Federal Daily - February 4, 2008

GAO: OPM Overstating RSM Progress

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) may be overstating the progress of its Retirement Systems Modernization (RSM) program, which is to be implemented later this month, said a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. In a report to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, GAO said it looked at how well OPM was managing the RSM program designed to modernize the paper-intensive processes that support the retirement of civilian federal employees. Although OPM reported in October that program cost and schedule variances components were on schedule, GAO found otherwise. “The agency’s reported favorable view of program progress was not consistent with the state of the program,” said the GAO report, released on Jan. 31. GAO investigators also found trends in identifying and resolving system defects which indicated a growing backlog of problems that will have to be resolved prior to deployment. The report also pointed out that although OPM has established a risk management process that has identified program risks, the agency has not reliably estimated RSM’s cost. In particular, the reliability of the program’s revised life-cycle cost estimate of $421.6 million is questionable because the agency could not support the estimate with a description of the system to be developed. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/highlights/d08345high.pdf.

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DOJ to Seek Additional 265 Positions at Border

In an effort to fight crime on the Southwest border, the Department of Justice (DOJ) will seek an additional 265 positions for agencies that work along the border, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey announced on Jan. 31. The $100 million Southwest Border Enforcement Initiative will be part of the FY 2009 budget request President Bush sends to Congress this week. The initiative will help combat the flow of illegal immigration, drugs, and weapons across the Southwest border, as well as arrest, detain, prosecute and incarcerate violent criminals, Mukasey said in a statement. The amount includes $20.4 million for the Drug Enforcement Administration (39 positions), $9.6 million for Interagency Crime and Drug Enforcement (56 positions), $12.7 million for the Marshals Service (73 positions), $37.5 million for the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee, $10 million for the Executive Office for Immigration and Review, and $8.4 million for U.S. Attorneys’ Offices (83 positions). DOJ’s Criminal Division (CRM) would receive $289,000 (2 positions) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) would get $948,000 (12 positions). “Support for the full range of law enforcement operations along our Southwest Border is absolutely critical,” said Mukasey. To see more, go to: www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/January/08_opa_079.html.

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Bill Would Help Prevent Troop Suicides

A bipartisan group of senators on Jan. 31 introduced a bill they said would help stem the growing tide of suicides among active duty members of the military. Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., filed the legislation following news accounts which revealed growing numbers of suicides among soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. Citing an unreleased Army document, The Washington Post reported that 121 soldiers committed suicide last year—a 20 percent increase from 2006—and the highest rate of Army suicides recorded since the Army started collecting this data in 1980. The Armed Forces Suicide Prevention bill would conduct a service-wide mental health campaign to reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues, implement annual suicide prevention training for all servicemembers, use crisis response teams within units to prevent and respond to traumatic events, and provide post-deployment follow-up and assistance for family members and peers. To see more, go to: http://obama.senate.gov/press/080131-harkin_hagel_ob/.

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