• Former Justice Department employees have an alumni network to turn to for help with looking for work. An employee organization called Justice Connection said it recently expanded its DOJ alumni network, aiming to help employees navigate transitions out of the agency. The organization is offering to connect current and recent DOJ employees with more than 100 agency alumni. They’ll be able to get informational interviews, advice and insights for how to continue on a specific career path, including attorneys, legal support staff and many others.
  (Expanding network to help DOJ employees find work - Justice Connection)
• The House on Thursday passed the final group of spending bills needed before the Jan. 30 funding deadline. In a vote of 341 to 88, lawmakers approved fiscal 2026 funding for the departments of Defense, Labor, Education, Transportation and Health and Human Services. But due to Democratic opposition over ICE funding, the spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security passed with a much narrower margin, in a party line vote of 220 to 207. The appropriations package now heads to the Senate for consideration.
  (House passes final bills to complete fiscal 2026 appropriations - House Appropriations Committee)
• The Postal Service is now accepting bids from shippers for use of its nationwide last-mile delivery network. USPS already has agreements with shipping giants like Amazon and UPS to get packages to their final destination. But it’s looking to give other delivery companies an opportunity to strike similar deals. Last-mile delivery is the most expensive leg of deliveries, and USPS goes to more addresses than its private-sector competitors. USPS said winning bidders will be notified during the second quarter of this calendar year.
  (U.S. Postal Service opens bid solicitation platform for entry to last-mile delivery network - U.S. Postal Service)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs has officially lifted its hiring freeze, but staffing caps are still in place for a smaller workforce. The VA saw its first-ever workforce net decrease last year and is unlikely to hire its way to a higher headcount than what it currently has. VA’s Under Secretary for Health said the hiring freeze is over, but VA facilities generally can’t exceed staffing caps set for their regions. A report from Senate VA Committee Democrats said the VA lost more than 40,000 employees last year. About 10,000 of those employees worked in frontline positions that the department has struggled to fill.
  (VA officially lifts hiring freeze, but staffing caps still in place for shrinking workforce - Federal News Network)
• Value-added resellers finally get a chance to weigh in on the concerns about their business model and the changes the General Services Administration has been considering. GSA issued a request for information yesterday seeking feedback from VARs and others to gain a clearer understanding of the value added by resellers, and the resulting impact of these services on pricing and the ability to meet the government’s requirements. The initial focus of the feedback is for companies in a specific special item number for IT hardware, 33411. Responses to the RFI are due by Feb. 9.
  (GSA seeks feedback from VARs - General Services Administration)
• The Small Business Administration suspended nearly a quarter of all participants in the 8(a) program. The SBA has suspended more than 1,000 companies in the program. SBA made the decision after it deemed those small businesses non-compliant with its financial data request from December. An SBA spokesperson said these suspended firms have 45 days to file an appeal. At the same time, SBA issued new guidance yesterday clarifying how it will run the small business development program going forward. Among the changes is that SBA will administer the 8(a) program based on race-neutral requirements. It also will no longer approve the use of “socially disadvantage narratives” as a way to get into the program.
  (SBA ends use of ‘socially disadvantage narratives’ for 8(a) program - Federal News Network)
• The Marine Corps has tapped GenAI.mil as its official enterprise generative artificial intelligence platform that will consolidate all duplicative, general-purpose GenAI usage into one system. Marines, civilians and contractors can start using GenAI.mil immediately. The platform is approved only for processing Controlled Unclassified Information, but the service plans to expand GenAI.mil to higher classification networks. The service also plans to integrate Marine Corps data sources and agentic AI development solutions in the future.
  (Marine Corps designates GenAI.mil its enterprise AI platform - MARADMIN)
• Congress wants the Space Force to organize its programs and people by mission area. One of the root causes of the Defense Department's failed acquisition system is the military rotation system, which often replaces program managers every two to three years. That turnover, lawmakers argue, prevents personnel from staying in place long enough to develop the technical expertise needed to manage increasingly complex systems. Now, Congress is directing the Pentagon to propose a Space Force pilot program that would keep personnel assigned to specific mission areas for substantially longer tours. The pilot program should also examine eliminating traditional occupational specialty categories, such as acquisition or operations, in favor of mission-focused specializations, such as missile warning or satellite communications.
  (Congress wants Space Force to organize programs and people by mission area - House.gov)

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• Lawmakers are still waiting for the Defense Department to provide details on how it plans to spend $23 billion already approved for the Golden Dome effort. Congressional appropriators say the Pentagon has not provided key budget information such as deployment schedule, cost, schedule and performance metrics, as well as a finalized system architecture. The White House has estimated the project could cost as much as $175 billion over the next three years. As a result, House and Senate appropriators were unable to conduct oversight of Golden Dome programs for fiscal 2026. Lawmakers want Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to submit a detailed spending plan within 60 days of the bill’s enactment.
  (DoD failed to provide budget details to Congress for $23 billion Golden Dome effort - House.gov)
• GSA is giving agencies access to a software to develop AI capabilities. The General Services Administration signed an enterprise agreement with Broadcom, becoming the 24th deal under its OneGov strategy. GSA says agencies can receive up to a 64% discount off Broadcom's schedule prices for access to several platforms, cybersecurity and development tools. Agencies can purchase software packages from Broadcom ranging from VMWare's data intelligence platform to its vDefend cybersecurity tools to its Tanzu starter kit to speed up AI prototyping and deployment. The OneGov deal will be in place through May 2027. GSA's agreement with Broadcom is the third OneGov deal since January and sixth since December.
  (GSA signs 24th OneGov deal - General Services Administration)
• Senate Democrats want to bar political appointees from moving into leadership positions at agency watchdogs. A new bill called the Inspectors General Independence Act would prevent presidents from nominating their own political appointees as Inspectors General. The legislation comes after recent reporting showing that many of Trump’s confirmed IGs were previously political appointees in his administration. Senator Tammy Duckworth, who introduced the bill, says it would help restore public trust and keep IG offices free from conflicts of interest.
  (Inspectors General Independence Act - Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.))
• The acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency faces questions about steep staffing cuts at his agency. Acting CISA Director Madhu Gottumukkala told lawmakers that there are no reorganizations in the works at CISA. But he offered few specifics on how the cyber agency would continue to meet its mission after losing roughly one-third of its staff last year. During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing yesterday, Gottummukkala said CISA was getting back on mission and that he would communicate with lawmakers about any future reorganizations.
  (Lawmakers press acting CISA director on workforce reductions - Federal News Network)
• The IRS is abandoning a customer service metric it’s been using for the past 20 years. An independent watchdog within the IRS told Congress last year that this old metric is “misleading” and that it doesn’t “accurately reflect the experience of most taxpayers who call” the IRS. Agency leadership says it will use a new measurement that better reflects its interactions with the public. The IRS is pursuing these changes as part of a broader shakeup of its senior ranks less than a week out from the start of the tax filing season.
  (Ahead of filing season, IRS scraps customer service metric it’s used for 20 years - Federal News Network)
• Agencies have more guidance on how to implement the “rule of many.” But actually adopting the new federal hiring practice may still be put on the backburner. Without enough funding or staffing, agencies are not likely to overhaul their current and already well-established hiring practices in the short term. That’s according to Jenny Mattingley, vice president of government affairs at the Partnership for Public Service. “The rule of many is a good tool, but until those ingredients are all put together, I don’t know that you’ll see it rolled out immediately,” Mattingley said. The “rule of many,” a change that’s been several years in the making, aims to create broader pools of qualified candidates for federal jobs, while adding flexibility for agency hiring managers.
  (OPM details expectations for the ‘rule of many’ in federal hiring - Federal News Network)
• President Donald Trump has turned to the Marine Corps to find the next leader of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Trump this week nominated Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Adams to serve as director of DIA. Adams is currently deputy commandant for programs and resources at Marine Corps headquarters, where he helped lead the Marines to achieving two clean financial audits. DIA has been without a permanent leader since Trump ousted its former director, Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, last August.
  (General officer announcements - Defense Department)
• A third-party arbitrator ruled the Trump administration’s return-to-office memo doesn’t override telework protections in a union contract. The arbitrator is ordering the Department of Health and Human Services to rescind its return-to-office directive and restore telework and remote work agreements for thousands of employees represented by the National Treasury Employees Union. The arbitrator says HHS committed an unfair labor practice by unilaterally terminating these agreements without regard to its five-year collective bargaining agreement with NTEU. HHS officials argued a return-to-office memorandum signed by President Trump on his first day in office supersedes its collective bargaining agreement with the union.
  (Trump’s return-to-office memo doesn’t override telework protections in union contract, arbitrator tells HHS - Federal News Network)
• While the full impact of operating under continuing resolutions is difficult to quantify for the Defense Department, the Government Accountability Office says the funding lapses have led to delays, increased costs, administrative burdens and operational challenges. GAO found that at Joint Base San Antonio, the cost of a facilities sustainment contract more than doubled after CR-related delays in fiscal 2024. Officials told GAO the contract, which was originally estimated at around $580,000, increased to $1.45 million after a final appropriation was passed. U.S. IndoPacific Command said a funding lapse in 2024 disrupted training and exercises. F-35 program officials told GAO that roughly 20% of their financial management staff’s time is spent adjusting budgets to manage through CR constraints.
  (Continuing resolutions cause delays, increased costs across Pentagon programs - Government Accountability Office)
• The Defense Department is putting some details behind Secretary Pete Hegseth's decision to audit the 8(a) small business contracting program. In a new memo released yesterday, DoD is giving combatant commanders, military services and defense agencies until Jan. 31 to identify three types of contracts: 8(a) sole source, 8(a) set-aside and any small business set-aside contract worth more than $20 million. Once identified, Hegseth says these contracts will undergo further reviews by DoD's DOGE team to ensure they are not pass-throughs to larger firms or to ensure they are critical to DoD warfighting capabilities. That review is scheduled to be completed by Feb. 28.
  (Hegseth lays out plans for 8(a) audit reviews - Department of Defense)

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• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is facing calls to ramp up oversight of the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats on the committee are calling on him to investigate the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations. They said Paul should issue subpoenas if necessary and have senior officials like Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testify in front of the panel. Their letter comes in the wake of the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minnesota.
  (Democrats letter to Chairman Paul - HSGAC)
• DOGE representatives at the Social Security Administration discussed sharing agency data with an advocacy group looking to “overturn election results” in some states. The Justice Department said one of the DOGE staffers even signed a “voter data agreement” with the unnamed group. DOJ referred the two DOGE employees for potential violations of the Hatch Act which bars federal employees from using their positions for political purposes.
  (Trump administration admits DOGE accessed personal Social Security data - Washington Post)
• A Republican in Congress is looking to remove federal employees from their jobs if they have been convicted of a violent crime. The so-called “No Violent Criminals in the Federal Workforce Act” seeks to bar individuals with a violent criminal record from working for the federal government. The requirements of the bill would also apply to federal contractors. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) introduced the legislation this week, calling it "common sense."
  (No Violent Criminals in the Federal Workforce Act - Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.))
• As he marked one year in office yesterday, President Trump called his administration’s cuts to the federal workforce “tremendous.” But some good government groups are painting a much darker picture. Agencies saw a loss of about 320,000 federal employees governmentwide over the course of 2025. The White House touted the staffing cuts as a step toward efficiency. But organizations like the Partnership for Public Service tell a much different story of the administration’s impacts on the federal workforce. “It tells a disturbing story about who we’ve lost in our government and what is actually happening to the workforce,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership.
  (Trump lauds ‘tremendous’ federal workforce cuts. Good government group calls them ‘disturbing.’ - Federal News Network)
• Congressional appropriators approved all 13 line-item consolidations requested by the Army in its fiscal 2026 budget, but flatly rejected the service’s “agile funding” request to raise notification threshold for reprogramming or transfers from $15 million to $50 million for procurement programs and to $25 million for research and development efforts. Lawmakers said that increasing reprogramming thresholds alone won’t improve program execution and cautioned that unilaterally moving funding without proper oversight could create uncertainty for programs and the industrial base. Appropriators also said they “discourage the Defense secretary and the service secretaries from submitting future requests of this nature.”
  (Congressional appropriators reject Army’s ‘agile funding’ request - Federal News Network)
• The latest minibus spending measure includes some big cybersecurity updates. The minibus appropriations agreement released this week would extend the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 until the end of September. It would do the same for the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. Both authorities were set to expire at the end of this month. Cyber experts have particularly stressed the need to reauthorize the liability protections in the information sharing law. If the appropriations agreement passes, lawmakers will have more time to hash out their differences over a longer term extension of CISA 2015.
  (DHS spending bill bolsters staffing at CISA, FEMA, Secret Service - Federal News Network)
• Congressional appropriators are backing the Pentagon’s push to speed up weapons buying, but warn that speed “must be factored alongside cost, performance and scalability.” Congressional negotiators said they support the Defense Department’s acquisition reform agenda but remain skeptical about the Pentagon’s push for greater budget flexibility. While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the department to work with Congress to improve budget flexibility, lawmakers said the reforms are “internal in nature” and that the department needs to “demonstrate progress on those internal procedures” first. Lawmakers also raised concerns about joint requirements process reform and deep cuts to the department’s acquisition workforce that could jeopardize its ability to carry out Hegseth’s acquisition reforms.
  (Congress pushes back on parts of DoD’s acquisition reform agenda - Federal News Network)
• Lawmakers are seeking a higher pay raise for air traffic controllers. Congressional appropriations propose giving the Federal Aviation Administration funds to implement a 3.8% pay raise for air traffic controllers, as well as supervisors and managers who oversee air traffic. That’s the same pay raise the Trump administration already approved for federal law enforcement. The spending deal would also give FAA enough funding to hire 2,500 air traffic controllers. Current controllers are working six days a week, including mandatory overtime.
  (3.8% pay raise for air traffic controllers, Education Dept cuts rejected: Highlights from final FY 2026 spending bills - Federal News Network)

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• The Justice Department recovered more money through the False Claims Act in fiscal 2025 than ever before. New data shows DoJ won $6.8 billion in settlements for healthcare, procurement and tariff fraud. A significant amount of those cases were driven by whistleblowers. DoJ said there were 1,297 qui tam lawsuits filed last year, the highest number in a single year, and the government opened 401 investigations. Of the $6.8 billion in False Claims Act recoveries last year, $5.7 billion related to matters that involved the health care industry.
  (DoJ recovers more money than ever before under the False Claims Act - Justice Department)
• The audit of the 8(a) program is expanding to the largest user of the small business contracting program. The Defense Department is joining the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration in reviewing all sole source contracts under the 8(a) program. Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon spends $100 million a year on 8(a) sole source contracts and he's worried about fraud. "I'm ordering a line-by-line review of every small business sole source 8(a) contract that is over $20 million. We will look at everything smaller than that too," Hegseth said in a video on X. Hegseth said it will be a two-stage review. If the contract doesn't help the DoD mission, they will cancel it. The other stage is to make sure the small business is the one doing the work and not acting as a pass through.
  (DoD to audit 8(a) sole source contracts - Social media platform X)
• New legislation in the House would put new restraints around the Department of Homeland Security’s use of facial recognition and related technologies. The Realigning Mobile Phone Biometrics for American Privacy Protection Act would establish stronger standards around DHS’s use of mobile biometric identification tools. House Democrats sponsoring the bill say Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been using an unproven biometric identification tool on American citizens in recent months. ICE has been using the tool called Mobile Fortify to help determine a person’s legal status.
  (Thompson introduces legislation to curb unchecked DHS mobile biometric surveillance and protect privacy of American citizens - House Homeland Security Committee Democrats )
• One agency is easing up on in-office work requirements, while another is ordered to consider more exceptions. The Office of Workers' Compensation Programs is offering remote work to some of its employees because of limited office space. An agency memo states that while most of its employees benefit from in-person collaboration, employees in roles eligible for remote work are less collaborative and require distraction-free focus. Meanwhile, a third-party arbitrator is directing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to meet with one its unions to discuss exemptions to its return to office mandate.
  (One agency eases in-office work requirements, while another is ordered to consider exceptions - Federal News Network)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking for a permanent leader to oversee its benefits division. VA’s deputy secretary is heading up the search for an under secretary for benefits. Once a candidate is selected, they will need to be confirmed by the Senate before starting the job. Under the Trump administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration has reduced its backlog of benefits claims by 60%.
  (VA starts search for permanent Veterans Benefits Administration leader - Department of Veterans Affairs)
• Transportation Security Administration employees will continue to have a union after a new court ruling. A federal judge ruled that TSA and the Department of Homeland Security violated a court order when it made a second attempt to eliminate TSA collective bargaining rights late last year. Judge Jamal Whitehead’s ruling last week blocked a September DHS directive that would have dissolved TSA’s collective bargaining agreement. Whitehead found DHS and TSA’s action would violate a preliminary injunction issued last June that stopped the department’s first attempt to eliminate the agreement. The fight over TSA union rights is scheduled to go to trial this September.
  (Judge finds TSA violated court order in new attempt to dissolve union - Federal News Network)
• The Defense Logistics Agency is turning to artificial intelligence to improve its demand planning. The agency has begun ingesting maintenance, consumption and supply data into its models, starting with the Army and expanding next to the Navy and Air Force, with additional work underway for the Marine Corps. The goal is to more accurately forecast demand, improve inventory health and ensure the right items are on the shelf. DLA is currently about 60% accurate when it comes to demand planning. The agency is also using AI to get after our administrative and production lead times.
  (DLA to use AI to improve demand planning - AFCEA Army IT Day)
• A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing to hold military family housing contractors financially accountable for remediation, relocation and property loss. For decades, service members and their families have been exposed to hazardous conditions in privatized military housing; military families are dealing with black mold, contaminated water and asbestos, among other issues. A new bill introduced by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) would establish Defense Department–wide standards for acceptable humidity levels, create a 24/7 hotline and website for reporting hazards, require third-party oversight and impose penalties for noncompliance, including withholding fees and allowing tenants to retain their rent. “Now it's time for legislation to protect our military families, 700,000. That's right, 700,000 service members and their families presently face hazardous conditions that may cause respiratory illness, developmental delays, other kinds of severe diseases and effects, rashes, neurological symptoms, vision loss, seizures and chronic conditions.”
  (Lawmakers want to hold military housing contractors financially accountable - Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.))

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• The Coast Guard has a new leader. Admiral Kevin Lunday officially assumed command of the service on Thursday during a ceremony at Coast Guard headquarters. The Senate confirmed Lunday last month after his nomination was temporarily delayed due to a controversy over the service’s policy regarding hate symbols. He had been serving as acting commandant since January, following the dismissal of Admiral Linda Fagan by President Donald Trump. Lunday previously led Coast Guard Cyber Command. He also held a senior leadership role at U.S. Cyber Command.
  (Coast Guard finally gets its permanent leader - U.S. Coast Guard)
• Early-career employment in the federal workforce is trending downward. Currently, about 8% of federal employees are under age 30. That’s a 1% decrease since this time last year, likely due to the Trump administration’s workforce reductions. The federal workforce has struggled for years with its ability to recruit and retain younger employees. The average age of a federal worker is 47, and about 13% of the federal workforce is currently eligible for retirement.
  (Federal workforce age data - Office of Personnel Management)
• Lawmakers are halfway done with a comprehensive spending deal for the rest of the fiscal year. The Senate passed a “minibus” of spending bills covering the departments of Justice, Interior, Commerce and Energy, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation and NASA. The House passed the same three-bill package last week. Congress still has other spending bills it needs to pass. The continuing resolution keeping many agencies funded at last year’s spending levels is set to run out on Jan. 30.
  (Senate Cloakroom update - Social media platform X)
• A watchdog at the Department of Veterans Affairs said generative AI tools used to help treat patients pose a potential safety risk. VA’s inspector general office said the department’s IT shop, National AI Institute and National Center for Patient Safety, lack a formal mechanism to identify, track or resolve risks associated with generative AI. The VA has approved AI chat tools to support medical decision-making when VA clinicians treat patients and to copy information into the department’s electronic health record system. The IG’s office said its review of these tools remains ongoing.
  (Review of VHA’s Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence - VA Office of Inspector General )
• Thrift Savings Plan participants will soon have the option of making Roth in-plan conversions in their TSP accounts. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board has finalized regulations that will allow participants to convert money from their traditional or pre-tax TSP balances into their Roth or after-tax TSP balances. The in-plan conversion option will be available to all participants starting Jan. 28.
  (Final rule on Roth in-plan conversions - Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board)
• The Army is updating its software policy once again. Two years after issuing its call to move to an agile approach to software development, the Army is ready to move into the second phase of this modernization effort. In the coming weeks, the service will update its policy to emphasize the use of "colorless" money for software development. Army CIO Leo Garciga said program offices and commands have met the initial goals of creating iterative development platforms outlined in the March 2024 policy. He said the new policy will now focus on improving how the Army estimates the cost of software projects and will fine tune the use of low-code/no-code platforms.
  (Army to update 2-year-old software policy - AFCEA Nova)
• The cloud security program known as FedRAMP is seeking feedback from agency and industry experts on six different framework documents. These include everything from expanding the marketplace to using external frameworks to creating machine-readable packages. Pete Waterman, the FedRAMP director, wrote in a blog post that the RFCs are the culmination of nearly a year of planning, testing and community input, marking a significant milestone in realigning FedRAMP with the FedRAMP Authorization Act and OMB implementation memo. Comments are due anytime from mid-February to early March. The PMO also will host a series of community sessions to discuss each of the documents.
  (FedRAMP in final throes of updating underlying framework documents - FedRAMP)
• The Army is chipping away at its legacy system. The service once operated more than 800 independent business systems, many of which didn’t communicate with the broader enterprise and were built with limited technology at the time. Army officials said the number of those systems has now been reduced to fewer than 300. The service however, continues to operate 58 separate human resources management systems and 42 independent training and readiness systems. Under Secretary of the Army Mike Obadal said while they are “not even close to where they need to be,” change is coming. The undersecretary said the advantage in modern conflict “does not come from having more platforms but from infusing our hardware with right technologies.”
  (Army consolidates hundreds of antiquated systems - Army IT Day)

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• The Federal Emergency Management Agency is at the center of new calls to replace Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. In a letter to President Donald Trump on Wednesday, 14 House Democrats said Trump should fire Noem over what they say are damaging cuts to FEMA’s workforce. They also said Noem’s policy of signing off on all spending over $100,000 is slowing down FEMA’s disaster response efforts. The letter comes a day after more than 50 House Dems filed articles of impeachment against Noem, citing her handling of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
  (Democrats' letter on Noem - Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.))
• The Congressional Budget Office estimates that President Donald Trump’s plan to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War would cost taxpayers between $10 million and $125 million. The total cost of rebranding the Defense Department could vary depending on how broadly and quickly the name change is implemented across the department. Immediately replacing signs and stationary would be more expensive than gradually implementing those changes “as existing stocks are exhausted.” The Defense Department did not provide information to the CBO on the scope of its implementation plan.
  (Renaming the Defense Department could cost up to $125 million - Congressional Budget Office)
• The Defense Department is overhauling its big data analytics platform known as Advana. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the evolution of Advana over the last several years has led to a “complex technical and programmatic architecture.” Hegseth directed the chief digital and artificial intelligence officer to restructure Advana into three distinct programs. This restructuring will help accelerate progress toward a clean DoD financial audit in 2028.
  (DoD moves to restructure its Advana program - Defense Department)
• GSA's new administrator set the tone for how he views the agency's role across government. Ed Forst has officially been on the job as GSA's administrator for about 15 days. But he's been learning about the agency for several months. During that time, Forst, speaking at the Coalition for Common Sense in Government Procurement's winter conference yesterday, said he understands the role GSA should be playing across government. "Let's advance mission and let's have the engine room, what's behind the curtain, consolidate and get even better. That's where I see GSA in the federal government. We are the engine room." Forst said.
  (Forst calls GSA the 'engine room' of government - CGP)
• A bipartisan group of lawmakers are looking to give federal correctional officers a major salary boost. A new bill introduced in both the House and Senate aims to increase pay rates for Bureau of Prisons staff by 35% across the board. Authors of the bill say it would help address longtime staffing shortages at the agency. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents thousands of BOP workers, has expressed support for the bill.
  (Federal Correctional Officer Paycheck Protection Act - Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and David McCormick (R-Pa.))
• The Department of Health and Human Services is rescinding all layoffs for employees at a workplace safety agency. HHS last spring sent layoff notices to about 1,000 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. NIOSH focuses on workplace safety and health standards. Those layoffs targeted about 90% of NIOSH’s staff. HHS walked back some layoffs last year, but said it’s now reinstating every NIOSH employee who received layoff notices. Hundreds of these terminated employees have been on paid administrative for the past nine months.
  (HHS reinstates all laid-off employees at workplace safety agency NIOSH - Federal News Network)
• Five years in the making, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy will finally kick off a new effort this winter to review procurement laws and how they apply to commercial buying. Matthew Blum, OFPP's deputy administrator, said the requirement is from the 2019 defense authorization bill and will provide OFPP with a big opportunity to conduct a comprehensive review. Congress told OFPP and the FAR Council to determine if commercial buying has been hampered by the improper application of federal procurement laws. Blum said this review will provide OFPP with a big opportunity to conduct a comprehensive review in the spirit of streamlining and restoring common sense to procurement.
  (OFPP to review procurement laws' impact on commercial buying - CGP)
• Hundreds of federal employees are calling for the restoration of their collective bargaining rights. At a union rally on Wednesday, hundreds gathered outside the Capitol building to urge a Senate vote on the Protect America’s Workforce Act. After the legislation cleared the House in December, federal unions have been pushing senators to take up the companion bill. If enacted, the act would restore collective bargaining for an estimated two-thirds of federal agencies, effectively reversing President Trump’s orders for most agencies to terminate their federal union contracts.
  (Federal union, employees urge Senate to take up bill restoring collective bargaining - Federal News Network)
• The Postal Service’s regulator is setting limits on how often the agency can set higher prices for its mail products. The Postal Regulatory Commission said that starting in March, USPS can only raise mail prices once per year. This limit will remain in place through September 2030. USPS has generally been raising mail prices each January and July. The regulator eased restrictions on USPS prices in December 2020, when the agency was reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and was months away from running out of cash.
  (Order adopting rules limiting frequency of rate increase - U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission)
• The White House said the new U.S. Tech Force is generating a lot of interest. More than 35,000 Americans have expressed interest in serving in the Tech Force. That’s according to Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios. “That's insane. That is incredible. That is something we should all be celebrating, this entire committee. The fact that we have so many great Americans that want to step in, move their families and their lives to D.C. to solve these problems for Americans," he said. Testifying before the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Wednesday, Kratsios said the tech force has unique buy-in from private sector companies. He brushed off criticism that the Trump administration spent the past year cutting many tech-focused staff, including at the former U.S. Digital Service.
  (Hearing with Michael Kratsios - House Committee on Science, Space and Technology)
• Federal agents have searched the home of a Washington Post reporter as the latest step in their investigation into a contractor accused of mishandling classified information. The FBI took the unusual step of serving a search warrant on a journalist as part of its investigation into a federal contractor who’s accused of taking classified information home. The newspaper said federal officials have given assurances that neither the Post nor the reporter, Hannah Natanson, are targets of the investigation. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the search was conducted at the request of the Pentagon, which reportedly told the Justice Department that the contractor had leaked classified information to Natanson.
  (Washington Post reporter's home searched by the FBI - Associated Press)

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• Close to 5,000 more Thrift Savings Plan participants have joined the club of so-called TSP millionaires. As of Jan. 1, nearly 195,000 TSP participants now have accounts totaling over $1 million. That represents about 2.7% of all TSP accounts. The pace of growth appears to be slowing down, though. In the previous fiscal quarter, the number of TSP millionaires rose by about 19,000.
  (Participant report by account balance - Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board)
• The Defense Department has tapped Owen West, a former energy trader at Goldman Sachs and the Department of Government Efficiency staffer, to lead its Defense Innovation Unit. West will take over the organization in March. Emil Michael, undersecretary of defense for researching and engineering and the Defense Department’s chief technology officer, has led the unit in an acting capability since Doug Beck’s unexpected resignation in August. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said West will ”bring a warfighter’s mentality to DIU’s core mission of transitioning technology to our troops.”
  (Hegseth taps DOGE official to lead Defense Innovation Unit - Social media platform X)
• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has gone nearly one year without a permanent leader. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump re-nominated Sean Plankey to serve as CISA director. Plankey was first nominated last March. His nomination was held up by multiple procedural holds. His nomination is widely supported by the cybersecurity industry. Plankey is a Coast Guard veteran who led Energy Department cyber efforts during the first Trump administration. His nomination is widely supported by the cybersecurity industry.
  (Nominations sent to the Senate - White House)
• The Department of Homeland Security’s watchdog said DHS needs to improve its hiring practices. DHS law enforcement components are looking to recruit thousands of officers in the coming years. But the department’s inspector general said DHS’s fragmented and inconsistent hiring practices could trip up those efforts. In a new report, the IG warns that a lack of centralized hiring at DHS results in duplicative efforts, higher costs and slower onboarding. The report comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Patrol and the Secret Service are all undertaking their own recruiting blitzes.
  (Watchdog urges DHS to address ‘fragmented’ law enforcement hiring - Federal News Network)
• When Congress authorized over $5 trillion in pandemic-era relief programs, fraudsters cashed in with bogus claims. But now, data from these pandemic-era relief programs is being used to train artificial intelligence-powered tools meant to detect fraud before payments go out. The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee built an AI-enabled “fraud prevention engine” that’s trained on over five million applications for pandemic-era relief programs. It can review over 20,000 applications for federal funds per second and can flag suspected fraud before issuing payments.
  (Pandemic watchdog builds AI fraud prevention ‘engine’ trained on millions of COVID program claims - Federal News Network)
• More than half of the Social Security Administration's frontline employees are earning less than a living wage, according to a new report. In a survey of 800 SSA employees, 17% of respondents told the Strategic Organization Center that they are working a second job. Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents said they were struggling to provide at least one necessity for their families. The recent government shutdown only deepened those financial problems. The release of the report coincides with a "national day of action" organized by the American Federation of Government Employees.
  (Majority of frontline Social Security employees earn less than a living wage, study finds - Federal News Network)
• The Defense Department is overhauling its innovation ecosystem. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the system “remains a tangle of overlapping organizations." Under a new directive, the Pentagon will consolidate its innovation efforts under the control of DoD's chief technology officer. Hegseth designated the Silicon Valley-based Defense Innovation Unit and Strategic Capabilities Office as the department’s “field activities” under the CTO supervision. Hegseth said the DIU director will continue to report directly to him. The defense secretary also disbanded the Defense Innovation Steering Group, the Defense Innovation Working Group and the CTO Council as part of the overhaul.
  (Hegseth overhauls DoD innovation offices, centralizes authority under CTO - Defense Department)
• Agencies have some new resources to help them jumpstart the “rule of many” in federal hiring. The Office of Personnel Management is answering common questions on how the new “rule of many” aligns with existing recruitment standards, like veterans’ preference and skills-based hiring. The new resource document comes after OPM’s recent finalization of the “rule of many,” which has been in the works for years. The new rule will change the way agencies rank potential job candidates, allowing them to select from a larger pool of applicants.
  (Reinvigorating merit-based hiring through candidate ranking - Office of Personnel Management)

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• The secretive National Reconnaissance Office has announced a new top official. William Adkins was appointed principal deputy director of the NRO on Monday. Adkins previously served as professional staff on the House Appropriations Committee. He’s also a veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency and had been detailed to the NRO to manage technology development projects in the late 1990’s.
  (NRO announces principal deputy director - Social media platform X)
• Congress breathes new life into the Technology Modernization Fund. House and Senate appropriators agreed to give funding to the Technology Modernization Fund for the first time in four years. Lawmakers on the Financial Services and General Government appropriations subcommittee allocated $5 million for 2026 in the bipartisan deal struck over the weekend. Congress had zeroed out any new funding for the TMF since 2023. Two other centralized IT funds also received support from Capitol Hill. The Federal Citizen Services Fund is slated to receive $70 million and the IT Oversight and Reform Fund is getting $8 million.
  (Congress to give TMF $5M FOR 2026 - House Appropriations Committee)
• The Pentagon has rolled out a new artificial intelligence strategy that seeks to transform the department into an “AI-First warfighting force.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the department will invest heavily in AI compute infrastructure, from data centers to systems at the tactical edge. The strategy directs the chief digital and artificial intelligence office to enforce the Pentagon’s “Data Decrees” to make all DoD data interoperable, visible and trustworthy. Military departments and defense agencies will be required to establish and maintain federated data catalogs that expose data assets and system interfaces across all classification levels. Hegseth also directed the department to use special hiring authorities and talent programs to bring in AI talent.
  (New AI strategy aims to make DoD an ‘AI-first’ warfighting force - Department of Defense)
• A new bill will require the Pentagon to assess whether its current efforts to recruit, train and retain cyber talent are working. The Department of Defense Comprehensive Cyber Workforce Strategy Act of 2025 tasks the Pentagon with developing a new cyber workforce strategy. The lawmakers want the Pentagon to assess remaining gaps in implementing the DoD’s 2023–2027 Cyber Workforce Strategy, and identify which elements of the current strategy should be continued or dropped. Congress is also requesting detailed workforce data, including the size of the cyber workforce, vacancy rates, specific work roles and other data related to personnel system metrics. The Pentagon faces a shortage of approximately 25,000 cyber professionals.
  (Senate bill will require DoD to review cyber workforce gaps - Federal News Network)
• The state and local cloud security program known as GovRamp has new leadership. Tony Sauerhoff, the chief artificial intelligence and innovation officer for Texas, is the new president of the GovRAMP Board of Directors. He replaces JR Sloan, the Arizona CIO, who served in that role since 2021. Sauerhoff also served as Texas' chief information security officer and previously worked for the Marine Corps and Air Force. In addition to Sauerhoff’s appointment, GovRAMP announced its 2026 board and committee leadership.
  (GovRAMP names Texas chief AI officer as its new president - GovRAMP)
• Lawmakers look to put more money behind plans to offload unused federal office space. House and Senate appropriators want to give the General Services Administration more than $1 billion to carry out new construction and repair the federal buildings it already owns. Lawmakers said they’re concerned about a multi-billion-dollar maintenance backlog for these buildings. GSA will likely need much more funding to keep its buildings from falling into disrepair. The new GSA administrator said the agency is looking at a $24 billion maintenance backlog, and said that is likely an undercount.
  (Shrinking federal office space, more agencies spared from major cuts: What to expect from latest spending bills - Federal News Network)
• The latest spending package for fiscal 2026 directs the General Services Administration to improve public-facing service delivery. Lawmakers want GSA to make federal websites more accessible to people with disabilities. The spending package also calls on GSA to help agencies improve their public-facing benefits and services through AI tools. But the spending deal doesn’t put any new funding behind this goal.
  (Shrinking federal office space, more agencies spared from major cuts: What to expect from latest spending bills - Federal News Network)
• The Department of Homeland Security is flush with funding for new drone technologies. Now DHS is establishing an office to lead those purchases. DHS’ new Program Executive Office for Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems will oversee strategic investments expected to total in the billions of dollars in the coming years. This week, the office plans to finalize a $115 million counter-drone award to help secure America250 and FIFA World Cup events. And late last year, DHS began accepting proposals from the counter-drone industry for a $1.5 billion contract vehicle.
  (DHS launches new office to advance drone and counter-drone technologies - Department of Homeland Security)

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• The Presidential Rank Awards are back for 2026, and the Office of Personnel Management is now looking for nominations. The prestigious honors program is reserved for career members of the Senior Executive Service and other senior career employees. OPM’s new call for nominations marks a restart of the awards program, which the Trump administration canceled for 2025. Agencies have until Feb. 5 to submit nominations to OPM for any executives they want to be considered for a 2026 award.
  (Call for nominations for 2026 Presidential Rank Awards - Office of Personnel Management)
• Congress takes another step toward fully funding the government this year. House and Senate negotiators have found common ground on the fiscal 2026 Financial Services and General Government, National Security, Department of State and related programs bills. House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee leadership agreed to the full year spending bill over the weekend. Lawmakers said these agencies would see a total of $9 billion less than what they received in 2025. But the Treasury Department, for instance, would see a $700 million increase over the president's request, but more than a $2 billion cut as compared to 2025. House lawmakers passed a mini-bus bill last week to fund several agencies including the departments of Commerce, Justice, Interior and Health and Human Services.
  (House, Senate appropriators agree on another spending bill - House Appropriations Committee)
• There’s been a steep decline in federal employees’ ability to join a union. New data from the Office of Personnel Management shows that currently, about 50% of feds are not eligible to be part of a bargaining unit. That’s a 20% increase in ineligibility from just a year earlier. It leaves about 38% of federal employees who are in a bargaining unit and another 12% who are eligible, but who haven’t officially joined up. The shift is largely due to President Trump’s orders last year for most agencies to terminate their union contracts.
  (Federal workforce bargaining unit status - Office of Personnel Management)
• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency says some of its cyber directives are no longer needed. CISA is retiring 10 emergency directives issued to federal agencies between 2019 and 2024. Typically CISA issues an emergency directive when a cyber vulnerability poses an urgent and immediate risk to federal systems and data. The ones being retired include the 2021 emergency directive that told agencies to address the SolarWinds Orion software compromise. CISA said the directives are being retired because the objectives were achieved or changes in cyber practices have made them obsolete.
  (CISA retires 10 emergency directives - CISA )
• The National Security Agency is bringing a familiar face back to serve as its number two official. Timothy Kosiba has been named deputy director of the NSA. He’ll serve as the senior civilian official at the agency overseeing strategy execution, policy, operations and management of civilian leadership. Kosiba began his career at the NSA and served in leadership roles including chief of Computer Network Operations and then deputy commander of NSA Georgia. Kosiba spent the last three years in various roles in the private sector.
  (NSA announces Tim Kosiba as next NSA deputy director - National Security Agency)
• The wait for awards under the General Services Administration's Alliant 3 IT services governmentwide acquisition contract may soon be over. GSA said in a new notice on Sam.gov that it plans to make Alliant 3 awards by the end of March. GSA has been evaluating proposals since last April and released the initial solicitation in June 2024. Over those 18 months, GSA issued 12 amendments to the RFP and had to justify continuing the initiative under President Donald Trump's federal acquisition executive order from March 2025.
  (GSA plans to make awards under Alliant 3 GWAC before April - Sam.gov)
• President Donald Trump took aim at defense contractors Wednesday, announcing new restrictions on executive pay and stock buybacks as part of the administration’s push to speed procurement and revitalize the defense industrial base. The government already has a whole set of tools in its toolbox to incentivize, reward or penalize companies based on their performance. What is different here, however, are the remedies the administration is focused on. The main challenge in implementing this executive order will be defining the key parameters contractors are going to be held accountable for. In addition, while Trump promised to cap executive pay at $5 million, the figure did not make it into the executive order. Instead, the president directed the defense secretary to ensure future contracts require executive compensation to be tied to performance, such as on-time delivery and increased production.
  (Trump order targeting defense contractor pay, stock buybacks is ‘full of ambiguity’ - Federal News Network )
• The Defense Department has long tried to simplify and reform the reserve duty status system, which has expanded to more than 30 separate statutes scattered across about 20 different titles of federal law. This complex system has created pay and benefits inequities and frequent administrative delays when National Guard members and reservists shift between duty statuses. A new bipartisan bill would consolidate more than 30 different duty statuses under which National Guard members and reservists can be called to service to just four. If passed, the Duty Status Reform Act would ensure service members performing assignments in the same category receive the same pay and benefits. Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.), the bill’s sponsor, said the effort is his “number one priority, returning to Congress.”
  (New bipartisan bill seeks to overhaul complex reserve duty status system - Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.))

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• A government watchdog found that the Defense Department has never formally evaluated telework and remote work programs against agency goals. DoD officials, however, reported “perceived” benefits and challenges. The Government Accountability Office said without formal evaluation of these programs, DoD cannot determine whether these programs help meet agency goals. While defense officials told GAO that their use of these flexibilities improved productivity, efficiency, and recruitment and retention, some officials said that telework reduced opportunities for collaboration and information sharing and decreased morale. The watchdog also found that the data on the number of teleworkers and remote workers DoD previously reported is likely inaccurate.
  (DoD never formally evaluated telework, remote work programs, watchdog finds - Government Accountability Office)
• The Defense Department is putting additional safeguards around the research it funds. The Pentagon is telling the military services and defense agencies to review fundamental research awards to ensure there is no foreign influence, intellectual property theft or any other form of exploitation that could threaten the security and economic interests of the country. A new memo from Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael establishes additional oversight requirements to protect government funded research. Along with the reviews of awards, DoD will establish a department-wide Fundamental Research Risk Review Repository to improve information collection and sharing across all components. It also will develop automated vetting and continuous monitoring capabilities to help detect and mitigate foreign influence risks.
  (DoD mandates additional oversight for research awards - Department of Defense)
• The Labor Department recovered more than a quarter billion dollars in back wages for American workers last year. That’s the most money the department’s Wage and Hour Division has recovered in a single year since 2019. Those back wages went out to nearly 177,000 employees. On average, that's more than $1,400 per employee. The department has launched new tools aimed at helping employers stay informed of their obligations.
  (Labor Department recovers more than $259M in back wages for workers in 2025 - Labor Department)
• The Air and Space Forces are "aggressively" implementing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s acquisition reforms. The services are replacing program executive offices with new organizations called portfolio acquisition executives. The Air Force has already redesignated five program executive offices as portfolio acquisition executives, including those overseeing Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) and Nuclear Command, Control and Communications (NC3). Meanwhile, the Space Force has designated its first tranche of mission areas to be overseen by portfolio acquisition executives, including space access and space based sensing and targeting.
  (Air Force, Space Force replace program offices with portfolio acquisition executives - Space Force)
• Cohesity became the 22nd company to sign up for an enterprise software deal under GSA’s OneGov program. Under the agreement, GSA said agencies can buy Cohesity’s cybersecurity data protection and replication tools at a discount of more than 72% off the company's GSA schedule price. Agencies also have access to other Cohesity offerings, such as its FedShield tool bundle at discounted prices. The prices are good through September 2027. GSA’s contract with Cohesity is the third OneGov deal with a cybersecurity firm since December.
  (GSA adds third cyber firm since December to OneGov program - General Services Administration)
• Clearer numbers on the federal workforce are coming into view from the Office of Personnel Management. A new OPM website contains a far more detailed and modernized view on the federal workforce, compared with its predecessor, FedScope. The new platform also reaffirms the significant reshaping the federal workforce experienced over the last year. OPM’s numbers reveal a major drop in workforce size, a decline in federal union representation and far fewer telework hours.
  (OPM data overhaul reveals deeper federal workforce insights - Federal News Network)
• The Federal Bureau of Prisons is offering retention bonuses to correctional officers and other frontline positions, in an effort to address staffing challenges. The size of the pay incentive depends on the employee’s position and the staffing level at their facility. The retention bonuses will take effect in February, and will be reviewed annually, according to the agency. But federal union officials are urging a more permanent pay fix for the BOP, which has faced years of significant understaffing.
  (Update on BOP retention incentives - Federal Bureau of Prisons)
• The Social Security Administration is rolling out nationwide systems in the coming months that will impact how the agency triages its workload to employees. Someone applying for SSA benefits in California could soon be speaking to an employee in Maine. The agency is rolling out systems in March that will allow employees to tackle a nationwide inventory of cases. SSA employees say they’re used to processing claims submitted locally and that these changes could make their work much more complicated. The agency lost about 7,000 employees through voluntary incentives last year.
  (Social Security seeks nationwide system to manage caseload for smaller workforce - Federal News Network)

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• Federal wildland firefighters would keep their higher pay rates under the latest congressional appropriations package. The spending “minibus” maintains funding for wildland firefighters’ permanent pay raise, as well as job updates that were initially included in the 2021 infrastructure law. The new appropriations package also would not adopt President Trump’s plan to combine wildland firefighting forces into a single agency. According to the legislation, wildland firefighters from the Forest Service and the Interior Department would remain separate.
  (Interior, Environment FY 2026 appropriations bill - House and Senate Appropriations Committees)
• Leadership at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency faces an uncertain future. The Senate has returned the nomination of Sean Plankey to the White House after lawmakers failed to vote on it last session. President Trump nominated Plankey to serve as director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in March of last year. But his nomination was held in the Senate over multiple issues and he ultimately wasn’t included in a slate of nominees that received confirmation late last month. Plankey has broad support from the cybersecurity industry. But it’s unclear what happens next with the CISA director position.
  (Sean Plankey nomination - Congress.gov)
• The State Department's $50 billion IT contract vehicle called Evolve is facing yet another protest. Alpha Omega Integration filed its second protest about being excluded from Evolve on Monday with the Government Accountability Office. GAO dismissed Alpha Omega's initial protest of the multiple award contract in August after State took corrective action. But Alpha Omega contends State still misevaluated the firm's proposal. GAO has until April 15 to decide the case. Evolve has so far survived five other protests over the last six months.
  (State Dept. IT contract, Evolve, faces new protest - Government Accountability Office)
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is reinstating former probationary employees it already fired twice. NOAA sent an email to about 40 former employees, informing them that their April 2025 termination is being rescinded, and that they have the option to return to their jobs. Employees who received reinstatement offers had until Monday to accept the offer and will return to work next week. These employees will receive about nine months of back pay regardless of whether they opt in for reinstatement.
  (‘A fresh start.’ NOAA reinstates some probationary employees it already fired twice - Federal News Network)
• Federal retirees can now securely access some of their tax forms online. The Office of Personnel Management updated its delivery method for 1099-R tax forms. The update will allow retirees to view their forms digitally, rather than waiting for them in the mail. OPM said it’s a faster and paperless way for retirees to access important documents. Retirees who still want a paper copy can opt into receiving a mailed version, or request one directly from OPM.
  (OPM announces faster, paperless options for federal retirees - Office of Personnel Management)
• President Donald Trump put defense contractors on notice. Trump said his administration is capping executive compensation at defense contractors at $5 million dollars and prohibiting stock buybacks or dividends. In a post on Truth Social, the president said executive pay in the defense industry is exorbitant and unjustifiable given how slowly these companies are delivering vital equipment to the military. In a second post on Truth Social, Trump also took aim at Raytheon, threatening the defense giant that the government will stop doing business with it until it invests more money in plants and equipment manufacturing. Trump signed an executive order codifying these changes Wednesday evening.
  (President tells defense contractors to invest more, pay execs less - Federal News Network)
• The Federal Communications Commission is looking for a new organization to lead its cyber labeling program. In a public notice released Wednesday, the FCC said it’s accepting applications to be lead administrator of the Cyber Trust Mark program through January 28th. Last month, UL solutions withdrew as lead administrator of the cyber trust mark. The FCC launched the voluntary program last year to label consumer smart products that meet cybersecurity standards.
  (FCC announcement on Cyber Trust Mark program - Federal Communications Commission)
• A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to use a single credentialing and privileging system for medical providers. Currently, DoD and VA rely on separate credentialing and privileging systems to approve their clinicians. But those approvals don’t transfer between the two agencies, forcing providers who switch facilities to restart the approval process. The legislation would require the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs to jointly select a single credentialing and privileging system by January 2027 and notify Congress that the system is operational by 2028.
  (Bipartisan bill seeks to create joint DoD–VA credentialing system - Federal News Network)
• The Senate has confirmed Lt. Gen. Christopher LaNeve as the Army’s next vice chief of staff. President Donald Trump nominated LaNeve for the role in October. He will succeed Gen. James Mingus, who has served as vice chief since January 2024. LaNeve currently serves as senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Hegseth called LaNeve a “generational leader” and said he will “help ensure the Army revives the warrior ethos, rebuilds for the modern battlefield and deters enemies around the world.”
  (Senate confirms new Army vice chief of staff - Congress.gov)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs said it’s chipping away at a backlog of veterans waiting for benefits. VA Secretary Doug Collins said the backlog is down 60% since the start of the Trump administration. VA’s Veterans Benefits Administration reinstated mandatory overtime for its employees last year. The VA has relied on mandatory overtime under several administrations to reduce claims backlogs. But VBA briefly ended mandatory overtime in July 2024.
  (VA benefits backlog - Social media platform X)

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• The federal retirement inventory has reached yet another new high. The Office of Personnel Management now has over 50,000 applications still awaiting a finalized annuity. The increase comes after more than 13,000 retirement applications entered OPM’s systems in December. It's taking OPM about 67 days to process a retirement case from start to finish. But OPM's numbers don’t include any retirement cases still pending with agencies. Some retirees report major delays in receiving their payments, months after separating from government.
  (Retirement inventory update - Office of Personnel Management)
• The U.S. DOGE Service is looking for new hires. The White House-based tech shop is looking to fill positions within its core team as well as roles that work directly with other agencies to support their digital services. USDS doesn’t have traditional position descriptions. It’s encouraging candidates who are experts in their fields to apply and that USDS officials will match them to a position that’s the right fit. USDS is looking for candidates with backgrounds in engineering, product design, procurement and more.
  (U.S. DOGE Service is hiring - US DOGE Service )
• The General Services Administration has kicked a Hampton Inn in Lakeville, Minnesota out of its FedRooms program. GSA removed the Hilton property from its lodging and travel systems after the hotel canceled rooms reserved for employees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Hotels participating in the federal travel program agree to honor government rates and accommodate travelers conducting official business. GSA said the Hampton Inn's decision to deny service based solely on an individual agency affiliation is not aligned with federal standards. In 2025, there are over 11,000 FedRooms properties available in over 3,000 markets around the globe.
  (GSA takes quick action to remove hotel that cancelled ICE agents' reservations - General Services Administration)
• The Secret Service wants to hire thousands of new staff over the next two years. The Secret Service is aiming to hire 4,000 new officers and staff through 2028. That would swell the agency’s ranks to 10,000 total employees, including 6,800 law enforcement officers. The Secret Service has struggled to recruit and retain agents and officers in recent years amid an expanding, high-profile mission. To meet its goals, the agency said it’s streamlining the recruiting process through accelerated hiring events. And it’s also offering many retirement-eligible staff retention incentives to keep them around longer.
  (Secret Service touts hiring goals amid major law enforcement recruiting push - Federal News Network)
• The CIA has a new top lawyer. Josh Simmons has joined the spy agency as general counsel after being confirmed by the Senate late last month. Simmons previously served as principal deputy general counsel at the State Department. He also served stints as senior advisor and attorney advisor in State’s Office of the Legal Adviser. Simmons joined the CIA as the Trump administration faces persistent questions about the legality of its military actions in Venezuela and the Caribbean.
  (DCIA John Ratcliffe welcomes Josh Simmons as CIA general counsel - CIA)
• The Office of Federal Procurement Policy’s requests for new ways to improve federal acquisition regulations is closing soon. There are five days left for industry, agencies and others to comment on the next steps for improving the Federal Acquisition Regulations. OFPP's call for public comments closes on January 12. So far, OFPP has received 86 different ideas for how to continue to modernize and improve federal acquisition processes. These range from ensuring the “rule of two” remains in place for small businesses to expanding oral presentations and streamlined source selection beyond IT acquisitions to limiting the flow down requirements to small business subcontractors. Additionally, OFPP Administrator Kevin Rhodes held a series of roundtables last month with contractors, industry associations and others to gain their perspectives of the FAR overhaul.
  (86 comments so far on ways to further improve the FAR - Office of Federal Procurement Policy)
• Marines, civilians and industry experts will be able to test generative artificial intelligence tools against real-world challenges in early March at a now-rescheduled Marine Corps GenAI workshop. Originally scheduled for November, the service had to move the event due to a lapse in federal funding. The workshop will now take place March 9 through March 12 at Quantico, Virginia. Officials said the event will help the service identify high impact use cases for AI and develop the Marine Corps “North Star” to guide rapid AI integration. Participating commands are being asked to register Marines and civilians with “demonstrated expertise in AI and AI-related fields.”
  (Marine Corps schedules its generative AI workshop for March - MARADMIN message)
• Senators warn the IRS workforce may be stretched too thin in the upcoming tax filing season. The IRS lost about 25% of its workforce last year through voluntary separations and retirements. A recent watchdog report found these staffing cuts will make it more difficult for the IRS to detect fraud, process tax returns and provide tax help over the phone and in-person at its Taxpayer Assistance Centers. Seventeen senators asked top Treasury and IRS officials what steps they’re taking to assist taxpayers during this year’s filing season.
  (A huge test for the IRS.’ Senators warn shrinking workforce may hamper upcoming filing season - Federal News Network)
• The Army has launched a new platform designed to modernize how it manages soldiers’ training data. The Army Training Information System replaced the legacy Digital Training Management System. The platform gives soldiers and commanders real-time visibility into training records, unit metrics and training schedules. The system was built using agile software methodologies and developed with continuous feedback from soldiers at all echelons. Army officials said the platform is designed to reduce time spent on administrative tasks to give soldiers more time for actual training.
  (New Army platform modernizes soldiers’ training data - U.S. Army)

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• Kirsten Davies has officially taken over the role of the Defense Department's chief information officer. She was sworn in right before the Christmas break. Congress confirmed Davies on Dec. 18 as part of the final tranche of nominees from President Donald Trump. Davies succeeds Katie Arrington, who has performed the duties of DoD CIO since March. Arrington spearheaded a number of major initiatives during her tenure, including an overhaul of the department’s legacy processes for buying software.
  (Kirsten Davies officially takes helm as DoD CIO - LinkedIn)
• The Marine Corps has stood up the Family Member Travel Screening Cell to address long-standing delays and coordination issues with overseas and remote-duty assignments. For many Marines and their families, one of the most challenging parts of moving overseas is the suitability screening process, which has long been complex and confusing. The new office will serve as a central help desk, providing information about the screening process, connecting Marines and families with the appropriate medical screening offices and offering support to ensure screenings are completed on time. Officials say the lack of a coordinating office has led to missed deadlines, gaps in manning and added stress for families.
  (Marine Corps creates new office to improve overseas moves for families - MARADMINS message)
• A Navy contractor has agreed to pay $1.5 million over allegations that it sold the service parts that didn’t meet their contract’s specifications. The Justice Department claims Teledyne Electronic Safety Products violated the False Claims Act when it delivered critical ejection seat components that turned out to have been sourced from an unauthorized broker. The components, part of what’s called Digital Recovery Sequencer, were sold between 2011 and 2012.
  (Navy contractor violated False Claims Act - Justice Department)
• Congressional appropriators are rejecting some of the most severe agency budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration. The latest spending package seeks modest spending reductions for most agencies. But it departs from the Trump administration's calls for major budget cuts. It would cut the EPA’s budget by about 4% in fiscal 2026, a far cry from the 55% budget cut the Trump administration proposed. It also rejects the administration’s proposals to cut NASA’s science budget by nearly half. The spending package seeks additional guardrails on unilateral agency reorganizations that could further shrink the federal workforce.
  (Lawmakers reject deep budget cuts, limit agency reorganizations in ‘minibus’ spending package - Federal News Network)
• A Democratic holdout on plans to keep the FBI’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., said there’s a compromise in the works. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said a spending deal for fiscal 2026 allows the FBI to tap into funds previously approved for an FBI campus in Maryland. But first, the FBI must provide congressional appropriators with a plan for a new headquarters in the Ronald Reagan Building. Van Hollen said this plan would help address longstanding security concerns.
  (Lawmakers reject deep budget cuts, limit agency reorganizations in ‘minibus’ spending package - Federal News Network)
• The National Institute of Standards and Technology would get a funding bump under the minibus spending agreement. The appropriations agreement released by House and Senate lawmakers yesterday includes $1.8 billion for NIST, well above the cuts proposed by the Trump administration. The bill would include $55 million for NIST’s artificial intelligence research efforts. And it would allocate $128 million in construction funding for NIST to upgrade outdated facilities, including at its main campus Gaithersburg, Maryland.
  (Lawmakers boost funding for NIST after proposed cuts - Federal News Network)
• UL Solutions has withdrawn as lead administrator for the FCC’s Cyber Trust Mark program. The company notified the FCC of its decision in a Dec. 19 filing. That comes after the FCC last summer launched a probe into the company’s potential ties to China. The voluntary Cyber Trust Mark program was started late in the Biden administration to certify whether digital consumer products like smart TVs and refrigerators are cyber secure. The FCC has not said whether it picked a new company to serve as a testing lab for the Cyber Trust Mark program.
  (UL Solutions filing - Federal Communications Commission)

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• The Thrift Savings Plan's I fund continued its year-long positive run in December, posting a month-over-month increase of more than 3%. That, by far, was the best performing TSP fund in the final month of 2025. For the year, the I fund saw a return of more than 32%, which was more than 10% higher than any other account. Overall in December, 13 of 15 funds came back in the black. Only the F and S funds posted negative returns in December as compared to November. For the year, 12 of 15 TSP funds returned more than 11%.
  (TSP's I fund remains top performer for 2025 - Thrift Savings Plan)
• New data shows just how many employees left the Agriculture Department in the first part of 2025. The Forest Service lost more than 5,800 employees in the first six months of 2025. USDA's office of the secretary lost the highest percentage of employees, about 67%, from January to June 2025. These are among the findings from the Agriculture Department's inspector general in a new report detailing the impact by bureau, office and state of more than 20,000 employees leaving the agency. Of those employees who left USDA, 15,000 left via the Deferred Resignation Program. Texas, California and Washington, D.C. were the places hardest hit by employee attrition with more than 1,000 employees leaving USDA offices in each of those areas.
  (More than 20,000 employees left USDA in the first 6 months of 2025 - USDA IG)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs is under scrutiny for using technology that's inaccessible for people with disabilities. In a new letter to the VA, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) asked how the agency plans to improve its procurement of accessible IT systems. The letter references a recent inspector general finding that out of 30 critical IT systems at the VA, only four met accessibility requirements. The IG report found there was inadequate coordination between different VA offices and a lack of Section 508 training for agency acquisition professionals.
  (Sen. Gillibrand letter to VA on Section 508 - Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.))
• Insurance options for plan year 2026 are now in effect for the Federal Employees Health Benefits program. FEHB enrollees who made changes to their health plans during Open Season will now see those changes reflected in their benefits. FEHB participants are also facing an average of a 13% premium increase in the new year. Any enrollment changes for dental, vision and Postal insurance options are also now in effect for all program participants.
  (2026 plan options now in effect - Federal Employees Health Benefits program)
• The Department of Health and Human Services needs to collect better data on how well people with disabilities can access health care. That’s according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. Currently, GAO said people with disabilities face barriers in health care technology, communication and facilities. Once HHS starts collecting data on those barriers, GAO said the department should then create a plan to address the challenges.
  (Health care accessibility: Further efforts needed to address barriers for people with disabilities - Government Accountability Office)
• The Department of Homeland Security has a new human capital leader. Jason Nelson is joining DHS as deputy chief human capital officer. Nelson was previously associate administrator of human capital at the Transportation Security Administration. He also has previous experience at the Federal Highway Administration. Nelson joins DHS’s human capital office in the middle of a major recruiting campaign for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement positions.
  (New chief human capital officer at DHS - LinkedIn)
• The Army is creating a dedicated artificial intelligence and machine-learning career field for officers. The service will roll out the new career field in phases. Army officers interested in transferring will be able to apply through the service’s Voluntary Transfer Incentive Program, beginning Jan. 5. Selected officers are expected to formally transfer into the new career field by October 2026. Selected officers will undergo graduate-level training and “gain hands-on experience in building, deploying and maintaining” the service’s AI-enabled systems. The Army is also considering expanding the specialty to include warrant officers in the future.
  (Army launches AI and machine-learning career path for officers - Federal News Network)
• The Defense Department is expanding secure methods of authentication beyond the traditional Common Access Card, giving users more alternative options to log into its systems when CAC access is “impractical or infeasible.” A new memo, titled “Multi-Factor Authentication for Unclassified and Secret DoD Networks,” lays out when users can access DoD resources without CAC and public key infrastructure. The directive also updates the list of approved authentication tools for different system impact levels and applications. While the new memo builds on previous DoD guidance on authentication, earlier policies often did not clearly authorize specific login methods for particular use cases, leading to inconsistent implementation across the department.
  (DoD expands login options beyond CAC - Federal News Network)

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• The Department of Homeland Security has agreed to push back by a week plans to dissolve a union agreement for airport screeners as part of an ongoing court case. The Transportation Security Administration had planned to eliminate the collective bargaining agreement for TSA staff on January 11. But the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA staff, is seeking an emergency order to block that action. TSA says it will delay the effective date to January 18 to allow for arguments over the motion. The judge in the case had already issued a preliminary injunction blocking an earlier attempt by TSA to eliminate the union agreement.
  (AFGE AFL-CIO v. Noem - Court Listener)
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency this week awarded $250 million to 11 states and the National Capital region under a counter-unmanned aircraft system grant program. The states are all hosting FIFA World Cup matches next summer. The grants are intended to help them defend against unauthorized drone activity. The C-UAS Grant Program was established with $500 million from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. FEMA says the remaining $250 million will be distributed across all U.S. states and territories next year.
  (FEMA awards $250 million to secure U.S. skies ahead of FIFA World Cup - Department of Homeland Security)
• The Trump administration’s use of paid administrative leave is coming under scrutiny. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility is urging the Government Accountability Office to investigate the situation. PEER officials say the leave used within the deferred resignation program was wasteful and unlawful. Despite a limit of 10 admin leave days per year, thousands of feds who took the DRP spent months on paid leave. PEER estimates that the DRP cost about $10 billion in taxpayer money.
  (Comments on Trump administration use of administrative leave - Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility)
• The Office of Personnel Management is addressing concerns from Congress over retirement processing delays. In a letter to House Democrats, OPM Director Scott Kupor touted a new digital system that he says is streamlining retirement processing. Kupor also argued that outdated systems, rather than staffing levels, are to blame for the challenges HR employees are facing. The director’s letter comes in response to recent concerns from Democrats over major retirement processing delays, caused by a flood of paperwork from the deferred resignation program.
  (OPM touts digitization efforts, blames outdated tech for retirement delays - Federal News Network)
• Members of the National Guard are patrolling in New Orleans on this New Years’ Eve, a year after a truck attack on Bourbon Street killed 14 people. President Trump authorized 350 troops to deploy to the city in order to help with security. The guard members are expected to stay beyond New Years’ though, through the end of the Mardi Gras season. The city has yet to implement permanent security changes in the aftermath of the Jan. 1 attack.
  (National Guard patrolling New Orleans on New Year's Eve - The Associated Press)
• Another court ruling now prevents the Trump administration from dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled against the White House, which had argued the CFPB can’t be funded by earnings from the Federal Reserve because of a deficit on the Fed’s own balance sheet. Jackson said that legal theory was an attempt to circumvent an earlier injunction that kept the administration from firing the agency’s workforce. A union lawsuit over whether the administration can legally shut down the agency is set to go to trial in February.
  (Another court prevents Trump administration from dismantling CFPB - The Associated Press)

The post DHS agrees to push back plans to dissolve TSA union first appeared on Federal News Network.

• The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency has new leadership in place. Justin Overbaugh has been serving as acting director of DCSA since November. Overbaugh was confirmed by the Senate in September to serve as Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security. His appointment to also lead DCSA comes after full-time director David Cattler stepped down in September. Overbaugh is a retired Army colonel with 25 years of intelligence and special operations experience.
  (DCSA leadership - Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency )
• The Coast Guard said it’s awarded some long-awaited contracts to start building a new fleet of icebreakers. Both contracts will go toward the construction of medium icebreakers. The work will start in Finland, where the Coast Guard has awarded a contract to Rauma Marine Constructions to start building one, and possibly two, of the new class of cutters. From there, the Trump administration said it wants to “on-shore” the icebreaker building expertise, partly through a second contract with Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana. That contract will support the construction of up to four more ships. The first ship is expected to be finished in Finland in 2028, and the first American-built hull will follow a year later. It’s part of a broader Coast Guard plan to rebuild its icebreaking capability. As of now, the service only has two icebreakers in service and the ships are at or beyond their planned service life.
  (Coast Guard announces new contract to start building new fleet of icebreakers - U.S. Coast Guard)
• The Energy Department faces big human capital challenges heading into 2026 after it lost 20% of its workforce this year. That’s according to the DOE inspector general’s latest report on Energy’s top management challenges. The IG reports that more than 3,500 of DOE’s 15,705 employees departed the agency in 2025 through deferred resignations, early retirements and other actions. The report also highlights challenges with DOE’s cybersecurity program and its efforts to leverage artificial intelligence.
  (Management challenges at the Department of Energy fiscal year 2026 - Energy Department)
• Federal employees looking to join the Senior Executive Service may soon see changes in training requirements for the higher-level positions. The Office of Personnel Management is proposing to alter the timeframe and content of SES candidate development programs. But that’s far from the only change in senior executive development this year. The Trump administration has also launched several leadership training programs through OPM, as well as a required training for supervisors on recent reforms to performance management.
  (OPM proposes overhaul of SES candidate development programs - Federal News Network)
• Probationary federal employees are on track to see more restrictions when appealing their terminations, according to a new proposal from the Trump administration. In addition to the limitations on appeals, the new proposal would also put the Office of Personnel Management in charge of adjudicating employees’ cases. That’s instead of the Merit Systems Protection Board. Generally, OPM said the upcoming changes should help streamline the appeals process and hold probationary employees accountable.
  (OPM proposes more changes for probationary federal employees - Federal News Network)
• A Florida congresswoman accused of stealing federal COVID relief funds is maintaining her innocence. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) was scheduled to be arraigned on fraud charges yesterday, but her attorneys asked that the hearing be postponed while she assembles a legal team. Outside the courthouse, she told reporters the charges are politically motivated. Federal prosecutors claim the congresswoman stole funds that were overpaid to her family’s health care company and that at least some of those funds went toward her campaign for Congress.
  (Florida Congresswoman accused of COVID fraud - Associated Press)

The post There’s new leadership at the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency first appeared on Federal News Network.

• The Department of Homeland Security is looking to cut down on the number of paper Freedom of Information Act requests it receives. Under a final rule set to go into effect next month, DHS will require most people to submit FOIA and Privacy Act requests electronically. DHS will allow for alternative submission methods in limited circumstances where an electronic request isn’t feasible, such as for incarcerated people. The department said the new rule will allow FOIA officers to spend less time on data entry and more time searching for and reviewing records.
  (DHS FOIA rule - Federal Register)
• As the winter season gets underway, the Office of Personnel Management is tweaking its policy for what happens to federal telework in inclement weather. OPM said federal employees are generally allowed to telework in cases where they can’t make it to the office on a snow day. But those unscheduled telework days do not mean that there are any changes to President Donald Trump’s broader directive that rescinded telework and remote work agreements.
  (Governmentwide dismissal and closure procedures - Office of Personnel Management)
• Cyber hackers are increasingly taking advantage of forged or stolen digital identity tokens to break into sensitive cloud-based networks. That’s why the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has teamed up with the National Institute of Standards and Technology on new guidance to defend those tokens. The draft guidelines published last week are meant to help agencies and cloud service providers protect identity tokens from forgery, theft and misuse. President Trump had directed CISA and NIST to develop the guidelines in a cybersecurity executive order earlier this year.
  (Protecting tokens and assertions from forgery, theft and misuse - Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency)
• Customs and Border Protection is increasing its hiring and retention incentive package. CBP is advertising that new Border Patrol agents and customs officers can earn up to $60,000 in incentives on top of a normal salary. The packages include training bonuses, remote location pay and annual retention incentives. The additional pay incentives come amid a major recruiting push at CBP. The agency is trying to hire 5,000 customs officers and 3,000 border patrol agents over the next four years.
  (CBP increases hiring incentives, amid record DHS recruiting year - Federal News Network)
• Senior political appointees, including the vice president, will continue to see a pay freeze on their salaries. The Office of Personnel Management has announced that the freeze will continue, as it has for more than 10 years, for certain categories of politically appointed feds. The freeze covers employees on the Executive Schedule, such as ambassadors-at-large, non-career members of the Senior Executive Service and other highly paid political appointees.
  (Updated guidance on pay freeze for certain senior political officials - Office of Personnel Management)
• The National Institute of Standards and Technology is investing $20 million dollars in two new artificial intelligence centers. NIST will work with the nonprofit MITRE Corporation to launch the AI Economic Security Center for U.S. Manufacturing Productivity and the AI Economic Security Center to Secure U.S. Critical Infrastructure from Cyberthreats. NIST said the two centers will drive the development and adoption of AI agents. In the months ahead, NIST will also announce awards to establish an AI for Resilient Manufacturing Institute.
  (NIST launches centers for AI in manufacturing and critical infrastructure - National Institute of Standards and Technology)
• Agencies have an opportunity to request special salary rates for positions that might need them in 2026. The Office of Personnel Management has put out its annual call, asking agencies if there are certain roles where it's been especially hard to recruit or retain workers. OPM said agencies should also consider removing any special salary rates for jobs that no longer need them. Most recently, OPM established a special salary rate for law enforcement officers, who are expected to receive a larger pay raise for 2026.
  (Annual review of special salary rates - Office of Personnel Management)
• The Trump administration is working out plans to implement a larger raise for federal law enforcement officers. The Office of Personnel Management said it will meet with the departments of Homeland Security, Justice and the Interior to decide which positions will receive a bigger pay bump in January. OPM plans to establish a special salary rate to implement a 3.8% raise for federal law enforcement, at the direction of President Trump. Most other civilian employees will see a 1% raise for 2026. The updated pay tables for law enforcement officers will be available by the end of the calendar year.
  (2026 special rates for certain law enforcement personnel - Office of Personnel Management)
• Agencies will have to move any non-national security system using the seven gigahertz bandwidth to a new part of the spectrum in the next year. A new memo from President Trump calls on agencies to free up the bandwidth for the development of 6G for commercial use. The White House and the Commerce Department will lead a study to determine where to relocate existing systems to other frequencies. The State Department also will lead an effort to develop and negotiate international standards for 6G systems.
  (White House gives agencies a year to clear space for commercial 6G - White House)
• Agencies can now place orders against two vendor pools under the Polaris small business governmentwide acquisition contract. The General Services Administration said it issued notices to proceed for the HUBZone and service-disabled veteran owned small business pools under the IT services contract. Through Polaris, agencies can buy an assortment of IT services, including cloud and edge computing, AI and automation and distributed ledger. GSA said it will make additional awards under Polaris in 2026 under the small business and women-owned small business pools.
  (GSA opens two vendor pools under Polaris GWAC - General Services Administration)
• The Military Family Advisory Network is conducting its biennial survey to better understand the needs of military and veteran families worldwide. The survey is the largest independent research effort focused on the military family population. The stories shared by those taking the survey lead to real change. The research has helped shape major policy and quality-of-life reforms, including the Military Housing Privatization Initiative’s Tenant Bill of Rights and a congressional quality-of-life panel for service members and their families. MFAN is monitoring response rates and will decide when to close the survey based on participation. The organization will be reporting on their findings in May.
  (Military Family Advisory Network survey looks to shape policy - Federal News Network)
• The Pentagon inspector general found “unsanitary conditions in bathroom facilities” at soldiers’ barracks at Fort Bliss, Texas, and the Doña Ana Range Complex housing facilities in New Mexico, including “leaking raw sewage, non-functional toilets, and general disrepair of facilities.” Soldiers also informed the IG of electrical capability concerns and constantly nonfunctioning air conditioning. The watchdog visited housing facilities of soldiers who had been deployed to assist with the border mission earlier this year. The medical team found that air conditioners in the housing facilities caused soldiers respiratory symptoms and that standing water from air conditioner condensation and rain caused "a large increase in both the insect and mosquito population."
  (Soldiers supporting the border mission living in ‘unsanitary conditions’ - Defense Dept IG)

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• Veterans Affairs will no longer perform abortions in emergency cases, in light of a new legal opinion from the Justice Department. The VA started providing abortions to veterans in certain life-threatening circumstances in fall 2022. This comes after the Supreme Court ruling on the Dobbs v. Jackson case. The department began the process of rolling back the policy this summer. That process is still making its way through the official rule-making process.
  (Trump-Vance administration bans abortion care and counseling for veterans - Democracy Forward)
• Another agency CIO is heading out the door. Jeff Seaton, the NASA chief information officer, is retiring after 32 years of federal service. Seaton is taking advantage of the ability to delay his retirement under the deferred resignation program. His last day is Dec. 27. Seaton has been NASA CIO for almost five years and previously worked in senior technology roles at headquarters and at NASA Langley Research Center. The space agency is hiring a replacement for Seaton. Its job announcement said the new CIO will be a career senior executive service member. Applications for the position are due by Jan. 9.
  (NASA to hire new career CIO - USAJobs.com)
• One nonprofit is continuing to press for investigations into potential Hatch Act violations during the government shutdown. In a new letter to the Office of Special Counsel, the legal organization Democracy Forward called on OSC to open Hatch Act investigations, pointing to multiple incidents of partisan messaging during October and November. The group specifically highlights how agencies posted messages to their websites that blamed the shutdown on Democrats. And in a separate letter to the Government Accountability Office, Democracy Forward also raised potential violations of the Antideficiency Act during the 43-day shutdown.
  (Hatch Act letters - Democracy Forward)
• The Missile Defense Agency has tapped more companies to support the Golden Dome initiative. The agency has made over a thousand awards under its Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense, or SHIELD, contract worth up to $151 billion. The new awards expand a pool of pre-approved vendors eligible to compete for future task orders, bringing the total number of qualifying offerors to more than 2,000 companies. The agency said it has now transitioned to the ordering phase and drafting solicitations.
  (MDA taps more companies for Golden Dome SHIELD contract - SAM.gov)
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed all department heads to recognize "outstanding” Defense Department civilian employees with cash bonuses. A new memo authorizes Pentagon leaders to award the top 15% of civilian employees bonuses worth 15% to 25% of their basic pay, capped at $25,000. Hegseth directed department heads to issue the bonuses by Jan. 30. The memo to recognize top talent comes amid Hegseth’s broader push to shrink and reshape the Pentagon’s civilian workforce.
  (Hegseth authorizes cash bonuses of up to $25,000 for top civilian employees - Federal News Network)
• A top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is no longer reviewing requests for telework as a reasonable accommodation for employees with disabilities. Supervisors have instructed staff to email their medical documentation directly to Lynda Chapman, the agency’s chief operating officer, to “bypass” the traditional reasonable accommodation system, and receive up to 30 days of telework as an interim accommodation. But CDC employees tell Federal News Network that Chapman no longer has access to their reasonable accommodation requests. Former CDC officials say many of the human resources staff trained to handle reasonable accommodation requests were targeted by layoffs earlier this year.
  (As HHS restricts telework, CDC asks employees to ‘bypass’ reasonable accommodation process - Federal News Network)
• House Democrats are pressing the Office of Personnel Management for answers on how the agency is addressing abnormally high volumes of federal retirement applications. In a letter sent this week, the lawmakers raised concerns about the delays retiring federal employees are currently experiencing. That’s after the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program spurred a major influx of retirement applications. The lawmakers are giving OPM Director Scott Kupor until the end of January to respond with more details on OPM’s plans.
  (House Democrats question OPM on retirement processing delays - Federal News Network)
• House Democrats are urging the Transportation Security Administration to preserve union rights for TSA airport screeners. Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and 11 of his colleagues say TSA’s push to end union rights will not improve efficiency or security at airport screening lines. In a new letter, lawmakers urge Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to keep TSA’s 2024 collective bargaining agreement in place. TSA plans to void the collective bargaining agreement effective Jan. 11. The American Federation of Government Employees is urging a federal judge to take action, pointing to a preliminary injunction that blocked TSA’s previous attempt to eliminate the union agreement.
  (House Dems urge TSA to preserve collective bargaining agreement - Federal News Network)
• The owner of a federal contractor is facing up to 90 years in prison after being indicted by a Baltimore grand jury in a scheme to defraud the government that included rigging bids for IT contracts and receiving kickbacks in exchange for influence over IT procurements. Victor Marquez is facing wire fraud charges. The Justice Department said Marquez and his co-conspirators used his access to sensitive procurement information to rig bids for procurements for large government IT contracts. Marquez allegedly received more than $3.8 million in compensation in the form of kickbacks for steering procurements to his co-conspirators, who referred to the payments to Marquez as the “Vic tax.”
  (Federal IT contractor facing charges of defrauding the government - Justice Department)

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• The Federal Emergency Management Agency would be required to create a universal disaster assistance application under a bill passed by the Senate last week. The goal of the Disaster Assistance Simplification Act is to make it easier for disaster survivors to access federal aid. Lawmakers say the current process is complex and time consuming, with different agencies using different forms. The bill would also require all information shared between FEMA and partner agencies to meet federal data security standards.
  (Senate passes Peters, Paul, Lankford and Tillis bipartisan legislation to simplify application process for federal disaster assistance - Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)
• The Trump administration is challenging a federal judge’s order to rescind more federal employee layoffs. Last week, a judge directed the Trump administration to undo reductions in force for workers who were officially separated from their jobs during the recent government shutdown. The decision would give about 700 individuals their jobs back. The Justice Department has appealed that decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s asking the higher court to allow the RIFs to remain in place.
  (Notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit - U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California)
• The Defense Logistics Agency is making the holidays a little bit more like home for troops stationed outside the United States and away from family. Calling it one of its important missions, DLA is providing holiday meals to warfighters around the globe. It will deliver 101,000 pounds of turkey, more than 6,400 cakes and pies and almost 1,500 cases of eggnog to service members to help them celebrate Christmas and New Years. DLA said delivering the food to service members is a major morale boost, combats loneliness and aides in homesickness.
  (DLA to deliver 101,000 pounds of turkey, other holiday fare around the globe - Defense Logistics Agency)
• Some service members stationed within the Continental United States will see their take-home pay decrease starting January after the Defense Department updated its cost-of-living allowance rates. All 21 non-metropolitan counties in California and New York will lose COLA allowance. Nine military housing areas will lose the allowance entirely, including Boston, Massachusetts and San Luis Obispo and Riverside in California. Eight military housing areas will see an increase in COLA allowance, including Seattle and San Francisco. The Defense Department said CONUS COLA will cost about $99 million, benefiting roughly 127,000 service members nationwide in 2026.
  (Pentagon cuts COLA in dozens of counties, reduces rates in major cities - Federal News Network)
• OPM is hiring a new person to lead its HR technology modernization effort. Nearly two months after telling OPM its plan to modernize and consolidate 119 HR systems across government was "madness," Don Bauer is going to be in charge of that effort. Bauer will join OPM on Jan. 12 as its deputy associate director for workforce standards and data center in the HR Solutions (HRS) office. He will be leading the HR Line of Business, the quality service management office (QSMO) and human capital management core modernization effort. Bauer said after posting a critical column on Federal News Network, OPM leaders called him to discuss the modernization effort, Seven weeks later, Bauer is returning to the government.
  (Bauer’s criticism of HR modernization effort turns into job offer from OPM - Federal News Network)
• Pentagon officials acknowledged that military services could inflate cyber readiness levels as the Defense Department works to standardize how it manages its cyber workforce, but said the effort is still in its early stages and validation mechanisms are being developed to prevent “rubber-stamping” qualifications. While the Pentagon is moving away from relying solely on individual military services to self-assess cyber readiness, it still largely depends on self-reported data, which raises concerns about the accuracy of readiness reporting. DoD officials said readiness reporting shouldn’t be treated as a “compliance drill,” but rather a tool the services can use to advocate for additional resources.
  (Concerns persist over self-reported cyber readiness as DoD overhauls workforce management - Federal News Network)
• Senate appropriators want to stem some staff cuts at the Department of Homeland Security. The Senate Appropriations Committee’s draft homeland security spending bill for 2026 would add $40 million for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to hire critical staff. That comes after roughly 2,500 FEMA staff departed the agency in 2025 amid sweeping changes under the Trump administration. The draft spending bill would also maintain funding levels at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and stipulate that CISA maintain enough staff to carry out its statutory missions. CISA’s staffing has been reduced by nearly a third in fiscal 2025.
  (Senate lawmakers look to stem staff cuts at CISA, FEMA - Federal News Network)
• The Trump administration gave federal employees extra days off around Christmas. But the IRS and the Social Security Administration will stay open. Both SSA and the IRS are looking for volunteers to keep working on Dec. 24 and Dec. 26 and are offering holiday pay to those who sign up. Both agencies typically see a lower volume of calls and in-person visits at this point, but internal memos say they need to stay open to deliver on their frontline missions. President Donald Trump gave most federal employees these days off, but his executive order said some federal employees may still need to report for duty for “national security, defense or other public need.”
  (Social Security, IRS will stay open on extra holidays Trump granted to most federal employees - Federal News Network)

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