FederalDaily - April 19, 2005
DHS Still Integrating Management
The creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) represents one
of the largest reorganizations of government agencies in recent history. So
it is no surprise that there are challenges as DHS merges multiple management
systems from its 22 originating agencies, the Government Accountability Office
(GAO) said in a recent report. DHS needs a more comprehensive approach to its
integration efforts, GAO said. DHS does not have overall goals and a timeline
to guide management integration department-wide. GAO recommended in its report
that Congress should monitor DHS’ management integration progress and
require the agency to periodically report on its efforts. To read the report,
go to www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-139.
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IG Reports on Education’s Media Contract
The Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General (IG)
recently reported a number of noncompliance concerns with respect to the department’s
media relations contract with Ketchum, Inc. Although the IG said there were
no ethical violations in the department’s work requests, it found that
the department’s direction to use a particular subcontractor gave the
appearance of circumventing competition in contracting. Executive Director
Melanie Sloan for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said
the IG report failed to address “the critical issue: did the Department
of Education violate the anti-propaganda law by entering into the contract…in
the first place?” She said instead of reporting on the success of the
contract, the IG should have reported on whether the administration violated
an anti-propaganda law.
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Stealing Insulin from the Army
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on April 15 that three people have
been charged for a scheme to steal insulin from the Army’s medical supplies.
The idea of stealing the insulin originated with Ronald Ausberry, a Specialist
Fourth Class employed as a pharmacy technician. A year after he began stealing
the supplies, he started to recruit other Army pharmacy technicians to help
him by stealing supplies from pharmacies on other bases. Ausberry would repackage
the stolen pharmaceuticals and ship them to buyers who had agreed to purchase
them from him. He sold them for more than $1 million. To read the DOJ announcement,
go to: www.usdoj.gov/usao/ks/press/apr2005/april15b.html.
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Executive Classes Move to Washington , D.C.
Federal executives can now attend the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM)
Federal Executive Institute's (FEI) educational programs in Washington , D.C.
, instead of Charlottesville , Virginia . A new seminar series will offer FEI’s
most popular courses, including: Creating Leadership, Collaborating Across
Organizational Boundaries, Wellness in the Workplace, Emotional Competence:
Working With Others for Results, and Building High-Performance Organizations
in the 21 st Century. OPM said the seminars in Washington will be more accessible
to upper-level federal leaders in the D.C. area, as well as to executives planning
a visit to their headquarters office. The seminars are designed for SES members,
GS-15s and their equivalents.
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