Federal Daily - April 9, 2009

Report: Few Interns Converted to Full-time Federal Workers

Just a fraction of the thousands of student interns that entered the federal workforce in 2007 were converted to full-time civil servants, a rate below that of private-sector interns, according to a report by the Partnership for Public Service (PPS). The report, released April 7, looked at two main paid programs, the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) and the Student Temporary Experience Program (STEP). It also examined the significant gap between the private and federal sectors in intern conversion rates—private employers report converting more than half of their interns, compared to federal agencies, which converted fewer than 7 percent. In 2007, federal agencies employed 59,510 interns through the two paid programs, but only 3,939—6.6 percent—of those student interns were hired (converted) into permanent jobs, the report found. The report noted that part of the problem is the design of the internship efforts. The large majority of the 59,510 student interns in 2007—about 45,000—were enrolled in STEP, which is not designed for student conversion to permanent government employment. Only SCEP offers a built-in mechanism that makes it relatively easy for federal agencies to offer permanent employment to interns, the report said. PSP recommended that the government prioritize student internships as key talent sources for entry-level jobs and make greater use of SCEP instead of STEP. “The time has come for our federal government to end its benign neglect of student internship programs, and use this valuable resource to hire talented young professionals,” the report said. To see more, go to: http://ourpublicservice.org/OPS/publications/viewcontentdetails.php?id=133

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Connectivity Software to Drive Health Information Network

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) on April 6 announced the availability of free software which the office said will provide the first step in helping public and private health information technology systems communicate with the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN). The software, called CONNECT, is part of the broader federal effort to make it easier to electronically exchange health information. Once fully operational, NHIN will tie together health information exchanges, integrated delivery networks, pharmacies, government health facilities, labs, providers, public and private payors and other stakeholders into a “network of networks,” ONC said. In a demonstration project, DoD, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Indian Health Service, and the National Cancer Institute successfully tested CONNECT’s ability to share data with one another and with private-sector organizations. “This software will strengthen our health systems’ ability to share data electronically and provide a wide range of benefits to citizens,” said Robert Kolodner, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. “Benefits include up-to-date records available at the point of care; enhanced population health screening; and being able to collect case research faster.” The CONNECT software is the result of a 2008 decision by more than 20 federal agencies to connect their health IT systems to NHIN. The software is being made available through the Federal Health Architecture at www.connectopensource.org. To see more, go to: www.dhhs.gov/news/press/2009pres/04/20090406a.html.

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Lieberman Seeks to Rescue Future Combat Systems

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., on April 7 urged Defense Secretary Robert Gates to reverse his decision to eliminate the Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS), an ambitious $160 billion modernization effort that features an array of linked, next-generation fighting vehicles. Gates announced the cut this week as part of DoD’s $534 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 budget proposal. Cutting the program, which has been under development since 2000, would save DoD billions in FY 2010, which begins Oct. 1. Lieberman is a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and chairman of its Airland Subcommittee. Lieberman promised to hold hearings to assess Gates’s proposals and modify them. “We must do more to support the soldiers who fight our nation’s wars, but I am concerned that [Gates’s] proposals for the Army will not meet that goal,” Lieberman said. Lieberman also opposed Gates’s proposal to end production of the F-22 Raptor at 187 aircraft. Elimination of the $65 billion F-22 Raptor jet fighter program and a proposed $13 billion fleet of new presidential helicopters were just a few of the cuts proposed by Gates. To see more, go to: http://lieberman.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=311262&&;.

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