FederalDaily - September 21, 2005
Dental/Vision Coverage in 2006
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) this week said dental and vision
benefits will be available to federal employees and federal retirees in December
2006, following an Open Season to begin that autumn. The Open Season enrollment
for this new benefits program will coincide with the annual enrollment periods
OPM conducts for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and Flexible
Spending Accounts program and it will run from mid November to mid December.
OPM had said earlier that the program would begin in July 2006. OPM said nearly
4 million current and retired federal employees are eligible to enroll in the
new dental and vision benefits program. In addition, coverage can be elected
for the enrollee only, the enrollee plus one other person, or the enrollee
and his or her family.
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Ex-GSA Official Arrested
A former General Services Administration (GSA) official was arrested on charges
of making false statements and obstructing an investigation by the GSA’s
Office of Inspector General (OIG), according to Assistant Attorney General
Alice S. Fisher of the Department of Justice (DOJ). David Hossein Safavian
was arrested on Sept. 19 based on a three-count criminal complaint. The affidavit
filed in support of the criminal complaint alleges while Safavian served as
chief of staff at GSA, he aided a Washington, D.C., lobbyist in attempts to
acquire GSA-controlled property in and around Washington, D.C. In August 2002,
this lobbyist allegedly took Safavian and others on a golf trip to Scotland.
DOJ said the false statement and obstruction of the investigation charges relate
to Safavian’s statements to a GSA ethics officer and the OIG that the
lobbyist had no business with GSA prior to the golf trip. Safavian has not
been proven guilty.
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Naval Cruiser Loses Sailor
The Navy has been searching for a sailor who was discovered missing on Sept.
13 from a guided-missile cruiser, the USS Princeton, in the Persian Gulf. After
the sailor did not report as scheduled for a watch that morning, the crew began
an immediate search on board Princeton. According to the Navy, once all spaces
on the ship had been searched, U.S. and coalition search-and-rescue operations
began both air and surface searches from the point of the ship’s position
when the sailor was last seen the evening of Sept. 12. The Navy said the circumstances
of the incident are under investigation.
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DHS Forms Katrina Oversight Office
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General, Richard L. Skinner,
announced on Sept. 19 the establishment of an Office for Hurricane Katrina
Oversight. The office, which will be headed by Matthew Jadacki, will focus
on preventing problems through a program of internal control reviews and contract
audits, DHS said. Jadacki will be on a detail assignment from the National
Weather Service. He will be responsible for overseeing the management and expenditure
of all contracts, grants and governmental operations related to Hurricane Katrina
relief efforts. Before joining the National Weather Service, Jadacki was the
acting chief financial officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA).
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