FederalDaily - September 20, 2007
OPM Posts New Dental and Vision Rates
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has posted new dental and vision rates
for the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP). Premiums
for the dental insurance program first instituted a year ago will rise by 6.1 percent.
The FEDVIP open season will run concurrently with the Federal Benefits Open Season,
from Nov. 12 through Dec. 10. Last year, during the first FEDVIP open season, 750,000
employees and retirees signed up for either dental or vision coverage, or both, OPM
said. Employees must be eligible for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program
(FEHB) to enroll in FEDVIP, but they don’t have to be actually enrolled in
FEHB to participate in the dental/vision plan. To see more, go to: www.opm.gov/insure/dentalvision/07openseason.asp.
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Bill Would Give Servicemembers Equal Appeal Rights
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has introduced legislation that would grant U.S.
service members the same rights as civilians to appeal convictions to the Supreme
Court. Unlike servicemembers, civilians convicted of crimes can petition the Supreme
Court to review their cases after exhausting their appeals to federal appellate courts
or a state supreme court. But if the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces denies
a servicemember’s petition for review—which most commonly happens—servicemembers
currently are barred from petitioning the Supreme Court unless they face the death
penalty. For that reason, in about 90 percent of military criminal cases, court-martialed
servicemembers are cut off from access to the high court. The bill, the Equal Justice
for U.S. Service Members Act, is co-sponsored by Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and
Russell Feingold, D-Wis. To see more, go to: http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=1e070b45-b0f4-97bc-2bc7-651e7abee19b&Region_id=&Issue_id=
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DLA Awards Depot Jobs to Contractor
The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) announced Sept. 18 that it had finalized a decision
to shift 102 federal jobs at the Defense Distribution Depot in Richmond, Va., to
a private contractor. DLA awarded the depot contract to GENCO Infrastructure Solutions,
Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa., as the result of an A-76 competition, DLA said in a statement.
The depot is a 350-acre distribution center that receives, stores and maintains material
for the U.S. military, foreign military sales customers and federal agencies. The
Sept. 18 announcement made final a tentative Aug. 17 decision in which DLA decided
it was more cost-effective to convert the federal employee positions. DLA noted that
no protests were filed with the agency after it announced the Aug. 17 preliminary
ruling. The transition period from current federal operations to the contracted structure
is scheduled to take approximately 180 days, DLA said. To see more, go to: www.dla.mil.
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