THURSDAY, JULY 8, 2010
KLMNO
S THE FEDERAL WORKER Haunted by their checkered financial histories
JOE DAVIDSON Federal Diary
I
f you’re a government employee who is repeatedly in financial trouble, you may also be in deep trouble with Uncle Sam.
At least 33 Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) employees found that out the hard way. They have been notified that they will be terminated at the end of the month. The workers got the bad news
after background checks were run on more than 16,500 agency employees. The Pentagon said the employees’ financial histories was one of 13 factors considered when officials decided who would be let go. But that’s not what a union leader said he was told. “They told us it was strictly an outside financial situation” that led to the firings, said Don Hale, chairman of the American Federation of Government Employees’ conference of Defense Department locals. He said the workers were not
fired because they had engaged in fraudulent activities but because they had fallen on hard times, perhaps through no fault of their own. “We’re talking about folks who
may have had a sick child and decided to seek help for that
child instead of making a car payment,” said Hale, who also is president of the AFGE local at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. But Marilee Fitzgerald, until recently the acting defense undersecretary for civilian personnel policy, said Hale must have misunderstood what she told him during a meeting. The fired employees had a history of financial
trouble, not just one incident, said Fitzgerald, now acting education activity director for the department. The other 12
factors were allegiance to the United States,
foreign influence, foreign preference, sexual behavior, personal conduct, alcohol consumption, drug involvement, psychological conditions, criminal conduct, handling protected information, outside activities and use of information technology systems. Thirty-nine employees were
reviewed as a result of the background checks. Twenty-one are being terminated; 12 will be if they lose their appeals; four won their appeals and are being returned to duty; and two are seeking employment outside DFAS, according to Fitzgerald. She said employees’ financial histories are relevant to their work in a financial institution, such as DFAS, because a poor history may indicate a bad risk.
Claims of Air Marshal bias to get closer look
DHS investigators will meet with workers in Orlando and Tampa
by Ed O’Keefe
Homeland Security Depart- ment investigators plan to visit Transportation Security Adminis- tration workers in Orlando and Tampa next week as part of a re- view of allegations of harassment against gay, lesbian and African American workers there, accord- ing to e-mails obtained by The Washington Post’s Federal Eye blog. The department’s Office of In-
spector General began looking into the allegations in October, and the complaints gained na- tional attention when CNN aired a report in January alleging that managers at the Orlando field of- fice of the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) used an assign- ment board resembling the “Jeop-
ardy!” game show to ridicule and keep score on women, gays and minorities. Lawmakers have heard little about the investigation since it launched, said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). “Several credible sources with
direct, firsthand evidence into this matter recently contacted my staff,” Issa wrote last week in a let- ter to DHS Inspector General Richard L. Skinner. “They ex- pressed serious concerns about the sufficiency and expediency of [the Transportation Security Ad- ministration’s Office of Inspec- tion] investigation. In particular, these witnesses have advised they have not been contacted by OI or by your office. This is puzzling.” Inspectors then e-mailed TSA
and FAMS employees in the Or- lando and Tampa region an- nouncing plans to visit next week. “We will conduct site visits in other FAMS field offices across the country during the next sever- al months,” the e-mail said. “We
DFAS employees deal with pay records and personal information, such as the Social Security numbers, of other workers.
Amatter of opinion CREDIT BAD
Transportation Security Administration employees are capable of dealing with controversial opinions after all. On Friday, the beginning of the nation’s weekend birthday celebration, TSA issued what seems like a distinctly un-American directive. It said that “beginning July 1, 2010, TSA began blocking access to
websites in categories including, but not limited to . . . Controversial opinion.” Union leaders, who have been seeking collective bargaining rights for transportation security officers, immediately asked whether advocacy of those rights would be considered “controversial.” “We definitely thought that was a ludicrous policy because what is controversial often is in the eye of the beholder,” AFGE attorney Chad Harris said. Wiser heads prevailed at TSA, which issued a different notice Tuesday. It said controversial opinions would not be blocked. TSA now says: “Our intent is not, and never has been, to limit your ability to access or share ‘controversial opinions.’ ”
Contracting slowdown Not too long ago, which means through the end of the Bush administration, the rate at which Uncle Sam contracted out work to companies was growing by leaps and bounds. President Obama promised to put on the brakes, and figures released Wednesday indicate that he has had some success. Peter R. Orszag, director of the
Office of Management and Budget, said contracts awarded without competition dropped by 10 percent during the first half of fiscal 2010, compared with the same period last year. Awards of contracts that generated only one bid also dropped, by 2 percent. “To put this into perspective,
between FY 2000 and FY 2008, total spending on contracts awarded without competition increased significantly from $73 billion to $173 billion,” Orszag said Wednesday on his blog. “Dollars obligated under
contracts that were open to competition, but generated only one bid, also increased dramatically from $14 billion in FY 2000 to $ 67 billion in FY 2008. We not only halted this increase, but actually reduced the rate of growth in these wasteful contracts.” Contracts that pay companies on a cost-reimbursement basis, rather than a fixed price, declined by 6 percent, and so-called
time-and-materials/labor-hour contracts fell by 7 percent, Orszag said. “Practically, these steps are
saving taxpayer dollars,” he said.
federaldiary@washpost.com
To save money, U.S. by Ed O’Keefe
Federal workers with thoughts on how to save taxpayer dollars can start submitting their cost- conscious ideas Thursday as part of a contest backed by the White House. The second annual
SAVE Award will ac- cept submissions at
www.saveaward.gov from Thursday through July 22. Feder- al employees will be able to rank the sub- missions submitted by colleagues, and the general public will be able to vote on the top submissions later in the year. The contest winner earns a meet- ing with President Obama, who will in- clude the winning idea in his fiscal 2012 budg- et proposal. Last year’s contest
turns to ‘front lines’ White House contest asks federal workers for cost-cutting ideas
exist on the front line,” said Jef- frey Zients, OMB deputy director. “Those doing the work on the front lines have the best ideas on how to make changes. We want to reach out” to get them. Last year’s winning idea came
“Those doing the work ... have the best
generated more than 38,000 submissions from government em- ployees and more than 84,000 votes, the Office of Management and Budget said. “The basic premise here is that many of the best ideas
on
washingtonpost.com
How diverse is your staff, including its management team — not only in race and ethnicity, but also in gender, age, religion and general backgrounds? What ways might help your staff improve its diversity or take better advantage of its diversity?
E-mail your answer to
federaleye@washingtonpost.com, and include your full name, home town and the agency for which you work. We might include your response in Friday’s Washington Post.
OBTAINED BY THE WASHINGTON POST
Managers at the Federal Air Marshal Service’s Orlando office are accused of ridiculing minorities on this assignment board.
are interested in any information, concerns or ideas you would like to contribute to this inspection.” Investigators also will probe alle- gations from workers in Cincin- nati, congressional aides said. The e-mail, which was passed
on to The Washington Post, prom- ised to maintain workers’ ano- nymity if necessary.
On Leadership: The Federal Coach 6Excerpt from
washingtonpost.com/onleadership
The nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and The Washington
Post’s On Leadership site jointly produce the Federal Coach, hosted by Tom Fox, director of the partnership’s Center for Government Leadership.
The goal is to “engage, inspire and learn from you, the federal
worker, whether you are a new hire, a contractor or a manager at the highest level.”
What to do about
worker motivation Two questions . . . come from federal managers. Please continue sharing your ideas and questions by e-mailing me at
fedcoach@ourpublicservice.org.
How can I engage an unmotivated employee? —Federal manager (GS-14), Small Business Administration
There’s nothing easy about
motivating your employees. Understanding and tending to their motivations requires almost constant care and attention. As a starting point, you need to understand why their motivation is suspect. Has the person grown bored by performing the same task repeatedly? Is he having trouble with a new task that he doesn’t fully understand? Does he enjoy the work? Is he having trouble with colleagues? The only way to find out is to ask. Now, there may be any number
of factors that could be affecting your employee’s motivation. Some you can affect. Some you cannot. If there are personnel conflicts, you can mediate those
differences of opinion. If this person does not enjoy performing the work required of their job, you can shake-up their portfolio. However, at the end of the day, the work needs to be performed. Start by talking with your employee. Try to find out what is affecting their motivation. If you can do something about it, work together to address the issue. If not, help your employee move on to a better fit.
My department has turnover rates of about 60 to 70 percent. Through informal interviews, I know that most people leave because of micro-management and low morale. How can I initiate a discussion about our leadership skills in the department? —Federal manager (GS-14), U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Surfacing this data provides a
useful starting point for discussion and action. You should encourage your leaders — with support from human resources — to look at your department’s data from the Office of Personnel
Management’s employee viewpoint survey to see whether there are any underlying issues around morale and retention. If you don’t have data for your department, you might consider conducting a short, informal employee survey. You might also consider
360-degree assessments — anonymous surveys of a leader’s employees, peers and superiors — and executive coaching to inform your department’s leaders about their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, you might quantify the
“costs” associated with losing folks — recruiting costs, the opportunity costs of interviewing, productivity losses —as a way of building a business case for change. For more ideas on this check out, Linda J. Bilmes and W. Scott Gould’s book “The People Factor: Strengthening America by Investing in Public Service.”Note the profile of Jeff Neal’s work at the Defense Logistics Agency in the book; he’s now the chief human capital officer at the Department of Homeland Security. That might provide you with more ideas.
Please send comments and ideas to
fedcoach@ourpublicservice.org. Visit On Leadership at views.
washingtonpost.com/leadership/ fedcoach
There are three weekly installments: Mondays: “Getting Ahead” — advice on “leading up.” Wednesdays: “View From the Top Floor” — interviews with federal leaders. Fridays: Answering questions about navigating the federal workforce terrain.
Paul Wood of DHS said in an e-
mail, “It is our policy not to com- ment on our ongoing reviews.” The agency has faced embar-
rassing headlines since January, including claims about officers who beat a co-worker, acted errat- ically in public and stole money from a passenger in a wheelchair. ed.okeefe@washington
post.com
Palin gets defensive about military money Despite being a voice of the “tea party,” Sarah Palin is leading the charge against cuts in defense spending. The Cable, A13.
Public financing law
Two groups are pushing for a bill to lessen the impact of wealthy donors and large corporations on elections. The Influence Industry, A13.
ideas.” — Jeffrey Zients, Office of
Management and Budget deputy director
from Nancy Fichtner, a Depart- ment of Veterans Affairs employ- ee from Colorado who suggested that VA medical centers should permit patients to take home ex- tra bandages and medication when they are dis- charged. The change in policy is expected to save the Department of Veterans Affairs at least $14.5million by 2014, the OMB said. Other finalists includ- ed a U.S. Forest Service worker who suggested that national forests should deposit checks at local banks instead of mailing them to a central processing fa- cility, a Housing and Urban Development employee who wanted housing agencies to consolidate inspec- tions, and a Social Se- curity Administration worker who suggested that people should be able to schedule ap- pointments with the agency online. Agen- cies included those ideas in fiscal 2011 budget proposals.
ed.okeefe@washingtonpost.com
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