Federal Daily - September 17, 2009

OPM Cuts Time to Process Security Clearance Investigations

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has significantly reduced the time it takes to process security clearance background investigations, cutting the average time to just 37 days from the one-year period it took in 2001, said OPM Director John Berry. In testimony Sept. 15 before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee, Berry noted that his agency—which oversees much of the government’s clearance investigation work—is now exceeding federal timelines. The timelines require that decisions on at least 80 percent of initial clearances be made within an average of 120 days. Berry noted that OPM has eliminated a backlog of more than one-half million pending background investigations inherited from DoD in 2005. Four years ago, the average time needed to obtain a top secret security clearance was more than a year; today it is 72 days, Berry said. In 2009, OPM will complete more than 2 million investigations, he said. “Our Investigative Service Division processes nearly 20 times as many cases as in 1997,” Berry said. “This is a remarkable increase in efficiency of service to the American public.” Although progress has been made, Brenda S. Farrell, of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), told senators that more could be done. For example, GAO estimated backup documentation was incomplete for most initial top secret clearances adjudicated in July 2008. And, greater attention to quality could increase instances of reciprocity—one entity’s acceptance of another entity’s clearances, Farrell said. To see more, go to: http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.
View&FileStore_id=3c2ecc2a-ad25-4754-abd7-b2f2c0507824 (Berry) or http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.
View&FileStore_id=2a6f88d2-766a-4b1e-9a4e-580344517e37 (Farrell).

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Obama Nominates Seven to FSIP

President Obama appointed seven new members to serve on the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP), the entity which helps resolve bargaining impasses between agencies and federal employee unions. Obama nominated Mary Jacksteit to serve as FSIP chair. Jacksteit, who previously served on the panel for seven years during the Clinton Administration, has more than 20 years of experience in mediation, facilitation and negotiation working for nonprofit organizations, government agencies and community organizations, the White House said. Others nominated include: Martin H. Malin, a professor of law and the director of the Institute for Law and the Workplace at Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology; Barbara B. Franklin, an arbitrator and mediator in Washington, D.C.; Marvin E. Johnson, a nationally recognized mediator who previously served on FSIP; Thomas Angelo, a former National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) attorney; Edward F. Hartfield, executive director of the National Center for Dispute Settlement; and Don Wasserman, an arbitrator/mediator and member of the D.C. Public Employee Relations Board. FSIP, an entity within the Federal Labor Relations Authority, is considered the last step in federal-sector collective bargaining to resolve an impasse. NTEU President Colleen Kelley on Sept. 15 applauded the nominations. “President Obama has appointed an extremely professional and experienced group,” Kelley said. To see more, go to: www.nteu.org or www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Announces-More-Key-Administration-Posts-9/14/09.

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House OKs Postal Relief Bill

By a wide 338-32 margin, the House on Sept. 15 approved legislation that would—if signed into law—reduce the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) financial burden of “prefunding” retiree healthcare benefits in Fiscal Year (FY) 2009. The USPS Financial Relief Act of 2009, H.R. 22, would reduce the FY 2009 transfer to the Retiree Health Benefits Fund to $1.4 billion from the approximately $5.4 billion that is now required under law. National Association of Letter Carriers President Fredric Rolando applauded the House passage. “The one-year version of H.R. 22 passed is a good first step toward devising a more sensible and affordable schedule for prefunding our future retiree health benefits,” Rolando said. To see more, go to: www.nalc.org/depart/legpol/index.html#HR22passes.

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