Tag Archives: General Services Administration

DHS Numbers Don’t Pencil Out

By Breaking News

Last fall, Senator Coburn sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security demanding an explanation by the end of November for the agency’s reported purchase of massive quantities of ammunition. Yesterday, Dr. Coburn released correspondence that he finally received from DHS purporting to explain the purchases.

First, here’s what was disclosed by DHS: As of November 2012, it had over 263 million rounds of ammunition on hand. The agency said it was purchasing an additional $37 million of ammunition in this fiscal year, but did not give the actual number of rounds. Using the prior year’s cost per round of approximately 35 cents, it appears that DHS is adding another 105 million rounds on top of the 263 million on hand, minus rounds consumed in training and operations this fiscal year.

Using this 363 million round figure, the agency’s explanation for its large purchases can be assessed. For Immigration (ICE), DHS claims that 1,000 rounds per firearm per year are necessary for training. Assuming training of 250 rounds per quarter, this estimate seems reasonable.

The Federal Protective Service or “FPS” (the agency charged with protecting federal facilities owned or leased by the General Services Administration) also uses “1000 rounds of ammunition per firearm per year for quarterly qualifications and training.” Again, another reasonable number.

Read more at Restoring Liberty. By Joe Miller.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism

Executive Order — Establishment of the Presidential Commission of Election Administration

By The White House

EXECUTIVE ORDER

– – – – – – –

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION
ON ELECTION ADMINISTRATION

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to promote the efficient administration of Federal elections and to improve the experience of all voters, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Establishment. There is established the Presidential Commission on Election Administration (Commission).

Sec. 2. Membership. (a) The Commission shall be composed of not more than nine members appointed by the President. The members shall be drawn from among distinguished individuals with knowledge about or experience in the administration of State or local elections, as well as representatives of successful customer service-oriented businesses, and any other individuals with knowledge or experience determined by the President to be of value to the Commission.

(b) The President shall designate two members of the Commission to serve as Co-Chairs.

Sec. 3. Mission. (a) The Commission shall identify best practices and otherwise make recommendations to promote the efficient administration of elections in order to ensure that all eligible voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots without undue delay, and to improve the experience of voters facing other obstacles in casting their ballots, such as members of the military, overseas voters, voters with disabilities, and voters with limited English proficiency.

In doing so, the Commission shall consider as appropriate:

(i) the number, location, management, operation, and design of polling places;

(ii) the training, recruitment, and number of poll workers;

(iii) voting accessibility for uniformed and overseas voters;

(iv) the efficient management of voter rolls and poll books;

(v) voting machine capacity and technology;

(vi) ballot simplicity and voter education;

(vii) voting accessibility for individuals with disabilities, limited English proficiency, and other special needs;

(viii) management of issuing and processing provisional ballots in the polling place on Election Day;

(ix) the issues presented by the administration of absentee ballot programs;

(x) the adequacy of contingency plans for natural disasters and other emergencies that may disrupt elections; and

(xi) other issues related to the efficient administration of elections that the Co-Chairs agree are necessary and appropriate to the Commission's work.

(b) The Commission shall be advisory in nature and shall submit a final report to the President within 6 months of the date of the Commission's first public meeting.

Sec. 4. Administration. (a) The Commission shall hold public meetings and engage with Federal, State, and local officials, technical advisors, and nongovernmental organizations, as necessary to carry out its mission.

(b) In carrying out its mission, the Commission shall be informed by, and shall strive to avoid duplicating, the efforts of other governmental entities.

(c) The Commission shall have a staff, headed by an Executive Director, which shall provide support for the functions of the Commission.

Sec. 5. Termination. The Commission shall terminate 30 days after it presents its final report to the President.

Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) To the extent permitted by law, and subject to the availability of appropriations, the General Services Administration shall provide the Commission with such administrative services, funds, facilities, staff, …read more
Source: White House Press Office

Security breach exposes confidential information of firms seeking government contracts

By Joshua Rhett Miller

All federal vendors registered with the General Services Administration had their companies’ confidential information exposed in a massive computer security screw-up, the agency said.

The GSA, the procurement arm through which government agencies buy products and services, is conducting a “full review” of its System for Award Management after the shocking security breach, federal officials told FoxNews.com. The latest issue with the IBM-administered system, which has been plagued with problems since it was implemented last year to integrate some eight different procurement systems, was reported to GSA officials on March 8. A software patch was implemented to close the exposure of both public and non-public data, including names, taxpayer identification numbers, marketing partner information numbers and bank account details.

“All registered SAM users were made aware of the situation,” GSA Deputy Press Secretary Jackeline Stewart told FoxNews.com in an email. “At this time, GSA is undertaking a full review of the system and investigating any potential additional impacts to registrants in SAM. The security of this information is a top priority for this agency and we will continue to ensure the system remains secure.”

The most vulnerable users, according to GSA‘s website, are those who utilize Social Security numbers as a taxpayer identification number and those whose “opted in” to public search capabilities.

Access to view any records was strictly “role based,” Stewart said, adding that a registered user would have had to have been an authorized Entity Administrator or Entity Registration Representative to view the information.

“A casual browser from the outside would not be able to view any sensitive data,” Stewart’s email continued.

But the owner of a California engineering firm seeking government business told FoxNews.com he remains on alert following the receipt of an email notifying him of the breach on Saturday.

“Yeah, it was a concern and I guess still is,” the man said Tuesday, asking that his name be withheld due to fears of retribution from federal officials. “You never know when something gets hacked. But so far, nothing has happened.”

The biggest concern for the owner was exposure of his bank account information and the possibility of someone diverting funds from his account. The database likely contains “tens of thousands” of vendors, he said.

US Federal Contractor Registration, a third-party firm that helps small businesses navigate the rules and requirements for getting government business, was inundated by worried contractors, according to spokesman Eric Knellinger.

“Our phones are ringing off the hook and our staff are working extra hours to handle frustrated contractors,” Knellinger said. “We will do whatever it takes to help contractors understand the registration process and take the fears away from concerned contractors.”

GSA officials made headlines last year when it was uncovered that a top-ranking department official fraudulently overbilled taxpayers for a personal hotel stay at a Las Vegas resort in 2010. The government agency, which owns and oversees thousands of federal real estate properties, was widely criticized for wasting more than $822,000 in funds on a lavish conference for 300 federal workers that included penthouse suites, a psychic, a clown, a …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Federal green car fleet buys more Hyundai hybrids as overall number goes down

By Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: , , ,

2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid

The Obama administration made a big deal about how it had a long-term plan to green up the federal vehicle fleet back in early 2011. Even with that big target, the overall number of hybrids is going down. And, after spending time buying fuel-efficient US cars, the Obama administration has been turning more to hybrids from foreign automakers – just like the general public – rather than fuel sippers from Ford or General Motors.

According to a Bloomberg report that used data from the General Services Administration, the overall number of hybrid and electric vehicles the US government bought last year went down by a third to just 1,801 vehicles. Over half of them (54 percent) were from Hyundai, Toyota and Mitsubishi. The number one vehicle by volume? The Hyundai Sonata Hybrid. The US government also purchased vehicles like the Mitsubishi i and the Toyota Prius. Among US civilian buyers, Toyota claimed the four most popular hybrid spots and the Sonata was fifth.

The stated plan is for the Federal government to only buy alt-fuel vehicles by 2015, but the numbers and percentages of the fleet have been dropping. Bloomberg’s numbers show that the Feds bought 8,139 alt-fuel vehicles in 2009, 6,467 in 2010 and then 2,645 in fiscal 2011. The early number were buoyed by stimulus spending.

Federal green car fleet buys more Hyundai hybrids as overall number goes down originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 10 Jan 2013 18:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog