Federal Daily - February 12, 2009
GAO: DoD Should Hone Human Capital Plan
DoD needs to beef up its human capital planning strategies as it faces a potential retirement surge that will leave vacant numerous mission-critical positions, including those that involve providing intelligence and acquiring weapon systems, said a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. GAO looked at how well DoD was developing a human capital civilian workforce plan in light of the fact that more than 50 percent of its civilian workforce (about 700,000 civilians) will be eligible to retire in the next few years. DoD soon could face the task of filling numerous mission-critical positions, including those in senior leadership, said the report, released Feb. 10. Although the department has made progress in developing an overall civilian workforce plan, it needs to be more specific in its efforts, GAO said. For example, DoD’s plan said the department may consider using DoD civilian employees to perform activities now done by contractors when an economic analysis shows that government employees are the lower cost providers. However, DoD does not provide a strategy for doing so, the report said. The agency also needs to rethink its heavy reliance on private contractors and subcontractors for work that could be done by civilian employees. “Without strategies that address key factors like the use of contractors,” the report said, “DoD may not have the right number of people, in the right place, at the right time, and at a reasonable cost to achieve its mission in the future.” To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/highlights/d09235high.pdf.
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Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan FERS Sick Leave Bill
House lawmakers on Feb. 10 introduced a bill that would—if passed into law—allow employees covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) to credit their unused sick leave toward retirement. Reps. Jim Moran, D-Va., and Frank Wolf, R-Va., introduced the “FERS Sick Leave Equity Act” that provides FERS-covered employees a sick leave benefit equal to that of employees under the older Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). The so-called sick leave benefit adds any unused sick leave to the time an employee has worked for the purposes of determining their retirement annuity. “The FERS ‘use-it or lose-it’ system for sick leave hampers productivity and increases training costs,” said Moran. “We need to be incentivizing the accrual of sick leave, not encouraging employees to call in sick in the weeks leading up to retirement.” A Congressional Research Service report from August 2007 found that sick leave balances are lower for FERS employees than CSRS employees. And, in a recent survey of FERS and CSRS employees, 85 percent of CSRS employees said they conserved as much sick leave as possible. Federal Managers Association National President Darryl Perkinson applauded the measure. “The cost of sick leave used by federal employees continues to rise, and the loss of productivity becomes more apparent as there is no incentive for FERS employees to conserve sick leave,” Perkinson said. To see more, go to: http://moran.house.gov/apps/list/press/va08_moran/SickLeave09.shtml.
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DoD Extends Comment Period for TRICARE Reimbursement Change
DoD announced it was extending to March 9 the public comment regarding new TRICARE rules the agency wants to implement governing reimbursement payments for hospital outpatient services. The new reimbursement rates are the result of a 2002 congressional mandate that requires DoD to move to Medicare rates “to the extent practicable.” DoD’s proposed plan would adopt Medicare’s current fee schedule for reimbursements to hospitals on May 1. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who sought the delay, said the new rules for reimbursement do not provide hospitals offering TRICARE services enough time to adjust to a lower payment schedule. Webb warned that DoD’s proposed plan could result in civilian hospitals disrupting services to active duty military personnel, their families and retirees. Webb said he hoped the extended comment period would give hospitals and health care organizations more time to weigh in on the issue. Webb also has asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to consider an alternative transition plan. “Cutting TRICARE hospital outpatient payments abruptly by 25 percent is unreasonable and without precedent,” Webb said Feb. 10. To see more, go to: http://webb.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=308010&.
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Burrus Blasts USPS Response to Financial Downturn
American Postal Workers Union (APWU) President William Burrus this week criticized a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) proposal to reduce workforce hours and consolidate USPS mail processing and transportation networks. USPS detailed the proposed changes last week in a USPS news bulletin in which it reported a first-quarter net loss of $384 million, and a decline in mail volume of 5.2 billion pieces compared to the same period last year. Steps outlined in the bulletin included halting all construction of new postal facilities, asking Congress to let it adjust some of the payment requirements for retiree health benefits, working on ways reduce work hours, and consolidating mail processing and transportation networks. Burrus blasted the USPS focus on cutting workforce hours while using private contractors who compete against the Postal Service. “It is extremely disappointing that not a single step is aimed at reducing the loss of revenue from ‘worksharing’ discounts or from subcontracting,” Burrus said in a statement posted Feb. 10 on the APWU Web site. “I fail to understand USPS strategy, which continues to subsidize private mail ‘pre-sorters.’” Burrus pointed specifically to a USPS study that is looking at consolidating mail processing operations in the Long Beach, Calif.-area—at the same time that Pitney Bowes plans to open a new 84,000 square foot mail-processing facility nearby. That new plant, Burrus said, will be partly financed through worksharing discounts offered by USPS. To see more, go to: www.apwu.org/news/webart/2009/09-010-potterletter-090210.htm.
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