TECHNOLOGY AND THE BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT

Several major IT projects at the Veterans Affairs Department are being hampered by a shortage of experienced federal IT project managers, Federal Computer Week reports. VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker said on Tuesday that managing projects such as telehealth and moving to paperless benefit systems at VA requires a specific set of IT skills that are in short supply across the federal government. "We cannot turn it over to non-government workers," Baker added.

The Office of Personnel Management has launched an effort to enhance the oversight of recruitment, relocation and retention (3R) bonuses, largely due to concerns about the continued growth of such payments given recent labor market conditions.

In a Feb. 3 letter posted online on Wednesday, OPM Director John Berry said he was concerned about the growth of the bonuses, noting that 47 agencies paid out more than $284 million in 3R payments in 2008. Between 2007 and 2008, he added, the total number of incentives paid increased by more than 21 percent, and the total incentive cost increased by more than 37 percent.

With the nation's sluggish job market and the unemployment rate around 10 percent, Berry noted that the government may be overpaying to recruit and retain in-demand skills.

Berry also noted concern that agencies do not actively oversee or manage the 3Rs program, and instead delegate the administration of their 3Rs programs to subordinate organizations or to field offices. Many agencies simply rely on OPM's annual 3Rs report to Congress to understand the nature of the incentive payments, but this data reflects practices in the previous calendar year, Berry said.

Still, the 3Rs program has provided agencies with valuable compensation tools for attracting and retaining critical skills, Berry said. The personnel chief vowed to review the 3Rs data for agencies that have used the greatest number of incentives and develop additional guidance and tools to help agencies write stronger justifications for 3Rs authorizations and improve their plans for using them. "Once the 3Rs data is validated, OPM and agencies will be better able to track 3Rs trends on an ongoing basis, and, if necessary, investigate any 3Rs data anomaly and take corrective actions immediately," Berry wrote.

I've written some on how the private sector IT job market has begun to show some signs of recovery in 2010. IT skills will undoubtedly continue to be critical, in-demand skills for the federal government, and incentive payments will likely play a role in recruiting and retaining top-notch IT talent. Is the government overpaying for IT skills? How critical will incentive payments prove to be in luring IT experts to the federal sector?

The Office of Personnel Management on Friday released a list of 45 health plans in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program that have made a commitment to health information technology through offering Internet-based personal health records and providing online tools for accessing health care quality, and price and cost information.

In its 2009 Health IT report, OPM noted that it has encouraged FEHB health benefits plans over the past few years to increase their use of health IT, which when "based on broadly accepted standards, allows patients, health care providers and health plans to share information securely, driving down costs by avoiding duplicate procedures and manual transactions," OPM said. "More importantly, HIT reduces medical errors."

The 45 health plans now allow participants and their family members access electronic personal health records, which provide a way to track, view and manage personal health information and share health information with health care providers. The health plans also have made available quality and price/cost information available, including providing online decision tools with cost estimators and quality indicators for physician and hospital services and prescription drugs, the report states.

OPM pledged to add other plans to the list as new plans bring health IT tools online.

You can find the full list of the 45 FEHBP providers on OPM's Web site. It may help federal employees make important health care decisions during the 2010 Open Season, which generally begins in November.

The Office of Personnel Management on Monday unveiled its revamped USAJobs.gov, the government's primary job search Web site. In a press conference on Monday, OPM touted the new site as easier to navigate, more streamlined and more personal, largely because it enables applicants to better refine job search results, as well as share job search information on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking Web sites.

OPM Deputy Director Christine Griffin said that students at George Washington University have complimented the new site as being "as easy to use as Google," largely by allowing applicants to set up an account and follow up on their application at any time.

"We worked with folks [at George Washington] to help us develop it," Griffin said. "We know that GW's campus is literally across E Street. I think if you're trying to cross that street as a new college grad into a federal job, the E might as well stand for Everest because working with the old USAJobs represented your climb up Everest as you try to get a federal job."

The new site also enables federal applicants to save jobs and upload up to five documents, such as veterans preference forms or college transcripts, to their account, said Kim Bauhs, assistant director of recruitment and diversity at OPM. Applicants can also upload their resume to their account, or build a resume using a structured format, and applicants can log into their account to check the status of their application and whether the job has been filled, she added.

"The black hole has been filled in," Griffin said. "There's an opportunity for applicants to set up an account and follow up on the process and their application at any time. It's simple and transparent."

Still, Bauhs said that some challenges with the site remain, including ensuring all agency staffing systems are fully integrated with the new USAJobs. Currently, about 73 percent of chief human capital officer agencies are integrated with the new site, she said.

As someone who has both covered the federal workforce for a few years and applied to federal jobs in the past, I'm impressed with OPM's redesign of the site and overall goal of improving the federal hiring process. What are your thoughts? Will the new USAJobs help the government better market itself and appeal to top talent, particularly younger workers?

The Office of Personnel Management on Thursday unveiled a memo sent to chief human capital officers earlier this month, outlining a new flexibility that enables agencies to use dual compensation waivers to rehire retired federal annuitants. The new authority, which was signed into law in October as part of the fiscal 2010 Defense Authorization Act, is designed to help agencies bring back retired workers to share knowledge and mentor the younger workforce.

Previously, federal retirees often had little incentive to return to work because the law would cut their salaries by the amount of their pensions. In many cases, retirees who wanted to return to government service would have to work for free. The new law allows agencies to grant dual compensation waivers, which allow retirees to earn an additional salary on top of their pensions.

OPM noted in the memo that agencies can begin using the waivers, but must adhere to certain conditions. For example, agencies must report to OPM on their use of the authority by Feb. 1 of each year through 2015. Appointments are limited to one year or less, and an annuitant cannot work more than 520 hours during the first 6 months of retirement, or 1,040 hours during any 12-month period. Reemployment of annuitants may not exceed 2.5 percent of the full-time workforce at any time, and agencies that exceed 1 percent must provide an explanation and justification to the Congress and OPM, the memo states.

It will be interesting to see how agencies use this new flexibility to retain knowledge, fill critical skills gaps and train the next generation of federal employees, particularly as more and more baby boomers enter into retirement. What significance does this new flexibility hold for your agency, particularly for retaining the knowledge of exiting IT workers?

The White House on Jan. 14 held a forum on modernizing government with more than 50 of the nation's top chief executive officers. As Wired Workplace noted last week, federal labor groups were also involved in the conversation, offering insight into how the government can streamline operations, improve budgeting for technology projects, and become a better employer.

Chief Performance Officer Jeffrey Zients on Tuesday highlighted some of the recommendations from last week's forum, and there are a few that pertain to the federal workforce that seem worth mentioning.

For example, forum participants flagged the need to improve customer service at agencies, and in order to do so, agencies must hold managers accountable for paying attention to customer service calls and feedback, create a culture of customer service within their workforce, and empower frontline workers to resolve customers' problems quickly.

Forum participants also recommended the government streamline IT operations, in part by dedicating and rewarding top performing staff to complex IT projects. For example, agencies should put their best performing employees on important projects and free them up from their day-to-day activities, allowing them to dedicate 100 percent of their time. At the same time, agencies should not isolate employees who are working on long-term IT projects.

Union leaders also noted the need to focus on the difficulty federal agencies face in funding long-term technology projects, in part because of the government's annual budget cycle, and the need to provide federal workers with the appropriate equipment, such as laptops, in order to work remotely on a regular basis or in times of emergency.

As federal IT workers, what is your response to the recommendations? Are they a step in the right direction for streamlining government operations and improving service to the taxpayers? Are there any reforms that were overlooked?

The Office of Personnel Management on Thursday held a ceremony to unveil its new renovated health unit, which is part of the agency's effort to create a model work-life campus for the federal government in improving the wellness, morale and productivity of federal employees.

Three federal agencies -- OPM, the General Services Administration and the Interior Department, -- joined forces in July 2009 to create a work-life campus that includes more than 6,000 federal workers. The three agencies, which are in close proximity to one another in Northwest Washington, D.C., will have free access to the health units services, which include blood pressure screenings, influenza and H1N1 vaccinations, body mass index measurement, health education and cholesterol screenings. The three agencies also said in July that they plan to evaluate telework policies as part of the work-life program.

"By combining our efforts, we can improve employee wellness and morale better than we could with an agency-by-agency approach, while saving taxpayer money," said OPM Director John Berry.

Are you a federal IT worker at one of the three participating agencies? How will the new work-life program improve your work-life balance and lessen your chances of leaving for a private sector job, if at all?

Federal employees already know that the new year promises a 2 percent overall increase to their paychecks. But it's important to note that the actual pay raise that each employee receives varies depending on where they work. The Office of Personnel Management has posted the total base pay and locality pay increases for the 35 locality pay areas in 2010, and it may prove useful in helping determine what your next paycheck will look like.

Federal workers in the Washington, D.C., area will receive the highest total pay increase of 2.42 percent. Federal employees in the Boston area will receive a 2.17 percent total pay raise this year, while San Francisco and New York City areas will see a 2.10 percent total increase. Employees in the catchall "Rest of U.S." category will see a total increase of 1.77 percent.

To determine what the total salary increase is for your locality area, click here.

President Obama on Tuesday named Robert Schmidt as his cybersecurity coordinator. As the new cyber czar, Schmidt will be tasked with developing a new comprehensive strategy to secure American networks, ensuring a unified response to cyber incidents, strengthening public-private partnerships and leading national campaign to promote cybersecurity awareness and education.

But underlying all of these goals is the challenge of improving the recruitment and retention of a top-notch federal cyber workforce. In July, the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service released a report that found that the federal government faces major human resource challenges, such as difficulty in recruiting and retaining high-skilled workers, poor management and a lack of coordination that leaves some agencies competing against one another for talent. Such problems are particularly acute within the federal cybersecurity workforce, the Partnership found.

Max Stier, president of the Partnership, told Wired Workplace on Tuesday that it will be critical for Schmidt to ensure that workforce issues are at the forefront of the nation's new cybersecurity goals. "I think [Schmidt] clearly has a terrific background," Stier said. "He's not only been in a premier position in the private sector, but he won't have a steep learning curve in government because he's done this work in the prior administration. ... He has all of the right background and experience."

Specifically, Stier said, Schmidt should work closely with the Office of Personnel Management and agency leaders to develop and implement a governmentwide strategic plan to recruit, hire and retain top cybersecurity talent. Stier also stressed a need for a nationwide call to service for students to develop cybersecurity skills as well as a substantial ramp-up of the federal cybersecurity scholarship program.

"We also need up-to-date cybersecurity job classifications and requirements, and invest in the training of people we have right now," Stier said. "The management cadre needs to supervise and empower the people we need to bring in, and the government needs a system to define whether we have the right skills to match cybersecurity needs. These are all workforce issues that need to be on the list of top priorities."

Brazen Careerist, a social networking site for millenials, last week released its list of the top 50 employers for Generation Y. A few well-known technology companies, including Google, Yahoo and Sungard Data Systems, made the list, as well as several federal contractors.

I was surprised to learn that no government agencies or nonprofit organizations were included in the list, especially as many millenials are considered to be civic-minded and widely interested in serving the government or nonprofit community. Ryan Paugh, a spokesman for the site, said Friday that Brazen used only a data set for publicly-owned companies and did not have the same data set for government jobs. "It would be comparing apples and oranges," he said.

Still, Paugh said that Brazen Careerist has noted that government jobs are good for millenials to consider, especially given the grim outlook for jobs. The Partnership for Public Service also has a category in its Best Places of Work survey that highlights the top agencies for workers under age 40.

Do you consider the federal government to be top employer for Generation Y workers? What agencies would come out on top? What can the government do better to attract the younger generation?