On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER:
- The government is using more and more competitions. But how do they work? What about security and privacy issues? We pick the brains of TopCoder. Click here for the full recap.
Sequestration Reader:
- Washington Post’s Dickerson: As sequester nears, federal workers who face furloughs express themselves
- The Impact of the Fiscal Cliff on the States: Sequestration
- On spending cuts, focus is shifting from “if” to “how.” “With across-the-board federal spending cuts likely to begin Friday, a growing question is how much discretion the Obama administration has to soften their blow…The answer to how much the administration can control what exactly is cut may not be known until the deadline hits and agency heads begin making adjustments to live within the tighter budgets.” Peter Nicholas and Damian Paletta in The Wall Street Journal.
- GovExec: Some Agencies Won’t Need Furloughs Under Sequester
- Time for DoD to Accept the New Fiscal Realities. POLITICO’s Kate Brannen has the story: “After more than a year of assuming the worst won’t happen, a few brave souls in the defense establishment have begun to think the unthinkable: How should the Pentagon shape the military in a post-sequestration world?”
- GOP pushes back on Obama sequester warnings, says he should seek deal — Republicans on Monday rejected President Obama’s high-pressure push to avert a series of budget cuts called the sequester, saying that Obama is engaged in scare tactics and political campaigning when he should be seeking a deal. “This is not time for a road-show president,” Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) said at a news conference with other House Republicans. “This is time to look for someone who will lead and work with us, because we’re willing to work with them to solve America’s problems.” The lawmakers criticized Obama for a planned trip Tuesday to Newport News, Va., where he will highlight the impact of the cuts on the military-driven local economy. A trio of GOP governors also said Obama is hyping the problem. By David A. Fahrenthold and David Nakamur
- Washington Post:The states most and least affected by the sequester, in one chart
- No jets for you, Congress, if the sequester goes through. “Here’s what might be the most powerful incentive yet for members of Congress to come up with a deal to avert the sequester: The head of the Air Force warned Monday that the spending cuts that will go into effect March 1 could cause the military to eliminate those lovely miljet flights that lawmakers enjoy. Members of Congress adore flying on Air Force jets, particularly for overseas trips.”
- Rollcall:15 Things You Need to Know About the Sequester
The SEVEN stories that impact your life
- Senator Chuch Hagel is one step closer to becoming the new defense secretary. The New York Times reports the Senate voted to break a filibuster against the nomination of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary, clearing the way for his confirmation despite Republican complaints about his readiness for the job. More than a dozen Republicans joined Senate Democrats on the 71-to-27 vote to cut off the debate. Republicans who opposed Mr. Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, had insisted that they needed more time to examine his record.
- Government Executive reports, the Treasury department has made whole the federal pension coffers it tapped during the latest debt ceiling debacle, according to the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. The government has reinvested $28 billion back into the government securities (G) fund, said Kim Weaver, the board’s director of external relations.
- The Pentagon has released new details on a mobile plan to support 600,000 end users. NextGov reports, the Defense Department the plan will allow smartphones on classified and unclassified networks with a fast-track approach to get 100,000 unclassified users online by the second quarter of fiscal 2014. The Joint Chiefs of Staff view mobile devices “as essential to innovations and improved mission effectiveness across a wide range of DoD mission areas,” the plan said.
- NextGov reports, the Navy and the Defense Contract Management Agency have both started the process of replacing the 1996-vintage Defense Department Standard Procurement System, which managed 800,000 contracts worth $190 billion in 2011.
- NextGov reports, the United States doesn’t have nearly enough people who can defend the country from digital intrusions. We know this, because cybersecurity professionals are part of a larger class of workers in science, technology, engineering, and math–and we don’t have nearly enough of them, either. We’re just two years into President Obama’s decade-long plan to develop an army of STEM teachers. We’re little more than one year from his request to Congress for money to retrain 2 million Americans for high-tech work (a request Republicans blocked). And it has been less than a month since the Pentagon said it needed to increase the U.S. Cyber Command’s workforce by 300 percent–a tall order by any measure, but one that’s grown even more urgent since the public learned of massive and sustained Chinese attempts at cyberespionage last month.
- Federal News Radio reports, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is cutting costs by freeing some detainees. Headquarters has told field offices to review the numbers of detained immigrants in their jails and to stay within their budgets. It puts the released detainees on more cost-effective forms of supervision. An agency spokeswoman cautions that it will still pursue cases in court and deport illegal immigrants where necessary. ICE would not give exact numbers of released detainees, but the majority are thought to be in California, Texas, Florida and New Jersey.
- And on GovLoop, Telework week is coming us soon. But Yahoo CEO just said they were outlawing telework at their company. Weigh in on the debate.
DorobekINSIDER water-cooler fodder
- ‘Argo’ Is Great, But 52 American Hostages Are Still Looking for Justice
- 9 New Waysto Sit in the Office, Thanks to Smartphones and Tablets
- A real time killer — find out what your friends make… Find out what just about any fed makes