FederalDaily.com > VA Would Get $6.6 Billion Hike Under House Plan

FederalDaily - April 2, 2007

VA Would Get $6.6 Billion Hike Under House Plan

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would receive an increase of $6.6 billion in healthcare funding for Fiscal Year 2008 if a budget resolution adopted by the House March 29 becomes law. The additional funding will help the VA take steps to fix gaps in health care facilities and treatment exposed in media accounts of problems at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, said Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. The Senate passed its version of the FY 2008 budget resolution last month. A conference committee of the House and Senate will meet to reconcile the different versions. The increased funding is $3.5 billion over President Bush’s budget request, Filner noted. According to the committee, a number of veterans’ service organizations have offered support for the budget proposal, including the American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. To see more, go to: http://veterans.house.gov/news/110/03-29-07-2.shtml

IG: FAA Needs Improved Oversight of Outsourced Maintenance

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) needs to do a better job overseeing the increasingly common practice of outsourcing airplane maintenance to contractors—some of which operate outside the United States, the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Inspector General Calvin Scovel said. In March 29 testimony to the House Transportation and Infrastructure aviation subcommittee, Scovel noted that the FAA hadn’t done enough to tighten safety rules for the growing number of planes serviced by outside contractors. Scovel said that while the FAA does not know how many carriers may use non-certificated maintenance services, the IG was able to identify more than 1,400 repair stations legally performing maintenance without an FAA certification, more than 100 of which were located overseas. “It is important to note that the issue is not where maintenance is performed but that maintenance requires effective oversight,” he said. Also testifying that day, Tom Brantley, national president of the Professional Airways Systems Specialists, called on the FAA to increase staff to provide that needed oversight. “In order for our inspectors to continue to provide adequate oversight for the aviation system,” he said, “the FAA must take immediate steps to increase staffing and funding for its inspector workforce…”For more, go to: www.oig.dot.gov/StreamFile?file=/data/pdfdocs/WEB_FILE_Testimony_FAA_Oversight_of_Outsourced_Maintenance.pdf.

OPM to Enhance Training Capabilities

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Linda Springer on March 29 announced a new federal workforce training partnership program that will enhance opportunities offered through the agency’s Training and Management Assistance (TMA) program. The new effort will allow TMA’s commercial partners to meet increasing agency requirements for customized training and human capital solutions, Springer said. TMA is a leading provider of training assistance and human capital solutions for the federal workforce. Among other things, the new effort will broaden the scope of the Training Program Management Office to specifically include activities such as course delivery, Web-hosting, and production of copies of instructional materials. “To meet our primary goal of ensuring the federal government has an effective civilian workforce, we must provide federal employees with access to training opportunities,” Springer said. “At the same time, we want to ensure agencies have access to improved human capital solutions.” To see more, go to: www.opm.gov/news/opm-to-enhance-training-and-human-capital-solutions-for-federal-employees,1167.aspx