Federal Daily - February 9, 2009
GPO's New Content System Advances
Federal Computer Week—The Government Printing Office’s next-generation repository for maintaining official government information now has more than 150,000 government documents, GPO officials said Feb. 4. Officials say the Federal Digital System (FDSys) will let GPO maintain all kinds of digital information, improve searchability and accessibility, and be compatible with future information technologies as those technologies develop. They plan for the new system to replace the current GPO Access system by the middle of this year. The system is in public beta form and its collections include the Federal Register, bills in Congress and congressional hearings. In January, the Office of the Federal Register announced that its new publication, the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents, was specifically designed for FDSys. To read the complete story, go to: http://fcw.com/articles/2009/02/04/gpo-fdsys.aspx.
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USPS Tops Privacy Rankings
A new survey shows Americans believe that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is the federal agency they trust the most to protect their privacy, according to results released Feb. 5 by the Ponemon Institute, an independent research group. Of those surveyed, 87 percent said they trusted USPS as the government agency best able to keep their information safe and secure, the poll said. It is the fifth year in a row that USPS has topped the Ponemon privacy rankings for federal agencies. The survey asked 7,000 Americans, selected at random, to rank 74 federal agencies based on their ability to handle and protect personal information. Questions ranged from factors that create trust in an agency and how confident consumers are that the agency will protect their information, to limiting the amount of information collected. The average score among federal agencies included in the survey was 50 percent. “Those agencies with the most public interaction, like the Postal Service—and those that also demonstrate a healthy respect for maintaining public trust—have scored well over the years,” said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute.
To see more, go to: www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/welcome.htm.
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USDA Puts Employees on Leave Amid Drug Allegations
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Feb. 4 announced that it had placed 19 employees at a USDA laboratory campus in Ames, Iowa, on administrative leave amid allegations that some employees used veterinary credentials to purchase low-cost medications for human use. There is no evidence that any test results or other official laboratory activities were compromised by the alleged activity, said USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, former Iowa governor. Names of the employees placed on leave weren’t released, but more could be implicated as the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) probe widens. The USDA and the OIG are both investigating the matter. The three USDA laboratories employ about 900 people and conduct tests for diseases such as “mad cow” disease and bird flu. According to published reports, the drugs were primarily antibiotics, blood pressure medications and pain relievers and were sold to other employees for their own use. None were narcotics. There are three USDA laboratories at Ames campus—the National Veterinary Services Laboratories and the Center for Veterinary Biologics are part of the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and the National Animal Disease Center is a part of the Agricultural Research Service. “This is a very serious situation that requires immediate and decisive action,” Vilsack said in a statement. “Accountability is of the utmost importance in our laboratories, which are internationally renowned.” To see more, go to: www.usda.gov/wps/portal?contentidonly=true&contentid=2009
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