The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission's recommendations for
reshaping the Department of Defense's (DoD) infrastructure are officially taking
effect. Congress allowed the recommendations to pass into law by the mandated
Nov. 8 deadline. The BRAC panel delivered its final report to the president
on Sept. 8. He, in turn, sent it to Congress for review on Sept. 15. Congress
had 45 legislative days—until Nov. 9—to accept or reject the report
in its entirety. By statute, DoD now has until Sept. 15, 2007—two years
from the date the president sent Congress the BRAC commission's final report—to
begin closing and realigning the installations. The process must be completed
by Sept. 15, 2011 , DoD officials said. The 2005 BRAC recommendations represent
the most aggressive BRAC ever proposed, affecting more than 800 installations,
officials said.
The backlog of federal employees, job applicants and government contractors
waiting for background investigations for top-secret security clearances shrank
this year by 25 percent, and the average time to process the highest level
priority cases was cut by 43 days—to a little more than three months—according
to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Linda Springer. She testified
this week on the issue of the security clearance process before the Senate
Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and
the District of Columbia. But although the improvements are welcome, the security
clearance process still is not meeting requirements set forth in the Intelligence
Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. For more on this story, see the
upcoming Nov. 14, 2005, issue of Federal Employees News Digest. To subscribe, click
here.
The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General released a report recommending
that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) merge. The report was conducted at the request of Senate Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Ranking
Member Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn. “This report verifies what so many law-enforcement
officials, current and former employees of the agencies, and well-respected outside
groups have said—these two agencies are dysfunctional in their current
structure,” said Collins. She said that she has discussed this matter with
DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff and that he should be provided more time, as he
requested, to make structural changes at those agencies. For more on this story,
see the upcoming Nov. 21, 2005 , issue of Federal Employees News Digest. To subscribe, click
here.
Consular General David Walker of the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
recently released the fiscal year 2006 pay rates for Washington, D.C.-based
GAO analysts, attorneys and specialists, subject to any changes Congress makes
to GAO’s appropriations. All employees that are rated as “meeting
expectations” or higher will earn a 2.6 percent increase (up to their
applicable pay cap), with an additional 2.15 percent available for performance-based
increases. At least 50 percent of any pay increase will be a permanent salary
raise, with the remaining amount distributed as a cash bonus. Following are
the pay ranges:
Band I: $46,000–$75,900;
Band IIA: $69,800–$101,600;
Band IIB: $82,100–$128,300 (speed bump at 118,000;
must be in top 50 percent of performers to pass speed bump);
Band III: $104,000–$139,800 (speed bump at 129,800;
must be in top 80 percent of performers to pass speed bump);
and
Band IIT: $75,000–$115,000 (for employees in the IIA
pay band whose salary is in the IIB pay range).
Walker emphasized that no GAO employee’s salary or locality pay will
be reduced.
