FCW Insider: Dec. 7

Congress axes CMO office in 2021 defense bill

The Defense Department’s third top position will get eliminated after just two years in existence, according to language in the final version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.

Gender pay gap persists in the federal workforce

Incomplete data on promotion by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission limit the ability of agencies to ensure equal opportunity for promotions across gender, race and ethnicity, the report says.

New law enshrines modernization Centers of Excellence effort

President Trump signed a bipartisan bill that codifies the Centers of Excellence program as way to seed and launch IT and business process modernization efforts at federal agencies.

Cyber czar, CISA subpoenas included in must-pass defense bill

Lawmakers are poised to vote on a defense policy bill that would advance dozens of recommendations made by a cyberspace commission.

Quick Hits

*** President Donald Trump purged nine members of the all-volunteer Defense Business Board, according to reporting in Politico, to make room for a cadre of the president's loyalists including former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and former deputy campaign manager David Bossie. The board exists to provide business advice to the Pentagon and typically includes representatives from industry and academia.

*** "Federal employees will get to bank more leave if a provision in the annual defense bill passes. The item in the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act would allow federal employees in the executive branch to accumulate 25% over the maximum amount of annual accrued leave for 2021. The provision doesn't include the members of the Senior Executive Service.

*** The Partnership for Public Service released a paper aimed at federal CIOs examining how the response to COVID-19 creates the opportunity a high-level reimagining of how government can organize the work of technology professionals and reengineer service deliver. The paper is by former federal CIOs Alan Balutis, Mark Forman, John Gilligan, Dan Mintz and Gloria Parker.

"Senior government managers have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leverage the changes brought about by the pandemic to focus on enhancing service to citizens, program outcomes, cost savings, and organization productivity," the authors write. "Current management priorities and practices will need to change."

*** Nominations for the 2021 Fed 100 are now being accepted. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 31.