Federal Daily - June 16, 2009

OMB Encourages Agencies to Implement Hiring Reform

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Peter Orszag on June 11 issued a memorandum requiring all agencies to begin to implement a range of hiring reforms that incorporate timeliness, plain language in job announcements and better communication with applicants. In a memo to all agencies, Orszag said that within the next six months, all departments were expected to implement key portions of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) End-to-End Hiring Roadmap introduced last year. Adoption across agencies has been sporadic, he said. Specifically, agencies must map their current hiring process using OPM’s Hiring Process Mapping; review the job announcements for the agency’s top 10 occupations and have them written in plain language; and make sure they notify applicants of their status at four points through USAJobs.gov, the memo said. Agencies also were instructed to engage hiring managers in all parts of the hiring process—including targeting recruitment, drafting job announcements, reviewing initial applications, and interviewing and selecting applicants, the memo said. The memo also addressed ways to enhance the federal workplace, and said agency leaders should use their Federal Human Capital Survey findings and other information to improve recruitment and retention. Specifically, as part of its Fiscal Year 2011 budget request, each agency should include an action plan saying how it will improve its workplace measures in the specific areas that employees have identified as needing improvement. “The federal government should be a model employer. Employee engagement is directly linked to achievement of agency missions,” the memo said. To see more, go to: www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_fy2009/m09-20.pdf.

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State Dept. Expands Passport Processing Network

The State Department on June 12 announced plans to add five passport processing offices to its existing network of 21 passport agencies and centers nationwide to help speed up the passport application process. In addition, the department said it would add public counters at two existing locations—the National Passport Center in Portsmouth, N.H., and the Arkansas Passport Center in Hot Springs. This expansion will be paid for with funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The new offices will be located in Vermont and in Buffalo, N.Y., El Paso, Texas, Atlanta and San Diego. The department said it is working with the General Services Administration to identify locations. In March, the department opened a new passport agency in Detroit and another new passport agency in Minneapolis in May. Later this summer, the department will open a Dallas agency, as well as a new Western Passport Center to be housed in the existing passport printing center in Tucson, Ariz. To see more, go to: www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/06a/124701.htm.

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VA Dedicates New Benefits Office in New Orleans

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on June 12 formally dedicated a new 65,000-square-foot New Orleans Regional Office to serve as the processing center overseeing non-medical benefits for the area’s 300,000 vets. The office, which uses refurbished space in downtown New Orleans, will be staffed by 200 VA employees. Regional office employees had been working in two buildings in Gretna, La., since the old regional VA office was flooded by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, VA said. The project cost about $3.5 million. The regional office staff processes veterans’ applications for disability compensation and pension, survivor’s benefits, vocational rehabilitation and certain burial benefits. To see more, go to: www.va.gov.

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