Army experienced deadliest period of COVID-19 in August

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• Republicans House said Farm Service Agency offices across the country are understaffed. The FSA hired 165 permanent federal employees, 250 permanent non-federal employees and 435 temporary employees last year during the pandemic. Visitors are allowed to return to the FSA offices. And 75% of staff are back to work in person. But Reps Michael Cloud (R-Texas), James Comer (R-Ky.) And Jody Hice (R-Ga.) Said they are still hearing complaints about understaffed FSA offices. They ask the Farm Service Agency for an update on their hiring and onboarding efforts.

• Some participants in the Federal Employee Group Life Insurance Program will see slightly different premiums next month. Rates increase for employees enrolled in basic life insurance. Employees currently pay 15 cents every two weeks for every $ 1,000 of insurance coverage. The new rate will be 16 cents every two weeks. Premiums for other life insurance plans may increase depending on the age of the employee or retiree. Participants aged 80 and over will see the biggest price increases. Some premiums do not increase at all. The new rates come into effect on or immediately after October 1.

• The Census office added three new members to its census science advisory committee. The committee advises the office on the operation and implementation of the office’s programs, including the decennial census. The new members come from Emory University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Microsoft Research. The new members will serve three-year terms and appear at their first committee meeting later this month.

• The State Department is looking for the next generation of IT talent to join its ranks. The State Department is accepting applications for its two-year IT Foreign Affairs Fellowship through the end of January 2022. The Department will select 15 fellows, a mix of graduate and undergraduate students, and support up to 37,000 dollars per year in tuition and other expenses. Fellows agree to serve five years in the Foreign Service as Information Management Specialists. The scholarship aims to diversify the workforce of the department.

• America’s leading cyber agency tells other departments “you don’t have to go it alone with zero trust.” The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency doesn’t want agencies to reinvent the wheel as they scramble to improve their network defenses. That’s why the new Zero Trust guidelines inform agencies about the cybersecurity services CISA already offers. CISA said it will also roll out new offerings, including advanced domain name protection services over the next year. Agencies are grappling with the White House’s new requirement to achieve a basic level of zero-trust architecture by 2024. (Federal Information Network)

• The 55th Communications Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska has now been redesignated as the 55th Cyber ​​Squadron. The move means the squadron is not only responsible for protecting the facility’s communications infrastructure, but is now also proactive, tactical, air force cyber defense operators. The squadron had to meet certain Air Force-defined requirements for the move to take place, including implementing IT as a corporate service and having the Wing Commander recommend the new designation to the main command of the unit.

• The military begins to recover funds for the money it spent to help with the evacuation in Afghanistan. Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said the service had already secured $ 400 million in reprogramming. She added that the military is working closely with the Department of Defense and Congress to redirect another billion dollars for the service. Wormuth said she was concerned the withdrawal would cost more than expected. She noted how the National Guard’s mission protecting the Capitol ended up costing more than expected. (Federal Information Network)

• The military experienced its deadliest month linked to COVID-19 in August. Eleven military personnel died from COVID-19 last month, making it by far the deadliest 31 days since the start of the pandemic. None of the servicemen have been fully vaccinated against the virus. Prior to August, the highest number of soldiers to die from the disease in a month was last November, when four service members died. A total of 43 soldiers died from the coronavirus. The Department of Defense has demanded that all military personnel on active duty be vaccinated. The Air Force recently told its airmen that they had to get both snapshots by November 2.

• Small business joint ventures seeking defense contracts just won Government Accountability Office. Last week, GAO backed a protest over the award of a joint venture vying for an Air Force command and control contract. InfoPoint LLC has challenged the Air Force’s requirement for joint ventures to obtain installation permissions, even though all members are already licensed. The GAO recommended that the Air Force remove the requirement before entering into the contract.

• The Defense Health Agency’s first step to consolidate more than 200 IT service contracts is the subject of protests. ManTech and Deloitte have filed complaints with the Government Accountability Office on the allocation of nearly $ 2 billion in DHA to Peraton at the end of August. Under the Global Purchase Agreement, known as the Enterprise IT Services Integrator Contract, DHA is looking for a vendor to oversee the consolidation of support services, IT service delivery, and to consolidate and standardize technological capabilities to company-wide. DHA expects to award between six and eight contracts in total over the next several years.

• An industry association is sounding the alarm over GSA’s latest service contract. The Coalition for Public Procurement said the General Services Administration is abandoning its approach that created one of the most successful government-wide procurement contracts of all time. The CGP said the seemingly final decision to use a single contract approach for GSA’s new multiple service award contract instead of the dual contract setup – one for large and one for small companies – used for OASIS is confusing and raises real concerns for the industry. In a letter to GSA management late last month, CGP said the service contract also duplicated the GSA’s schedule program in 14 of the 15 zones.