Federal Managers Association

FMA National President Darryl Perkinson attended a session of the Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) Council on May 8th, chaired by Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Linda Springer. This annual session affords several of the unions and management groups an opportunity to discuss key initiatives, as well as current human capital management issues. In addition to FMA, other groups present included the Senior Executives Association, AmericanFederation of Government Employees, National Treasury Employees Union, and the National Federation of Federal Employees.

Perkinson had the opportunity to speak directly with the Director and Patricia McGinnis, CEO of the Council for Excellence in Government. Their discussions centered on key issues affecting the Association, including mentoring, FERS sick leave credit, management training financing and implementation, hiring difficulties affecting agencies in a continuing resolution environment, and the most recent initiative introduced by OPM for rehiring retiree annuitants.

FMA ’s Perkinson began his remarks before the Council by expressing his appreciation for the invitation to speak before the group and for allowing FMA to share its perspective on current issues affecting federal workers. “The severe restrictions that the continuing resolution has placed on managers and supervisors to conduct their everyday service to the public must not be allowed to become standard practice,” Perkinson said. Another concern shared with the Council was the need to ensure appropriations for any management training proposals must not be fettered away from agency budget proposals. Perkinson also spoke on the increasing length of time it is taking to hire new employees at several federal agencies, a deterrent to the hiring the best and the brightest into the federal service. Perkinson urged the Council to “work on systems that allow quick hiring for those agencies facing critical shortfalls in personnel to accomplish their missions.”

FMA SUBMITS TESTIMONY FOR THE RECORD ON HIRING PRIORITIES AT SSA

The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security met on May 1st to hold a hearing on the status of hiring Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) at the Social Security Administration (SSA). Testifying before the Subcommittee were SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue and Director of the Office of Personnel Management, Linda Springer. FMA submitted written comments in response to the hearing.

By law, OPM is tasked to provide a registry of available ALJs for all federal agencies that require their use and OPM has not updated this registry since 2003. The Subcommittee claimed that the lack of qualified ALJs for SSA to hire created staff shortages which is the major cause of the backlog of disability cases at the agency.

In the SSA Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, there currently exists a backlog of over 737,910 requests for a hearing, an increase of over 20,000 since the start of the calendar year. In the last three months alone (February, March and April), ODAR received 161,722 new cases, while disposing of 140,469 cases, translating into a growing backlog of 7,000 new cases a month. By the end of the current fiscal year, this would mean an increase of 35,000 cases added to the backlog. It already takes over 500 work days to process a typical request for hearing and these delays tarnish SSA’s otherwise strong record of service to the American public. Unless something is done to reverse this trend, the backlog could realistically reach one million by 2010 with the aging Baby Boom generation.

In the written statement for the record, FMA expressed the need for additional staffing at all levels to tackle the backlog: “We at FMA appreciate the attention the Subcommittee has placed on examining the reasons for the backlog and addressing remedies to the problem. Several Members of the Subcommittee expressed their concerns with the list of available Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) for hire at SSA at a hearing on May 1, 2007. The Social Security Administration employs over 80% of the available ALJs for hire and like you, we find it unconscionable that the Office of Personnel Management has not updated the registry of ALJs available for hire since 2003. However, we would be remiss if we did not express our concerns that the backlog cannot be addressed by ALJs alone. Without adequate support staff to prepare cases for the judges, both existing and new, we will not achieve an increase in hearing dispositions – the only solution to reducing the backlog.”

FMA went onto support the President’s budget request for SSA in fiscal year 2008: “To remedy this unfortunate situation, Congress should begin by passing the President’s 2008 budget request of $9.597 billion for SSA’s Limitation on Administrative Expenses account. [Former] Commissioner Barnhart felt the agency was in even greater need and before her term expired, she had asked the President to request $10.44 billion for SSA in FY08. In addition to having an immediate impact on the current backlog, inadequately funding the Social Security Administration for an eighth straight year will negatively impact every service area of the agency.”

For a copy of FMA’s written comments, please visit: www.fedmanagers.org.

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WHAT’S HAPPENING ON CAPITOL HILL?

HOUSE PASSES DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION FOR FY08

On May 17, the House of Representatives passed the fiscal year 2008 Defense authorization bill (H.R. 1585) by a vote of 397-27, despite a veto threat from the White House. Among other things, the bill provides for a 3.5% pay raise for members of the armed services.

Overall, the bill includes $503.8 billion in budget authority for the Department of Defense and the nuclear weapons programs of the Department of Energy, plus $141.8 billion to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan during fiscal year 2008, which begins Oct. 1.

In a blow to the Administration, the bill repeals the collective bargaining rights and disciplinary appeal rights portions of DOD’s personnel reforms, the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). The provision would put DOD employees back under regular civil service law, which grants unions the right to bargain over terms and conditions of employment, allows federal workers to take grievances to unions and allows employees to appeal major disciplinary actions to an agency independent from the Department of Defense.

Also included in the bill was language that would curb the military's growing reliance on defense firms to implement large, multifaceted acquisition programs. Of the provision, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) commented, “"The bill establishes a new Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction to ensure accountability in contracting there, and extends the authority of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. The bill also brings more contracting accountability to both Afghanistan and Iraq by forcing the Departments of Defense and State to work together in assigning responsibility for overseeing the thousands of contractors in these places, particularly those carrying weapons.”

“I am pleased to see the House pass a 3.5% pay raise for members of the Armed Services, and I encourage the Appropriations Committees to fund this request,” commented FMA National President Darryl Perkinson. “In this time of war, both our nation’s military and civilian employees deserve adequate pay for the hard work they are doing for our country.”

The Senate is expected to consider the authorization bill this week. For more information, please visit: www.thomas.loc.gov.

DHS AUTHORIZATION BILL REPEALS PERSONNEL REFORMS

The House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 1684, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authorization bill, which would repeal many of the personnel reforms the Bush Administration, along with congressional Republicans, was hoping to implement at the department. These include the restriction of union rights within DHS, the department’s pay banding system and its performance appraisal measures, just to name a few.

House Homeland SecurityCommittee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), said in regard to the bill, “Democrats will not stand for the status quo when it comes to our nation's security. Since the creation of the Department, qualified leaders have been few and far between, disasters have turned into catastrophes, and waste, fraud and abuse have run rampant, all while those in charge turned a blind eye. Today, we bring focus to the shortcomings hampering the Department’s ability to function and uphold our promise of protection to the American people.

The Bush Administration has threatened to veto the authorization which it sees as a blow to the President’s ability to manage Executive Branch employees as well as a challenge to the constitutional powers of the Presidency. In a seven page “Statement of Administration Policy,” the Bush Administration lists its numerous concerns over the House version of the DHS authorization bill. It specifically addresses the repeal of the personnel reforms saying, “ The Administration strongly opposes provisions in H.R. 1684 that would repeal the personnel flexibilities provided in the Homeland Security Act of 2002. DHS needs a human resources management system designed to meet the diverse personnel requirements faced by the Department.”

The bill is currently awaiting action in the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Reform. For more information on the authorization, please visit www.thomas.loc.gov.

CONGRESS AGREES ON FY08 BUDGET, SSA COMES OUT ON TOP

On May 17, the House and Senate agreed to a conference report on the fiscal year 2008 budget resolution, S.Con.Res. 21. In the report, the Social Security Administration saw a boost in funding, as well as overall discretionary funding.

The $2.9 trillion fiscal 2008 budget resolution provides for $954.1 billion in discretionary spending, not including war spending, about $21 billion above the President’s request. During floor debate, the House voted to increase the debt limit to $9.8 trillion. The House also imposed strict “pay-as-you-go” (PAYGO) rules, which Democrats say will balance the budget in five years. The rules require any new spending to be offset by cuts elsewhere. In order to balance the budget in 5 years despite an increase in domestic spending, the resolution assumes the expiration of most of Bush’s tax cuts as scheduled at the end of 2010.

In a victory for the employee-strapped Social Security Administration, Congress approved $10.1 billion in administrative expenses for SSA, $430 million above the President's requested level. The action was taken specifically to address the growing backlog of disability cases at the agency.

Budget resolutions are not binding, but set spending guidelines for the appropriations process. For more information on the FY08 budget resolution, please visit: www.thomas.loc.gov.

SENATE PANEL SCRUTINIZES THE SECURITY CLEARANCE PROCESS

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia recently held a hearing on the federal government’s security clearance process. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is tasked with processing all security clearances from “Confidential” or “Secret” all the way up to “Top Secret.” The division at OPM responsible for conducting background investigations is the Federal Investigative Services Division (FISD). Unfortunately, the security clearance process is fraught with backlogs and inefficiencies and once again has made the Government Accountability Office’s high risk list.

In his opening statement, Chairman Daniel Akaka (D-Haw.) said, “Fixing this problem is a national security issue, and increasingly a fiscal issue. Delays in the clearance process, especially for top secret clearances, are costing taxpayers millions of dollars.”

Much of the delays have occurred because of the inability to accurately predict the security clearance caseload OPM will experience for a given year. This, coupled with an inefficient use of technology, has amounted in serious backlogs and an inability to get the necessary employees cleared for duty that the federal government and its contractors require.

Senator Akaka went on to say that he is “concerned about the resistance towards modernizing the clearance process using new technology. Hundreds of thousands of file folders line shelves at OPM, containing information on active investigations.” This concern was echoed by Timothy Sample, President of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, and Doug Wagoner from the Information Technology Association of America who where both on hand to testify before the Subcommittee.

Also testifying before the Subcommittee were: Clay Johnson, Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget; Robert Andrews, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Counterintelligence and Security at the Department of Defense; Kathy Dillaman, Associate Director of the Federal Investigative Services Division at the Office of Personnel Management; and Derek Stewart, Director of Military and Civilian Personnel Issues at the Government Accountability Office.

“How can we expect to recruit and retain the best and the brightest when the hiring process can take up to two years or even longer with delayed security clearances?” commented FMA National President Darryl Perkinson . “I want to thank Chairman Akaka and the Members of the Subcommittee for bringing this issue to light.”

SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE EXAMINES RISING HEALTH CARE PREMIUMS

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia held a hearing on the rising cost of premiums for active and retired federal employees. The Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program covers approximately eight million people and is often referred to as a model health insurance program.

Despite rapidly rising healthcare costs nationwide, the FEHB program has been able to hold down premium increases below that of private insurance without sacrificing the level of service beneficiaries receive. For 2007, premiums increased by an average of 1.8 percent, which translated to 63 percent of enrollees experiencing no premium increase at all. This has been accomplished through market competition among the companies that compete to administer the FEHB program. As part of this competition process,the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) requires that certain benefits be added to a plan’s coverage every year.

Chairman Daniel Akaka (D-Haw.) and Ranking Member George Voinovich (R-Ohio) both questioned whether enough was being done to provide more forms of preventative care for enrollees. Nancy Kichak, OPM’s Associate Director and Chief Actuary, Strategic Human Resources Policy Division, testified that this year, OPM fought for more preventative services such as osteoporosis and colorectal screenings, and variety of adult and childhood immunizations. While these are steps in the right direction the Senators would have liked to have seen more advances in this area of coverage under FEHB.

Also appearing before the Subcommittee were: John Dicken, Director, Health Care Team from the Government Accountability Office; Stephen Gammarino, Senior Vice President from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association; and Alan Lopatin, Legislative Counsel for the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association.

HOUSE COMMITTEE SEEKS ANSWERS ON TELEWORK USE BY AGENCIES

A bipartisan group of Congressmen from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, including Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Cali.) and Ranking Member Tom Davis (R-Va.), sent a letter and survey request to 25 federal agencies to learn more about how they are implementing telework policies.

"We’re trying to see if there is something we can do to help. Between the environment, the traffic situation and the threat of terrorist attacks, we have a convergence of crises here that makes telework more important than ever," said Rep. Davis.

Federal agencies are required by law to allow those employees eligible to participate in telework programs. The survey seeks to uncover exactly how agencies are utilizing the benefits of this program by learning how telework is defined by each agency, how the agency determines eligibility, the number of employees eligible and excluded, and the efforts the agency has taken to eliminate barriers to telework, to name a few. In all, the survey contains 18 questions with responses expected by May 29th.

“Telecommuting provides a number of benefits in the hiring process and improves productivity, saves money, eliminates stressful commutes and allows families to spend more time with each other,” commented FMA National President Darryl Perkinson. “I want to thank the Committee for taking action to encourage greater participation in teleworking programs.”

To view a copy of the letter, please visit: http://oversight.house.gov/

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WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH?

APPEALS COURT BUCKS PREVIOUS RULING, UPHOLDS DOD PERSONNEL REFORMS

Amid action taken by Congress last week to repeal the collective bargaining provisions of the Department of Defense’s personnel system (National Security Personnel System), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed an earlier court ruling to allow DOD to move forward with its personnel reforms.

In the 2–1 decision, the appeals court determined that DOD has the authority under the law to limit the collective bargaining rights of its civilian employees through November 2009. The 2004 law granted the department only temporary authority to restrict collective bargaining for Defense employees. After November 2009, the labor relations authority in the NSPS statute runs out, and collective bargaining will replace the Department's labor relations apart from certain statutory exceptions. The Court also ruled that the NSPS adverse actions and appeals regulations are not yet ready for judicial review because they do not yet know how the Secretary may choose to apply these regulations in particular cases.

In other NSPS news, 97 percent of employees in Spiral 1.1 of the new pay system received more than the equivalent of the January 2007 General Schedule raise in additional pay and bonuses. The 11,000 employees were given a performance rating on a scale from one to five. Sixty-four percent of these employees received a rating of three, which put them in the "valued performers" category. Twenty-nine percent were rated as “exceeds expectations” and 3.8 percent were rated as “role models.”

In calculating the pay, employees were awarded "shares" based on the average of their performance ratings in several categories. An average rating of five equaled five to six shares, a four rating earned three to four shares, a three rating received one to two shares and a two or one rating did not earn any shares.

Less than one percent received less than they would have under the General Schedule and 2.7 percent received only the equivalent of a General Schedule annual raise.

TAXPAYERS SAVE BILLIONS THANKS TO COMPETITIVE SOURCING

According to a recently released report by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), public-private competitions for federal contracts have provided significant savings to the federal government. These public-private competitions are used to ensure that taxpayers are getting the best possible services at the lowest possible cost. In a vast majority of cases, the federal government wins these competitions; however, competition has encouraged both the public and private industries to deliver better services in a more efficient manner.

The report indicates that the federal government can expect to see a savings of around $1.3 billion over the next five to ten years from competitions completed in fiscal year 2006 alone. When you take into account the last four years of such competition, the federal government has seen almost $7 billion in savings, which translates into an estimated savings of approximately $1 billion a year. It is also important to note that the public-private competition process time has been significantly reduced to 13 months.

“The reasoned and strategic application of competition is helping agencies achieve greater efficiencies and better performance,” said Paul Denett, OMB’s Administrator for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. “By reducing the cost of commercial support services, agencies have more resources to spend directly on their missions.”

PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVES REQUIRE CONTINUITY PLANNING

President Bush recently issued National Security Presidential Directive 51 (NSPD-51) and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20 (HSPD-20), both which establish a comprehensive national policy for the continuity of the federal government in the face of a wide variety of natural and man-made catastrophes.

These directives seek to ensure that federal agencies will be able to perform their mission-essential duties in the face a wide range of emergencies. The directive designates the assistant to the President for homeland security and counterterrorism as the national continuity coordinator and lays out steps that the Executive Branch should take in order to ensure that they are properly prepared. Another important caveat calls for the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate the implementation, execution, and assessment of continuity operations as well as make available continuity planning and exercise funding to state, local and private sector critical infrastructure owners and operators.

The Office of Management and Budget is required by these directives to conduct annual assessments of funding requests and performance data to ensure the continuity plan is being properly funded and implemented.

For more information on these directives, please visit: www.whitehouse.gov

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GET INVOLVED AT THESE EVENTS!

DATES FOR UPCOMING MID-YEAR CONFERENCE IN SAN FRANCISCO SET!

Please join us for FMA’s 16th Mid-Year Conference and Management Training Seminar, August 22 – 25, 2007 in San Francisco, California! This year’s Conference, Federal Management: A Golden Gate to a Career of Service , will be held at the Mark Hopkins Hotel. Conference attendees will receive a special room rate of $130/night. You can make reservations by calling the hotel at 1-800-381-9552. Be sure to ask for the special rate for the Federal Managers Association group, code V65. Reservations must be made by July 21, 2007.

FMA members will be able to register for the Conference in the coming weeks via FMA’s Web site at www.fedmanagers.org. Fees for the Conference are as follows:

Early-bird: $315 (until June 29, 2007), Regular: $365, (until August 3, 2007), and Late: $400 (until August 17, 2007). Please check back for the most up-to-date information!

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN FOR THE 22nd ANNUAL FEDERAL DISPUTE RESOLUITON CONFERENCE

Register today for FDR XXII, scheduled for July 29 - August 2, 2007 in San Francisco, CA! The FDR Conference is an annual training program for federal managers and employees that provides in-depth training on federal employment laws, policies and procedures.  The Annual FDR Conference is known as a premier conference for the federal workforce and is a complete training solution for professionals within the dispute resolution arena.  Attendees are able to design their own training schedule by choosing from over 40 workshops in the following five areas: ADR/Mediation, HR/LR/ER, EEO, Dispute Prevention and Leadership Development and Legal Issues.  Over 1,000 federal managers and employees attend the FDR Conference each year!  For more information and details about the conference, visit http://www.fdrconferences.org/Conference.html.

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Long Term Care Partners, LLC , New FMA Corporate Partner.  Long Term Care Partners is the administrator of t he Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program.  Sponsored by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the Program is available to Federal and U.S. Postal Service employees and annuitants, active and retired members of the uniformed services, and their qualified relatives.  With more than 210,000 enrollees, it is the largest employer-sponsored long term care insurance program in the country.  FLTCIP policies are simple to understand and offer enrollees some distinct advantages, including comprehensive coverage, competitive and stable rates, international coverage, and administrative service standards that are the highest in the long-term care insurance industry.  Policies are sold direct through a highly-trained, non-commissioned staff with no high pressure sales tactics – simply sound advice.  Visit www.LTCFEDS.com or http://www.opm.gov/insure/ltc/index.asp for more information.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Federal Employee Program , FMA Sustaining Corporate Partner:  The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association represents the independent, locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans. The 40 local member companies of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association have provided millions of families with top-quality, affordable health insurance for more than 70 years.  For the one in four Americans who carry Blue Cross and Blue Shield cards, the Blue Plans symbolize health security.  Visit www.fepblue.org and join the best, most-recognized group of health insurance providers in the world.

Wright & Co. , FMA Sustaining Corporate Partner:  Wright & Co. has provided supplemental insurance programs to the Federal government for over 40 years.  They have built strong relationships with insurance companies and service providers to offer these comprehensive benefits at low, affordable group insurance rates.  Benefits include: Dental Insurance Plans; Term Life Insurance Plans; Accidental Death and Dismemberment Plan; and Personal Umbrella Plan.  Wright & Co. is also the originator of the Federal Professional Liability Program and provider of Disability Income Replacement coverage, underwritten by The Hartford, to all Federal employees.  For more information, please visit:  www.wrightandco.com

GEICO , FMA Corporate Partner:  GEICO was created over 60 years ago to insure Federal employees.  Over the years GEICO has continuously strengthened its affiliation with the Federal workforce.  Today GEICO has a special program established to support the Federal community.  GEICO’s Federal program participates in the following organizations and programs: GEICO Public Service Awards, which  have honored Federal workers (active and retired) who have contributed to the public good since 1980; and GEICO Federal Leave Record Cards, which for over 40 years have been provided by GEICO to Federal employees, free of charge, to help them track their annual leave.  Find out how much you could save with GEICO auto insurance as an FMA member by getting a line-by-line rate quote at:  www.geico.com

Shaw, Bransford, Veilleux and Roth, P.C. , (SBVR) concentrates its law practice on the representation of Federal employees, with a special emphasis on the representation of executives and managers.  SBVR serves as General Counsel to the Federal Managers Association and is uniquely situated to recognize the interests and viewpoints of Federal managers.  For up to two free half-hour legal consultations and reduced legal fees as an FMA member, please visit:  www.shawbransford.com

The Federal Managers Association and Management Concepts have teamed up to present the Federal Managers Practicum — a targeted certificate program for Federal managers. As the official development program for FMA, the Federal Managers Practicum helps FMA members develop critical skills to meet new workplace demands and deepen their managerial capabilities.  FMA’s leadership fully recognizes the need to prepare career-minded federal employees to manage the demands of the 21 st century workplace with greater competence and fully supports this unique and comprehensive certificate program.  For more information, please visit:  www.managementconcepts.com/fmp/fmpodp.asp

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The Washington Report is published biweekly by the Federal Managers Association.
Jessica Klement, Editor; FMA Staff Writers.

The Federal Managers Association, established in 1913, is the oldest, largest, most influential association representing the interests of the nearly 200,000 managers, supervisors and executives serving in today’s Federal government.

1641 Prince Street ~ Alexandria VA 22314-2818 ~ (703) 683-8700 ~ FAX (703) 683-8707 ~ E-Mail Info@fedmanagers.org

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