FederalDaily - July 21, 2005
Personnel Reform Goes Government-wide
The administration proposed legislation (called the Working for America Act)
on Wednesday that would shift most federal employees—both white and blue
collar—away from the GS pay system to a pay-for-performance system. For
employees rated “fully successful” or better, pay increases will
vary based on labor market rates and performance. Employees not rated “fully
successful” will receive no pay increase. Employees will receive written
performance expectations and feedback from their supervisors. Those untouched
by the Working for America Act include employees at intelligence agencies,
financial regulatory agencies, Foreign Service agencies and certain others.
For more on this story, see the upcoming July 25, 2005, issue of Federal Employees
News Digest. To sbuscribe, click here.
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IRS Needs New Productivity Measure
A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says the IRS can find
better ways to measure productivity than its current measure—cases closed
per employee. That form of measurement has shown declines in enforcement productivity
in the past. But measuring IRS’s productivity is challenging, GAO said.
IRS’s activities, such as exams or audits conducted have to be adjusted
for complexity and quality. IRS can improve its productivity measures by using
a variety of methods for calculating productivity that adjust for complexity
and quality. GAO said by using alternative methods for measuring productivity,
managers would be better able to isolate sources of productivity change and
manage resources more effectively. More complete productivity measures would
provide better information about IRS effectiveness, budget needs and efforts
to improve efficiency.
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Bill Would Boost DHS Officers
The National Homeland Security Council today praised Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.,
for introducing legislation that would increase the number of federal officers
and inspectors within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responsible
for immigration enforcement. “We hope this legislation will be enacted
swiftly,” said Charles Showalter, president of the National Homeland
Security Council. H.R. 3333 would increase the number of immigration inspectors,
and detention and removal officers, by 2,000 each by the end of 2008. The
bill would also restore the authority of immigration officers to enforce the
Immigration and Naturalization Act. According to Showalter, this authority
was restricted with the advent of the customs and border protection officer
position within DHS.
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Senate Subcommittee Raises VA/Military
Spending
The Senate Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee
on July 19 approved the fiscal year 2006 spending bill. The bill includes $223.8
million for construction of military hospitals and medical/dental facilities.
For military family housing, the bill allows for $1.91 billion to fully fund
family housing construction and construction improvements and $2.22 billion
for the operation and maintenance of existing units. The Department of Veterans
Affairs would receive $23.3 billion for medical services, which is more than
$1.3 billion above the president’s request. The bill also provides more
than the president requested for medical and prosthetic research and for grants
to state extended-care facilities. The full Appropriations Committee will consider
the bill in markup session on July 21.
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