FederalDaily.com > OPM Issues New Hiring Authority

FederalDaily - August 8, 2005

OPM Issues New Hiring Authority

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently issued an interim regulation granting non-Department of Defense agencies a new hiring flexibility. “ The interim regulation that I have signed is needed to assist federal agencies in hiring individuals for positions that have been difficult to fill,” said OPM Director Linda Springer. The direct-hire authority is for federal acquisition positions covered under title 41 of the United States Code when there is a severe shortage of well-qualified candidates. To determine if a shortage exists, agencies have to use the criteria in the Code of Federal Regulations. Agencies also have to comply with all laws and regulations pertaining to public notice requirements, including displaced employee procedures. Agencies may use this direct-hire authority until the authority expires on Sept. 30, 2007. The regulation was in the August 4 issue of the Federal Register at: www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a050804c.html.

GSA Announces Final Reorganization Plans

General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Stephen A. Perry last week announced the detailed organizational design plan for reorganizing the Federal Technology Service (FTS) and Federal Supply Service (FSS) into the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). “This reorganization is a very important part of the overall effort to improve the Federal acquisition process,” Perry said. The FAS organization will include six zones within the 11 GSA regions. Under this arrangement, GSA associates will provide customers in a particular geographic area with services such as IT-assisted acquisition, fleet service representatives and personal property. Associates in the former FTS and FSS regional and zonal offices will remain in their current geographic locations, but will be reorganized. For more on the reorganization, go to www.gsa.gov.

Post-Employment Restrictions for Bank Examiners

The federal banking regulatory agencies on August 4 issued proposed rules to implement a special post-employment restriction on certain senior examiners employed by an agency or Federal Reserve Bank, as required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. Under the proposal, if an examiner serves as the senior examiner for a depository institution or depository institution holding company for two or more months during the examiner’s final 12 months of employment with an agency or Reserve Bank, the examiner may not knowingly accept compensation as an employee, officer, director or consultant from that institution. The restriction applies for one year after leaving the employment of the agency or Reserve Bank. If an examiner violates the restriction, he or she may face removal and industry-wide employment prohibition for up to five years, a civil money penalty of up to $250,000 or both.

Former FBI Whistleblower Pursues Legal Case

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) urged the U.S. Supreme Court last week to review a lower court's dismissal of the case of Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator who ACLU alleges was fired in retaliation for reporting security breaches and possible espionage within the FBI. Lower courts dismissed the case when former Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the rarely used "state secrets" privilege. "Edmonds' case is not an isolated incident," said ACLU Associate Legal Director Ann Beeson. "The federal government is routinely retaliating against government employees who uncover weaknesses in our ability to prevent terrorist attacks or protect public safety." Edmonds, a former Middle Eastern language specialist hired by the FBI shortly after 9/11, was fired in 2002 and filed a lawsuit later that year challenging the retaliatory dismissal. The ACLU's Supreme Court cert petition is online at: www.aclu.org/NationalSecurity/NationalSecurity.cfm?ID=18870&c=24.