Federal Daily - May 19, 2009

OPM: Agencies Need to Update Pandemic Response Plans

In the wake of the diminishing swine-flu outbreak, Office of Personnel Management (OPM) officials told lawmakers that agencies need to update pandemic response plans that will keep the government operating during an emergency while ensuring the safety of workers. Nancy H. Kichak, OPM associate director for Strategic Human Resources Policy, testified May 14 before a House subcommittee investigating federal response to the swine flu. Federal agencies need to be better prepared, Kichak said, because the mild flu strain that surfaced this spring could mutate and turn deadly during the upcoming fall flu season. “In the vast majority of cases, the symptoms of the disease were mild,” Kichak said. “We should view this as a wake-up call. We must be prepared.” Lawmakers on the panel were particularly concerned over the slow issuance of respirator masks and other health protocols that would help protect front-line workers at some agencies—like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Panel Chairman Stephen F. Lynch, D-Mass., noted that the DHS pandemic guidance did not address concerns of certain federal workers, such as Transportation Security Officers and Customs and Border Patrol officers, who were banned from wearing protective masks despite their close interaction with the public. Kichak also suggested that agencies more fully develop telework plans for non-front-line workers as they update emergency response strategies. Agencies should make sure they have telework agreements with as many telework-eligible employees as possible and should test employees' ability to access agency networks from home, as well as their procedures for communicating with employees who are teleworking, Kichak said. To see more, go to: http://federalworkforce.oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=2433 or www.opm.gov/News_Events/congress/testimony/
111thCongress/05_14_2009.asp.

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VA Receives 25,000 Applications for Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on May 15 announced it had received more than 25,000 applications for education benefits during the first two weeks that veterans and servicemembers could make claims online under the new Post-9/11 GI Bill. The number of education benefits’ applications submitted in the first two weeks is more than three times the two-week rate of benefit applications usually received through the Veterans Online Application system, VA said. The Post-9/11 GI Bill, passed by Congress last year, is the most extensive educational assistance program authorized since the original GI Bill was signed into law in 1944.  It provides eligible individuals tuition payments to assist them in getting a college education, while also expanding coverage. Many participants can receive a housing allowance while they’re studying and a stipend for books and supplies. Under the new GI Bill, certain members of the armed forces may transfer benefits to a spouse or dependent children. With the large numbers of veterans and servicemembers expected to apply for the new program, VA projects a 20 percent to 25 percent increase in the total number of participants in VA’s education programs. The new education benefit is for veterans, servicemembers, reservists, and National Guard members who have served on active duty since Sept. 11, 2001. Veterans can apply online through the GI Bill Web site at www.GIBILL.VA.gov. “We are very pleased with the tremendous interest in the Post-9/11 GI Bill,” said Patrick W. Dunne, VA’s undersecretary for benefits.  To see more, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1675.

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DoD, OPM Announce New NSPS Review

DoD and the Office of Personnel Management last week asked the Defense Business Board (DBB), an DoD advisory panel, to review the National Security Personnel System (NSPS)—the agency’s controversial pay-for-performance civilian pay system. The review is the result of DoD’s decision earlier this year to halt expansion of NSPS until experts could take a closer look at the system. Approximately 205,000 DoD civilian employees are currently under NSPS. The DBB’s task group will look at NSPS’ underlying design principles, whether the program objectives are being met and whether NSPS is operating in a fair, transparent and effective manner, said Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn III. The task group, which will seek public input, is expected to deliver its recommendations this summer. The task group will be chaired by former DoD official Rudy deLeon, who now serves as senior vice president of National Security and International Policy at the Center for American Progress. To see more, go to:
www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12679.

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