FCW Insider: June 23, 2021

VP Harris breaks tie to confirm Ahuja to lead OPM

No Republicans supported the nomination of Kiran Ahuja to lead the Office of Personnel Management

How NGA is handling hybrid telework

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has begun to relax some of its COVID-19 safety procedures, but the challenge has been managing workers across different physical locations, networks and work schedules.

DOD watchdog says DDS director didn't mistreat employees

A probe found that Defense Digital Service Brett Goldstein did condone the use of unapproved encrypted communications apps and also identified discussion among staffers about programming a script to rig an online competition.

Quick Hits

*** Nearly 900 U.S. Secret Service employees contracted COVID-19 between March 1, 2020 and March 9, 2021, according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). There's no way of knowing how many of these were agents assigned to the security detail of former President Donald Trump, who was in close contact with many agents while he was himself under treatment for COVID.

*** The wait continues for the Biden Administration's management agenda. Jason Miller, the deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget said a committee of deputy secretaries and administrators has been formed to work on governmentwide management initiatives, including the President's Management Agenda (PMA), but the body is currently missing some members who haven't yet been confirmed by the Senate, Miller said. OMB is "eager for the remaining nominees to get through the Senate confirmation process so we have a full team to deliver on this big agenda," Miller said. The PMA is due out later this year, Miller said.

*** The Biden administration's budget request for fiscal year 2022 includes a workforce initiative designed to help agencies improve their recruitment, said Pam Coleman, associate director for performance management at the Office of Management and Budget, during an event hosted on Tuesday by the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association. The request "funds agency efforts to create a hiring line of business … to create talent teams at the agency level to connect agencies and hiring managers with the best talent to meet mission needs," she said. It would be co-managed by OMB and the Office of Personnel Management.