Federal Daily - November 24, 2008
OPM Says Reports of Political Burrowing Incorrect
There has been no organized effort to move Bush political appointees into civil service jobs before President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration Jan. 20, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said in a Nov. 20 statement. OPM labeled as “inaccurate” published accounts of such a tactic, called “burrowing,” which critics see as a last-minute attempt to fill key federal posts with Bush administration allies. Between March 1 and Nov. 3, numbers released by OPM indicate the Bush administration allowed 20 political appointees to become career employees, according to The Washington Post. The office turned down one candidate and two were withdrawn by the submitting agency. All the hires were made on the basis of merit, OPM said. “As a matter of record, no political appointee has been ‘reassigned’ to a career position since OPM began monitoring in March of this year,” said Kevin Mahoney, OPM associate director for human capital leadership and merit system accountability. “OPM has approved the hiring of some political appointees who have competitively applied for positions in the federal workforce because they were the most qualified.” To see more, go to: www.opm.gov/news/the-following-is-a-statement-from-kevin-mahoney-associate-director-human-capital-leadership-and-merit-system-accountability-on-the-hiring-of-political-appointees-into-career-positions,1441.aspx.
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NTEU Critical of Proposed OPM Rules Change
The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) criticized a proposed Office of Personnel Management (OPM) rules change which the union said would allow agencies to indefinitely suspend workers without pay if they are suspected of serious misconduct. The proposed rule was published in the Sept. 18 Federal Register. Under current regulations, agencies may not indefinitely suspend employees—and must give them 30 days advance written notice—unless “there is reasonable cause to believe that the employee has committed a crime for which a sentence of imprisonment may be imposed.” But NTEU President Colleen Kelley said OPM seeks to expand agencies’ ability to impose no-notice, indefinite suspensions without pay by rewriting the rule to encompass any serious misconduct that “if proven” would warrant removal from the job—and to include any conduct that would pose ongoing risk to “the effective accomplishment of the agency’s operations.” Kelley said that such a definition is far too broad. “Virtually any alleged misconduct would satisfy these grounds, at least at the outset, before the misconduct has been fully investigated,” Kelley said. And, the proposed rule sets no time limits on the length of the investigation, Kelley said. To see more, go to: www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1337 or http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-21523.htm.
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USCIS Awards Three Contracts For Employee Training Services
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Nov. 20 that it had awarded three contracts to provide residential training services for agency employees at facilities in Texas and Virginia. Two vendors, the American Airlines Training and Conference Center and the Idearc Hotel and Conference Center, both located in Dallas, were hired to provide support for the USCIS Academy Training Center (ATC), also located in Dallas. ATC offers the basic training curriculum for new USCIS immigration officers and other immigration training courses. The third contract was awarded to the National Conference Center in Lansdowne, Va., which will host supervisory and related professional development training. The proximity of the Virginia location to the nation’s capital will give that facility access to USCIS headquarters subject matter experts, the agency said. That training includes expert instruction in such classes as financial management, security, ethics and professional responsibility. The contracts call on the vendors to provide support for residential training, including comprehensive services, lodging, meals, equipment, and transportation. USCIS will provide the instructors, USCIS said in a statement. If all the options in each contract were exercised, the cumulative maximum value of all three could reach $62.9 million, the agency said. To see more, go to: www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919
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