>Federal Drive with Tom Temin<\/strong><\/em><\/a> with analysis, University of Minnesota business school professor Joel Waldfogel, and Copyright Office chief economist Brent Lutes.nn<em>Interview transcript:<\/em>n<blockquote><strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Professor Waldfogel, good to have you on.nn<strong>Joel Waldfogel: <\/strong>Nice to be here.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>And the Copyright Office Chief Economist Brent Lutes. Brent, good to have you back.nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>Hi Tom, great to be back.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>And let's start with the genesis of this study. What was the purpose of it? And how did it come to be? I guess there was a collaboration here between academia and government, Joel?nn<strong>Joel Waldfogel: <\/strong>Yes, so I spent the last year at the Copyright Office, but it was virtual because of COVID. But as the Kaminstein Scholar, what that means is that I was working on copyright issues, you know, taking time away from my academic appointment, although I was still in my academic appointment. But most of my research is on copyright. So it fit pretty well with what I do. In any event, the question before me was to update some earlier work examining what share of copyrights have been granted to women authors. Last time this was looked at was around 2012. And there had been progress between 1978, 2012. But what had happened in the ensuing eight years, that was my sort of first task. And the answer is that it continues to rise, it had gone from about 28% in 1978, up to over 38% by 2020. And it varies a lot across categories, but that just general growth reflects an increase in women's activity in this area.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>And Brent, the summary of the study references a change in copyright law that happened in the late 1970s. And how does that figure into this?nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>So in a practical sense, the change of copyright law is the point at which we started collecting and retaining data in a digital form that allows us to do this sort of research.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Got it. So you had the database available, therefore, that might not have existed before that, rather, you would have had to go through millions and millions of pieces of paper?nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>That's exactly right.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>All right. And what can we make of this result, there is a substantial 10% statistically significant rise in the number of copyrights granted to women. But if you look at popular culture, and you look at entertainment, and book writing, and songwriting and all of this, it seems like women and men participate equally. So why the disparity do we think in the rate of issuance of copyrights?nn<strong>Joel Waldfogel: <\/strong>Well, copyright covers a variety of different kinds of media. And it is different across different groups. So take the one called nondramatic literary works, but we know it as books. That one of the female share has surpassed 50% in the last few years. In other categories, for example, machine readable computer programs, it's substantially less, although it has risen substantially, it's risen, like by a factor of three over this period. In the copyright topics related to movies and music. It's risen more slowly, and it's on the order of a quarter to a third. But books, I think a big headline result here is that we've surpassed 50%, more than half the authors nondramatic literary works are women.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>All right, interesting. And Brent, what does the say then about the copyright process, if anything?nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>So I think it tells us that I think as you mentioned at the beginning, there's still gender disparities that exist, they're increasing. But I think it also gives us a good framework to understand why those disparities exist, and what are the factors that may propagate them or mitigate them, which I think is an important second step that we intend to look into in the future that will help us develop some very targeted and evidence-based policy.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>We're speaking with Brent Lutes, He's chief economist of the U.S. Copyright Office, and with Professor Joel Waldfogel, at the University of Minnesota, and the ability to create and get items that are available for copyright, of course, begins downstream of the copyright office itself, or maybe it's upstream, but it's not directly in the copyright office. Let's put it that way. So that's not anything the federal government can really control. What might some of the policy options be then to make sure that women do get their fair share?nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>Just to clarify one thing, that we may not directly control the creation of works, the underlying reason why copyrights exist is to incentivize the creation of works in the first place, Joel?nn<strong>Joel Waldfogel: <\/strong>Oh, sure. So let me talk about another kind of headline results of a study. On the one hand, we show that the share of copyright registrations that are to female authors, and that's growing and so forth. But it's not absolutely necessary to register your copyright, it would be desirable in some sense to do so. So there's a different question we asked in this study, which is how does the female share for example of registrations in books relate to the female share of activity in writing books? And same for other these categories? And one of the things that we find it's a little bit I think, thought provoking for us is that basically the registration share lags the activity share based on occupation data by an average about 20%. So women seem to be very possibly less likely to register conditional on creating stuff. Now we say we have to patch that a little bit because the data on activity aren't you know, airtight, but still there's at least a suggestion that there may be some room to go to get more registration, even conditional on having done the work. I should finally mention, though, that that gap, that sort of shortfall has declined over time, it was like 25, 30%, 20 some years ago. Now it's more like 10, 15%. So it's shrinking. But there still is a gap that's worthy of sort of exploration and policy could perhaps encourage registration conditional on having done the creation.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Right, a parallel comes to mind with the Census Bureau, which has to make sure that every population group is counted. And so they have this elaborate and expensive and well developed program of outreach to very small relative communities, but many, many, many of them to make sure that everyone in those communities is counted. So it sounds like the Copyright Office then could develop outreach programs, maybe look at the application process itself in such a way as to garner more so that the activity share gets closer to the registration share, or vice versa. Brent?nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>I think you're right there. And we do have substantial outreach, we're always looking for ways to better target those efforts. And I think this gives us a good source of information and a good way to target those efforts. And to the extent that we can figure out exactly why those registrations are lagging, potentially come up with more targeted policy beyond outreach.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Sure. And any particular forms that might take in mind yet, or you're still evaluating?nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>Like I said, depends on figuring out why they lag, you know, if it's a matter of not understanding the benefits of registering one's copyright, for example, then I think outreach and education would be an appropriate policy for that. But again, I think, you know, as I previously mentioned, the second step of this research is figuring out the why I think Joel did a really good job of figuring out the what once we figure out the why that we can develop the appropriate policy solutions.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>And relative to say, a patent application where there's this very elaborate process of verifying that it actually is patentable, you've got examiners looking for all the prior art, et cetera, et cetera, with a copyright, if you write a novel or you create a computer program, is there any adjudicative of process to ensure that it deserves a copyright? Or is it you apply, and you get it?nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>So it's not quite an apply and receive setup, there are examiners who look through it and make sure that it meets the appropriate criteria. And you know, I'm not an examiner, and I don't know the particulars of what they're looking at, though my understanding is that it is perhaps less intensive than the patent examination process.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>But if I tried to copyright Moon River, it probably wouldn't go through?nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>I doubt it would, because I assumed that the examiners would understand.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Let me ask you this, we have now a good picture and a moving picture over time of women versus men applicants. And I imagine you don't ask racial or other demographic makeup of those that are applying for copyrights. But is it possible to understand some of the other axes of ratios here, say racial or ethnic and so on, that are not asked?nn<strong>Joel Waldfogel: <\/strong>I mean, we can study gender relatively easily because the names are on copyright. And names are very highly correlated with gender. So it's really easy aggregate to say stuff about gender. Race is not there. And there are sort of fancy statistical ways to try to do it. But it's I think it's dicey and unclear. Geography is something that I think will be very study-able.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>nTherefore, there's maybe the opportunity to match geographic against census data. And then perhaps you could have at least a way of extrapolating some potential racial disparities.nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>You're right. We don't have that data, currently. You know, we're exploring ways to potentially get around that fact. But I think as Joel mentioned, some of those ways are a little bit dicey and not credible.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Right. So you couldn't get a statistically supportable picture. But you could get a picture that gives you an idea of where you might need to direct policy or outreach?nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>Yeah, and I think, you know, in some respects, we can get a statistically credible picture. But that picture would be limited, in many ways. So we kind of get perhaps a detailed, significant picture.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Is it possible legally or under regulation to have a voluntary question for copyright applicants?nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>Let me be careful with that, because I'm not a lawyer. I don't want to dispense any sort of legal advice. I'll say that, you know, on the patent side, there's actually a bill in front of Congress, right now trying to understand whether it's appropriate and useful to have such a voluntary survey go with a patent application. And, you know, I think it's worthwhile for the copyright system to also at least start thinking about that. And, you know, at the moment, we don't have plans to ask that of Congress.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>OK. So in the meantime, then this study on female participation in copyrights will be something that the Copyright Office is looking at, and perhaps developing ways to get at and make more equality there?nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>Yeah. And I think we should think of this as not necessarily all of the answers but a very significant first step towards those answers.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Brent Lutes is chief economist of the U.S. Copyright Office. Thanks so much for joining me.nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>Great to be here, Tom.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>And Joel Waldfogel is a business professor at the University of Minnesota behind that study. Thank you very much.nn<strong>Joel Waldfogel: <\/strong>My pleasure. May I add one other thing that I think is also important to mention here?nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Sure.nn<strong>Joel Waldfogel: <\/strong>In addition to doing this study, I think the Copyright Office has also made public for researchers all of these data from 1978 to 2020. This is a huge step forward in transparency and modernization, and it will allow outside researchers, inside researchers to potentially answer questions we haven't figured out yet. So I'm pretty excited about that. I think it's a great accomplishment for the office.nn<strong>Brent Lutes: <\/strong>It's the largest it's most complete data set of copyright ever released anywhere.<\/blockquote>"}};

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

If copyrights are a measure of women’s long-term rise in economic participation, trends show progress but still a ways to go. A recent study by the U.S. Copyright Office shows that over a 40-year period, women’s share of registrations rose from 28%, to 38% in 2020. Joining the Federal Drive with Tom Temin with analysis, University of Minnesota business school professor Joel Waldfogel, and Copyright Office chief economist Brent Lutes.

Interview transcript:

Tom Temin: Professor Waldfogel, good to have you on.

Joel Waldfogel: Nice to be here.

Tom Temin: And the Copyright Office Chief Economist Brent Lutes. Brent, good to have you back.

Brent Lutes: Hi Tom, great to be back.

Tom Temin: And let’s start with the genesis of this study. What was the purpose of it? And how did it come to be? I guess there was a collaboration here between academia and government, Joel?

Joel Waldfogel: Yes, so I spent the last year at the Copyright Office, but it was virtual because of COVID. But as the Kaminstein Scholar, what that means is that I was working on copyright issues, you know, taking time away from my academic appointment, although I was still in my academic appointment. But most of my research is on copyright. So it fit pretty well with what I do. In any event, the question before me was to update some earlier work examining what share of copyrights have been granted to women authors. Last time this was looked at was around 2012. And there had been progress between 1978, 2012. But what had happened in the ensuing eight years, that was my sort of first task. And the answer is that it continues to rise, it had gone from about 28% in 1978, up to over 38% by 2020. And it varies a lot across categories, but that just general growth reflects an increase in women’s activity in this area.

Tom Temin: And Brent, the summary of the study references a change in copyright law that happened in the late 1970s. And how does that figure into this?

Brent Lutes: So in a practical sense, the change of copyright law is the point at which we started collecting and retaining data in a digital form that allows us to do this sort of research.

Tom Temin: Got it. So you had the database available, therefore, that might not have existed before that, rather, you would have had to go through millions and millions of pieces of paper?

Brent Lutes: That’s exactly right.

Tom Temin: All right. And what can we make of this result, there is a substantial 10% statistically significant rise in the number of copyrights granted to women. But if you look at popular culture, and you look at entertainment, and book writing, and songwriting and all of this, it seems like women and men participate equally. So why the disparity do we think in the rate of issuance of copyrights?

Joel Waldfogel: Well, copyright covers a variety of different kinds of media. And it is different across different groups. So take the one called nondramatic literary works, but we know it as books. That one of the female share has surpassed 50% in the last few years. In other categories, for example, machine readable computer programs, it’s substantially less, although it has risen substantially, it’s risen, like by a factor of three over this period. In the copyright topics related to movies and music. It’s risen more slowly, and it’s on the order of a quarter to a third. But books, I think a big headline result here is that we’ve surpassed 50%, more than half the authors nondramatic literary works are women.

Tom Temin: All right, interesting. And Brent, what does the say then about the copyright process, if anything?

Brent Lutes: So I think it tells us that I think as you mentioned at the beginning, there’s still gender disparities that exist, they’re increasing. But I think it also gives us a good framework to understand why those disparities exist, and what are the factors that may propagate them or mitigate them, which I think is an important second step that we intend to look into in the future that will help us develop some very targeted and evidence-based policy.

Tom Temin: We’re speaking with Brent Lutes, He’s chief economist of the U.S. Copyright Office, and with Professor Joel Waldfogel, at the University of Minnesota, and the ability to create and get items that are available for copyright, of course, begins downstream of the copyright office itself, or maybe it’s upstream, but it’s not directly in the copyright office. Let’s put it that way. So that’s not anything the federal government can really control. What might some of the policy options be then to make sure that women do get their fair share?

Brent Lutes: Just to clarify one thing, that we may not directly control the creation of works, the underlying reason why copyrights exist is to incentivize the creation of works in the first place, Joel?

Joel Waldfogel: Oh, sure. So let me talk about another kind of headline results of a study. On the one hand, we show that the share of copyright registrations that are to female authors, and that’s growing and so forth. But it’s not absolutely necessary to register your copyright, it would be desirable in some sense to do so. So there’s a different question we asked in this study, which is how does the female share for example of registrations in books relate to the female share of activity in writing books? And same for other these categories? And one of the things that we find it’s a little bit I think, thought provoking for us is that basically the registration share lags the activity share based on occupation data by an average about 20%. So women seem to be very possibly less likely to register conditional on creating stuff. Now we say we have to patch that a little bit because the data on activity aren’t you know, airtight, but still there’s at least a suggestion that there may be some room to go to get more registration, even conditional on having done the work. I should finally mention, though, that that gap, that sort of shortfall has declined over time, it was like 25, 30%, 20 some years ago. Now it’s more like 10, 15%. So it’s shrinking. But there still is a gap that’s worthy of sort of exploration and policy could perhaps encourage registration conditional on having done the creation.

Tom Temin: Right, a parallel comes to mind with the Census Bureau, which has to make sure that every population group is counted. And so they have this elaborate and expensive and well developed program of outreach to very small relative communities, but many, many, many of them to make sure that everyone in those communities is counted. So it sounds like the Copyright Office then could develop outreach programs, maybe look at the application process itself in such a way as to garner more so that the activity share gets closer to the registration share, or vice versa. Brent?

Brent Lutes: I think you’re right there. And we do have substantial outreach, we’re always looking for ways to better target those efforts. And I think this gives us a good source of information and a good way to target those efforts. And to the extent that we can figure out exactly why those registrations are lagging, potentially come up with more targeted policy beyond outreach.

Tom Temin: Sure. And any particular forms that might take in mind yet, or you’re still evaluating?

Brent Lutes: Like I said, depends on figuring out why they lag, you know, if it’s a matter of not understanding the benefits of registering one’s copyright, for example, then I think outreach and education would be an appropriate policy for that. But again, I think, you know, as I previously mentioned, the second step of this research is figuring out the why I think Joel did a really good job of figuring out the what once we figure out the why that we can develop the appropriate policy solutions.

Tom Temin: And relative to say, a patent application where there’s this very elaborate process of verifying that it actually is patentable, you’ve got examiners looking for all the prior art, et cetera, et cetera, with a copyright, if you write a novel or you create a computer program, is there any adjudicative of process to ensure that it deserves a copyright? Or is it you apply, and you get it?

Brent Lutes: So it’s not quite an apply and receive setup, there are examiners who look through it and make sure that it meets the appropriate criteria. And you know, I’m not an examiner, and I don’t know the particulars of what they’re looking at, though my understanding is that it is perhaps less intensive than the patent examination process.

Tom Temin: But if I tried to copyright Moon River, it probably wouldn’t go through?

Brent Lutes: I doubt it would, because I assumed that the examiners would understand.

Tom Temin: Let me ask you this, we have now a good picture and a moving picture over time of women versus men applicants. And I imagine you don’t ask racial or other demographic makeup of those that are applying for copyrights. But is it possible to understand some of the other axes of ratios here, say racial or ethnic and so on, that are not asked?

Joel Waldfogel: I mean, we can study gender relatively easily because the names are on copyright. And names are very highly correlated with gender. So it’s really easy aggregate to say stuff about gender. Race is not there. And there are sort of fancy statistical ways to try to do it. But it’s I think it’s dicey and unclear. Geography is something that I think will be very study-able.

Tom Temin:
Therefore, there’s maybe the opportunity to match geographic against census data. And then perhaps you could have at least a way of extrapolating some potential racial disparities.

Brent Lutes: You’re right. We don’t have that data, currently. You know, we’re exploring ways to potentially get around that fact. But I think as Joel mentioned, some of those ways are a little bit dicey and not credible.

Tom Temin: Right. So you couldn’t get a statistically supportable picture. But you could get a picture that gives you an idea of where you might need to direct policy or outreach?

Brent Lutes: Yeah, and I think, you know, in some respects, we can get a statistically credible picture. But that picture would be limited, in many ways. So we kind of get perhaps a detailed, significant picture.

Tom Temin: Is it possible legally or under regulation to have a voluntary question for copyright applicants?

Brent Lutes: Let me be careful with that, because I’m not a lawyer. I don’t want to dispense any sort of legal advice. I’ll say that, you know, on the patent side, there’s actually a bill in front of Congress, right now trying to understand whether it’s appropriate and useful to have such a voluntary survey go with a patent application. And, you know, I think it’s worthwhile for the copyright system to also at least start thinking about that. And, you know, at the moment, we don’t have plans to ask that of Congress.

Tom Temin: OK. So in the meantime, then this study on female participation in copyrights will be something that the Copyright Office is looking at, and perhaps developing ways to get at and make more equality there?

Brent Lutes: Yeah. And I think we should think of this as not necessarily all of the answers but a very significant first step towards those answers.

Tom Temin: Brent Lutes is chief economist of the U.S. Copyright Office. Thanks so much for joining me.

Brent Lutes: Great to be here, Tom.

Tom Temin: And Joel Waldfogel is a business professor at the University of Minnesota behind that study. Thank you very much.

Joel Waldfogel: My pleasure. May I add one other thing that I think is also important to mention here?

Tom Temin: Sure.

Joel Waldfogel: In addition to doing this study, I think the Copyright Office has also made public for researchers all of these data from 1978 to 2020. This is a huge step forward in transparency and modernization, and it will allow outside researchers, inside researchers to potentially answer questions we haven’t figured out yet. So I’m pretty excited about that. I think it’s a great accomplishment for the office.

Brent Lutes: It’s the largest it’s most complete data set of copyright ever released anywhere.

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From costumes to cake, agencies honor Independence Day https://federalnewsnetwork.com/people/2022/07/from-costumes-to-cake-agencies-honor-independence-day/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/people/2022/07/from-costumes-to-cake-agencies-honor-independence-day/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2022 20:07:09 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4134405 Across the federal government, agencies are celebrating the Fourth of July. This year’s holiday falls on a Monday, giving many in the federal workforce a long weekend. Of course, there are also many federal employees working today to keep the rest of us safe. We have collected some images shared by agencies across the government and consolidated them here.

First off, the National Parks Service posted this on their Twitter account reminding everyone of all the monuments and parks that they manage. This evening, the National Mall, managed by NPS, will be host to fireworks in Washington, DC.

The armed forces also wished everyone a great holiday:

Elsewhere in the government, the National Archives and Records Administration celebrated in style. Pictured below is the Acting Archivist of the United States, Debra Steidel Wall standing with a few costumed colonists.

National Archives photo

In Boston, the USS Constitution set sail in celebration of Independence Day.

U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alec Kramer

In Poznan, Poland, U.S. soldiers celebrated with lunch and a cake.

U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Hassani Ribera
U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Hassani Ribera

In Asunción, Paraguay, Marines prepared for an Independence Day celebration at the U.S. Embassy.

U.S. Embassy Asunción photo

 

 

 

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Federal Sustainability Plan ‘rebuilding’ momentum on green government goals https://federalnewsnetwork.com/facilities-construction/2022/07/federal-sustainability-plan-rebuilding-momentum-on-green-government-goals/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/facilities-construction/2022/07/federal-sustainability-plan-rebuilding-momentum-on-green-government-goals/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2022 19:26:10 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4134478 The Biden administration expects upcoming sustainability standards for federal buildings will put agencies on the path to meeting some of President Joe Biden’s green government goals.

Federal Chief Sustainability Officer Andrew Mayock said last week that the administration’s Federal Sustainability Plan will put the federal government “back in a position where we’re leading by example” on climate goals for the private sector to emulate.

“The government basically sat out sustainability for four years, and at best, things stayed in place, and at worst, we went backward. So we’re in a rebuilding phase and a learning phase,” Mayock said on June 28 at the Federal Sustainability Forum, hosted by the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and the Digital Climate Alliance.

President Biden, as part of an executive order he signed last year, expects agencies to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across all federal operations by 2050. That includes a 65% reduction by 2030.

“We’re not getting where we need to go, unless we focus on how we scale. And how we scale is through technology,” Mayock said.

Melanie Nakagawa, special assistant to the president and senior director for climate and energy at the National Security Council, said the leadership of at least 20 agencies is committed to implementing the administration’s clean-energy goals across the federal government.

“It’s really hard to find a department or agency that isn’t willing to take the call or engage,” Nakagawa said.

While agencies with the biggest climate impact are moving ahead on the administration’s sustainability goals, Mayock said the Federal Sustainability Plan focuses on making green initiatives a top priority governmentwide.

“We need to start acting and delivering as an enterprise, versus the deeply federated federal government that we are today. There are lots of efficiencies and lots of actions that we can take when we work better and more closely together,” he said.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality in May launched an interagency task force with the General Services Administration, the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency to develop the first-ever Federal Building Performance Standards.

The standards will establish metrics, targets and tracking methods to reach federal carbon emissions goals. Mayock said the standards, which he said will be publicly released in two or three months, will set standard performance goals across more than 300,000 federal buildings.

“The ways that we’ve executed this sustainability plan and past versions of it over past administrations, that didn’t speak to the decarbonization moment that we’re in today,” Mayock said.

While the administration is making government more sustainable where possible, several administration officials said some federal climate goals will rely more on cooperation with the private sector.

Mayock said emerging sustainability technologies, for example, will be crucial to meeting some of the federal government’s climate goals.

“A lot of the technology, but not all of the technology, is where we want to be. How do we handle that moment in the marketplace to make progress now, while we’re all pushing for the technology that we need to be delivered along the pathway?” Mayock said.

Tanuj Deora, CEQ’s director for clean energy, said the administration is trying to use its collective buying power to support sustainable energy industries but is also trying to overcome supply constraints in the market for goods like electric vehicles.

“We don’t want to be consumptive of the market’s ability to supply. We don’t want to crowd out other folks who are trying to invest. I know with electric vehicles right now, one of the biggest challenges GSA has is that the vehicles just aren’t available,” Deora said.

Deora said a pandemic-era shortage of semiconductor chips has limited the supply of all vehicles, including electric vehicles, for federal agencies to purchase.

White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator under the Obama administration, said last year that less than 1% of the federal fleet is plug-in electric vehicles, and that agencies bought only 200 electric vehicles in 2020.

Kinga Hydras, a sustainable program design expert with GSA’s Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings, said electrifying the federal fleet also impacts plans to improve the energy efficiency of federal buildings.

“It’s not just buying the vehicles, it’s also creating the infrastructure and doing it in a smart way.  Now that it all plugs into our federal building portfolio, then how does that impact our energy consumption? How do we go about partnering with the utilities in the servicing markets, and maybe utilize the electric vehicle fleet as backup power. A lot of questions, a lot of opportunities out there,” Hydras said.

Hydras said GSA’s federal building portfolio within the Washington, D.C. metro area has reduced energy consumption by 60% through integrated energy retrofit projects.

GSA manages a portfolio of 370 million rentable square feet of space for more than a million federal employees. Its Federal Acquisition Service, meanwhile, oversees about $75 billion worth of annual contracts.

“We are all in it together. As most federal agencies and large organizations have silos, we do have silos too, but this aggressive goal brought us all together,” Hydras said.

The Energy Department, meanwhile, partnering with GSA to spend $13 million to retrofit and upgrade 17 federal facilities to reduce emissions and energy costs.

“We believe technology is way ahead. We see in the marketplace the technology’s there. We need to be smart about implementing and using everything in our tool house,” Hydras said.

Hydras pointed to the New Carrollton Federal Building as an example of a successful retrofit project. The building went through upgrades between 2012 to 201, which reduced the building’s energy consumption by 62% and cut water consumption in half.

Deora said federal agencies can better leverage data to find more buildings that stand to benefit the most from these sustainable upgrades, much like the New Carrollton Federal Building.

“It’s just a great example. There was one great value case, how can we take that and then replicate that and make that system-wide? We need to think about the value stack from not just energy or storage or whatever, but from the data itself,” Deora said.

The Biden administration is also looking to accelerate the pace of federal permitting and environmental reviews for thousands of infrastructure projects under the $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The White House in May released a permitting action plan outlining ways agencies can ensure infrastructure spending projects remain on time and on budget.

However, Cole Simons, a policy adviser for Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said that more federal permitting reforms to are needed to prevent wasteful infrastructure spending.

“We need to eliminate some of the duplicity that is in the process. We’ve got issues right now, where Army Corps [of Engineers] says yes. Six months later, the EPA drops in and says ‘Just kidding, no,’ and there’s already been steel put in the ground, or there’s already been a process started, that just creates more waste, both from having already started a process and having to end it and you’re just like, ‘Well, what do we do with stuff that’s already there?’ as well as a lot of financial waste and a lot of uncertainty provided to anybody who seeks to develop in the U.S,” Simons said.

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VP and second gentleman visit fire station in California https://federalnewsnetwork.com/fed-photo-of-the-day/2022/07/media/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/fed-photo-of-the-day/2022/07/media/#comments Mon, 04 Jul 2022 14:00:26 +0000 https://federalnewsradio.com/?p=1877262

Vice President Kamala Harris, and second gentleman, Douglas Emhoff, middle, visit Fire Station No. 2 in Santa Monica, Calif., on Saturday, July 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Fireworks explode behind a C-130J Super Hercules at Yokota Air Base, Japan, July 4, 2022. The fireworks show was part of the Independence Day celebration hosted by the 374th Force Support Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo by Machiko Arita)

A visitor walks inside the National Gallery of Art’s East Building, Thursday, June 30, 2022, in Washington. First opened to the public on June 1, 1978, the East Building reopened Thursday following a four-month closure to accommodate the replacement of its Atrium skylight. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health, Admiral Rachel Levine, center, speaks after having attended a roundtable on gender-affirming care and transgender health, along with Tatiana Williams, left, CEO, founder and Executive Director of Transinclusive Group, and Arianna Inurritegui-Lint, right, CEO and founder of Arianna’s Center, Wednesday, June 29, 2022, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

In Vung Ro Bay, Vietnam, Cmdr. Stephanie Bedzis, right, from Guam, and Lt. Cmdr. Carolyn Gosztyla, perform a laparoscopic surgery aboard Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) during Pacific Partnership 2022 (PP22). The Pacific Partnership is the largest annual multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo/Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Shamira Purifoy)

Vice President Kamala Harris, right, ceremonially swears-in Ambassador Bridget Brink as the Ambassador to Ukraine, as Brink’s husband, Nicholas Higgins, holds the constitution and Bible, in the Vice President’s Ceremonial office, Monday, June 27, 2022, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. At left is their son, Cole Higgins. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The National Labor Relations Board’s top prosecutor, Jennifer Abruzzo, poses for a portrait at National Labor Relations Board headquarters in Washington. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades)

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken participates in a G7 Ministerial meeting in Berlin, Germany, on June 24, 2022. (State Department photo by Ron Przysucha)

Office of Personnel Management Director Kiran Ahuja meets with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and a group of firefighters at the USDA to acknowledge their service. (OPM photo)

Shenandoah Youth Corps picking up trash on Old Rag Summit at Shenandoah National Park. (National Park Service Photo)

The superstructure of the future USS Basilone and a crane are seen on Saturday, June 18, at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. The christening of a Navy destroyer on Saturday highlighted the sacrifices of two generations — the ship’s namesake killed in World War II and another Marine who died more than 60 years later. The future USS Basilone bears the name of a Marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor before his death on Iwo Jima. (AP Photo/David Sharp)

Deputy Agriculture Secretary Dr. Jewel Bronaugh leads a mental health awareness walk and talk with Agriculture Department employees around the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on June 15, 2022. (USDA photo/Tom Witham)

Vehicles block the entrance to Yellowstone National Park, a major tourist attraction now closed due to the historic floodwaters, Wednesday, June 15, 2022, in Gardiner, Mont. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

The Strawberry Supermoon rises in front of the Statue of Liberty in New York, late Tuesday, June 14, 2022. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on June 13, 2022. (State Department Photo/Ron Przysucha)

NASA astronaut Megan McArthur speaks to students during a visit to Arlington Science Focus Elementary School, Friday, June 10, 2022, in Arlington, Virginia. (NASA photo/Aubrey Gemignani)

U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Zachary Heimbuch, 17th Training Wing public affairs specialist, photographs a training exercise at the Louis F. Garland Department of Defense Fire Academy, Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas, June 9, 2022. Heimbuch documented the exercise for his on-the-job training and to obtain his 5-level certification. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Abbey Rieves)

A greeter waits for delegates to arrive to the red carpet prior to the opening ceremony of the Summit of the Americas, Wednesday, June 8, 2022, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Navy Vice Adm. John Mustin, chief of Navy Reserve and commander of Navy Reserve Force, shakes hands with retired Chief Petty Officer Bill Norberg, a Battle of Midway veteran, during an event in Washington, June 6, 2022, to mark the World War II battle’s 80th anniversary. Mustin’s great-grandfather, Capt. George Murray, fought alongside Norberg as the commander of the USS Enterprise. (Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Oliver Serna)

As a part of the 2022 Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City, the Bureau of Land Management participated in the parade with the Agriculture Department and National Park Service. (BLM Utah photo/Javonne Goodman)

The NASA Artemis rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard leaves the Vehicle Assembly Building moving slowly to pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, Monday, June 6, 2022, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. While at the pad the rocket and Orion spacecraft will undergo tests to verify systems and practice countdown procedures. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Workers walk at the end of the workday on the site of a facility being constructed to treat nuclear waste, Thursday, June 2, 2022, during a tour of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Richland, Wash. by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. Inslee, who has recently criticized the slow pace of cleaning up waste at the facility, repeated his message Thursday that more federal money is needed to finish the job. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

President Joe Biden participates in a change of command ceremony at U.S. Coast Guard headquarters, Wednesday, June 1, 2022, in Washington. From left, Adm. Steven Poulin, Vice Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden, Adm. Karl L. Schultz, outgoing Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, and Adm. Linda Fagan, incoming Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The Mendenhall Glacier, located in Tongass National Forest, is pictured on Monday, May 30, 2022, in Juneau, Alaska. One way to access the glacier is by a hiking trail that is popular in the warmer-weather months. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)

President Joe Biden stands at attention after laying a wreath at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, 2022, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Valeesa Rush, from Kansas City, Kan., takes photos while visiting her grandparent’s grave at Leavenworth National Cemetery on the eve of Memorial Day, Sunday, May 29, 2022, in Leavenworth, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

A midshipman adjusts another midshipman’s uniform as they wait for the U.S. Naval Academy’s graduation and commissioning ceremony to begin at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md., Friday, May 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Boeing and NASA teams work around Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft after it landed at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system’s capabilities. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

An American flag flies at half-staff at the White House, Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in Washington, to honor the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Philip Jefferson, right, takes the oath of office to become a member of the Federal Reserve Board, Monday, May 23, 2022, in Washington. Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell, at left, administered the oath. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Crew members of a C-17 begins to unload a plane load of baby formula at the Indianapolis International Airport in Indianapolis, Sunday, May 22, 2022. The 132 pallets of Nestlé Health Science Alfamino Infant and Alfamino Junior formula arrived from Ramstein Air Base in Germany (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter flies near the Pentagon, Thursday, May 19, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that will launch Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station stands ready on launch complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, May 18, 2022. The launch is scheduled for Thursday evening. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

The new hats and shoulder bars for the graduates sit on a table before the start of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s 141st Commencement Exercises Wednesday, May 18, 2022 in New London, Conn. (AP Photo/Stephen Dunn)

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during her first press briefing as press secretary at the White House in Washington, Monday, May 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on May 16, 2022. (State Department photo by Ron Przysucha)

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas attends the 2022 Customs and Border Protection Honor Memorial event at the Woodrow Wilson Plaza. A memorial wreath was dedicated to the memory of fallen CBP officers. (DHS Photo by Zachary Hupp)

A U.S. Marine Corps band plays as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stands with United Kingdom Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace during an honor cordon ceremony, upon his arrival at the Pentagon, Wednesday, May 11, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A formerly sunken boat sits high and dry along the shoreline of Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Tuesday, May 10, 2022, near Boulder City, Nev. The bathtub ring of light minerals shows the high water mark of the reservoir which has fallen to record lows. (AP Photo/John Locher)

First lady Jill Biden walks towards her plane as she prepares to depart the Bratislava “M. R. Stefanik” Airport in Slovakia, Monday, May 9, 2022. Biden is returning home to Washington after visiting Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)

A local vendor keeps produce dry during the opening of the 25th season for the United States Department of Agriculture Farmer’s Market at USDA in Washington, D.C. on Friday, May 6, 2022. USDA photo by Tom Witham.

A great horned owl nesting at the Phoenix District’s Weaver Mountain Fire and Aviation Facility in Wickenburg, Ariz. (Bureau of Land Management photo)

President Joe Biden stands for the national anthem during an event with members of Team USA from the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, May 4, 2022, in Washington. From left, first lady Jill Biden, Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta listens to questions during a news conference at O’Hare International Airport, Monday, Nov. 21, 2005, in Chicago. Mineta, who broke racial barriers for Asian Americans serving in high-profile government posts and ordered commercial flights grounded after the 9/11 terror attacks as the nation’s federal transportation secretary, died Tuesday, May 3, 2022. He was 90. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby speaks as he stands on a step stool, accompanied by U.S. military tour guides, during a media briefing at the Pentagon, Monday, May 2, 2022, in Washington. Kirby announced tours of the Pentagon will be resuming. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

NASA astronaut Victor Glover talks with school students at the conclusion of an educational event, Thursday, April 28, 2022, at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. Glover most recently served as pilot and second-in-command on the Crew-1 SpaceX Crew Dragon, named Resilience, which landed after a long duration mission aboard the International Space Station, May 2, 2021. (NASA photo by Bill Ingalls)

Commodore Philip Nash, left, of the British Royal Navy, gets a briefing from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist Andrea Farmer on Thursday, April 28, 2022, in Savannah, Ga., about 19 cannons recovered from the Savannah River, that experts suspect came from one or more British ships scuttled in the river during the American Revolution in 1779. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)

Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Kennedy Lunavasquez, from Los Angeles, prepares to load ammunition into a .50 caliber machine gun during a live-fire exercise aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Javier Reyes)

The pallbearers, all former members of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s Diplomatic Security Service and protective detail from her time as both U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and as Secretary of State, wait for the arrival of her casket at the Washington National Cathedral for a funeral service in Washington, Wednesday, April 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Dr. Timothy M. Reed, a U.S. Army civilian microbiologist from the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives Analytical and Remediation Activity (CARA), tests samples using the MinION Detection Software, an offline bioinformatics tool that interfaces between genomic information and maps it to a library. The tool gives CARA the capability to sequence everything in a sample and identify unknowns using entire libraries of microorganisms that contains hundreds of thousands of different organisms and species. (U.S. Army photo by Christopher Seliga)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken boards a plane for departure, Saturday, April 23, 2022, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. The Biden administration has unveiled new U.S. military assistance and a diplomatic surge for Ukraine as Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made a secrecy-shrouded visit to the capital of Kyiv. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

Ranger showing off Yellowstone’s new junior ranger badge. (National Park Service photo by Jacob W. Frank)

Retired NASA astronaut Charlie Duke, 86, discusses the 50th anniversary of his trip to the moon aboard Apollo 16 in Huntsville, Ala., on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. The capsule is housed at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, located near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A during a brief static fire test ahead of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission, Wednesday, April 20, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ( Joel Kowsky/NASA via AP)

A traveler makes their way through a security ID and ticket check at Love Field in Dallas, Tuesday, April 19, 2022. The major airlines and many of the busiest airports dropex their requirements after a Florida judge struck down the CDC mandate and the Transportation Security Administration announced it wouldn’t enforce its 2021 security directive. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Giant pandas Mei Xiang, left and her cub Xiao Qi Ji eat a fruitsicle cake in celebration of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, 50 years of achievement in the care, conservation, breeding and study of giant pandas at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, Saturday, April 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Soldiers conduct an airborne operation in Pordenone, Italy, April 12, 2022. (Army photo by Paolo Bovo)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, left, presents certificates to a team from the U.S. Coast Guard, as he awards 20 employees of the Department of Homeland Security for outstanding contributions, Wednesday, April 13, 2022, at Coast Guard Air Station Miami, in Opa-locka, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

The 2022 Interagency Wildland Fire Briefing was held April 11, 2022 at the Jeffco Airtanker Base in Broomfield, Colo. (USDA photo)

Henry Stone, center, Project Manager for the Psyche mission, stands in front of the spacecraft at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Monday, April 11, 2022, in Pasadena, Calif. The Psyche is scheduled to launch later this year out of Cape Canaveral, Fla. The spacecraft will orbit an asteroid, also named Psyche, in 2026 to study its properties. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, right, stands with Indian Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh, left, during an arrival ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Joe Biden and Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson watch as the Senate votes on her confirmation from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, joins members of UNITE HERE Local 23, which represents dining and cafeteria workers in the Senate and Capitol Visitor Center, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 6, 2022. Brown spoke in support of the dining workers who serve lawmakers and congressional staff. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

In this image provided by U.S. Capitol Police, a fox looks out from a cage after being captured on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in Washington. (U.S. Capitol Police via AP)

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III participates in an unveiling ceremony of a bronze bust in his likeness, at the State Department, Monday, April 4, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)

Members of the crew’s first watch look out from the USS Delaware, Virginia-class fast-attack submarine, during a commissioning ceremony at the Port of Wilmington in Wilmington, Del., Saturday, April 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

“Jeopardy!” champion Amy Schneider speaks with members of the press in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, March 31, 2022, in Washington. Schneider was visiting the White House to participate in Transgender Day of Visibility. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Expedition 66 NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei is carried to a medical tent shortly after he and fellow crew mates Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos landed in their Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. Vande Hei and Dubrov are returning to Earth after logging 355 days in space as members of Expeditions 64-66 aboard the International Space Station. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)

A National Park Service employee stands inside an open warehouse door. Supply technicians like Sarah manage and distribute supplies used by employees and visitors alike at Glacier National Park. (National Park Service photo)

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken visits David Ben Gurion Memorial National Park with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on March 28, 2022, in Sde Boker, Israel. (State Department Photo by Freddie Everett)

NASA Astronaut Office Representative, astronaut Drew Feustel, left, and Roscosmos Executive director of Human Spaceflight Programs Sergei Krikalev, give autographs to children from a local orphanage, Monday, March 28, 2022, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. (NASA photo by Bill Ingalls)

A public safety dispatcher works at her desk at Glacier National Park. Dispatch works to keep visitors and staff safe by responding to calls and emergencies. (National Park Service photo)

Visitors walk under American flags flying at half-staff in remembrance of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the Washington Monument in Washington, Thursday, March 24, 2022. Albright, a child refugee from Nazi- and then Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe who rose to become the first female secretary of state, died at age 84 on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

A military aide carries the “President’s emergency satchel,” also known as “the football,” which contains nuclear launch codes, before boarding Marine One behind President Joe Biden on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, March 23, 2022, in Washington. Biden is traveling to Europe to meet with World counterparts on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Senior Airman William Ferguson, 911th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, prepares to service the liquid oxygen of a C-17 Globemaster III at the Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station, March 21, 2022. Liquid oxygen is routinely serviced to ensure aircrew have breathable oxygen while flying. (U.S. Air Force photo by Joshua J. Seybert)

The NASA Artemis rocket, right, with the Orion spacecraft aboard leaves the Vehicle Assembly Building moving slowly on an 11 hour journey to launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, March 17, 2022. While at the pad the rocket and Orion spacecraft will undergo tests to verify systems and practice countdown procedures. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

The national flag of Ireland flies from Blair House, the official government guest house, across the street from the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 17, 2022. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin learned he had positive for COVID-19 while attending an event Wednesday evening with U.S. leaders, including President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., according to a senior administration official. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

A response boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Curtis Bay monitors the 1,095-foot motor vessel Ever Forward, which became grounded in the Chesapeake Bay, March 13, 2022. The Coast Guard and Maryland Department of the Environment are coordinating the refloating of the container ship. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Kimberly Reaves)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Ivorian Prime Minister Patrick Achi on March 14, 2022, in Washington. (State Department Photo by Freddie Everett)

Soldiers with the U.S. Army’s 87th Division Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Division Sustainment Brigade, board a chartered plane during their deployment to Europe, Friday, March 11, 2022, at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga. The unit is attached to the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division out of Fort Stewart, Ga., and will join the 3,800 troops who already deployed in support of NATO in Eastern Europe. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack visits the Cargill-Westgo Grain Elevator and port facility near New Orleans, at Nine Mile Point, Louisiana, on March 10, 2022. On the left is a cargo ship being loaded with grain and bound for Japan. (USDA photo by Lance Cheung)

U.S. Geological Survey staff sand “tree cookies” to study growth over time at Glacier National Park in Montana. (National Park Service Photo)

A member of the U.S. Air Force opens a door on Air Force One prior to President Joe Biden stepping off at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, Tuesday, March 8, 2022, in Fort Worth, Texas. Biden is in Fort Worth to address access to health care and benefits for veterans affected by military environmental exposures. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

U.S. Capitol Police Officers gather to talk, on Capitol Hill Monday, March 7, 2022 in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Vice President Kamala Harris marches on the Edmund Pettus Bridge after speaking in Selma, Ala., on the anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” a landmark event of the civil rights movement, Sunday, March 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Bison feeding near Mud Volcano at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. (National Park Service photo by Jacob W. Frank)

An Air Force pilot conducts preflight checks before takeoff at Lakenheath Air Base, England, Feb. 27, 2022. The Air Force is supporting NATO missions in eastern Europe. (Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jacob Wongwai)

President Joe Biden delivers his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in Washington as Vice President Kamala Harris and House speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., look on. (Shawn Thew/Pool via AP)

Operations Specialist 2nd Class Darazhea Bledsoe assigned to patrol coastal ship USS Typhoon (PC 5) stands at parade rest during the ship’s decommissioning ceremony Feb. 28 at Naval Support Activity Bahrain. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Dawson Roth)

A barrier is placed behind a security fence in preparation for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks after President Joe Biden announced Jackson as his nominee to the Supreme Court in the Cross Hall of the White House, Feb. 25, 2022, in Washington. Biden will deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, March 1. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

The United States delivers 32,400 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses to the Bahamas on February 16, 2022. (U.S. government photo/ Public Domain)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., boards the Senate subway after a Republican strategy meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. McConnell told reporters that debate over a government funding bill will be worked out and there’s “no danger of a shutdown.” (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Members of the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army clean weaponry ahead of deployment to Poland from Fort Bragg, N.C. on Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. They are among soldiers the Department of Defense is sending in a demonstration of American commitment to NATO allies worried at the prospect of Russia invading Ukraine. (AP Photo/Nathan Posner)

Presidential Armed Forces Full Honor wreath-laying ceremony in honor of Abraham Lincoln on the 213th anniversary of his birth is held at the Lincoln Memorial, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Airmen play volleyball during a leadership event at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, Feb. 9, 2022. (Air Force photo by Senior Airman JaNae Jensen)

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken participates in an Aboriginal heritage walk in Melbourne, Australia, on February 10, 2022. (State Department photo by Ron Przysucha)

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialist examines a box of imported flowers for harmful pests, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022, at Miami International Airport in Miami. The airport expects an average of 300,000 flower stems to be imported daily before Valentine’s Day, from Jan. 1 to Feb. 15. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, (D-Calif.), center, and members of House and Senate hold a moment of silence for 900,000 American lives lost to COVID-19, on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

A counterfeit Vince Lombardi Trophy is set up on display a day prior to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection media event held ahead of Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles. (CBP Photo by Arthur Rangsitpol)

U.S. Army soldiers from the 18th Airborne Division line up to board a C-17 aircraft as they deploy to Europe Feb. 3, 2022 from Fort Bragg, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Damian Spielmaker, a student in the Cold Water Ice Diving course, prepares to dive in the water tank at the Minnesota School of Diving, Minnesota. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jessica Fontenette)

Aerographer’s Mate 1st Class Andrew Thomas, from Surprise, Ariz., fights a simulated fire during damage control training aboard the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Tulsa. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Devin M. Langer)

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby speaks at a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Monday, Jan. 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin greets Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, right, during an honor cordon upon his arrival at the Pentagon in Washington, Monday, Jan. 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)

The bronze and marble Ulysses S. Grant Memorial by Henry Merwin Shrady is located by the reflecting pool at the east end of the National Mall, west of the United States Capitol. At the ends of the monument, groups of soldiers and horses appear in tumultuous action, with cavalry at the north and artillery at the south. In the Artillery Group, soldiers struggle to steer a cannon into position, but the team of three horses lunges and twists as the lead horse, reacting to a broken bridle, rears uncontrollably. (Photo by the Architect of the Capitol)

Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer holds up a copy of the United States Constitution as he announces his retirement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

In this image provided by the U.S. Air Force, a 436th Aerial Port Squadron ramp services Airman stages a cargo loader with palletized ammunition, weapons and other equipment bound for Ukraine during a foreign military sales mission at Dover Air Force Base, Del., on Jan. 24, 2022. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $5.4 billion in total assistance to Ukraine, including security and non-security assistance. (Roland Balik/U.S. Air Force via AP)

Aviation Structural Mechanic 1st Class Cari McPheeters signals an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the “Blackjacks” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21 during flight operations aboard the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Charleston. Charleston, part of Destroyer Squadron 7, is on a rotational deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operation to enhance interoperability with partners and serve as a ready-response force in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan M. Breeden)

A woman walks past the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. The State Department is ordering the families of all American personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv to leave the country and allowing non-essential staff to leave Ukraine. The move comes amid heightened fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine despite talks between U.S. and Russian officials. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ensign Alison Dunbar acts as the helicopter control officer and coordinates with the bridge and landing signalman officer for the launch of a MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 51 from the deck of the USS Dewey while conducting routine underway operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Benjamin A. Lewis)

President Joe Biden leaves after a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv, Ukraine, on January 19. (State Department photo/Ron Przysucha)

An F/A-18E Super Hornet, assigned to the “Golden Dragons” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 192, launches off flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, Jan. 17, 2022. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Megan Alexander)

In a long exposure photo, snowplow lights streak past the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. Ceremonies scheduled for the site on Monday, to mark the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, have been canceled because of the weather. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi at the State Department in Washington. (State Department Photo by Freddie Everett)

NASA James Webb Space Telescope Mission Operations Manager Carl Starr shows his mission shirt as the agency prepares to monitor the progress of the observatory’s second primary mirror wing rotating into position. (NASA photo by Bill Ingalls)

A U.S. Joint Forces bearer team carries the flag-draped casket of former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., into the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol where he will lie in state, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022, in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool via AP)

A tunnel inside the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility is seen in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Jan. 26, 2018. The U.S. Navy will comply with Hawaii’s order to remove fuel from a massive underground storage tank facility near Pearl Harbor blamed for contaminating drinking water, officials said Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. (U.S. Navy via AP, File)

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, left, and Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov attend security talks at the United States Mission in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Jan. 10, 2022. (Denis Balibouse/Pool via AP)

PHILIPPINE SEA (Jan. 7, 2022) Sailors conduct equipment checks on an F/A 18F Super Hornet assigned to the “Bounty Hunters” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 2 aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), Jan. 7, 2022. The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability through alliances and partnerships while serving as a ready-response force in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Joshua Sapien)

President Joe Biden speaks from Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol to mark the one year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol by supporters loyal to then-President Donald Trump, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022, in Washington. (Jabin Botsford//The Washington Post via AP, Pool)

NPR White House Correspondent and White House Correspondent Association Vice President Tamara Keith tapes signs up restricting the number of reporters who can sit in the Briefing Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, as part of increased Covid-19 restrictions due to the Omicron surge. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

A winter storm delivers heavy snow to the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Machinist’s Mate (Nuclear) 1st Class Kayla Matos, from Brooklyn, N.Y., receives a COVID-19 booster shot in the hangar bay aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). Though not mandatory, the Navy recommends all Navy personnel receive the COVID-19 vaccine booster. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Lake Fultz)

National Park Service photo by Diane Renkin

Government Publishing Office Pre-Press Manager Francine “Renee” Rosa retires after 37 years of service. (GPO office photo)

Here it is: humanity’s final look at the James Webb Space Telescope as it heads into deep space to answer our biggest questions. Alone in the vastness of space, Webb will soon begin an approximately two-week process to deploy its antennas, mirrors, and sunshield. This image was captured by the cameras on board the rocket’s upper stage as the telescope separated from it. The Earth hover in the upper right. Credit: Arianespace, ESA, NASA, CSA, CNES

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken tours the Johns Hopkins University Executive Medicine Center, a center of excellence that has been treating those who have reported Anomalous Health Incidents, in Baltimore, MD, on December 21, 2021. (State Department photo by Ron Przysucha)

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III delivers the oath of office at the swearing in ceremony at the Pentagon for Adm. Christopher W. Grady as the 12th Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dec. 20, 2021. (DoD Photo by Chad J. McNeeley)

PHILIPPINE SEA (Dec. 16, 2021) Sailors transport a torpedo on the fantail of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG 65). Benfold is assigned to Commander, Task Force (CTF) 71/Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, the Navy’s largest forward-deployed DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet’s principal surface force. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Arthur Rosen)

Shown here is a side view of NGC 3568, a barred spiral galaxy roughly 57 million light-years away. In 2014, the light from a supernova explosion in NGC 3568 reached Earth – a sudden flare of light indicating the death of a massive star. The supernova was discovered by amateur astronomers with the Backyard Observatory Supernova Search in New Zealand. (Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Sun)

Paratroopers participate in a division run along Long Street during the All American Run on Fort Bragg, N.C. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Vincent Levelev)

Michael Regan, who leads the Enviromental Protection Agency, returned to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the nation’s largest Historically Black Collegee or University, to deliver remarks in front of graduates.

First Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden delivers remarks alongside Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro during a holiday event at Submarine Veterans Inc. Club in Groton, Conn., Dec. 9, 2021. Biden is in Connecticut to meet with crew spouses and family members of the Virginia-class fast attack submarine USS Delaware (SSN 791), for which she serves as the ship’s sponsor. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Petty Officer Joshua Karsten)

Washington, D.C. (December 13, 2021) Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas swears in Chris Magnus as the new Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (DHS Photo by Benjamin Applebaum)

U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Pedro Padilla (left), an aircraft ordnance chief with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 112, inspects an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile on an F/A-18A Hornet aircraft at Hyakuri Air Base, Japan, Dec. 8, 2021. U.S. Marines with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 112 are working with Japan Air Self-Defense Force personnel at Hyakuri Air Base as part of the Aviation Training Relocation program to strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Booker T. Thomas III)

Maj. Chris Walsh, a special tactics officer assigned to the 24th Special Operations Wing and the Air Force’s World Class Athlete Program and Staff Sgt. Matt Beach, a combat controller assigned to the 22nd Special Tactics Squadron, pose for a portrait Nov. 28, 2021 in Park City, Utah. For the first time, two special tactics Airmen competed together at the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation North American Cup for a chance to represent Team USA at the Olympics. (Photo courtesy of the Air Force)

A Pearl Harbor survivor renders a salute during a ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. military, State of Hawaii and National Park Service are hosting a series of remembrance events throughout the week to honor the courage and sacrifices of those who served throughout the Pacific theater. Today, the U.S.-Japan Alliance is a cornerstone of peace and security in a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Kelby Sanders)

Office of Personnel Management Director Kiran Ahuja and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland volunteer at the Anacostia Watershed Society’s Nash Run Trash Trap cleanup in Washington, D.C. (Office of Personnel Management)

The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree is a time-honored tradition of more than 50 years. Once decorated, the tree will be lit from nightfall until 11:00 p.m. each evening through January 1, 2022. (Thomas Hatzenbuhler/Architect of the Capitol Photo Branch)

Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, Commander, Naval Surface Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, salutes Capt. Amy M. McInnis during USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000), change of command ceremony. Capt. Amy M. McInnis assumed command from Capt. Gary L. Cave as Zumwalt’s commanding officer. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Alex Millar)

State and federal elected officials and senior military leaders join families, friends and fellow Soldiers to mark the official start of federal active duty for Task Force Red Dragon Nov. 27, 2021, at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia. More than 1,000 Virginia and Kentucky Army National Guard Soldiers are mobilizing as Task Force Red Dragon to provide security in support of Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa. (U.S. National Guard photo by Cotton Puryear)

Sailors assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford partake in a Thanksgiving dinner with their shipmates, families and friends on the ship Nov. 25, 2021. Ford is in port Newport News Shipyard in support of her Planned Incremental Availability (PIA), a six-month period of modernization, maintenance and repairs. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class William Spears)

This year’s selection, a 84-foot white fir, was harvested on October 23 and arrived at the U.S. Capitol on November 19 after traveling cross-country by truck. Upon arrival at the U.S. Capitol, the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) Capitol Grounds and Arboretum team secures the tree and decorates it with thousands of handcrafted ornaments from the people of California. (Photo credit: Thomas Hatzenbuhler/AOC Photo Branch)

The 505th Command and Control Wing graduated the fifth class of Multi-Domain Warfare Officers, also known by their Air Force Specialty Code-designator “Thirteen Oscar”, during a livestreamed ceremony at Hurlburt Field, Florida, Nov. 19. The Multi-Domain Warfare Officer career field was created in line with the Chief of Staff of the Air Force’s vision to develop dedicated operational-level command and control, or C2, experts responsible for integrating joint and coalition capabilities across multiple warfighting domains. (National Guard photo by Keith Keel)

A U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II fighter jet performs during the California International Airshow in Salinas, California, Oct. 30, 2021. The F-35A, produced by Lockeed Martin, is a fifth generation multi-role fighter platform. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Andrew D. Sarver)

NASA’s Crew 1 meets with U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond and tours the Pentagon on Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021. They also brought along the Space Force flag, which orbited Earth during their mission in space. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Chad Trujillo)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta at a civil society roundtable at the Sankara Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021. Blinken is on a five-day African trip to Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal. (State Dept. Photo)

Retired Maj. Gen. Randy Castro was presented the Gold Order of the de Fleury Medal by Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon, USACE Commanding General and 55th Chief of Engineers, and Command Sgt. Maj. Patrickson Toussaint. The Army Engineer Association on behalf of the Engineer Regiment awards the de Fleury Medal to honor individuals who have provided significant contributions to Army engineering. (Photo by Jake Pope)

Autumn view of the Teton Range from Blacktail Ponds at Wyoming’s Grand Teon National Park. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service)

An honored farewell. Members of the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) provide funerary honors for U.S. Army Gen. Colin Powell. (Arlington National Cemetery/Elizabeth Fraser)

U.S. Army Major Gen. Chaplain Thomas Solhjem, left, U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Chaplain Randall Kitchens, and U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Chaplain Brent Scott salute after a prayer to conclude a centennial commemoration event at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in Arlington National Cemetery, Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Black Oaks, located on the Mountaintop Ranger District, begin changing colors off Highway 38 in Angelus Oaks, California, November 2021. (USDA Forest Service photo by Lisa Cox)

Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1919, William Turner knew as a little boy that he would one day travel the world. (Photo courtesy of VAntage Point)

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USPS meets financial health goal, falls short on delivery, CX targets in FY 2021 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2022/07/usps-meets-financial-health-goal-falls-short-on-delivery-cx-targets-in-fy-2021/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2022/07/usps-meets-financial-health-goal-falls-short-on-delivery-cx-targets-in-fy-2021/#respond Fri, 01 Jul 2022 20:27:51 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4132927 The Postal Service’s regulator said the agency met its financial health target last fiscal year, the latest sign that USPS’ long-term financial situation is improving.

However, the Postal Regulatory Commission, in its analysis of USPS’ fiscal 2021 annual performance report, found USPS fell short on most of its delivery performance and customer service targets.

The report finds USPS fell short on seven delivery targets, meeting only its targets for marketing mail and periodicals, even after lowering the targets in light of the pandemic’s expected impact on service.

USPS fell short of most of its FY 2021 performance targets, despite lowering those scores anywhere from 2.81% to more than 26%.

“While it is important that targets not be so aspirational as to be unachievable, it is equally important that they serve to inspire improvement, and that they are not set so low as to be unreasonable for purposes of evaluating whether the high-quality service performance goal was achieved,” the commission wrote.

https://www.prc.gov/docs/122/122180/FY%202021%20Report%20FY%202022%20Plan.pdf
USPS fell short on seven delivery targets, meeting only its targets for marketing mail and periodicals, even after lowering the targets in light of the pandemic’s expected impact on service (Source: Postal Regulatory Commission)

The commission’s public representative noted this marks the fourth year in a row that USPS has declined across every category.

USPS said its performance in fiscal 2021 came down to poor peak season performance, employee absenteeism, reduced supplier capacity, and weather and natural disaster disruptions.

Other reports show USPS has shown improvement since FY 2021. The agency’s inspector general’s office recently found that earlier than usual preparations for the FY 2022 holiday season improved overall performance.

USPS said its level of service in FY 2021 “was undeniably impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” and service performance improved over the course of the fiscal year.

USPS noted that across its 50 districts, 13 processing divisions, 13 logistics divisions and headquarters, 22 units had a least one month in FY 2021 where employee availability fell below 70%.

USPS said employee availability was greater for mail processing personnel than for delivery services or customer service employees.

The agency said its 10-Year strategic plan has put the agency on a path to overcoming its long-standing financial, service and operational challenges.

Despite failing to achieve most of its targets, the Postal Service highlighted its prioritization of election and mail-in ballots in FY 2021.

The commission praised USPS for taking what the agency has referred to as “extraordinary measures,” such as allowing extra transportation and overtime, to ensure the on-time delivery of mail-in ballots.

“These efforts were undertaken notwithstanding the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, in furtherance of the vital role the Postal Service plays in the American democratic process,” the commission wrote.

The commission notes performance indicators began to show improvement in the second quarter of fiscal 2021, but said it remains to be seen “whether this represents real year-over-year improvement or simply a return to the pattern of seasonal variation that was typical prior to the outreach of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The commission urges USPS to implement the inspector general office’s recommendations to better recruit truck drivers and increase the efficiency of truck trips.

It also recommends that USPS reduces critically late trips in districts with the highest concentrations of them, and to develop more effective, quantifiable ways to measure improvements to service.

USPS missed six of eight customer experience performance targets, and only met targets for its business service network and its customer care center.

“The commission commends the Postal Service for its efforts to keep up with private sector and other federal agencies by engaging with customers on social media and using social media to evaluate CX and obtain other insights,” the commission wrote.

“The Postal Service’s efforts to respond to customer inquiries on social media in FY 2021 are commendable given the small number of staff available to address customer questions and issues.”

The commission recommends USPS hire more customer experience employees and deploy automation tools to address challenges.

The commission said USPS customer experience targets are reasonable for fiscal 2022.

USPS met its total accident rate target for the third year in a row, but missed survey response rate targets.

If the survey response rate continues to decline in FY 2022, the commission recommends USPS investigate and address the root cause of the declining rate of employees filling out its Postal Pulse survey.

 

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How Health and Human Services is helping with the medical emergency in Ukraine https://federalnewsnetwork.com/people/2022/07/how-health-and-human-services-is-helping-with-the-medical-emergency-in-ukraine/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/people/2022/07/how-health-and-human-services-is-helping-with-the-medical-emergency-in-ukraine/#respond Fri, 01 Jul 2022 18:40:40 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4132765 var config_4132458 = {"options":{"theme":"hbidc_default"},"extensions":{"Playlist":[]},"episode":{"media":{"mp3":"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/pdst.fm\/e\/chrt.fm\/track\/E2G895\/aw.noxsolutions.com\/launchpod\/federal-drive\/mp3\/070122_Pace_web_v6s0_a571f950.mp3?awCollectionId=1146&awEpisodeId=78cbb0b9-05e9-477d-9d6e-ec1ca571f950&awNetwork=322"},"coverUrl":"https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FD1500-150x150.jpg","title":"How Health and Human Services is helping with the medical emergency in Ukraine","description":"[hbidcpodcast podcastid='4132458']nn<em>Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive\u2019s daily audio interviews on\u00a0<\/em><a href="https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/federal-drive-with-tom-temin\/id1270799277?mt=2"><i>Apple Podcasts<\/i><\/a><em>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href="https:\/\/www.podcastone.com\/federal-drive-with-tom-temin?pid=1753589">PodcastOne<\/a>.<\/em>nnThe United States is helping Ukraine militarily, but only indirectly. When it comes to health care for the besieged Ukrainians, the aid and cooperation are more direct. Much of the work falls to the Health and Human Services Department. Joining the\u00a0<a href="https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/category\/temin\/tom-temin-federal-drive\/"><em><strong>Federal Drive with Tom Temin<\/strong><\/em><\/a> with an update, the HHS assistant secretary for global affairs, Loyce Pace.nn<em>Interview transcript:<\/em>n<blockquote><strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> Ms. Pace, good to have you with us.nn<strong>Loyce Pace: <\/strong>It's great being here. Tom, thanks very much for having me.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> And what is going on with respect to Health and Human Services in Ukraine? And who are some of the partners that you're working with? And what are some of the components of HHS that are doing the work?nn<strong>Loyce Pace: <\/strong>Well, first off the war in Ukraine and Russia's aggression there is really unconscionable. One of the things that we noticed really early on was that our friends and partners in Ukraine would really have to keep track of who required and health services not only sort of acute needs, such as trauma care, and the life resulting from the war and conflict, but even tracking diseases, particularly infectious diseases, like Polio, like COVID, like tuberculosis and HIV.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> So you're dealing with a country where people are being injured in great numbers because of the war. But also, it sounds like a country that is in the first place not quite up to world class standards, in terms of health care tracking, and systems delivery.nn<strong>Loyce Pace: <\/strong>Well, they've been able to do a lot on their own, and with the support of our Centers for Disease Control with the support of European partners, so we have to, obviously give the government in Ukraine a lot of credit, especially for continuing that work during the war. But yes, Ukraine, for example, has some of the higher rates of HIV in Europe. And unfortunately, that means that people living with HIV might not have access to those treatments and other services that they require in the midst of a conflict.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> Sure. And so the conflict, I guess it might be obvious, but it has done a lot to interrupt what they had in place as a health care delivery system.nn<strong>Loyce Pace: <\/strong>That's right. That's right.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> And what are some of the specific activities HHS has going on in Ukraine?nn<strong>Loyce Pace: <\/strong>Well, one of the things our Centers for Disease Control is doing is they are working with staff that continue to be on the ground, at least remaining in the region on shoring up the public health network. So CDC has been active in Ukraine, for a number of years, we have a director who was posted in Ukraine is from the region. And we also have other locally employed staff. And so they remain active, even if they're, unfortunately displaced themselves because of what's happening there. They continue to work with the Ministry of Health in Ukraine, and other national public health institutes or partners to ensure those disease surveillance activities are ongoing, and also assist Ukraine in preparing for the worst, whether that, again, is around traumatic injuries in care, or more broadly, around other potential events that could affect the health care of their people.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> And what is the staff there reporting back? I didn't realize we had actual U.S. federal employees in harm's way in Ukraine, on the civilian side, and what are they telling you the conditions are like?nn<strong>Loyce Pace: <\/strong>I think it's been tough. I mean, these people, these are people who have really, we've lived through a lot. And I have to give credit to particularly our government employees who serve all over the world, including at the Department of Health, they work in many different settings, whether that's in the midst of a disease outbreak in the midst of an environmental disaster, or in this case, in conflict and war. And I think they've reported that while their partners and collaborative agencies and individuals are resilient, it's still quite tough to manage it all, obviously. And I think they are, you know, keeping up their spirits and momentum as much as possible. And certainly they appreciate the relationship that they have with agencies across the U.S. government, but also with other partners like WHO (World Health Organization), UNICEF and nonprofit organizations.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> And is CDC, the only agency of HHS, are there other parts working there?nn<strong>Loyce Pace: <\/strong>That's our main boots on the ground. But our Office of Global Affairs is playing a pretty significant role as well, particularly with regards to understanding not only from the ministry, but from the WHO regional office in Europe, again, what the needs are today and what they could be tomorrow. And naturally, there are other parts of the U.S. government who are definitely playing a lead role in Ukraine, including our Department of State and our U.S. Agency for International Development. So it's an all of government effort along with and guided by the leadership within the White House.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> We are speaking with Loyce Pace. She's the assistant secretary for Global Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services. And while we have you there has been an ongoing effort of HHS to ensure pandemic relief around the world through the distribution of vaccines and so forth. Maybe update us on what is going on there. I understand that some of the antiviral medicines are starting to run out, you know, supplies in the United States?nn<strong>Loyce Pace: <\/strong>Well, certainly HHS continues to be focused on the domestic COVID response. Internationally, we are doing so as well. And alongside some of those U.S. government partners that I mentioned already, the reality is, we still need everyone to be vaccinated and boosted against this disease, we know that the vaccines work and they're helpful, especially at this phase of the virus, which is still ongoing as a pandemic. And as a global crisis, particularly in other parts of the world. We are hovering under 70% here in the U.S., and in some cases, those percentages are low. But when you look around the world, particularly on the African continent, they still have vaccination rates in the teens and 20s. And so it's much lower than what we see here, significantly lower than what's been achieved in parts of Europe, and even in parts of Asia and Latin America. And the reality is, unless and until we can get the world vaccinated, the more we'll be sort of flying back from or fighting against the virus as it stands today.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> All right. And while we have you also, then we should maybe just talk about the Secretariat for Global Affairs within HHS, give us a sense of the scope, is it a discrete office, or that function really does overall?nn<strong>Loyce Pace: <\/strong>Well, we sit within the Office of the Secretary, it's an office that has existed in some form for several decades, actually. But it's taken a few different iterations. And it's evolved over time. It's current structure has been in place, maybe for the past 20 years. And essentially, we have two functions. We are representing the secretary and HHS divisions and offices globally, and we're ensuring that our interests and those of the American people are reflected in those programs and services worldwide. We're even bringing back from those international engagements, ideas or interest in how we work together with countries around the world on really important public health problems, whether that's around cancer research, or other outbreak surveillance and prevention, or plenty of other issues in the public health space. But another important role that we play is we also try and drive the agenda globally. And so our secretary of Health is an important representative when it comes to sitting with other health ministers who are members of the G7, or the G20. He also sits around the table with health ministers or secretaries at the World Health Organization and their annual convenings. And so we at our Office of Global Affairs also work with other divisions across the department to really inform those discussions and global priorities.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> And you mentioned HIV, which is still maybe more prevalent in places like Ukraine. And you mentioned also USAID in the State Department. And they have programs because I think it's understood that we have mostly licked HIV AIDS with respect to growth, Ebola, Polio, and a host of other viral types of things in the United States. And I think we sometimes forget, these are still prevalent and growing in some cases, and dangerous in other parts of the world. So sounds like you're kind of in arms with USAID and state on a number of issues.nn<strong>Loyce Pace: <\/strong>Yeah, to some degree. I mean, it's really important to keep in mind how many fights are happening at once and credit to our various divisions for keeping that in mind themselves. And, frankly, you know, not always getting credit for the disasters, they prevent, in the fact that we haven't seen it. A major resurgence of Polio is credited to our CDC. The fact that we've been able to stamp out Ebola outbreaks in the African region and other potential outbreaks is again credit to our colleagues here at HHS. And so oftentimes, we don't know or don't have the best sense of our success, but it's certainly a matter of juggling a number of balls, knowing how important it is to focus on public health. And I'm really grateful to work in a department that understands that and is really leading the way around the world.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> Sometimes it's hard to prove a negative. Loyce Pace is the assistant secretary for Global Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services. Thanks so much for joining me.nn<strong>Loyce Pace: <\/strong>Thanks very much, Tom. I appreciate it.<\/blockquote>"}};

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

The United States is helping Ukraine militarily, but only indirectly. When it comes to health care for the besieged Ukrainians, the aid and cooperation are more direct. Much of the work falls to the Health and Human Services Department. Joining the Federal Drive with Tom Temin with an update, the HHS assistant secretary for global affairs, Loyce Pace.

Interview transcript:

Tom Temin: Ms. Pace, good to have you with us.

Loyce Pace: It’s great being here. Tom, thanks very much for having me.

Tom Temin: And what is going on with respect to Health and Human Services in Ukraine? And who are some of the partners that you’re working with? And what are some of the components of HHS that are doing the work?

Loyce Pace: Well, first off the war in Ukraine and Russia’s aggression there is really unconscionable. One of the things that we noticed really early on was that our friends and partners in Ukraine would really have to keep track of who required and health services not only sort of acute needs, such as trauma care, and the life resulting from the war and conflict, but even tracking diseases, particularly infectious diseases, like Polio, like COVID, like tuberculosis and HIV.

Tom Temin: So you’re dealing with a country where people are being injured in great numbers because of the war. But also, it sounds like a country that is in the first place not quite up to world class standards, in terms of health care tracking, and systems delivery.

Loyce Pace: Well, they’ve been able to do a lot on their own, and with the support of our Centers for Disease Control with the support of European partners, so we have to, obviously give the government in Ukraine a lot of credit, especially for continuing that work during the war. But yes, Ukraine, for example, has some of the higher rates of HIV in Europe. And unfortunately, that means that people living with HIV might not have access to those treatments and other services that they require in the midst of a conflict.

Tom Temin: Sure. And so the conflict, I guess it might be obvious, but it has done a lot to interrupt what they had in place as a health care delivery system.

Loyce Pace: That’s right. That’s right.

Tom Temin: And what are some of the specific activities HHS has going on in Ukraine?

Loyce Pace: Well, one of the things our Centers for Disease Control is doing is they are working with staff that continue to be on the ground, at least remaining in the region on shoring up the public health network. So CDC has been active in Ukraine, for a number of years, we have a director who was posted in Ukraine is from the region. And we also have other locally employed staff. And so they remain active, even if they’re, unfortunately displaced themselves because of what’s happening there. They continue to work with the Ministry of Health in Ukraine, and other national public health institutes or partners to ensure those disease surveillance activities are ongoing, and also assist Ukraine in preparing for the worst, whether that, again, is around traumatic injuries in care, or more broadly, around other potential events that could affect the health care of their people.

Tom Temin: And what is the staff there reporting back? I didn’t realize we had actual U.S. federal employees in harm’s way in Ukraine, on the civilian side, and what are they telling you the conditions are like?

Loyce Pace: I think it’s been tough. I mean, these people, these are people who have really, we’ve lived through a lot. And I have to give credit to particularly our government employees who serve all over the world, including at the Department of Health, they work in many different settings, whether that’s in the midst of a disease outbreak in the midst of an environmental disaster, or in this case, in conflict and war. And I think they’ve reported that while their partners and collaborative agencies and individuals are resilient, it’s still quite tough to manage it all, obviously. And I think they are, you know, keeping up their spirits and momentum as much as possible. And certainly they appreciate the relationship that they have with agencies across the U.S. government, but also with other partners like WHO (World Health Organization), UNICEF and nonprofit organizations.

Tom Temin: And is CDC, the only agency of HHS, are there other parts working there?

Loyce Pace: That’s our main boots on the ground. But our Office of Global Affairs is playing a pretty significant role as well, particularly with regards to understanding not only from the ministry, but from the WHO regional office in Europe, again, what the needs are today and what they could be tomorrow. And naturally, there are other parts of the U.S. government who are definitely playing a lead role in Ukraine, including our Department of State and our U.S. Agency for International Development. So it’s an all of government effort along with and guided by the leadership within the White House.

Tom Temin: We are speaking with Loyce Pace. She’s the assistant secretary for Global Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services. And while we have you there has been an ongoing effort of HHS to ensure pandemic relief around the world through the distribution of vaccines and so forth. Maybe update us on what is going on there. I understand that some of the antiviral medicines are starting to run out, you know, supplies in the United States?

Loyce Pace: Well, certainly HHS continues to be focused on the domestic COVID response. Internationally, we are doing so as well. And alongside some of those U.S. government partners that I mentioned already, the reality is, we still need everyone to be vaccinated and boosted against this disease, we know that the vaccines work and they’re helpful, especially at this phase of the virus, which is still ongoing as a pandemic. And as a global crisis, particularly in other parts of the world. We are hovering under 70% here in the U.S., and in some cases, those percentages are low. But when you look around the world, particularly on the African continent, they still have vaccination rates in the teens and 20s. And so it’s much lower than what we see here, significantly lower than what’s been achieved in parts of Europe, and even in parts of Asia and Latin America. And the reality is, unless and until we can get the world vaccinated, the more we’ll be sort of flying back from or fighting against the virus as it stands today.

Tom Temin: All right. And while we have you also, then we should maybe just talk about the Secretariat for Global Affairs within HHS, give us a sense of the scope, is it a discrete office, or that function really does overall?

Loyce Pace: Well, we sit within the Office of the Secretary, it’s an office that has existed in some form for several decades, actually. But it’s taken a few different iterations. And it’s evolved over time. It’s current structure has been in place, maybe for the past 20 years. And essentially, we have two functions. We are representing the secretary and HHS divisions and offices globally, and we’re ensuring that our interests and those of the American people are reflected in those programs and services worldwide. We’re even bringing back from those international engagements, ideas or interest in how we work together with countries around the world on really important public health problems, whether that’s around cancer research, or other outbreak surveillance and prevention, or plenty of other issues in the public health space. But another important role that we play is we also try and drive the agenda globally. And so our secretary of Health is an important representative when it comes to sitting with other health ministers who are members of the G7, or the G20. He also sits around the table with health ministers or secretaries at the World Health Organization and their annual convenings. And so we at our Office of Global Affairs also work with other divisions across the department to really inform those discussions and global priorities.

Tom Temin: And you mentioned HIV, which is still maybe more prevalent in places like Ukraine. And you mentioned also USAID in the State Department. And they have programs because I think it’s understood that we have mostly licked HIV AIDS with respect to growth, Ebola, Polio, and a host of other viral types of things in the United States. And I think we sometimes forget, these are still prevalent and growing in some cases, and dangerous in other parts of the world. So sounds like you’re kind of in arms with USAID and state on a number of issues.

Loyce Pace: Yeah, to some degree. I mean, it’s really important to keep in mind how many fights are happening at once and credit to our various divisions for keeping that in mind themselves. And, frankly, you know, not always getting credit for the disasters, they prevent, in the fact that we haven’t seen it. A major resurgence of Polio is credited to our CDC. The fact that we’ve been able to stamp out Ebola outbreaks in the African region and other potential outbreaks is again credit to our colleagues here at HHS. And so oftentimes, we don’t know or don’t have the best sense of our success, but it’s certainly a matter of juggling a number of balls, knowing how important it is to focus on public health. And I’m really grateful to work in a department that understands that and is really leading the way around the world.

Tom Temin: Sometimes it’s hard to prove a negative. Loyce Pace is the assistant secretary for Global Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services. Thanks so much for joining me.

Loyce Pace: Thanks very much, Tom. I appreciate it.

]]>
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Agencies aren’t always capable of investigating their own whistleblower complaints https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2022/06/agencies-arent-always-capable-of-investigating-their-own-whistleblower-complaints/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2022/06/agencies-arent-always-capable-of-investigating-their-own-whistleblower-complaints/#respond Thu, 30 Jun 2022 17:22:36 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4130059 var config_4130484 = {"options":{"theme":"hbidc_default"},"extensions":{"Playlist":[]},"episode":{"media":{"mp3":"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/pdst.fm\/e\/chrt.fm\/track\/E2G895\/aw.noxsolutions.com\/launchpod\/federal-drive\/mp3\/063022_Tobias_web_c5ru_e3be3f37.mp3?awCollectionId=1146&awEpisodeId=92e663d2-88be-4543-8259-0f55e3be3f37&awNetwork=322"},"coverUrl":"https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FD1500-150x150.jpg","title":"Agencies aren’t always capable of investigating their own whistleblower complaints","description":"[hbidcpodcast podcastid='4130484']nn<em>Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive\u2019s daily audio interviews on\u00a0<\/em><a href="https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/federal-drive-with-tom-temin\/id1270799277?mt=2"><em>Apple Podcast<\/em>s<\/a><em>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href="https:\/\/www.podcastone.com\/federal-drive-with-tom-temin?pid=1753589">PodcastOne<\/a>.<\/em>nnFederal employee whistleblower complaints are often investigated by the agency itself, rather than by the Office of Special Counsel. This can speed up resolutions or end up with complaints going nowhere or even suppressed. Bob Tobias, a professor in the Key Executive Leadership Program at American University, has looked into this question. He joined the\u00a0<a href="https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/category\/temin\/tom-temin-federal-drive\/"><strong><em>Federal Drive with Tom Temin<\/em><\/strong><\/a> with some perspective.nn<em>Interview transcript:<\/em>n<blockquote><strong>Tom Temin:\u00a0<\/strong>And, Bob, it seems that there is no one perfect way to deal with whistleblowers but having the agency do it internally doesn't always work out, does it?nn<strong>Bob Tobias:<\/strong> It does not. Former President Trump in 2017 argued in an executive order that the Department of Veteran Affairs should be allowed to investigate the whistleblower complaints internally, in the interest of resolving them faster and more efficiently. And then the executive order was later turned into a statute. But that approach, I think, runs into the real challenge of what it means to investigate internally. Because what it requires is a focused attention and support a political appointees who are willing to hear bad news, see bad news published in newspapers and on social media, accept responsibility for the bad news, and then take action to turn the bad news to good news.nn<strong>Tom Temin:\u00a0<\/strong>But let me just ask this: In some agencies, it is the inspector general's office that looks at whistleblower complaints. And we've seen that even at VA, and so therefore, you do have some independence there. And the inspector general doesn't care if the news is bad.nn<strong>Bob Tobias:<\/strong> Well, yes, theoretically, Tom, but when we do have a recent evidence of the [Department of Homeland Security] inspector general, who suppressed over 10,000 DHS employee sexual assault complaints, and when it was discovered, Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas created a new, centralized process for processing employee complaints. But I ask in the long term, will that work because maybe the next secretary of DHS will use the idea of centralized decision-making to suppress those complaints in the future?nn<strong>Tom Temin:\u00a0<\/strong>Right, so then having an external body like the Office of Special Counsel, you run into the issue of just sheer workload, sheer time it takes and as we've seen so many adjudicative types, or investigative types of processes by federal agencies internally or externally just take so long.nn<strong>Bob Tobias:<\/strong> Well, I think the answer to that, Tom, is to beef up the Office of Special Counsel, rather than to depend on the long term, on political appointees meeting that high bar of allowing themselves to look bad. While there may be individual political appointees who accept responsibility for the failure of those they lead, and more importantly, for their own failures, we can't depend on every political appointee over the long term, to meet that bar.nn<strong>Tom Temin:\u00a0<\/strong>We're speaking with Bob Tobias, professor in the Key Executive Leadership Program at American University. And I guess it's understandable why some politicals would want to avoid this. There was a administrator of the GSA a number of years ago, I think, early in the Obama administration, and I remember the scandal of the expensive Las Vegas conferences that GSA was doing. And it was a scandal. And you had a crooked bunch running this thing, and taking junkets paid for out to Las Vegas to check the venue, three or four times. And there was the famous picture of the guy with the wine glass in the bathtub and all of this. But it was the administrator that took the fall, even though this all occurred entirely before she even arrived at the agency. And so her career was sullied and her reputation to some degree, even though she had literally nothing to do with it.nn<strong>Bob Tobias:<\/strong> Well, that's true. Because what can happen in that kind of a situation is a culture of noncompliance can develop. And in a culture of noncompliance, the people in charge suppress any complaints and continue to behave as you just described. So in my view, the only way of managing and as in the case, you pointed out, someone who was innocent, but took the hit is to encourage an outside investigative authority like the Office of Special Counsel to do its work, but do it faster.nn<strong>Tom Temin:\u00a0<\/strong>Right, because really, it was not fair for this person to take the hit for that and she exposed it and said, we really made a big mistake here. Which was gracious of her but it really wasn't that person's mistake. And so that, again, you're saying mitigates in favor of external look at these events entirely.nn<strong>Bob Tobias:<\/strong> I think so, Tom, I think so. There isn't any evidence anywhere over the long term of successful looking internally at oneself by political appointees, finding fault and fixing that fault.nn<strong>Tom Temin:\u00a0<\/strong>But I want to get back to the inspector general question because, yes, IG's are also politically appointed. But their purpose in life is to have this external, or at least objective, outside-of-the-agency chain of command view of things, no matter how bad they might be. So why can't IG's step up more here?nn<strong>Bob Tobias:<\/strong> They can, and they should. But it only provides for me proof of the fact that no, we can't depend on every political appointee to be fault free. And the only way we can make sure that it doesn't occur is to have, not only is to have the Office of Special Counsel be able to investigate problems in IG offices as well.nn<strong>Tom Temin:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, that question I think is probably going to be resolved not for quite a while because the whistleblower complaints come in. And I think this is going to be something we were going to deal with for a while.nn<strong>Bob Tobias:<\/strong> Well, I think it is. But I think it's also true that when you have a over-2-million-person workforce, there are going to be people who fail to follow the laws, rules and regulations, to make sure that these complaints get surfaced and an employee's career is not damaged for surfacing these problems.nn<strong>Tom Temin:\u00a0<\/strong>All right, Bob Tobias is a professor in the Key Executive Leadership Program at American University. Thanks so much.nn<strong>Bob Tobias:<\/strong> Thank you, Tom.<\/blockquote>"}};

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

Federal employee whistleblower complaints are often investigated by the agency itself, rather than by the Office of Special Counsel. This can speed up resolutions or end up with complaints going nowhere or even suppressed. Bob Tobias, a professor in the Key Executive Leadership Program at American University, has looked into this question. He joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin with some perspective.

Interview transcript:

Tom Temin: And, Bob, it seems that there is no one perfect way to deal with whistleblowers but having the agency do it internally doesn’t always work out, does it?

Bob Tobias: It does not. Former President Trump in 2017 argued in an executive order that the Department of Veteran Affairs should be allowed to investigate the whistleblower complaints internally, in the interest of resolving them faster and more efficiently. And then the executive order was later turned into a statute. But that approach, I think, runs into the real challenge of what it means to investigate internally. Because what it requires is a focused attention and support a political appointees who are willing to hear bad news, see bad news published in newspapers and on social media, accept responsibility for the bad news, and then take action to turn the bad news to good news.

Tom Temin: But let me just ask this: In some agencies, it is the inspector general’s office that looks at whistleblower complaints. And we’ve seen that even at VA, and so therefore, you do have some independence there. And the inspector general doesn’t care if the news is bad.

Bob Tobias: Well, yes, theoretically, Tom, but when we do have a recent evidence of the [Department of Homeland Security] inspector general, who suppressed over 10,000 DHS employee sexual assault complaints, and when it was discovered, Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas created a new, centralized process for processing employee complaints. But I ask in the long term, will that work because maybe the next secretary of DHS will use the idea of centralized decision-making to suppress those complaints in the future?

Tom Temin: Right, so then having an external body like the Office of Special Counsel, you run into the issue of just sheer workload, sheer time it takes and as we’ve seen so many adjudicative types, or investigative types of processes by federal agencies internally or externally just take so long.

Bob Tobias: Well, I think the answer to that, Tom, is to beef up the Office of Special Counsel, rather than to depend on the long term, on political appointees meeting that high bar of allowing themselves to look bad. While there may be individual political appointees who accept responsibility for the failure of those they lead, and more importantly, for their own failures, we can’t depend on every political appointee over the long term, to meet that bar.

Tom Temin: We’re speaking with Bob Tobias, professor in the Key Executive Leadership Program at American University. And I guess it’s understandable why some politicals would want to avoid this. There was a administrator of the GSA a number of years ago, I think, early in the Obama administration, and I remember the scandal of the expensive Las Vegas conferences that GSA was doing. And it was a scandal. And you had a crooked bunch running this thing, and taking junkets paid for out to Las Vegas to check the venue, three or four times. And there was the famous picture of the guy with the wine glass in the bathtub and all of this. But it was the administrator that took the fall, even though this all occurred entirely before she even arrived at the agency. And so her career was sullied and her reputation to some degree, even though she had literally nothing to do with it.

Bob Tobias: Well, that’s true. Because what can happen in that kind of a situation is a culture of noncompliance can develop. And in a culture of noncompliance, the people in charge suppress any complaints and continue to behave as you just described. So in my view, the only way of managing and as in the case, you pointed out, someone who was innocent, but took the hit is to encourage an outside investigative authority like the Office of Special Counsel to do its work, but do it faster.

Tom Temin: Right, because really, it was not fair for this person to take the hit for that and she exposed it and said, we really made a big mistake here. Which was gracious of her but it really wasn’t that person’s mistake. And so that, again, you’re saying mitigates in favor of external look at these events entirely.

Bob Tobias: I think so, Tom, I think so. There isn’t any evidence anywhere over the long term of successful looking internally at oneself by political appointees, finding fault and fixing that fault.

Tom Temin: But I want to get back to the inspector general question because, yes, IG’s are also politically appointed. But their purpose in life is to have this external, or at least objective, outside-of-the-agency chain of command view of things, no matter how bad they might be. So why can’t IG’s step up more here?

Bob Tobias: They can, and they should. But it only provides for me proof of the fact that no, we can’t depend on every political appointee to be fault free. And the only way we can make sure that it doesn’t occur is to have, not only is to have the Office of Special Counsel be able to investigate problems in IG offices as well.

Tom Temin: Well, that question I think is probably going to be resolved not for quite a while because the whistleblower complaints come in. And I think this is going to be something we were going to deal with for a while.

Bob Tobias: Well, I think it is. But I think it’s also true that when you have a over-2-million-person workforce, there are going to be people who fail to follow the laws, rules and regulations, to make sure that these complaints get surfaced and an employee’s career is not damaged for surfacing these problems.

Tom Temin: All right, Bob Tobias is a professor in the Key Executive Leadership Program at American University. Thanks so much.

Bob Tobias: Thank you, Tom.

]]>
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IRS backlog metrics ‘don’t translate’ into workforce efforts, commissioner says https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2022/06/irs-commissioner-history-will-be-very-polite-to-agencys-pandemic-response/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2022/06/irs-commissioner-history-will-be-very-polite-to-agencys-pandemic-response/#respond Wed, 29 Jun 2022 21:55:34 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4128820 The IRS needs more consistent funding from Congress to dig out from pandemic-era challenges, replenish its workforce and modernize its IT, an advisory panel told Congress.

The Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC), in its annual report to Congress, urges lawmakers to provide the agency with “flexible, sustainable, predictable, multi-year funding.”

The report found the IRS experienced over 100 continuing resolutions since 2001, and that funding uncertainty forces the agency to opt for “more expensive, less effective, short-term solutions.”

“They spend resources to keep outdated legacy systems running. They use temporary staff over permanent staff and typically suspend hiring during times of budget uncertainty,” the report states.

Congress gave the IRS a $12.6 billion budget as part of the fiscal 2022 omnibus spending deal that passed this March, the agency’s largest budget increase in decades.

But lawmakers have yet to act on the IRS’ request for multi-year funds that would allow it to make meaningful progress on a long-term IT modernization effort

Congress does, however, appear willing to incrementally increase the agency’s annual budget after decades of staff attrition and diminished spending power.

The House Appropriations Committee also advanced a fiscal 2023 spending bill last week that would give the IRS a $1 billion increase to its topline budget.

The committee, citing the IRS’ challenges with paper tax returns and historic backlogs since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, also urges the IRS to modernize the electronic filing process for taxpayers.

IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig, whose five-year term ends in November, told the committee the IRS workforce went to extraordinary lengths over the past two years to deliver $1.5 trillion in financial relief to the public through Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) and tax refunds.

“I think that history will be very polite to the Internal Revenue Service, and to everybody who’s helped the Internal Revenue Service during this period of time,” Rettig said Wednesday.

Rettig said the IRS’ shift into new lines of work, which made the agency more of a public benefits provider and not just a tax enforcement agency, went a long way to helping individuals who became unemployed, lost businesses or experienced food insecurity for the first time during the pandemic.

“It’s not like the EIPs got them out of the food bank line,” Rettig said, “But what pit] did is it showed these people that this country cared.”

While Rettig praised the agency’s work throughout the pandemic, he acknowledged some taxpayers are still waiting for their tax refunds.

The agency announced last week it finished processing the backlog of individual paper tax returns it received in 2021.

“When you’re in the middle of it, somebody who hasn’t yet got their refund, it’s hard for them to accept things went well,” Rettig said.

Response metrics ‘don’t translate’ to workforce’s dedication

The IRS has faced scrutiny over the past few years for a low response rate to taxpayer phone calls and a backlog of unprocessed tax returns, but Rettig said those metrics don’t reflect the hard work of IRS employees.

“I want you to know that the people at the IRS gave so much, so often, and I don’t want that lost in translation. Inventory amounts don’t translate into a lack of desire, dedication and the workarounds that had to occur with your help,” he said.

Rettig said the IRS workforce has been his “highest priority” as commissioner, and applauded employees for responding to a range of pandemic-era challenges.

“It’s no secret we’ve got some people that are doing 10 different jobs. We should have 12 people doing those 10 jobs, as in the private sector,” Rettig said.

The IRS plans to hire 10,000 additional employees and expects to make half of those hires this year.

ETAAC Chairwoman Courtney Kay-Decker, a former director of the Iowa Department of Revenue, said this year’s 31-page report takes a streamlined approach compared to previous years.

“We took a step back and said, in light of everything that’s happening in the world around us, let’s look at tax administration from a holistic sort of 30,000-foot approach, and figure out what it is that would mean most to the taxpayer experience,” Kay-Decker said.

The report, recognizing a historic mismatch between the budgets the IRS requests and what Congress approves, found that appropriate funding for IRS initiatives often comes down to four factors — collaboration, modern technology, prioritization of projects and a balance between machines and people.

ETAAC member Kimberly Pederzani, the compliance manager for the employee cloud business unit at Toast, said the IRS is focused on taxpayer service that tools with increased functionality over time, based on taxpayer needs.

“There has never been such a need for governmental turn-on-a-dime innovation as there has been during and following the facilitation of varying forms of relief stemming from the COVID 19 pandemic,” Pederzani said.

The IRS, in recent years, received more than 90% of all tax returns electronically, but the volume of paper tax returns received has led to complications and processing backlogs.

The report finds that at least half of paper tax returns were prepared using commercial software, and that challenges prevented taxpayers from filing their returns electronically.

Prior to the pandemic, about 5% of total returns filed went into error resolution. During the 2021 filing season, the rate of returns sent to the IRS Error Resolution System (ERS) was about 20% of returns filed.

That uptick in tax returns that needed to go through a manual review process created substantial delays in processing tax returns.

Tax returns filed during the tax season 2021 that required manual review often led to tax refund delays of 90 to 120 days, or even longer.

The committee found that congressional changes to the tax code in the middle of filing seasons contributed to an uptick in tax returns flagged as having errors. Pandemic aid programs also required some individuals to file a tax return who might not otherwise need to.

The IRS however, after the filing season of 2021, put together a program called “Fix ERS” to troubleshoot the volume of errors sent to error resolution.

The team developed an automation solution in April 2022 that significantly shortens the time needed to process tax returns that have errors in them.

The tool resolved about two-thirds of the returns coming through the ERS system, minimizing human intervention for those returns and bringing returns to the ERS queue back to the pre-pandemic levels of around 5%

Prior to the pandemic, an IRS agent could process about 100 returns per employee per day. With the new automation tool in place, an employee can process about 5,000 returns per day.

“A true strength of the IRS is making sure that the highest volume workflows are successful. This means prioritizing resources to ensure that forms with high volume can be filed,” said ETAAC member Jihan Jude, an attorney and counselor at law with the Davey Law Group.

Committee member Latryna Carlton, president of Committed Citizens of Waverly, Florida, said that while call volumes increased astronomically during the pandemic, the IRS has not been able to hire enough staff to keep up.

“The IRS folks who answer the phones are typically often the same people who open the mail and the other processing tests as well,” Carlton said, adding that in a typical year, 55% of a customer service representative’s time is spent on the phone.

Carlton said the IRS has deployed some tools, including chatbots, a callback service and secure document upload capabilities, that have improved the level of phone service for taxpayers.

ETAAC member Terri Steenblock, compliance director at the Federation of Tax Administrators, said the committee recommends restructuring the IRS’s funding to eliminate appropriation categories.

The report also recommends the IRS implement a pilot that allows the agency to retain a portion of defined amounts it collects for technology or staffing-related projects.

“We believe investing now in the future of the IRS is an important key to their long-term sustainability and success,” Steenblock said.

The report states that the IRS workforce and hiring challenges are significant, but warns that simply adding new hires “is an expensive, unsustainable, and largely ineffective way to solve what ails the IRS.”

“The IRS cannot meet taxpayers’ service expectations without a healthy balance between technology and human capital investments. By optimizing technology in the right places, the IRS can provide high-quality customer service through a leaner, more agile workforce,” the report states.

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Just how secure are federal buildings? https://federalnewsnetwork.com/federal-newscast/2022/06/just-how-secure-are-federal-buildings/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/federal-newscast/2022/06/just-how-secure-are-federal-buildings/#respond Wed, 29 Jun 2022 15:18:13 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4127986 var config_4127976 = {"options":{"theme":"hbidc_default"},"extensions":{"Playlist":[]},"episode":{"media":{"mp3":"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/pdst.fm\/e\/chrt.fm\/track\/E2G895\/aw.noxsolutions.com\/launchpod\/FederalNewscast\/mp3\/062922CASTFORWEB_wgeh_ca68d146.mp3?awCollectionId=1102&awEpisodeId=fcf6ec6b-4715-4077-b66b-c82fca68d146&awNetwork=322"},"coverUrl":"https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FedNewscast1500-150x150.jpg","title":"Just how secure are federal buildings?","description":"[hbidcpodcast podcastid='4127976']nn<em>To listen to the Federal Newscast on your phone or mobile device, subscribe in\u00a0<a href="https:\/\/www.podcastone.com\/federal-newstalk?showAllEpisodes=true">PodcastOne<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href="https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/federal-newscast\/id1053077930?mt=2">Apple Podcasts<\/a>. The best listening experience on desktop can be found using Chrome, Firefox or Safari.<\/em>n<ul>n \t<li>Federal building alarm systems and security cameras are falling short of expectations. But just how short? Well that's unclear from a heavily redacted report released by the <a href="https:\/\/www.oversight.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/oig-reports\/GSA\/FINAL-Audit-Report-A210033-Security-Camarm-Systems-6-21-22Redacted-FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">General Services Administration inspector general<\/a> this week. Auditors reviewed the security systems and cameras at 14 federal buildings and seemed to find they were in various states of disrepair. One of the IG's recommendations is for GSA to implement a plan to repair, replace and even install security cameras and alarm systems as part of a nationwide assessment. The IG also says GSA and the Federal Protective Service should revise their memorandum of understanding to clearly identify who's responsible for maintaining these systems.<\/li>n<\/ul>n<ul>n \t<li>The <a href="https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/products\/gao-22-104626" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Government Accountability Office<\/a> found $206 billion of waste in government spending on personal property like office chairs and cars between 2016 to 2020. GAO found agencies use only 8% of the over 2.6 million excess items. Recommendations include promoting the maximum use out of excess property and advising agencies to review their internal guidance on considering excess property. Tuesday\u2019s report comes two weeks after Comptroller General Gene Dodaro addressed the Senate with ways to limit government overlap earlier this month.<\/li>n<\/ul>n<ul>n \t<li>USPTO is investing in a foundational piece of its zero trust architecture. With what may be the first of its kind in the federal sector, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is going all in on SASE or secure access service edge. Jamie Holcombe is the CIO at USPTO and he explains why this is the first foundational piece of the zero trust architecture that they can act upon. "I like SASE as that architectural philosophy so to ensure that we can identify users and devices, and apply the policy-based security controls delivering that secure access to the applications and ensuring that our data is secure." (<a href="https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/cybersecurity\/2022\/06\/uspto-putting-foundational-piece-of-zero-trust-architecture-in-place\/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Federal News Network<\/em><\/a>)<\/li>n<\/ul>n<ul>n \t<li>Agencies need to prepare for a big change to a widely used email and collaboration service. Microsoft will start disabling Basic Authentication for Exchange Online starting on Oct. 1, and the <a href="https:\/\/www.cisa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/switch-to-modern-authentication-in-exchange-online-062822-508.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency<\/a> is making sure agencies are ready. In new guidance, CISA laid out steps agencies should take to determine to what extent they still rely on basic authentication, if they haven\u2019t already. Microsoft announced the Oct. 1 deadline last year. The company says Basic Authentication is one of the most common ways its customers are compromised, and its shifting to methods that support multifactor authentication.<\/li>n<\/ul>n<ul>n \t<li>The Social Security Administration is looking to replace its current system for managing public records requests. SSA is among the agencies phasing out the FOIA online case management solution. In a request for information, SSA says the new system should allow its FOIA analysts to communicate directly with public requesters. It also should be compatible with an electronic payment system, like Pay.gov. SSA is looking for responses by July 6.<\/li>n<\/ul>n<ul>n \t<li>The Biden administration wants to hear your ideas about sustainability. At the first Federal Sustainability Solutions forum, Federal Chief Sustainability Officer Andrew Mayock asked all federal workers and contractors to share their journeys and experiences with sustainability during their careers in the public, private or nonprofit sectors. Mayock said the government needs to learn from, and copy, the successes achieved in the private sector, whose efforts surpassed those of the government during the last few years, to combat climate change while customizing the ideas to scale across the government.<\/li>n<\/ul>n<ul>n \t<li>The <a href="https:\/\/www.va.gov\/opa\/pressrel\/pressrelease.cfm?id=5802" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a> adopted Login.gov to improve online customer experience to veterans. With Login.gov veterans can now use the same username and password to access VA.gov, My Health-E-Vet and VA\u2019s Health and Benefits mobile. The service also allows veterans to use the same credentials to access services across multiple federal agencies, including the\u00a0 the Office of Personnel Management and the Small Business Administration. VA\u2019s adoption of Login.gov meets a key goal of the Biden\u2019s administration\u2019s executive order on improving customer experience.<\/li>n<\/ul>n<ul>n \t<li>The agency in charge of the Thrift Savings Plan is trying to keep up with high call volumes to customer service. Another 100 staff members are likely heading to TSP's customer service center. The TSP board has so far added 320 representatives, now up to a total of 800 employees. That's a 66% increase to the agency's call center \u2014 and a record high for the board. The staff increase is an effort to alleviate unprecedented delays and hold times after a major TSP update on June 1. (<a href="https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/tsp\/2022\/06\/tsp-board-increases-call-center-staff-but-still-nowhere-near-where-we-need-to-be\/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Federal News Network<\/em><\/a>)<\/li>n<\/ul>n<ul>n \t<li>Agencies get an extension for hiring temporary employees in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The <a href="https:\/\/www.chcoc.gov\/content\/extension-coronavirus-covid-19-schedule-hiring-authority-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Office of Personnel Management<\/a> says agencies can continue to use a special hiring authority to add short-term staff, through March 1, 2023. OPM says agencies have an ongoing need to hire short-term workers, to meet both their missions and responsibilities related to the pandemic. Agencies may continue to fill positions on a temporary basis for up to one year. They can also extend the appointments for an additional year if needed.<\/li>n<\/ul>n<ul>n \t<li>Sean O\u2019Donnell has been serving as the Pentagon\u2019s acting inspector general for more than two years. But the Government Accountability Office says he hasn\u2019t had the authority to serve in the position since last November, and his initial appointment also violated federal law. GAO\u2019s findings are based on its own, new, interpretation of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, a law designed to limit how long acting officials can serve in Senate-confirmed positions. DoD\u2019s OIG says it\u2019s still reviewing the opinion. DoD hasn\u2019t had a Senate-confirmed inspector general since 2016. (<a href="https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/defense-main\/2022\/06\/dods-acting-ig-is-in-his-position-unlawfully-gao-finds\/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Federal News Network<\/em><\/a>)<\/li>n<\/ul>n<ul>n \t<li>The Defense Department and Air Force are teaming up with Historically Black Colleges and Universities to create a new research center. The military\u2019s 15th academic research center will focus on tactical autonomy, helping the Defense Department develop technologies that involve independent computer systems. The Air Force is committing $12 million a year for five years to the center. DoD will add another $2 million a year. The organization will be a consortium of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, furthering DoD\u2019s push for diversity and inclusion. The Pentagon hopes to use the center to help the schools build out their research capacities and recruit a more diverse workforce. (<a href="https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/defense-main\/2022\/06\/dod-air-force-pair-with-hbcus-for-new-research-consortium\/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Federal News Network<\/em><\/a>)<\/li>n<\/ul>n<ul>n \t<li>The Joint Staff approves the military\u2019s first-ever accredited space exercise. The Space Force\u2019s <a href="https:\/\/www.starcom.spaceforce.mil\/News\/Article-Display\/Article\/3055767\/joint-staff-approves-space-flag-as-its-first-accredited-space-exercise\/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SPACE FLAG exercise<\/a> joins other approved exercises like the Air Force\u2019s RED FLAG and the Navy\u2019s Fleet Synthetic Training as programs providing capability to provide realistic environments in a joint context. In total there are 37 accredited joint training programs.<\/li>n<\/ul>n<ul>n \t<li>The Supreme Court denies a petition from the National Postal Policy Council to review a federal appeals court\u2019s ruling from last year. U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found last November that the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) struck a careful balance when it allowed USPS to set mail rates higher than the pace of inflation. The commission, however, is reexamining its decision to grant greater pricing flexibility to USPS under a provision of the fiscal 2022 omnibus spending bill. (<a href="https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/agency-oversight\/2022\/06\/supreme-court-rejects-challenge-to-higher-usps-rates-but-regulator-review-ongoing\/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Federal News Network<\/em><\/a>)<\/li>n<\/ul>"}};

To listen to the Federal Newscast on your phone or mobile device, subscribe in PodcastOne or Apple Podcasts. The best listening experience on desktop can be found using Chrome, Firefox or Safari.

  • Federal building alarm systems and security cameras are falling short of expectations. But just how short? Well that’s unclear from a heavily redacted report released by the General Services Administration inspector general this week. Auditors reviewed the security systems and cameras at 14 federal buildings and seemed to find they were in various states of disrepair. One of the IG’s recommendations is for GSA to implement a plan to repair, replace and even install security cameras and alarm systems as part of a nationwide assessment. The IG also says GSA and the Federal Protective Service should revise their memorandum of understanding to clearly identify who’s responsible for maintaining these systems.
  • The Government Accountability Office found $206 billion of waste in government spending on personal property like office chairs and cars between 2016 to 2020. GAO found agencies use only 8% of the over 2.6 million excess items. Recommendations include promoting the maximum use out of excess property and advising agencies to review their internal guidance on considering excess property. Tuesday’s report comes two weeks after Comptroller General Gene Dodaro addressed the Senate with ways to limit government overlap earlier this month.
  • USPTO is investing in a foundational piece of its zero trust architecture. With what may be the first of its kind in the federal sector, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is going all in on SASE or secure access service edge. Jamie Holcombe is the CIO at USPTO and he explains why this is the first foundational piece of the zero trust architecture that they can act upon. “I like SASE as that architectural philosophy so to ensure that we can identify users and devices, and apply the policy-based security controls delivering that secure access to the applications and ensuring that our data is secure.” (Federal News Network)
  • Agencies need to prepare for a big change to a widely used email and collaboration service. Microsoft will start disabling Basic Authentication for Exchange Online starting on Oct. 1, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is making sure agencies are ready. In new guidance, CISA laid out steps agencies should take to determine to what extent they still rely on basic authentication, if they haven’t already. Microsoft announced the Oct. 1 deadline last year. The company says Basic Authentication is one of the most common ways its customers are compromised, and its shifting to methods that support multifactor authentication.
  • The Social Security Administration is looking to replace its current system for managing public records requests. SSA is among the agencies phasing out the FOIA online case management solution. In a request for information, SSA says the new system should allow its FOIA analysts to communicate directly with public requesters. It also should be compatible with an electronic payment system, like Pay.gov. SSA is looking for responses by July 6.
  • The Biden administration wants to hear your ideas about sustainability. At the first Federal Sustainability Solutions forum, Federal Chief Sustainability Officer Andrew Mayock asked all federal workers and contractors to share their journeys and experiences with sustainability during their careers in the public, private or nonprofit sectors. Mayock said the government needs to learn from, and copy, the successes achieved in the private sector, whose efforts surpassed those of the government during the last few years, to combat climate change while customizing the ideas to scale across the government.
  • The Department of Veterans Affairs adopted Login.gov to improve online customer experience to veterans. With Login.gov veterans can now use the same username and password to access VA.gov, My Health-E-Vet and VA’s Health and Benefits mobile. The service also allows veterans to use the same credentials to access services across multiple federal agencies, including the  the Office of Personnel Management and the Small Business Administration. VA’s adoption of Login.gov meets a key goal of the Biden’s administration’s executive order on improving customer experience.
  • The agency in charge of the Thrift Savings Plan is trying to keep up with high call volumes to customer service. Another 100 staff members are likely heading to TSP’s customer service center. The TSP board has so far added 320 representatives, now up to a total of 800 employees. That’s a 66% increase to the agency’s call center — and a record high for the board. The staff increase is an effort to alleviate unprecedented delays and hold times after a major TSP update on June 1. (Federal News Network)
  • Agencies get an extension for hiring temporary employees in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Office of Personnel Management says agencies can continue to use a special hiring authority to add short-term staff, through March 1, 2023. OPM says agencies have an ongoing need to hire short-term workers, to meet both their missions and responsibilities related to the pandemic. Agencies may continue to fill positions on a temporary basis for up to one year. They can also extend the appointments for an additional year if needed.
  • Sean O’Donnell has been serving as the Pentagon’s acting inspector general for more than two years. But the Government Accountability Office says he hasn’t had the authority to serve in the position since last November, and his initial appointment also violated federal law. GAO’s findings are based on its own, new, interpretation of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, a law designed to limit how long acting officials can serve in Senate-confirmed positions. DoD’s OIG says it’s still reviewing the opinion. DoD hasn’t had a Senate-confirmed inspector general since 2016. (Federal News Network)
  • The Defense Department and Air Force are teaming up with Historically Black Colleges and Universities to create a new research center. The military’s 15th academic research center will focus on tactical autonomy, helping the Defense Department develop technologies that involve independent computer systems. The Air Force is committing $12 million a year for five years to the center. DoD will add another $2 million a year. The organization will be a consortium of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, furthering DoD’s push for diversity and inclusion. The Pentagon hopes to use the center to help the schools build out their research capacities and recruit a more diverse workforce. (Federal News Network)
  • The Joint Staff approves the military’s first-ever accredited space exercise. The Space Force’s SPACE FLAG exercise joins other approved exercises like the Air Force’s RED FLAG and the Navy’s Fleet Synthetic Training as programs providing capability to provide realistic environments in a joint context. In total there are 37 accredited joint training programs.
  • The Supreme Court denies a petition from the National Postal Policy Council to review a federal appeals court’s ruling from last year. U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found last November that the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) struck a careful balance when it allowed USPS to set mail rates higher than the pace of inflation. The commission, however, is reexamining its decision to grant greater pricing flexibility to USPS under a provision of the fiscal 2022 omnibus spending bill. (Federal News Network)
]]>
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The military is working on hypersonic weapons, but will it be able to defend against them? https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2022/06/the-military-is-working-on-hypersonic-weapons-but-will-it-be-able-to-defend-against-them/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2022/06/the-military-is-working-on-hypersonic-weapons-but-will-it-be-able-to-defend-against-them/#respond Wed, 29 Jun 2022 14:55:42 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4128052 var config_4127896 = {"options":{"theme":"hbidc_default"},"extensions":{"Playlist":[]},"episode":{"media":{"mp3":"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/pdst.fm\/e\/chrt.fm\/track\/E2G895\/aw.noxsolutions.com\/launchpod\/federal-drive\/mp3\/062922_Sawyer_web_cku3_18eb531d.mp3?awCollectionId=1146&awEpisodeId=58946984-e41b-4fee-8ace-cf4c18eb531d&awNetwork=322"},"coverUrl":"https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FD1500-150x150.jpg","title":"The military is working on hypersonic weapons, but will it be able to defend against them?","description":"[hbidcpodcast podcastid='4127896']nn<em>Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive\u2019s daily audio interviews on\u00a0<\/em><a href="https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/federal-drive-with-tom-temin\/id1270799277?mt=2"><em><span style="color: #0070c0;">Apple Podcast<\/span><\/em><span style="color: #0070c0;">s<\/span><\/a><em>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href="https:\/\/www.podcastone.com\/federal-drive-with-tom-temin?pid=1753589">PodcastOne<\/a>.<\/em>nnEven as the armed forces develop hypersonic missiles, the Missile Defense Agency pursues a project to develop measures to counteract enemies' hypersonics. But the program is having significant <a href="https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/products\/gao-22-105925" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oversight problems and technical risks<\/a>. For details, the\u00a0<a href="https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/category\/temin\/tom-temin-federal-drive\/"><strong><em>Federal Drive with Tom Temin<\/em><\/strong><\/a> turns to the acting director for contracting and national security acquisitions issues at the Government Accountability Office, John Sawyer.nn<em>Interview transcript:<\/em>n<blockquote><strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Mr. Sawyer, good to have you on.nn<strong>John Sawyer: <\/strong>Thank you.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Let's talk about this program at the MDA. Is it something that is completely in the research stage? Do they have products they're delivering to the military? Or is this something that is kind of in post? Where does it stands at this point?nn<strong>John Sawyer: <\/strong>All of the above. The agency is responsible for acquiring and developing defense capabilities for threats. So at any point in time, they are delivering assets. They are performing testing, they are acquiring, developing anywhere throughout that acquisition process. So the answer is all of the above.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Now they have countermeasures that I guess are more mature for missiles that don't go so fast that might be coming from an enemy. Where does the hypersonic defense stand? It looks from reporters if they have been able to develop glide interceptors that kind of catch these things in mid-flight?nn<strong>John Sawyer: <\/strong>Yes, sir. They have and hypersonic, hypersonic weapon, as you just alluded, really relates to weapons that can travel really fast, five times or greater than the speed of sound. That is one of the characteristics, not only just ballistic missiles but hypersonic. Another thing interesting about a hypersonic missile is that it is able to travel at lower altitudes than a ballistic missile. And the third thing that would distinguish a hypersonic is that it has the ability to maneuver during flight. In other words, it's almost like a baseball pitch, that curveball where you think that curveball is going one direction, but it has the ability to maneuver during flight. And that is the challenge that the Missile Defense Agency has in fielding a capability that can outperform the threat. And that is where they are with their hypersonic defense.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>And is this something that is developed entirely by the government or are there contractors involved in the countermeasure development?nn<strong>John Sawyer: <\/strong>This is something that is developed with the government being the overseer of the project. However, the government, DoD, the Missile Defense Agency, does rely on contractors, contractors to assist with the development, product development, the technology development, currently with the glide phase interceptor, you have Lockheed Martin is involved, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, they are all, they have contracts and they are looking at concept design and risk reduction. There's also another effort that is used for hypersonic or being considered for hypersonic defense and that is the hypersonic and ballistic tracking space sensor. HBTSS is what is a called, and you also have contractors involved in that process. L3Harris and Northrop Grumman, are two contractors that I can think of that are involved in assisting the Department of Defense and the Missile Defense Agency in fielding capabilities to protect our homeland, our allies abroad.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>We're speaking with John Sawyer, he's acting director for contracting and national security acquisition issues at the Government Accountability Office. So it sounds like the agency then is developing sensor capabilities. There must be tons of software assessment and processing that happens here. And in the case of the glide interceptor, that's kind of a form of a missile itself, correct?nn<strong>John Sawyer: <\/strong>Correct. Correct. The glide interceptor is just that. It is a missile designed to intercept a hypersonic weapon. As I mentioned earlier, in order to defeat a hypersonic weapon, you need to field a capability that is four or five steps ahead or able to outperform that threat. And that is exactly what the glide phase interceptor is being designed to accomplish. It is a missile that is designed to intercept a threat.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>And in looking at this program, then I guess, maybe it's a collection of sub-programs. What were your main findings? Because it seems like you were concerned a lot about whether there is technical oversight from an independent point of view that is really needed here.nn<strong>John Sawyer: <\/strong>Our main findings and in our review our assessment, this is the 19th year that we have performed the assessment of the Missile Defense Agency with a specific emphasis on assessing what progress has been made in achieving delivery and testing goals, what progress has been made in delivering assets and meeting their testing goals. And the second thing that we looked at was just what we've just talked about, the hypersonic counter weapons. Our main findings this year, that was consistent with prior years, that each year MDA plans to deliver certain assets, they plan to perform certain testing, but they were unable to meet their goals. On average, over the past five years, the MDA agency has been able to meet, like 52% of its testing goals. And we believe that additional attention should be given to that area, because those are areas that that are funded and budgeted for. But they have demonstrated a history of being unable to meet those goals. Some of those goals or some of those delays or are acceptable. But we just believe in an area like this, where you are constantly fielding capability capabilities to mitigate threats, that you you need to have the most accurate information available, accurate information as it relates to costs, as it relates to risk to enable you to go fast. And that's one of the terms used, to go fast in order to meet the warfighters' requirements.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Because the hypersonic enemy situation itself is sort of a moving situation, because they're developing greater and different capabilities all the time. So it sounds like they need some flexibility. And to do that you need that testing capability.nn<strong>John Sawyer: <\/strong>Absolutely. Absolutely. That is exactly what testing is designed to do. Testing is that key tool that is designed to assist decision makers with demonstrating system performance. How are our programs able to perform in certain scenarios, integrated together, the the one of the goals that makes the system work is that they integrate the elements or programs and testing is all the more important to give management that information to assist in better informed decisions.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Well, then let's just summarize your main recommendations, then.nn<strong>John Sawyer: <\/strong>In this report, we issued three recommendations. Our recommendations are really centered on ensuring that management performed or did what it needed to do, the recommendations were directed to the Secretary of Defense. And what we asked was that ensure that the agency performs the cost estimates and independent cost estimate to know what it will cost to really field or to acquire these these programs that you're trying to acquire. We also felt that there was a need for an independent technical risk assessment, which all of these things according to best practices, leading practices, these items should be performed before product development to assist management in making better informed decisions. And then lastly, we have a recommendation that as it relates to the HBTSS, which is a sensor that is, that involves space, that there are also other agencies involved in space work. And we believe that there should be better coordination, a memorandum of understanding to ensure that the Department of Defense, MDA has a plan in place to manage duplication and overlap. You want to make sure that the agencies leverage what other agencies may be doing, and not to, to duplicate or overlap what they are doing. Those were the recommendations in our report. We have also summarized recommendations that we have issued in the past 10 years since 2010. GAO has issued 61 recommendations to help improve missile defense acquisitions. While MDA has made considerable progress in implementing those recommendations, 23 of them remain open and we will continue to monitor the corrective actions that the Defense Department and MDA will put in place to address those recommendations so that we can give the agency credit and properly identify those recommendations as closed.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>And just a detail question before we close that might or might not be within the scope of what you looked at when calling for independent technical assistance. And I think that's something the MDA promised it would do and still needs to do on hypersonic defense. Is the industry in hypersonics mature enough that there is someone they could turn to for independent technical evaluation?nn<strong>John Sawyer: <\/strong>Thank you. That is a good question. That is something that our report did not address, but there are offices, there are departments within the Defense Department who have responsibility for overseeing and performing these independent technical risk assessments. And I believe that the department has a process designed that would effectively give them the information needed to assist in these decisions.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>John Sawyer is acting director for contracting and national security acquisition issues at the Government Accountability Office. Thanks so much for joining me.nn<strong>John Sawyer: <\/strong>Thank you, Tom.<\/blockquote>"}};

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

Even as the armed forces develop hypersonic missiles, the Missile Defense Agency pursues a project to develop measures to counteract enemies’ hypersonics. But the program is having significant oversight problems and technical risks. For details, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turns to the acting director for contracting and national security acquisitions issues at the Government Accountability Office, John Sawyer.

Interview transcript:

Tom Temin: Mr. Sawyer, good to have you on.

John Sawyer: Thank you.

Tom Temin: Let’s talk about this program at the MDA. Is it something that is completely in the research stage? Do they have products they’re delivering to the military? Or is this something that is kind of in post? Where does it stands at this point?

John Sawyer: All of the above. The agency is responsible for acquiring and developing defense capabilities for threats. So at any point in time, they are delivering assets. They are performing testing, they are acquiring, developing anywhere throughout that acquisition process. So the answer is all of the above.

Tom Temin: Now they have countermeasures that I guess are more mature for missiles that don’t go so fast that might be coming from an enemy. Where does the hypersonic defense stand? It looks from reporters if they have been able to develop glide interceptors that kind of catch these things in mid-flight?

John Sawyer: Yes, sir. They have and hypersonic, hypersonic weapon, as you just alluded, really relates to weapons that can travel really fast, five times or greater than the speed of sound. That is one of the characteristics, not only just ballistic missiles but hypersonic. Another thing interesting about a hypersonic missile is that it is able to travel at lower altitudes than a ballistic missile. And the third thing that would distinguish a hypersonic is that it has the ability to maneuver during flight. In other words, it’s almost like a baseball pitch, that curveball where you think that curveball is going one direction, but it has the ability to maneuver during flight. And that is the challenge that the Missile Defense Agency has in fielding a capability that can outperform the threat. And that is where they are with their hypersonic defense.

Tom Temin: And is this something that is developed entirely by the government or are there contractors involved in the countermeasure development?

John Sawyer: This is something that is developed with the government being the overseer of the project. However, the government, DoD, the Missile Defense Agency, does rely on contractors, contractors to assist with the development, product development, the technology development, currently with the glide phase interceptor, you have Lockheed Martin is involved, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, they are all, they have contracts and they are looking at concept design and risk reduction. There’s also another effort that is used for hypersonic or being considered for hypersonic defense and that is the hypersonic and ballistic tracking space sensor. HBTSS is what is a called, and you also have contractors involved in that process. L3Harris and Northrop Grumman, are two contractors that I can think of that are involved in assisting the Department of Defense and the Missile Defense Agency in fielding capabilities to protect our homeland, our allies abroad.

Tom Temin: We’re speaking with John Sawyer, he’s acting director for contracting and national security acquisition issues at the Government Accountability Office. So it sounds like the agency then is developing sensor capabilities. There must be tons of software assessment and processing that happens here. And in the case of the glide interceptor, that’s kind of a form of a missile itself, correct?

John Sawyer: Correct. Correct. The glide interceptor is just that. It is a missile designed to intercept a hypersonic weapon. As I mentioned earlier, in order to defeat a hypersonic weapon, you need to field a capability that is four or five steps ahead or able to outperform that threat. And that is exactly what the glide phase interceptor is being designed to accomplish. It is a missile that is designed to intercept a threat.

Tom Temin: And in looking at this program, then I guess, maybe it’s a collection of sub-programs. What were your main findings? Because it seems like you were concerned a lot about whether there is technical oversight from an independent point of view that is really needed here.

John Sawyer: Our main findings and in our review our assessment, this is the 19th year that we have performed the assessment of the Missile Defense Agency with a specific emphasis on assessing what progress has been made in achieving delivery and testing goals, what progress has been made in delivering assets and meeting their testing goals. And the second thing that we looked at was just what we’ve just talked about, the hypersonic counter weapons. Our main findings this year, that was consistent with prior years, that each year MDA plans to deliver certain assets, they plan to perform certain testing, but they were unable to meet their goals. On average, over the past five years, the MDA agency has been able to meet, like 52% of its testing goals. And we believe that additional attention should be given to that area, because those are areas that that are funded and budgeted for. But they have demonstrated a history of being unable to meet those goals. Some of those goals or some of those delays or are acceptable. But we just believe in an area like this, where you are constantly fielding capability capabilities to mitigate threats, that you you need to have the most accurate information available, accurate information as it relates to costs, as it relates to risk to enable you to go fast. And that’s one of the terms used, to go fast in order to meet the warfighters’ requirements.

Tom Temin: Because the hypersonic enemy situation itself is sort of a moving situation, because they’re developing greater and different capabilities all the time. So it sounds like they need some flexibility. And to do that you need that testing capability.

John Sawyer: Absolutely. Absolutely. That is exactly what testing is designed to do. Testing is that key tool that is designed to assist decision makers with demonstrating system performance. How are our programs able to perform in certain scenarios, integrated together, the the one of the goals that makes the system work is that they integrate the elements or programs and testing is all the more important to give management that information to assist in better informed decisions.

Tom Temin: Well, then let’s just summarize your main recommendations, then.

John Sawyer: In this report, we issued three recommendations. Our recommendations are really centered on ensuring that management performed or did what it needed to do, the recommendations were directed to the Secretary of Defense. And what we asked was that ensure that the agency performs the cost estimates and independent cost estimate to know what it will cost to really field or to acquire these these programs that you’re trying to acquire. We also felt that there was a need for an independent technical risk assessment, which all of these things according to best practices, leading practices, these items should be performed before product development to assist management in making better informed decisions. And then lastly, we have a recommendation that as it relates to the HBTSS, which is a sensor that is, that involves space, that there are also other agencies involved in space work. And we believe that there should be better coordination, a memorandum of understanding to ensure that the Department of Defense, MDA has a plan in place to manage duplication and overlap. You want to make sure that the agencies leverage what other agencies may be doing, and not to, to duplicate or overlap what they are doing. Those were the recommendations in our report. We have also summarized recommendations that we have issued in the past 10 years since 2010. GAO has issued 61 recommendations to help improve missile defense acquisitions. While MDA has made considerable progress in implementing those recommendations, 23 of them remain open and we will continue to monitor the corrective actions that the Defense Department and MDA will put in place to address those recommendations so that we can give the agency credit and properly identify those recommendations as closed.

Tom Temin: And just a detail question before we close that might or might not be within the scope of what you looked at when calling for independent technical assistance. And I think that’s something the MDA promised it would do and still needs to do on hypersonic defense. Is the industry in hypersonics mature enough that there is someone they could turn to for independent technical evaluation?

John Sawyer: Thank you. That is a good question. That is something that our report did not address, but there are offices, there are departments within the Defense Department who have responsibility for overseeing and performing these independent technical risk assessments. And I believe that the department has a process designed that would effectively give them the information needed to assist in these decisions.

Tom Temin: John Sawyer is acting director for contracting and national security acquisition issues at the Government Accountability Office. Thanks so much for joining me.

John Sawyer: Thank you, Tom.

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Supreme Court rejects challenge to higher USPS rates, but regulator review ongoing https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2022/06/supreme-court-rejects-challenge-to-higher-usps-rates-but-regulator-review-ongoing/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2022/06/supreme-court-rejects-challenge-to-higher-usps-rates-but-regulator-review-ongoing/#respond Tue, 28 Jun 2022 22:31:32 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4126509 A challenge to the Postal Service’s authority to set market-dominant mail prices above the rate of inflation won’t get a hearing from the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition from the National Postal Policy Council to review a federal appeal’s court ruling on the matter.

A three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last November found the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) struck a careful balance when it allowed USPS to set mail rates higher than the pace of inflation.

Steve Kearney, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said it is “disappointing that the unnecessary and harmful above-inflation rate increase authority will continue.”

The PRC, however, is reexamining its decision to grant greater pricing flexibility to USPS. As part of this review, the commission is gathering public feedback for a congressionally mandated study on postal rates, and will accept comments through July 31.

Congress in the omnibus spending bill for fiscal 2022, said the PRC’s rate-setting changes didn’t account for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including higher package revenue and $10 billion in emergency COVID funds that Congress gave USPS.

The spending bill directs the PRC to study these factors and report to lawmakers within 270 days on how these factors should impact the rate increases proposed by USPS.

The House version of the fiscal 2023 spending bill would also press the commission to study the impact of planned postage increases.

The current version of the bill, passed by the House Appropriations Committee last week, directs the PRC to specifically consider the impact of higher package revenue, emergency COVID funding, and the Postal Service Reform Act’s impact on USPS finances.

The FY 2023 spending bill, which now heads to the House floor for a vote, also outlines a wide array of requirements for USPS.

The bill, in its current form, directs USPS to work with the PRC on steps it can take to “minimize or reverse any further degradations to service standards for market-dominant products,” such as first-class mail.

USPS last October implemented a new service standard that would slow 40% of first-class mail by a day or two, especially for mail that travels the furthest for delivery.

This early version of the FY 2023 spending bill directs USPS to provide a comparison of delivery service performance data from before and after the new service standard went into effect.

The House version of the spending bill also prohibits USPS from using appropriated funds to consolidate or close small rural and other small post offices.

“The Postal Service shall take into consideration the importance of providing consistent and on-time delivery to all Americans, including those in rural and mountainous areas,” the spending bill states.

The bill also directs USPS to review the impact that closing processing centers has had on its level of mail service.

The committee-mandated study would also require USPS to consider the feasibility of reopening closed facilities. USPS would submit its report within 180 days of the spending bill passing.

“In recent decades, USPS has closed hundreds of processing facilities. The committee is concerned that these closures have contributed to reduced service,” the spending bill states.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy recently unveiled plans to realign its network of processing facilities and improve the route structure its carriers rely on to deliver to 161 million addresses every day.

The spending bill in its current form doesn’t give direct funding to USPS for electric vehicles, but does give the General Services Administration $100 million to fund electric vehicles governmentwide, including at USPS.

The committee expects USPS to consult with GSA on the effective use of that funding to increase its investment in electric vehicles.

The committee requests that USPS track the fuel consumption and emissions portfolio of all vehicles managed or contracted by USPS, as well as its plan for reducing fleet fuel costs and emissions in the future.

The spending bill would give USPS $6 million to carry out postal banking pilot programs in at least five rural ZIP codes.

The bill would also require USPS to modernize its current postal banking services, “including surcharge-free automated teller machines, wire transfers, check cashing, and bill payment to the fullest extent permitted under current statutory authority.”

The committee directs USPS, in collaboration with the USPS inspector general’s office to provide an update on its postal banking pilot within a year of the bill being passed into law.

The PRC, meanwhile is scrutinizing the agency’s rollout of a postal banking pilot, and is looking to determine whether USPS has the legal authority to administer these financial services.

The commission, in a filing last month, said it seeks information to determine whether the USPS pilot launched last exceeded its legal authority.

“The commission seeks the information to determine whether the Pilot Program has changed the nature of the competitive product at issue … to the degree that the gift cards price category (or an undefined sub-component) may be categorized as a non-postal product,” the PRC wrote.

The pilot allows customers to exchange payroll and business checks for gift cards.

“A finding that the price category, product, or subcomponent is a non-postal product that would require its termination,” the commission states.

In fiscal 2014, the commission allow USPS to sell gift cards as a product that was “likely to be mailed, similar to greeting cards and stationery,” and was involved in the sale of other postal retail products, including greeting cards.

USPS at the time told the commission that it did not intend to use the filing “as a step into offering banking services, and if any USPS proposal should ever offer banking services, “such proposals would be done in a separate filing.”

USPS said it based its pilot based in part on a 2019 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on household use of banking and financial services, as well as USPS inspector general reports on potential postal financial services.

The Postal Service told the commission it has for many years cashed or redeemed salary checks or money orders in a limited number of circumstances.

USPS, the commission notes, has issued money orders since the Civil War, and for the past 50 years, USPS has cashed USPS-issued salary checks and money orders at no charge.

The Postal Service also noted that in the last 10 years, and “in cooperation with the United States Treasury, the Postal Service has cashed Treasury checks for a nominal fee.”

USPS told the commission that “no new products or services are involved,” but the commission notes that the pilot is targeted specifically at a market looking for financial services.

The commission notes that none of the transactions in the pilot have led to the sale of other postal products.

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DoD’s acting IG is in his position unlawfully, GAO finds https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2022/06/dods-acting-ig-is-in-his-position-unlawfully-gao-finds/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2022/06/dods-acting-ig-is-in-his-position-unlawfully-gao-finds/#respond Tue, 28 Jun 2022 22:11:54 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4126702 The Pentagon’s acting inspector general is serving in that role without legal authorization, and hasn’t been entitled to hold the job since last November, according to a new legal opinion by the Government Accountability Office.

In the ruling, GAO found the same official, Sean O’Donnell, also served in the position unlawfully for nine-and-a-half months during a separate period at the end of the Trump administration.

GAO made the findings Tuesday in its role as arbiter over the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, a complex and often ambiguous legal regime Congress originally created to limit how long political appointees can serve without earning Senate confirmation. The most recent version was passed in 1998.

In general, the rule is that no appointee can hold an “acting” title for longer than 210 days, though that timeframe can be extended in some circumstances. One of them is when there’s a presidential transition: under a new president, appointees get an extra 90 days, for a total of 300. Under GAO’s interpretation of the statute, Biden’s re-appointment of O’Donnell as acting IG expired on Nov. 15, 2021.

A spokeswoman for the IG’s office said its staff was aware of the GAO ruling and was still reviewing how it would respond.

But the ruling itself indicates the OIG’s interpretation of the Vacancies Act is different from GAO’s. The OIG believed that the law allowed O’Donnell to serve as acting IG under a different exception to the Vacancies Act: one that allows officials to serve in acting capacities while the Senate is considering a different person as their permanent replacement.

And that was the case here: President Biden nominated Robert Storch to be the permanent IG on the same day the 300-day clock expired, and his nomination is still stuck on the Senate floor.

But GAO found the “pending nomination” exception doesn’t apply because of another quirk in the Vacancies Act: it puts the time restrictions on hold the first and second time a president tries to nominate someone to the same position, but after the Senate’s rejected a nomination twice — no matter who the president was — the 210-day clock starts ticking again, and from there, the clock is all that matters.

The OIG’s interpretation appears to have been that the entire process should have reset once a new president took office, giving Biden two more chances to stop the clock by nominating a permanent official. But GAO says that concept simply isn’t in the statute. There hasn’t been a Senate-confirmed DoD IG since January of 2016, and GAO says former President Obama’s two unsuccessful attempts to nominate former acting IG Glenn Fine to the permanent job count toward the two-nomination total.

But the OIG didn’t pull its interpretation out of thin air, said Anne Joseph O’Connell, a Stanford University law professor who has studied and written extensively about the Vacancies Act.

“Most commentators, myself included, and the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, thought that everything restarted with the new presidential administration,” she said,  “I can’t think of any court case, GAO violation letter or published opinion that takes the position GAO took today. And if you look at executive practice, the practice has also not followed what the GAO ruled today. It’s always thought of the new administration as restarting the vacancy.”

Former President Trump withdrew Fine’s second nomination in February 2017, leaving him with the title of “performing the duties of the inspector general” until May 2020. Fine resigned from his DoD OIG position when Trump fired him from a separate board Congress created to oversee pandemic relief spending.

Shortly thereafter, Trump appointed O’Donnell as the new acting IG. But Tuesday’s ruling found that appointment was invalid, since the 210-day clock that started ticking the last time a previous nomination attempt failed had already run out.

“We recognize the concerns raised by DoD OIG regarding this conclusion, specifically that it means that past nominations may disadvantage a newly inaugurated president by limiting the period acting officials may serve in the new administration,” wrote Edda Emmanuelli Perez, GAO’s general counsel. “But these concerns cannot override the plain meaning of the Vacancies Act’s provisions. Reading the statute as a whole, if Congress intended a restart of the count for nominations … it could have so provided as it did by expressly extending the timeframe for presidential transition periods.”

The upshot of the GAO ruling is that O’Donnell was unlawfully in the position for more than nine months during the Trump administration, then held it completely legally once the clock reset at the start of the Biden administration, and then became an unlawful appointee once again when the clock expired last November.

It was unclear Tuesday what the practical consequences of the legal finding would be. Under the law, GAO is required to report to Congress whenever it finds violations of the Vacancies Act, which GAO said it has now done. But Congress has no clear way to enforce those violations.

According to the Congressional Research Service, the most common enforcement mechanism is lawsuits by private parties who were harmed by a decision an unlawfully-appointed official made. In the case of the DoD IG, it’s not immediately clear who would be in a position to bring such a lawsuit — it’s not obvious that anyone was harmed by the technical disagreement over whether O’Donnell  should have had to step down last fall.

But O’Connell said GAO’s new interpretation of the law could create problems for other agencies, now that there’s a clear legal guideline.

“If the executive branch continues its practice of allowing two new nominations in agencies where there might be more litigation risk, then you could potentially get issues,” she said.

Something similar happened when GAO ruled in 2020 that Chad Wolf was never properly appointed as acting secretary of Homeland Security. The Trump administration openly defied the ruling and left Wolf in place, pointing out, correctly, that GAO’s opinion wasn’t legally binding.

But litigants who’ve had wide ranges of disagreements with DHS over decisions Wolf made during that  have been able to leverage the GAO opinion in their own court cases, arguing that since he was not properly appointed, whatever actions he took that were adverse to their interests should be invalidated.

“That GAO decision in and of itself didn’t change anything: Chad Wolf continued on as acting secretary of Homeland Security,” O’Connell said. “But there is now a whole slew of lawsuits against DHS that cite to the GAO decision as an authority. It’s not going to bind what the executive branch does, but it could create litigation risk. And given what happened there, I could see a strategic decision to follow the GAO opinion here, even though it is not binding on the agencies.”

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GSA considers how to interconnect systems for new buildings https://federalnewsnetwork.com/technology-main/2022/06/gsa-considers-how-to-interconnect-systems-for-new-buildings/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/technology-main/2022/06/gsa-considers-how-to-interconnect-systems-for-new-buildings/#respond Tue, 28 Jun 2022 19:28:46 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4126408 IoT Security Month - June 28, 2022

As the director of the Buildings Technology Services Division at the General Services Administration’s Office of IT, Sandy Shadchehr said there has been a surge in desire for interconnected building systems over the past decade. In her office’s case, presidential mandates to integrate buildings for more, and more efficient data, are reinforcing the trend to migrate systems to the network.

“There’s a lot of IP-enabled devices. And with that, obviously, with the connectivity, with all those benefits that you get from connectivity, there comes the risk. And what is happening these days, back to your question is cyber, cyber, cyber,” she said on Federal Monthly Insights — IoT Security.

In the days of “standalone mode,” building systems were meant to last 20 or so years, and the risk levels were comparably low because those systems were not connected. Today, when system components are now IT components, the risk if greater, she said. But, interconnectivity can have preventative measures that bring on cost benefits.

“Once you have the systems interconnected and they communicate with each other, then you can actually have a dashboard that you can have in an entire building in a nice console that you’re looking at and you can start doing predictive analysis so that you’re not just waiting until system breaks down,” she said on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. “You can actually have a way of systems sending you notification: This thing doesn’t sound like this, this piece of equipment is not working quite right.”

That can mean fewer people needed in the building at all times, as well as greater energy efficiency, she said. But it also raises questions around ownership of the data on those systems. If something is hacked, Shadchehr said, traditionally that was a problem for IT or the singular security person. She said GSA changed its stance and determined that everyone has a role in solving cybersecurity weaknesses, from the Public Buildings Service to the chief information officer, to the building manager, the operational management maintenance person, and the service center director.

Examples of cyber dangers to building systems include people obtaining data about the operations to predict when personnel are working, to disrupt operations by hacking into a building. GSA’s portfolio of critical buildings for the federal government’s more sensitive agencies are top of mind, and are why constant vigilance is required, she said.

“Another one is that there can be a disruption of operations. There could be a very sensitive court proceeding going on and somebody can turn the lights on and off, and that can disrupt, or it can make a building very hot in the middle of July in Arizona, or in Texas,” she said. “They can make it unbearable to be in the building or incredibly cold, and the pipes get burst … so many things, so many scenarios that can happen, absolutely.”

Part of the predictive analytics of buildings systems Shadchehr described comes from occupancy and environmental sensors. The former can be things like thermostats and motion-detected room lights. COVID-19 was a game changer for these, as agencies needed to spread out their building occupancy for social distancing. At GSA headquarters in Washington, D.C., they used sensors to determine where to place people throughout the building. It is not just cameras but also devices using wifi or Bluetooth can alert a censor when they enter the building. The Office of IT is tapping into the Internet of Things to see what works and what does not compromise security or privacy.

“We’ve done a few different pilots to see what works better for us. And we have buildings and all shapes and sizes and color so it’s we have to probably try different types of things for different types of buildings that we have,” Shadchehr said.

Sensors and networks produce data, and the “mad rush” of IoT inspired a similar dash to collect that data. Just because GSA is collecting that data does not mean it will “just talk with each other,” she said. The Office of IT wants to work closely with the Office of Design and Construction to ensure the IT backbone is installed in new construction to be an afterthought.

“It’s a lot easier to put it in place or to build it correctly, as you’re building the building, instead of going back and retroactively try to fit that. We’ve been in that scenario many times, and it’s a lot more costly, a lot more time consuming to basically fit a square peg in a round hole,” she said.

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Why the National Security Agency overpaid contractors during the height of the pandemic https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2022/06/why-the-national-security-agency-overpaid-contractors-during-the-height-of-the-pandemic/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2022/06/why-the-national-security-agency-overpaid-contractors-during-the-height-of-the-pandemic/#respond Tue, 28 Jun 2022 16:47:28 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4126067 var config_4126012 = {"options":{"theme":"hbidc_default"},"extensions":{"Playlist":[]},"episode":{"media":{"mp3":"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/pdst.fm\/e\/chrt.fm\/track\/E2G895\/aw.noxsolutions.com\/launchpod\/federal-drive\/mp3\/062822_Hall_web_9abj_5ebcd67b.mp3?awCollectionId=1146&awEpisodeId=6580a809-0f29-4fd7-874a-83a05ebcd67b&awNetwork=322"},"coverUrl":"https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FD1500-150x150.jpg","title":"Why the National Security Agency overpaid contractors during the height of the pandemic","description":"[hbidcpodcast podcastid='4126012']nn<em>Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive\u2019s daily audio interviews on\u00a0<\/em><a href="https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/federal-drive-with-tom-temin\/id1270799277?mt=2"><em><span style="color: #0070c0;">Apple Podcast<\/span><\/em><span style="color: #0070c0;">s<\/span><\/a><em>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href="https:\/\/www.podcastone.com\/federal-drive-with-tom-temin?pid=1753589">PodcastOne<\/a>.<\/em>nnRemember the CARES Act, enacted at the height of the pandemic? Among other things, it let agencies reimburse contractors to pay employees unable to work at an approved federal site or to telework. At the National Security Agency, lack of controls led to millions of dollars in improper payments under the CARES Act. That's <a href="https:\/\/oig.nsa.gov\/Portals\/71\/Documents\/AU-20-0008%20Unclassified%20Audit%20of%20the%20Implementation%20of%20the%20CARES%20Act%20Final%20Report%2020220622.pdf?ver=Kahw5ZhbMuk5tNJi2lEOLw%3d%3d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to an audit<\/a> by the NSA's Office of Inspector General. Joining the\u00a0<a href="https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/category\/temin\/tom-temin-federal-drive\/"><strong><em>Federal Drive with Tom Temin<\/em><\/strong><\/a> with more, the assistant IG for audits, Jamal Hall.nn<em>Interview transcript:<\/em>n<blockquote><strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Mr. Hall, good to have you on.nn<strong>Jamal Hall: <\/strong>Thank you, Tom, good to be here.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>And what did you look at here? Basically, the entire program of payments to contractors that the NSA made under the CARES Act?nn<strong>Jamal Hall: <\/strong>Yes. So we took a look at the entire payment program, we looked at the period from March to the end of August 2020. And we were really looking for, you know, variances between kind of what was provided for CARES reimbursement, versus kind of the data and evidence that we had available at the time. And what we did find was a lot of really good sort of questionable items to come out of it, and variances that cause additional questions in the future.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>All right, and your methodology was to take 25 sample invoices, or did you have a bigger base of information than that?nn<strong>Jamal Hall: <\/strong>Oh, yes, we did take a sample of 25 invoices at the time, and we did it based almost on the sort of the category and it was out of like 2,145 invoices that we had available. So a lot of times from an audit and Yellowbook standpoint, what we do is we select the sample size based on the amount of testing that we do the extent of that testing, so it dictates the sample size. So in this case, we knew we couldn't do you know 50%, because we were really going to get into the details here. So what we did was we took a look at the labor categories, the different contract categories for the contract. So we selected between time and materials cost for our fixed price. And we took sort of a weighted sample of those different contract types to kind of formulate a 25 sample invoices.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>But you do feel that the results are projectable across the entire 2,145 population of those invoices?nn<strong>Jamal Hall: <\/strong>Only predictable from the process standpoint, I would say. So the processes were systemic. And that's what we found. We wouldn't necessarily project sort of the dollar figure the 16.4 question cost against the overall total number of invoices. So we are always a little, a little gun shy of doing that.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>And we should say, too, that the NSA did jump on this because by the 31st, I believe it is of March of that year, they had guidance out to contractors on how they should submit invoices under the CARES Act so that the agency was quick to get on board. Correct?nn<strong>Jamal Hall: <\/strong>Correct. NSA was extremely aggressive and implementing this putting out guidance, saying on the 27th of March was the start of the period to make this happen. And of course, the director of National Intelligence was also extremely aggressive in ensuring that the intelligence community participate in this program for its flexibilities. But definitely NSA was extremely aggressive. And one of the things if I may kind of give the agency credit here was that they did set up guardrails immediately to try to make sure that they had control of this. They did things like make sure that the word CARES appeared in the invoice number or that the contractors had to submit, you know, when they submit a CARES invoice, they also have to submit a certification memorandum which basically said that they did not receive reimbursement from other coronavirus programs. And then they also had to submit an hours tracker, which basically, you know, it gets into details, but it's basically a spreadsheet that lines up individuals with the hours worked and the CARES hours so they can better do tracing themselves. So they were aggressive about implementing this, but I have to give him credit, they did try to set up some guardrails to kind of get their hands around it.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>We are speaking with Jamal Hall, he is assistant inspector general for audits at the National Security Agency. But nevertheless, you found there were bills for employees that you couldn't find on the base of employees for that contract, non-existent, possibly. You found discrepancies in hours and rates. So give us the top line of what you found that maybe didn't go so well.nn<strong>Jamal Hall: <\/strong>You know, we found issues where individuals were billed to the agency that were not necessarily associated with NSA contracts. And from that we found a few of those, we found instances where individuals exceeded the hours that they were supposed to work. So if you're supposed to work a 40 hour average work week, which is understandable under a reimbursement program that we had folks that actually submitted a request for over those 40 hours. We also had where folks exceeded their labor rates. So labor rates are sort of established in the contract. But when the reimbursement requirements came back in you had these individuals that exceeded those labor rates. So a lot of varying sort of issues across the board that we found there.nnWe did also, I mean, I talked about sample at 25. I gotta say we also did a sample of 20, because one things that we wanted to do was in we tried to be as thorough as we can with these projects, right? We took a look at you know, for invoices that were submitted for a period of service before and after the CARES period, which I think I mentioned started 27th of March, but also ended like Sept. 30. So we found one instance where there was an invoice submitted and then went to March 11, which is before the CARES period and tried to figure out what happened there. And when we asked agency contract offer representatives offered that, hey, this is, you know, partly due to the changing policies. We did another one where we found where, you know, a request was put in and the period was after. And what we had there was just honestly, just bad tracking, and that sort of understanding of the hours that are supposed to be recorded and against, you know, kind of verifying the number of hours that they were supposed to go over. So we found a lot of different issues across the board, which you kind of say was, you would expect an unprecedented sort of response that the agency took like this.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Sure. And so was this basically, because of the speed and the amount of manual checking required? Or is there some sort of basic controls that should be in their system now that were not in place?nn<strong>Jamal Hall: <\/strong>I must say that what you said was definitely dead on output. That is, number one, right? The fact that this is unprecedented, the fact that it was immediate, but it also kind of borne out some things as well. So first off, one of the things that happened was the guidance was constantly evolving. You had 10 memos come out during the period from DoD, director of National Intelligence and OMB (Office of Management and Budget). You had 25 guidance documents come from the agency, right, you had six different versions of the certification memo template, and four different versions of our tracker spreadsheet that I mentioned, right? I can imagine that'd be very difficult for a COR (contracting officer representative) who was processing and going through these invoices to make sure that we're using the most up to date guidance. Another factor was immediacy, there was also reduced staffing, which is also a thing that affected a lot of federal agencies. And because of that reduced staffing, you had CORs that sometimes had to approve contracts that they weren't as familiar with. And when we talked to some of these CORs, they felt uncomfortable applying cares requirements against those invoices. And this is something else that kind of came up. That borne out. You know, we did a report back here that released unclassified in 20 Oct. of last year, 2021. And what we found was that this generally just over reliance on contractor provided support, and this kind of borne out as well, this is what we saw in some of our results. For this audit, when we talked to 20 CORs, four of them kind of shared that they relied on the contractors' word and provided a document to verify the accuracy of the invoices, which is not something that you would expect, you expect it to be some sort of independent verification, right. And then also, you know, previously, and this is kind of just the timing of this, from that prior audit that we've done of cost reimbursement contracts, we also found that the fact that COR oversight was not as mature as it should have been. So we found, you know, vague and effective CORroles, responsibilities and oversight procedures that the agency was still working on due to the audit. So a lot of those things kind of came up around the same time.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Sometimes I think the contracting officer representative might be one of the toughest jobs in government. But is it possible, then, to know the total number of hours that were involved here that were paid improperly? Or the total dollars that went out that should not have? Are you able to sum that up?nn<strong>Jamal Hall: <\/strong>So one of the things that we did not do and it wasn't actually part of the scope, because we're looking further at the the veracity invoices was go do and run background to look at how they calculated the total. Right? So from an IG standpoint, I can't necessarily say verify, with assurance, the total number of hours is approximately $117 million, the number of hours the agency is working back, and they provided the number of hours but we did not verify that either. So that's one of the things that we were gonna go back and you know, kind of just maybe take a look at in the future say, OK, well, you know, generally, how was this total number sort of calculated, but it wasn't necessarily within the scope of the project.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>And this might also be out of the scope. But can the agency get that money back, either by just reimbursement checks from the contractors, or simply deducting it from future invoices if that's even legal or possible under federal accounting?nn<strong>Jamal Hall: <\/strong>That I do not know. And I shouldn't say that during the interview, right? But one of the things I do know is that we are tracking how they recover it, because we do put out recommendations were specifically for the cost that we questioned the 16.4 million, we're asking them to go back, go to the contract and make sure that they collect that additional evidence to ensure the accuracy of the hours, the rates and the contractor status. We're also not just for the invoices that we questioned. But for the ones that we didn't question the broader sense, we're asking them to do a risk assessment, we're recommending that they do a risk assessment for all the invoices and determine the level of testing that's needed to identify where the unsupported payments are, where these problems are, and then of course, perform that testing and recover that cost. So through our follow up process, we are tracking to make sure that if something is deemed unsupportable, that they are unable to get the you know, the evidence to support those costs, that they actually recover.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Sure, because it's not as if they paid ransomware to some outfit in Romania. These are companies that are still dealing with and working with day by day.nn<strong>Jamal Hall: <\/strong>Exactly. And these are relationships that I assume they want to maintain as well, right?nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>And there is a billion dollars at stake almost and so, that's not chump change even for the NSA.nn<strong>Jamal Hall: <\/strong>Exactly.nn<strong>Tom Temin: <\/strong>Jamal Hall is assistant inspector general for audits at the National Security Agency. Hey, thanks so much for joining me.nn<strong>Jamal Hall: <\/strong>Thanks a lot, Tom. It's been a pleasure.<\/blockquote>"}};

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

Remember the CARES Act, enacted at the height of the pandemic? Among other things, it let agencies reimburse contractors to pay employees unable to work at an approved federal site or to telework. At the National Security Agency, lack of controls led to millions of dollars in improper payments under the CARES Act. That’s according to an audit by the NSA’s Office of Inspector General. Joining the Federal Drive with Tom Temin with more, the assistant IG for audits, Jamal Hall.

Interview transcript:

Tom Temin: Mr. Hall, good to have you on.

Jamal Hall: Thank you, Tom, good to be here.

Tom Temin: And what did you look at here? Basically, the entire program of payments to contractors that the NSA made under the CARES Act?

Jamal Hall: Yes. So we took a look at the entire payment program, we looked at the period from March to the end of August 2020. And we were really looking for, you know, variances between kind of what was provided for CARES reimbursement, versus kind of the data and evidence that we had available at the time. And what we did find was a lot of really good sort of questionable items to come out of it, and variances that cause additional questions in the future.

Tom Temin: All right, and your methodology was to take 25 sample invoices, or did you have a bigger base of information than that?

Jamal Hall: Oh, yes, we did take a sample of 25 invoices at the time, and we did it based almost on the sort of the category and it was out of like 2,145 invoices that we had available. So a lot of times from an audit and Yellowbook standpoint, what we do is we select the sample size based on the amount of testing that we do the extent of that testing, so it dictates the sample size. So in this case, we knew we couldn’t do you know 50%, because we were really going to get into the details here. So what we did was we took a look at the labor categories, the different contract categories for the contract. So we selected between time and materials cost for our fixed price. And we took sort of a weighted sample of those different contract types to kind of formulate a 25 sample invoices.

Tom Temin: But you do feel that the results are projectable across the entire 2,145 population of those invoices?

Jamal Hall: Only predictable from the process standpoint, I would say. So the processes were systemic. And that’s what we found. We wouldn’t necessarily project sort of the dollar figure the 16.4 question cost against the overall total number of invoices. So we are always a little, a little gun shy of doing that.

Tom Temin: And we should say, too, that the NSA did jump on this because by the 31st, I believe it is of March of that year, they had guidance out to contractors on how they should submit invoices under the CARES Act so that the agency was quick to get on board. Correct?

Jamal Hall: Correct. NSA was extremely aggressive and implementing this putting out guidance, saying on the 27th of March was the start of the period to make this happen. And of course, the director of National Intelligence was also extremely aggressive in ensuring that the intelligence community participate in this program for its flexibilities. But definitely NSA was extremely aggressive. And one of the things if I may kind of give the agency credit here was that they did set up guardrails immediately to try to make sure that they had control of this. They did things like make sure that the word CARES appeared in the invoice number or that the contractors had to submit, you know, when they submit a CARES invoice, they also have to submit a certification memorandum which basically said that they did not receive reimbursement from other coronavirus programs. And then they also had to submit an hours tracker, which basically, you know, it gets into details, but it’s basically a spreadsheet that lines up individuals with the hours worked and the CARES hours so they can better do tracing themselves. So they were aggressive about implementing this, but I have to give him credit, they did try to set up some guardrails to kind of get their hands around it.

Tom Temin: We are speaking with Jamal Hall, he is assistant inspector general for audits at the National Security Agency. But nevertheless, you found there were bills for employees that you couldn’t find on the base of employees for that contract, non-existent, possibly. You found discrepancies in hours and rates. So give us the top line of what you found that maybe didn’t go so well.

Jamal Hall: You know, we found issues where individuals were billed to the agency that were not necessarily associated with NSA contracts. And from that we found a few of those, we found instances where individuals exceeded the hours that they were supposed to work. So if you’re supposed to work a 40 hour average work week, which is understandable under a reimbursement program that we had folks that actually submitted a request for over those 40 hours. We also had where folks exceeded their labor rates. So labor rates are sort of established in the contract. But when the reimbursement requirements came back in you had these individuals that exceeded those labor rates. So a lot of varying sort of issues across the board that we found there.

We did also, I mean, I talked about sample at 25. I gotta say we also did a sample of 20, because one things that we wanted to do was in we tried to be as thorough as we can with these projects, right? We took a look at you know, for invoices that were submitted for a period of service before and after the CARES period, which I think I mentioned started 27th of March, but also ended like Sept. 30. So we found one instance where there was an invoice submitted and then went to March 11, which is before the CARES period and tried to figure out what happened there. And when we asked agency contract offer representatives offered that, hey, this is, you know, partly due to the changing policies. We did another one where we found where, you know, a request was put in and the period was after. And what we had there was just honestly, just bad tracking, and that sort of understanding of the hours that are supposed to be recorded and against, you know, kind of verifying the number of hours that they were supposed to go over. So we found a lot of different issues across the board, which you kind of say was, you would expect an unprecedented sort of response that the agency took like this.

Tom Temin: Sure. And so was this basically, because of the speed and the amount of manual checking required? Or is there some sort of basic controls that should be in their system now that were not in place?

Jamal Hall: I must say that what you said was definitely dead on output. That is, number one, right? The fact that this is unprecedented, the fact that it was immediate, but it also kind of borne out some things as well. So first off, one of the things that happened was the guidance was constantly evolving. You had 10 memos come out during the period from DoD, director of National Intelligence and OMB (Office of Management and Budget). You had 25 guidance documents come from the agency, right, you had six different versions of the certification memo template, and four different versions of our tracker spreadsheet that I mentioned, right? I can imagine that’d be very difficult for a COR (contracting officer representative) who was processing and going through these invoices to make sure that we’re using the most up to date guidance. Another factor was immediacy, there was also reduced staffing, which is also a thing that affected a lot of federal agencies. And because of that reduced staffing, you had CORs that sometimes had to approve contracts that they weren’t as familiar with. And when we talked to some of these CORs, they felt uncomfortable applying cares requirements against those invoices. And this is something else that kind of came up. That borne out. You know, we did a report back here that released unclassified in 20 Oct. of last year, 2021. And what we found was that this generally just over reliance on contractor provided support, and this kind of borne out as well, this is what we saw in some of our results. For this audit, when we talked to 20 CORs, four of them kind of shared that they relied on the contractors’ word and provided a document to verify the accuracy of the invoices, which is not something that you would expect, you expect it to be some sort of independent verification, right. And then also, you know, previously, and this is kind of just the timing of this, from that prior audit that we’ve done of cost reimbursement contracts, we also found that the fact that COR oversight was not as mature as it should have been. So we found, you know, vague and effective CORroles, responsibilities and oversight procedures that the agency was still working on due to the audit. So a lot of those things kind of came up around the same time.

Tom Temin: Sometimes I think the contracting officer representative might be one of the toughest jobs in government. But is it possible, then, to know the total number of hours that were involved here that were paid improperly? Or the total dollars that went out that should not have? Are you able to sum that up?

Jamal Hall: So one of the things that we did not do and it wasn’t actually part of the scope, because we’re looking further at the the veracity invoices was go do and run background to look at how they calculated the total. Right? So from an IG standpoint, I can’t necessarily say verify, with assurance, the total number of hours is approximately $117 million, the number of hours the agency is working back, and they provided the number of hours but we did not verify that either. So that’s one of the things that we were gonna go back and you know, kind of just maybe take a look at in the future say, OK, well, you know, generally, how was this total number sort of calculated, but it wasn’t necessarily within the scope of the project.

Tom Temin: And this might also be out of the scope. But can the agency get that money back, either by just reimbursement checks from the contractors, or simply deducting it from future invoices if that’s even legal or possible under federal accounting?

Jamal Hall: That I do not know. And I shouldn’t say that during the interview, right? But one of the things I do know is that we are tracking how they recover it, because we do put out recommendations were specifically for the cost that we questioned the 16.4 million, we’re asking them to go back, go to the contract and make sure that they collect that additional evidence to ensure the accuracy of the hours, the rates and the contractor status. We’re also not just for the invoices that we questioned. But for the ones that we didn’t question the broader sense, we’re asking them to do a risk assessment, we’re recommending that they do a risk assessment for all the invoices and determine the level of testing that’s needed to identify where the unsupported payments are, where these problems are, and then of course, perform that testing and recover that cost. So through our follow up process, we are tracking to make sure that if something is deemed unsupportable, that they are unable to get the you know, the evidence to support those costs, that they actually recover.

Tom Temin: Sure, because it’s not as if they paid ransomware to some outfit in Romania. These are companies that are still dealing with and working with day by day.

Jamal Hall: Exactly. And these are relationships that I assume they want to maintain as well, right?

Tom Temin: And there is a billion dollars at stake almost and so, that’s not chump change even for the NSA.

Jamal Hall: Exactly.

Tom Temin: Jamal Hall is assistant inspector general for audits at the National Security Agency. Hey, thanks so much for joining me.

Jamal Hall: Thanks a lot, Tom. It’s been a pleasure.

]]>
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Imagine an award program where people can nominate friends and then vote on whether they get the money https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2022/06/imagine-an-award-program-where-people-can-nominate-friends-and-then-vote-on-whether-they-get-the-money/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2022/06/imagine-an-award-program-where-people-can-nominate-friends-and-then-vote-on-whether-they-get-the-money/#respond Mon, 27 Jun 2022 19:04:18 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4124274 var config_4123832 = {"options":{"theme":"hbidc_default"},"extensions":{"Playlist":[]},"episode":{"media":{"mp3":"https:\/\/dts.podtrac.com\/redirect.mp3\/pdst.fm\/e\/chrt.fm\/track\/E2G895\/aw.noxsolutions.com\/launchpod\/federal-drive\/mp3\/062722_Espinoza_web_rfsf_a22f2b51.mp3?awCollectionId=1146&awEpisodeId=24ab6993-5906-4f0e-83b5-9980a22f2b51&awNetwork=322"},"coverUrl":"https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FD1500-150x150.jpg","title":"Imagine an award program where people can nominate friends and then vote on whether they get the money","description":"[hbidcpodcast podcastid='4123832']nn<em>Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive\u2019s daily audio interviews on\u00a0<\/em><a href="https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/federal-drive-with-tom-temin\/id1270799277?mt=2"><i>Apple Podcasts<\/i><\/a><em>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href="https:\/\/www.podcastone.com\/federal-drive-with-tom-temin?pid=1753589">PodcastOne<\/a>.<\/em>nnThe Postal Service handed out millions of dollars in employee awards in a program that lacked solid controls. People nominated one another and then voted on whether they got the money. A few people even approved their own bonuses. For more, the\u00a0<a href="https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/category\/temin\/tom-temin-federal-drive\/"><em><strong>Federal Drive with Tom Temin<\/strong><\/em><\/a> spoke with the deputy assistant inspector general for audit, Wilvia Espinoza.nn<em>Interview transcript:<\/em>n<blockquote><strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> Tell us about the program you were looking at, this awards and recognition program for postal employees give us the scope of it. And you know how many people are involved in the kind of dollars involved every year.nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>So for background purposes, the recognition and awards program is intended to recognize employees who have demonstrated outstanding performance, superior competence and have other significant contributions. So with the exception of three high level awards that were processed manually, basically all the awards that are over $100, whether they're non-tangible or cash are processed through the E-Awards system, Postal Service's award system. So what we did was we reviewed recognition and awards data from October 2017 through September 2021. And during this time frame, the Postal Service presented over 133,000 awards, totaling over 76.8 million. And these awards range from a letter of recognition to about $12,500 in cash.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> Oh, yeah, so someone can get real money. And this is available to everyone from letter carriers to people in management? Got it. And so what did you find with respect to management of the program? It sounds like not everybody that got an award was deserving.nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>We found that overall postal service management could improve controls to effectively manage its recognition and awards program. Specifically, we had three points overall relating to the program that we wanted to highlight. First off, postal service management did not always exercise segregation of duties when submitting and approving awards. So for reference, the award system allows employees at various levels to both submit and approve awards. So we found we wanted to highlight that especially the numbers in the amount of awards have been increasing over the last four years, it's essentially doubled. So from an internal controls perspective, we felt it was very judicious in us to highlight.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> It sounds like the potential for someone to say, well, I'll give you an award if you give me one was kind of rampant here?nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>Yes, that actually leads to our next topic that we found that employees were giving reciprocating awards to each other. So while it was not as rampant, we felt it was an additional control we needed to highlight as well. Second, we also found that management approved about 69% of the 53,000 award justifications we reviewed, despite them being inadequate, and having insufficient justification for purposes of that award.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> So that's about what 60% of them are so almost, I could call it a rubber stamp, you probably would not call it that. But it sounds like maybe out of band for what you would expect.nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>Right.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> And this idea of people giving awards to one another. How is that possible? I mean, maybe tell us more about the system. That is to say, where you submit these things electronically? That sounds like there are not enough rules built into that system to prevent things from moving up the ranks to be judged.nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>Yes. And that was something that we definitely wanted to highlight. As part of this report, we actually did find six individuals who were able to submit and approve awards for themselves, which Postal Service did take corrective actions. They did take immediate actions with regard to that specific control. However, we still had a large amount of people submitting and approving awards for other people in the system as well.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> You had 254 employees submitted 598 reciprocating awards for one another. And it was close to a million dollars.nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>Yes. Although in the grand scheme of things, from an overall perspective, it's a little bit minor. But we did want to highlight it as a control related issue in that system, unfortunately, doesn't have the controls in place to not allow that.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> Right. In other words, it shouldn't even have gotten to the point of where someone could pass judgment on it. It should not have been submitted in gone through the system in the first place.nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>Yes, I do want to clarify, though, that we did rely on the information entered into the award system to perform our audit. We did not review each award and make a determination as to whether or not it should not have been awarded. So we specifically wanted to highlight potential system and internal controls issues as it relates to the overall award system. So the perception alone of Postal Service improperly awarding employees could lead to larger scale issues like employee morale and retention, which is very important in this environment.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> And if you add it all up, what do you suspect or what do you estimate was the value of the awards that were undeserved that went out?nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>So as a part of this audit, we questioned around $32.8 million in question costs over the four year period.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> Yeah, so that's real money.nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>Correct.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> And how does the Postal Service react when presented with this information?nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>It was a mixed bag. They acknowledged and agreed to take corrective action to two of the four recommendations. However, the largest one at least in from our stance, with regard to segregation of duties they did not agree to. So we do intend on following up with them through the our formal audit resolution process to see what postal service can do to help with this issue.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> Yeah, tell us more about that issue. What is it they specifically don't want to do that you recommended?nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>So from Postal Service stance, they believe that there can be certain individuals that are given the authority to both submit and approve awards, and they believe that that is OK, as a part of their own function and mission. From our perspective, though, it kind of does not tie into the importance of segregation of duties, internal controls, and it could lead to appearance issues, or even fraudulent issues as well.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> Or favoritism.nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>Right.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> So in other words, your view is that the person submitting should not be the person ever deciding.nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>Yes, agree. And that's fundamental to any critical business function, any financial transaction, there should be at least two people involved. One person submitting and another approving.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> Yeah, because I think even in a standard management situation, if you want to give an employee a bonus, outside of formal awards program, you would still need your boss to make sure it's OK. I've never seen a situation where someone can arbitrarily grant it without third party, the controller, or the supervisor of the supervisor having a say in other words.nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>And another thing that we did was we conducted a survey to obtain management's impressions of and satisfaction of the recognition and awards program. And we found that the survey identified that 53% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed, that guidance for an award is clear and easy to follow. So that we felt provided additional insight as to what the Postal Service could do to improve from that to improve the program overal.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> Right. So the people involved at the lower levels feel the whole thing is kind of foggy. And since 21, which is the final zone of when you had data for, have they made some changes in the meantime?nn<strong>Wilvia Espinoza: <\/strong>The only corrective action that they did make was the immediate one as we were performing the audit was the one issue that we identified where individuals submitted and approved awards for themselves.nn<strong>Tom Temin:<\/strong> Wilvia Espinoza is deputy assistant inspector general for audit at the U.S. Postal Service.<\/blockquote>"}};

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

The Postal Service handed out millions of dollars in employee awards in a program that lacked solid controls. People nominated one another and then voted on whether they got the money. A few people even approved their own bonuses. For more, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with the deputy assistant inspector general for audit, Wilvia Espinoza.

Interview transcript:

Tom Temin: Tell us about the program you were looking at, this awards and recognition program for postal employees give us the scope of it. And you know how many people are involved in the kind of dollars involved every year.

Wilvia Espinoza: So for background purposes, the recognition and awards program is intended to recognize employees who have demonstrated outstanding performance, superior competence and have other significant contributions. So with the exception of three high level awards that were processed manually, basically all the awards that are over $100, whether they’re non-tangible or cash are processed through the E-Awards system, Postal Service’s award system. So what we did was we reviewed recognition and awards data from October 2017 through September 2021. And during this time frame, the Postal Service presented over 133,000 awards, totaling over 76.8 million. And these awards range from a letter of recognition to about $12,500 in cash.

Tom Temin: Oh, yeah, so someone can get real money. And this is available to everyone from letter carriers to people in management? Got it. And so what did you find with respect to management of the program? It sounds like not everybody that got an award was deserving.

Wilvia Espinoza: We found that overall postal service management could improve controls to effectively manage its recognition and awards program. Specifically, we had three points overall relating to the program that we wanted to highlight. First off, postal service management did not always exercise segregation of duties when submitting and approving awards. So for reference, the award system allows employees at various levels to both submit and approve awards. So we found we wanted to highlight that especially the numbers in the amount of awards have been increasing over the last four years, it’s essentially doubled. So from an internal controls perspective, we felt it was very judicious in us to highlight.

Tom Temin: It sounds like the potential for someone to say, well, I’ll give you an award if you give me one was kind of rampant here?

Wilvia Espinoza: Yes, that actually leads to our next topic that we found that employees were giving reciprocating awards to each other. So while it was not as rampant, we felt it was an additional control we needed to highlight as well. Second, we also found that management approved about 69% of the 53,000 award justifications we reviewed, despite them being inadequate, and having insufficient justification for purposes of that award.

Tom Temin: So that’s about what 60% of them are so almost, I could call it a rubber stamp, you probably would not call it that. But it sounds like maybe out of band for what you would expect.

Wilvia Espinoza: Right.

Tom Temin: And this idea of people giving awards to one another. How is that possible? I mean, maybe tell us more about the system. That is to say, where you submit these things electronically? That sounds like there are not enough rules built into that system to prevent things from moving up the ranks to be judged.

Wilvia Espinoza: Yes. And that was something that we definitely wanted to highlight. As part of this report, we actually did find six individuals who were able to submit and approve awards for themselves, which Postal Service did take corrective actions. They did take immediate actions with regard to that specific control. However, we still had a large amount of people submitting and approving awards for other people in the system as well.

Tom Temin: You had 254 employees submitted 598 reciprocating awards for one another. And it was close to a million dollars.

Wilvia Espinoza: Yes. Although in the grand scheme of things, from an overall perspective, it’s a little bit minor. But we did want to highlight it as a control related issue in that system, unfortunately, doesn’t have the controls in place to not allow that.

Tom Temin: Right. In other words, it shouldn’t even have gotten to the point of where someone could pass judgment on it. It should not have been submitted in gone through the system in the first place.

Wilvia Espinoza: Yes, I do want to clarify, though, that we did rely on the information entered into the award system to perform our audit. We did not review each award and make a determination as to whether or not it should not have been awarded. So we specifically wanted to highlight potential system and internal controls issues as it relates to the overall award system. So the perception alone of Postal Service improperly awarding employees could lead to larger scale issues like employee morale and retention, which is very important in this environment.

Tom Temin: And if you add it all up, what do you suspect or what do you estimate was the value of the awards that were undeserved that went out?

Wilvia Espinoza: So as a part of this audit, we questioned around $32.8 million in question costs over the four year period.

Tom Temin: Yeah, so that’s real money.

Wilvia Espinoza: Correct.

Tom Temin: And how does the Postal Service react when presented with this information?

Wilvia Espinoza: It was a mixed bag. They acknowledged and agreed to take corrective action to two of the four recommendations. However, the largest one at least in from our stance, with regard to segregation of duties they did not agree to. So we do intend on following up with them through the our formal audit resolution process to see what postal service can do to help with this issue.

Tom Temin: Yeah, tell us more about that issue. What is it they specifically don’t want to do that you recommended?

Wilvia Espinoza: So from Postal Service stance, they believe that there can be certain individuals that are given the authority to both submit and approve awards, and they believe that that is OK, as a part of their own function and mission. From our perspective, though, it kind of does not tie into the importance of segregation of duties, internal controls, and it could lead to appearance issues, or even fraudulent issues as well.

Tom Temin: Or favoritism.

Wilvia Espinoza: Right.

Tom Temin: So in other words, your view is that the person submitting should not be the person ever deciding.

Wilvia Espinoza: Yes, agree. And that’s fundamental to any critical business function, any financial transaction, there should be at least two people involved. One person submitting and another approving.

Tom Temin: Yeah, because I think even in a standard management situation, if you want to give an employee a bonus, outside of formal awards program, you would still need your boss to make sure it’s OK. I’ve never seen a situation where someone can arbitrarily grant it without third party, the controller, or the supervisor of the supervisor having a say in other words.

Wilvia Espinoza: And another thing that we did was we conducted a survey to obtain management’s impressions of and satisfaction of the recognition and awards program. And we found that the survey identified that 53% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed, that guidance for an award is clear and easy to follow. So that we felt provided additional insight as to what the Postal Service could do to improve from that to improve the program overal.

Tom Temin: Right. So the people involved at the lower levels feel the whole thing is kind of foggy. And since 21, which is the final zone of when you had data for, have they made some changes in the meantime?

Wilvia Espinoza: The only corrective action that they did make was the immediate one as we were performing the audit was the one issue that we identified where individuals submitted and approved awards for themselves.

Tom Temin: Wilvia Espinoza is deputy assistant inspector general for audit at the U.S. Postal Service.

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