FederalDaily - April 28, 2005
Special Rates Changes Announced
As a result of the Federal Workforce Flexibility Act of 2004, the Office
of Personnel Management (OPM) is changing a number of the special rate schedules.
These changes are effective on May 1. The special rates at the higher steps
of grade GS-15 are increased for feds in several categories—those working
on Johnston Island , Department of Defense air traffic controllers and selected
Patent and Trademark Office employees involved in patent examination. Further,
103 special rate tables will be terminated effective May 1 because higher locality
rates apply at all steps of each grade covered—for those receiving a
higher locality rate, special rates are eliminated under the new law. OPM said
the termination of these special rates will not result in a loss in pay for
any covered employees. A complete listing of the current special rate tables
is available on OPM's Web site at www.opm.gov/oca/payrates/index.asp.
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Green Light for CDC to Reorganize
Congress has accepted Centers for Disease Control (CDC) plans to modernize
and reorganize, according to an announcement by Julie Louise Gerberding, CDC
director. She said that when CDC started this process in 2003, it had been
more than a quarter century since the last modernization effort. At that time,
CDC had 4,000 employees and a budget of approximately $300 million. Currently,
CDC's workforce of employees and contractors has approximately 15,000 people,
with a budget of approximately $8 billion. CDC has added new centers, including
the National Center for Public Health Informatics and the National Center for
Health Marketing; more than 330 applicants have applied for the eight positions
as center directors that are available. Since the CDC transformation began,
the agency has redirected more than 660 positions and $83 million to science
and programs.
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New Federal SmartBUY Contract Announced
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), General Services Administration
and Department of Defense announced on April 26 a government-wide SmartBUY
agreement with Oracle USA, Inc. The agreement gives the government savings
on Oracle databases, application servers, associated options and Oracle applications
for government agencies. Also, the agreement streamlines the acquisition of
Oracle products throughout the federal government. OMB created the SmartBUY
initiative to ensure that the federal government leverages its immense buying
power to achieve maximum cost savings for commodity software. SmartBUY is a
government-wide enterprise software licensing initiative to streamline the
acquisition process and provide best priced, standards-compliant Information
Technology.
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Free Tickets for Wounded Servicemembers
Through donations from thousands of people with unused frequent flyer miles
and U.S. airlines, the Fisher House Foundation said it has given out nearly
3,000 free airline tickets to war-wounded servicemembers and their families
since January 2004. About one-third—around 1,000 tickets—has been
given away during the first four months of this year. People eligible for free
tickets fall into two categories: Wounded servicemen and women from Iraq and
Afghanistan with an approved convalescent leave may be given a free round-trip
airline ticket for a trip from the military or Veterans Affairs medical center
where they're being treated to their home and return if they're not eligible
for government-funded airfare. Also, qualifying servicemen and women may be
given free round-trip tickets to enable their family or close friends to visit
them while they're being treated at the medical center.
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