FederalDaily - August 2, 2007

Legislation: Cost Overruns Would Trigger BRAC Reviews

New Jersey’s two senators have introduced legislation that would require reconsideration of pending base closures when new cost estimates greatly exceed those that were forecast by DoD’s Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. Sens. Robert Menendez (D) and Frank Lautenberg (D) created the bill in the face of the BRAC closing of New Jersey’s Fort Monmouth, which the senators said now is expected to cost almost twice the original $780 million BRAC estimate. “The point of this [BRAC] process was to reduce costs, but now the price tag for some of these base closings is ballooning out of control,” said Menendez. Lautenberg said the bill, which would provide a way to review the Ft. Monmouth closing, “would require real accountability and transparency in the base closure process,” and “ensure that excessive cost overruns in closing a base like Fort Monmouth never happen again.” The bill would require re-evaluation of any major base realignment or closure if the actual cost exceeded BRAC’s estimate by more than 25 percent. For more, go to: http://lautenberg.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=280081.

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OPM Director Testifies on Pay Issues

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Linda Springer on July 31 testified before a House subcommittee in support of S. 1046, which would increase pay rates for certain senior-level and senior technical positions. Springer appeared before the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia. The bill, the Senior Professional Performance Act of 2007, also would revise the Senior Executive Service certification time frame for authorized performance appraisal systems. Springer also testified in support of legislation that would phase in locality pay for employees working outside the contiguous 48 states. About 50,000 such employees in these areas now receive cost of living allowance (COLA) payments rather than locality pay. But those COLAs do not count toward calculation of retirement annuities. For more, go to: www.opm.gov/news/opm-director-testifies-before-congress-on-federal-pay-issues,1208.aspx.

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DoD Issues New Whistleblower Directive

DoD has issued new rules that offer clearer protections to uniformed and civilian whistleblowers at the department, according to a DoD directive circulated this week by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The July 23, 2007, directive from Deputy Secretary Gordon England lays out a range of safeguards for department whistleblowers, including punishment for officers or civilian supervisors who restrain or retaliate against whistleblowers; mandatory investigation of whistleblower complaints by inspector general (IG) offices within 180 days; and the extension of whistleblower protection regulations to cover disclosures made within the military chain of command—as well as disclosures made to IGs or Congress. PEER, which posted the directive on its Web site,  said DoD Secretary Robert Gates “deserves congratulations for taking decisive steps to improve accountability within our military services,” and for creating protections within DoD at a time when the Department of Justice is opposing new whistleblower legislation proposed by Congress. To see the directive, go to: http://www.peer.org/docs/dod/07_31_07_dod_directive_military_whistleblower_protection.pdf.

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