FederalDaily - May 9, 2006

OPM Selects Dental and Vision Vendors

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced the vendors it selected to provide supplemental dental and vision care as part of the new Federal Employee Dental and Vision Insurance Program. OPM selected MetLife, GEHA, United Concordia, Aetna, GHI, CompBenefits and Triple-S to offer the dental benefits. Vision Services Plan (VSP), BCBS Vision and Spectera will offer the vision benefits. According to OPM, the Dental and Vision Insurance Program goes into effect Dec. 31, 2006, and may be selected beginning Nov. 13, 2006, the start of this year’s Open Season. Rob Lynch, VSP president, responded to his company’s selection, stating “We are delighted by the federal government’s decision and commitment to provide quality eye care to federal employees and retirees.”

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DoD EEO Evaluations Need Improvement

The Department of Defense (DoD) does not have an adequate plan to evaluate its Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) pilot program, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released this month. Congress authorized the pilot program in 2000 so DoD could address slow EEO processing issues, the report said. GAO found that DoD’s evaluation plan for the pilot program contained useful information on data collection, planning and roles and responsibilities, but lacked certain key measures. The plan, GAO said, had the following deficiencies:

• measures are not linked to objectives;
• objectives are not well-defined; and
• there are no methods for ensuring data integrity.

The report is available online at www.gao.gov/new.items/d06538.pdf.

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House Committee Endorses Military Spending

The House Appropriations Committee on May 4 announced that it approved a $94.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2007 military quality of life appropriations. The committee’s proposal is approximately $0.8 billion less than the president’s. The committee is recommending $25.4 billion for veterans’ medical services, $2.6 billion more than 2006. Unlike the president’s budget, the committee’s recommendation does not call for additional health care fees for veterans. Other notable funding requests include:

• $5.5 billion for base realignment and closure activities;
• $21 for the defense health program—a $1 billion increase from the previous year; and
• $500 million for urgent, war-related military construction projects called for by the president.

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Senate Reimburses SSA for Hurricane Efforts

The Senate approved $38 million in supplemental funding last week for the Social Security Administration (SSA), to offset agency funds used to assist victims of the 2005 hurricane season. Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Max Baucus, R-Mont., the amendment sponsors, applauded SSA for its disaster relief activities, such as providing immediate payments to beneficiaries who did not have access to bank funds. The agency also incurred administrative costs as it processed applications from many victims newly eligible for Social Security disability or survivors benefits or Supplemental Security Income benefits, changed the addresses of beneficiaries displaced by hurricanes and confirmed Social Security numbers for those who had lost identification documents. Costs were also incurred for expenses for workers serving in affected areas and for repairs or temporary replacements for damaged or destroyed Social Security offices.

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