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Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, a Wash100 Award winner, attended a gathering of small business leaders held at the San Francisco SBA Business Office during San Francisco Fleet Week.

The U.S. Navy said Thursday Del Toro emphasized the significance of small businesses in supporting the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps during his talk at the event titled “Breaking Barriers: A Department of the Navy & SBA Partnership for Small Business Success,” attended by representatives from the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, regional APEX Accelerators, the National Defense Industrial Association and other key stakeholders.

The Navy secretary noted that $526 million worth of contracts have been awarded to small businesses in the San Francisco area, mentioning Pleasanton-based Atomic’s $2.89 million contract for advanced tactical atomic clocks and the $451,000 contract secured by Arize AI of Berkeley for an artificial intelligence/machine learning technology to enhance underwater threat detection.

Secretary Del Toro said, “From my vantage point as Secretary of the Navy, a healthy, diverse industrial base made up of companies of all sizes – founded by American entrepreneurs from all walks of life – is absolutely crucial to the success of our Navy and our Marine Corps.”

The secretary participated in a roundtable discussion with entrepreneurs and industry leaders where they discussed possible collaborations and the needs of small businesses in the defense sector. Del Toro also encouraged them to ask for support in navigating the federal procurement process from the Office of Small Business Programs.

The Office of Management and Budget has published on the Federal Register the Trust Regulation, or more formally, the Fundamental Responsibilities of Statistical Agencies and Units rule.

The Trust Regulation aims to foster trust in recognized statistical agencies and units and the federal statistics they produce, which are used in policymaking as well as public discourse, Karin Orvis, the chief statistician of the United States, said in a column published Thursday on the OMB’s Briefing Room blog.

To achieve this goal, the regulation codifies and clarifies the responsibilities of federal statistical agencies, namely: the conduct of objective, credible and accurate statistical activities for the production and dissemination of relevant and timely statistical information; and the protection of the confidentiality of responses from information providers and respondents.

The regulation also outlines the requirements other agencies must meet to support the work that statistical agencies perform.

The formulation of the Trust Regulation incorporates input provided by agency employees and members of the public.

The Low-Cost Optical Terminal, or LCOT, at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, was able to send its first laser communications uplink to the agency’s recently concluded TeraByte Infrared Delivery, or T-Bird, mission in low Earth orbit. 

LCOT is geared toward cutting laser communications technology cost through its use of slightly modified commercial hardware, NASA said Wednesday. 

Fibertek, a fiber optic product supplier, provided NASA with a laser technology that was integrated into the LCOT at Goddard.

NASA noted that LCOT’s first live uplink test delivered sufficient intensity for over three minutes of connection to the tissue box-sized T-Bird, one of the payloads of the CubeSat called Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-3. 

The three-minute LCOT connection to T-Bird would suffice to draw more than five terabytes of data equal to over 2,500 hours high-definition video in one pass, the agency added. Laser communications’ ultra-high-speed transmission makes it possible for future science missions to farther destinations to maintain their Earth connection.

Through its Space Communications and Navigation program, NASA is pursuing laser communications technology development in various orbits, including the forthcoming Artemis II mission.

The Defense Intelligence Agency’s artificial intelligence-powered intel database on foreign militaries will soon be authorized to run on the Pentagon’s classified network.

The Machine-assisted Analytic Rapid-repository System, a.k.a. MARS, is scheduled to become fully operational in 2026 and is designed to introduce new security strategies, Defense One reported Thursday.

At an Intelligence and National Security Alliance online event on Tuesday, DIA Chief Information Officer Doug Cossa said that MARS will be on the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network “within the next few weeks.”

Cossa added that moving MARS to the SIPRNet will make it more accessible, noting that the repository will be deployed in one area and secure access will be managed through entitlements for users and devices.

He noted that MARS will allow the intelligence and defense communities to establish a common operating picture that employs each other’s data authoritatively.

According to Randy Resnick, a 2024 Wash100 Award winner and head of the Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office at the DOD, pilots will be conducted in 2026 to test how MARS will operate and comply with an advanced zero trust level.

The DIA launched MARS in 2018 as a replacement for the Modernized Integrated Database, the Department of Defense’s main repository for information gathered on other countries’ militaries and infrastructure.

Since its introduction, MARS has received significant upgrades, such as new tools and AI capabilities.

Micky Tripathi, assistant secretary for technology policy and national coordinator for health information technology at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the ASTP office will initiate steps to address information blocking and ensure that application programming interfaces, or APIs, are serving the needs of the healthcare community.

In a blog post published Tuesday, Tripathi wrote that his office will implement a more rigorous assessment process for API documentation, monitor trends through multiple data points and facilitate engagement with API developers.

The national health IT coordinator noted that his office will soon issue new educational materials and information blocking resources, including those specifically related to certified APIs.

According to Tripathi, ASTP is strengthening its feedback channels by adding a section for API-linked complaints and inquiries to the Health IT Feedback and Inquiry Portal.

“This new channel will help us receive timely feedback and take swift action to address any nonconformity or misinterpretation of Certification Program requirements,” he added.

Tripathi, who also serves as acting chief artificial intelligence officer at HHS, stated that his office will continue to direct review certified API developers and their health IT to evaluate their compliance with all applicable requirements under the Certification Program.

Register now for the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Healthcare Summit on Dec. 11. Join this key event to explore the transformative trends and innovations shaping the future of the U.S. healthcare sector.

When Yaneeka Nichols graduates from Syracuse University with a bachelor’s degree in information management and technology, she wants a job at Apple, working on user interface and product design challenges.

Nichols said she’s looked into tech jobs in the federal government. But a recent visit to an IRS facility, and a meeting with the tech team working there, didn’t change her career goals.

A private-sector tech company, she said, would give her freedom that she can’t get from the federal government.

“I want to be someone who takes technology in a whole new direction,” Nichols said at a Partnership for Public Service event last Thursday. “Working within the private sector, such as Apple, Tesla, Microsoft … you’re free to do what you need to do with your job, under their rules and regulations.”

Being a federal employee, she added, also adds a whole new level of scrutiny: You answer to the American public, not just your boss.

“You don’t work only for your sector. You’re working for the public. You’re working for the people. Keeping that in mind, you must understand everything you do, the decisions you make, it all comes back to not only your sector, your job,” Nichols said.

Agencies across the federal government are looking for candidates like Nichols to consider a career in public service.

Since last year, they’ve been participating in several “Tech to Gov” hiring fairs, to recruit the next generation of IT and cybersecurity experts.

Only 7.5% of federal employees are under the age of 35, while 42% of the federal workforce is over the age of 50.

But among its hiring challenges, new research shows young adults trust the federal government less than any other demographic.

The Partnership for Public Service, in a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults under 34, found only 15% of them said they trust the federal government.

Respondents mostly commonly referred to the federal government as “slow,” “incompetent,” “corrupt,” and “disorganized.”

Nadzeya Shutava, research manager at the Partnership, said even the most critical voices from the survey still recognize a federal career has its advantages.

“The most negative impressions of the government were still, ‘Oh, so the government is hiring. That’s interesting.’” Shutava said.

About 60% of respondents said working in the federal government is a good way to serve their country. But those responses don’t always translate into job applications.

“We also asked them, ‘Have you considered working for the government? Have you applied?’ And then that number is very low,” Shutava said. “That’s already a gap between the two numbers that the government could definitely tap into.”

Demonstrating ‘competency to the public’

Kyle Gardiner, a 33-year-old senior policy analyst at the Office of Management and Budget, said working on problems that benefit the American public motivates him to do his job.

Gardiner was a finalist for the Partnership’s Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals — aka “the Sammies” — for his work simplifying and streamlining forms for public benefits.

“Everyone has an experience with a bad government form,” Gardiner said. “They’re typically bad because they’re quite long, they’re quite poorly designed, so you don’t have an intuitive sense of what are the important questions on the form, and what are not the important questions.”

Making these forms better and easier to understand, he said, is important because it’s one of the core ways the federal government “demonstrates its competency to the public.”

“When I’m trying to work with an agency to try to improve a form, it oftentimes involves making tricky choices around what questions we can take off, or a comfort level with maybe generating information that’s not as perfectly accurate,” Gardiner said. “It’s thinking also about, ‘Are we going to be able to effectively increase the trust that this person or this family has in the food assistance program that they’re receiving, or help from Social Security or from DHS and TSA.”

Xenia Zolano-Doroteo, a Syracuse undergraduate majoring in international relations, and interning at the Organization for American States, said the federal government doesn’t make it easy for job hunters to find and apply for job openings.

“Unless you go on the government website … scroll all the way down to where it says jobs or careers or opportunities and then you subscribe, it’s really hard to know when these positions open up,” Zolano-Doroteo said.

Mark Jacobson, the Partnership’s vice president of research, analysis and evaluation, said only 30% of the survey’s respondents said the federal government’s communication is effective.

“There is evidence to indicate that younger people are willing to serve. They see it as good for them and good for their community, but they’re not sure how, and that detachment helps to breed the distrust,” Jacobson said in an interview.

“They’re thinking of, ‘I want to do something that’s exciting and innovative and creative, and has an impact.’ Putting rovers and flying drones on Mars, in anticipation of future human exploration of the planet, I’m not sure what’s more exciting than that,” he added. “It’s just not communicated in such a way as to entice people to come join the federal government. They still think of it as boring desk jobs where they push paper.”

Jacobson said that as young people work for the federal government, the better it’ll get at recruiting them.

“Who in the federal government are the champions for modernizing the digital presence, and making sure that it’s done in such a way as to communicate with younger people?” he said.

Aamer Uddin, an international trade specialist at the Commerce Department, said working for the federal government is more nuanced than what its critics think.

“It can be slow-moving, but the thing that is that it’s responsive. Government is responsive, and it’s fielded and supported by people who are career civil servants and political appointees who really care about getting their work done,” Uddin said.

The federal workforce, he added, is more diverse than what most people think it is. About 85% of federal employees are outside the Washington, D.C. metro areas, and are hired for a diverse range of positions.

“They need people who are really good in the weeds when it comes to technical competencies, such as NIST, and understanding standards at the international level,” Uddin said. “But they also need generalists who are able to think about process innovation and improvement on a scale that happens both incrementally within a small office or all the way out to an entire agency, or throughout the entire government. There’s roles for everyone.”

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Federal disaster workers paused and then changed some of their hurricane-recovery efforts in North Carolina, including abandoning door-to-door visits, after receiving threats that they could be targeted by a militia, officials said, as the government response to Helene is targeted by runaway disinformation.

The threats emerged over the weekend. The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Monday that it received a call Saturday about a man with an assault rifle who made a comment “about possibly harming” employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency working in the hard-hit areas of Lake Lure and Chimney Rock, in the North Carolina mountains.

Authorities got a description of a suspect’s vehicle and license plate and later identified him as William Jacob Parsons, 44, of Bostic, a small community about 60 miles west of Charlotte. Sheriff’s officials said in a statement that Parsons — who was armed with a handgun and a rifle — was charged with “going armed to the terror of the public,” a misdemeanor. He was released after posting bond.

The sheriff’s office said initial reports indicated that a “truckload of militia” was involved in making the threat, but further investigation determined that Parsons acted alone.

Messages left seeking comment at phone listings for Parsons and a possible relative were not immediately returned.

In a Facebook post, Ashe County Sheriff B. Phil Howell said FEMA put some work on hold as it assessed the threats.

“Stay calm and steady during our recovery, help folks and please don’t stir the pot,” Howell wrote Sunday.

FEMA confirmed in a statement Monday that it adjusted operations. It emphasized that disaster-recovery centers remain open and that FEMA continues “to help the people of North Carolina with their recovery.”

Workers from the agency’s disaster-assistance teams — who help survivors apply for FEMA aid and connect them with additional state and local resources — have stopped going door to door and instead are working from fixed locations while the potential threats are assessed, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they could not publicly discuss details of the operations.

The person stressed that FEMA was making the adjustments “out of an abundance of caution.”

FEMA did not immediately provide details on the threats.

Gov. Roy Cooper’s staff said in a statement Monday that his office was aware of “reports of threats to response workers on the ground,” as well as “significant misinformation online.” Cooper directed state law enforcement officials to work with local authorities to identify “the specific threats and rumors.”

The Washington Post reported Sunday that the U.S. Forest Service, which is supporting hurricane recovery work, sent a message to multiple federal agencies, warning that FEMA had advised all federal responders in Rutherford County to leave the county immediately.

The message stated that National Guard troops had encountered “armed militia” saying they were “out hunting FEMA.”

FEMA has faced rampant disinformation about its response to Helene, which hit Florida on Sept. 26 before heading north and leaving a trail of destruction across six states.

Former President Donald Trump and his allies have seized on the storm’s aftermath to spread false information about the Biden administration’s response in the final weeks before the election. Their debunked claims include false statements that victims can only receive $750 in aid, that emergency response funds were diverted to immigrants, that people accepting federal relief money could see their land seized and that FEMA is halting trucks full of supplies.

Meanwhile, confusion has arisen about what the agency does and doesn’t do when disaster strikes.

State or tribal governments can reach out to ask for federal assistance. But the disaster has to exceed their ability to respond, meaning that not all disasters end up getting federal help. The president approves disaster declarations.

Once an emergency is declared, that can unleash various types of aid from FEMA. Much of what the agency does is give out money in the immediate aftermath of a disaster and for years to come.

That can include assistance to individuals affected by disasters, such as payments of $750 to pay for immediate needs like medicine or diapers. It can also mean additional money to rent an apartment because their home is destroyed or to pay for a storage unit.

Helene decimated remote towns throughout the Appalachians, left millions without power, knocked out cellular service and killed at least 243 people. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005.

___

Brumfield reported from Baltimore.

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

When agencies try to tackle skills gaps in their workforces, they may typically ask both supervisors and employees to evaluate their skills to determine what training might be needed — but the Department of Housing and Urban Development is looking to transform that approach.

Instead of viewing a skills gap as the space between how a supervisor rates an employee’s skills, and how that employee rates their own skills, HUD launched a new skills competency model to determine more accurately where the skills gaps in AI exist — and then, work to fill in those gaps.

“We have absolutely been focused on identifying where our skill gaps are, because unfortunately, we can’t really do much about it if we haven’t identified it,” Matisha Montgomery, chief learning officer at HUD, said during a panel at an Oct. 9 event hosted by software company Cornerstone. “What we’re trying to do is really shift from a very historic old school model around skills assessment and utilize emerging technology to help us do it better.”

For Montgomery, the “old school” model of skills assessments relies on self-evaluations, which in turn can cause employees to either overvalue or undervalue their competencies. Creating a new competency model for AI in particular may be especially important because of how new the topic is.

“The supervisor may or may not actually know where the employee truly is on that new and emerging skill,” Montgomery told Federal News Network after the panel. “If they see it every day, a supervisor is usually a good rater or assessor for that skill. But AI isn’t something that everybody’s doing. So right now, having your supervisor say where your skills or knowledge level is on AI — nobody could do that.”

HUD’s shift to a “skills benchmark model” relies instead on a test meant to measure individual employees’ competencies and knowledge levels of various AI topics. An optional skills assessment sent to HUD employees last week aims to evaluate individuals’ various levels of understanding of AI and how it applies in the workplace — not only for technologists, but across the agency’s entire workforce.

“This is a nascent area that is emerging, and quickly and rapidly changing as well,” Montgomery said. “Right now, we’re expecting that our workforce, who is not made up of a ton of technologists at HUD, is really going to be at a low level.”

The AI skills competency model at HUD stems from governmentwide requirements of the March 2024 AI memo from the Office of Management and Budget that asked all agencies to develop strategies to mitigate the risks of using AI, while also in part managing and developing federal employees’ skills in AI. For the federal workforce, a skills gap arises when there isn’t enough institutional knowledge among employees — or if there aren’t enough employees in the first place — who understand a certain work topic, such as AI.

Montgomery plans to collect the data and use the results of the AI skills assessment to place HUD employees in various categories of skill level. Based on employees’ starting point in their understanding of AI, they’ll be able to use a personalized training plan to help them develop their AI skills, tailored to what they might need to know for their day-to-day job.

“We want it to be something that’s personal for them and a journey that they’re about to embark on,” Montgomery said. “Not only will they have the opportunity to find out where their skills lie, but then based on the results of their assessment, they’re going to get personalized recommendations on what they need to take to actually help them improve.”

Since many of HUD’s employees aren’t technologists by trade, Montgomery said she’s expecting some level of resistance toward the new AI competency model.

“It’s a change, and even if we didn’t do a skills assessment and we were just implementing AI technologies or tools, there would be resistance as well,” Montgomery said. “The reason resistance happens, a lot of time, is because of lack of understanding. That’s exactly the space we’re living in.”

But to help employees through the changes, HUD plans to communicate why the training and skills development is important, and how AI relates to employees’ hands-on, everyday work. Addressing the expected resistance will also involve allaying concerns — or even fears — from employees around AI.

“We want to make sure that no matter what position you’re in, what role you have at HUD, you can see the value that AI can play in helping you do your job more efficiently,” Montgomery said. “Not to reduce the need for your job, but to do your job exponentially better or faster.”

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

Federal employees and annuitants were met with a surprise when the Office of Personnel Management released details about the upcoming Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) open season last month. Health plan premiums will rise by an average of 13.5% next year, marking the largest increase in recent memory. OPM also announced expanded fertility and maternity benefits.

Let’s explore how these changes may affect you in the coming year.

Premium increase

While the average enrollee share of premium is going up, not all plans reflect that trend. For the 144 FEHB plans available in 2024 and 2025, self-only premiums will decrease in 28 plans, stay the same in five plans, increase below the 13.5% average in 69 plans and increase above the average in 42 plans.

Some of the changes are striking. The largest decrease in enrollee share of premium is from Presbyterian Health Plan Standard (PS), available in New Mexico, which is 23% lower in 2025, saving self-only enrollees around $732 next year.

CareFirst BlueChoice Blue Value Plus (B6), available in the D.C. area, will have the same premium next year. The largest percentage increase is from Health Alliance HMO Standard (K8), available in several states, at 66% more in 2025, costing self-only enrollees $2,222 more next year.

This 13.5% average increase marks the largest in the last two decades. Just three years ago, the average enrollee share went up only 3.8%. It’s unclear whether 2025 will be an outlier or a trend, but federal employees and annuitants should prepare to pay more going forward and anticipate large premium increases in the future.

How to combat higher premiums

First, your plan choice matters. Only about 5% of federal employees and annuitants switch coverage each year, with many staying in the same plan for years. However, not all premiums are rising at the same rate. If you haven’t explored more affordable options lately, this Open Season is a great opportunity to do some research and see if there’s a less expensive plan that offers similar provider access and benefits to your current plan.

If you’re an active federal employee, consider taking advantage of a flexible spending account (FSA). Your healthcare costs go beyond just your health plan premium—out-of-pocket medical, dental and vision expenses can add up. By using an FSA, you can save about 30% on these costs through pre-tax contributions. While FSAFEDS, which manages the federal FSA program, faced fraud issues earlier this year and temporarily paused new enrollments, new anti-fraud and security measures were implemented and enrollments resumed in August. Currently, only about 20% of federal employees use an FSA, meaning many are missing out on guaranteed savings for their healthcare expenses. The FSA Open Season aligns with the FEHB Open Season, running from Nov. 11 through Dec. 9.

Fertility benefits

Starting this year, all FEHB plans provided access to all methods of artificial insemination and the fertility drugs associated with in vitro fertilization (IVF) (up to three cycles annually). Additionally, one national preferred provider organization (PPO) plan, BCBS Standard, offered a $25,000 annual benefit to cover the cost of IVF procedures, and the cost of fertility drugs did not count toward the $25,000 limit.

Next year, federal employees seeking IVF coverage will have an additional nationwide plan to choose from: GEHA High. Alongside these options, several local plans will expand their benefits to include IVF coverage in 2025: in the D.C. area, CareFirst plans, Sentara Health (Northern Virginia), and MDIPA; in Colorado, Kaiser plans; in New York, Independent Health plans; and in California, Western Health and Sharp.

Despite expanded coverage for IVF, families using these services will still face significant out-of-pocket costs. A single IVF cycle can range from $15,000 to $30,000, and coinsurance—the portion the plan member must pay— depending on the plan, varies between 15% and 50% of the procedure’s total cost. This means families could be responsible for thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses. Those planning to use IVF benefits should consider taking advantage of an FSA, which allows contributions of up to $3,200 in 2024, to help offset these costs.

Maternal health

There will be expanded maternal health benefits for plan year 2025. All of the FEHB plans will cover mental health treatment for postpartum depression, 80% of plans will cover certified nurse midwives, 67% will cover delivery at birthing centers, 72% will cover nurse home visits, and 47% will cover doulas. To learn more about maternal benefits, go to Section 5(a) of the official FEHB plan brochure.

Keep submitting your FEHB questions! We’ll include answers, like the one below, in future columns.

Question: I am a retired federal employee (non-postal service retiree) with an  American Postal Workers Unions (APWU) health plan under FEHB. I know I do not qualify for the new postal service health plans, but do you know if the APWU health plan will still be available under the FEHB for 2025?

Postal union plans offered by APWU, National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) and Mail Handlers Benefit Plan (MHBP) are available to non-postal employees and annuitants who become associate members, which happens during enrollment by paying annual membership fees.

APWU offers two plans, a consumer-driven health plan (CDHP) and High, and associate members pay $35/year in membership fees.

NALC offers two plans, CDHP and High, and associate members pay $36/year in membership fees.

MHBP offers three plans, consumer option, standard option and value plan, and associate members pay $52/year in membership fees.

Kevin Moss is a senior editor with Consumers’ Checkbook. Watch more of his free advice and check if the Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees is available for free from your agency. You can also purchase the Guide and save 20% with promo code FEDNEWS.

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.