This report provides an update on issues affecting federal managers. As always, I encourage you to visit www.fedmanagers.org on a regular basis for more information on these and other matters.

Also, be sure to look for the monthly FMA Grassroots Update, where we offer links to action letters and FMA-PAC matters we do not address in the Washington Report. The grassroots newsletter is sent exclusively to non-governmental email addresses to avoid any Hatch Act violations. If you are not receiving it, contact the national office to provide your non-governmental email address.

Please feel free to provide feedback any time by emailing Greg Stanford at gstanford@fedmanagers.org or by calling the National Office at (703) 683-8700. Thank you for your membership in FMA. It’s an honor to represent your interests before Congress and the administration.

During Public Service Recognition Week, and following FMA’s 85th National Convention and Management Training Seminar, FMA National President Craig Carter sent a letter to President Biden to advise his administration of FMA’s legislative priorities and to ask for his Administration’s support for our efforts.

“Founded at the Washington Navy Yard in 1913, FMA is the oldest and largest professional nonprofit membership organization representing managers across the federal workforce,” Carter wrote. “We are proudly nonpartisan and work with legislators of any party to invest in and empower the profession of management. Our members cover more than forty different agencies and departments, including active and retired feds. FMA’s mission is to advocate for excellence in public service, and our legislative agenda and goals reflect that mission. We believe there is much overlap between your administration’s efforts, and those of FMA, and we seek your support of all of our issues.”

FMA contributes a quarterly column for "FedForum, published on FEDmanager.com, responding to different prompts. The prompt for this quarter was "the importance of professional development for federal employees." The column originally ran on May 30 on fedmanager.com.

Professional development is a topic at the core of the Federal Managers Association (FMA) and our mission of advocating excellence in public service. Along with networking and advocacy of policy, we encourage and promote professional development for all FMA members.

At FMA we infuse professional development opportunities wherever possible, including training sessions during our annual national convention and management training seminars, regional conferences, and virtual sessions throughout the year. Most recently, at FMA’s 85th National Convention, attendees heard from Barbara Haga, President of Federal HR Services, Inc., on Navigating the Complexities of Title 5 Leave Programs, and Mika Cross, a federal workplace expert, on the Changing Nature of Work and the Future of the Federal Workforce. We also encourage FMA members who have expertise in different areas to lead development of their peers, addressing topics such as change management for federal managers, tools for ‘crucial conversations’ when stakes are high, and engaging employees to boost performance.

Department of Defense (DOD) Civilian Retiree Identification (ID) Cards are no longer issued pursuant to a February 17, 2023, memo issued by Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gilbert Cisneros, titled “Department of Defense Civilian Retiree Identification Card Termination.” We know many FMA members are already aware of this, however we wanted to share what we have learned about the background and ramifications of this change. Current retiree IDs remain valid through August 31, 2023.

According to information available from the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Services, “The implementation of the REAL ID Act has eliminated the requirement for the DOD Civilian Retiree ID Card authorized by the memorandum previously in effect, dated August 26, 2009. The limited use of morale, welfare and recreation activities by DOD civilian retirees will remain at the discretion of the installation commander, subject to the DOD civilian retiree meeting the requirements for installation access.”

Earlier this year we alerted you to an issue that limited thousands of federal employees’ access to healthcare in Japan. Department of Defense (DOD) regulations require military treatment facilities (MTFs) to prioritize active-duty servicemembers and other TRICARE patients as a first priority. The Defense Health Agency (DHA), which now controls MTFs, determined those facilities were not providing enough appointments for these recipients, leading to a reiteration of the policy that civilians are treated on a “space-available” basis, and changes to what “space available” means.

At the beginning of the year, the original decision significantly reduced healthcare options for nearly 6,000 DOD civilians in Japan. FMA reached out to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, who took leadership on the issue and wrote the Pentagon to express concerns and ask for more information.

President Biden and congressional leaders negotiated a debt ceiling solution, resulting in the Fiscal Responsibility Act (H.R. 3746). The House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 314-117 on May 31 and the Senate passed the measure on June 1. Biden signed it into law (PL 118-5) on June 3.

The measure suspends the debt ceiling and prevents a catastrophic default. The compromise also caps funding for all agencies other than the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, claws back a significant piece of IRS funding, and institutes other spending caps, among other provisions.

In a press release, FMA National President Craig Carter said, "As I said earlier this month, FMA knows hitting the debt ceiling and the resulting default would be disastrous for the country and the world. We are relieved the Biden Administration and congressional leaders hammered out a compromise bill to prevent that default, and support this necessary action.

The Covid-19 public emergency was officially cancelled in May, and two Senators are calling on feds to return to their offices, or for the government to get rid of unused office space. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) wrote a May 22 letter to the General Services Administration (GSA) inquiring about office space usage.

“Federal building occupancy data would better inform the American people and Congress on how federal office space, paid for by taxpayer dollars, is utilized. After all, it is the American people’s money that support these federal buildings,” the Senators wrote. They asked four questions “in order for Congress to conduct objective and independent oversight concerning the utilization and occupancy of federal office buildings and the costs to the taxpayer.”

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced the Public Service Reform Act (H.R. 3115 / S. 1496) in May. The bill would make career federal workers at-will employees. The bill would also abolish the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).

FMA National President Craig Carter blasted the bill in a statement, saying, “If this bill was ever enacted, it would put the country’s government in a worse place than the spoils system – a time when our government was highly politicized and federal jobs were given as rewards to self-serving political allies. Thankfully, today, federal employees swear an oath to the Constitution and provide services to all Americans, regardless of who is in power and their own personal political beliefs. We have a formal merit system in place to guard against politicizing the civil service.”

Carter criticized the bill language, including the baffling inclusion of “bad cause” as grounds to terminate a federal employee: “The bill text of H.R. 3115 states it would allow any federal employee to be terminated for “good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all.” It is shocking to think any Member of Congress could support terminating a public servant for ‘no cause,’ and even worse to ponder what termination for ‘bad cause’ would look like. The intent is obvious, and that is to undo the merit system we have developed over the last 140 years, and return to a winner-takes-all approach to government.”

The Office of Personnel Management retirement backlog fell 11 percent in May, with the agency processing 37 percent more claims than it received. The agency received 6,096 new claims last month, but processed more than 18,000. The backlog dropped to its lowest level in 2023 to date. The backlog fell by 11 percent in April, as well, and the agency continues to make progress on reducing outstanding claims.

In March, OPM launched a Retirement Quick Guide that shares what feds can expect through the retirement application process, how benefits are determined, and guidelines related to their interim and annuity payments. You can also view a three-page printable PDF version of the the quick guide here: https://www.opm.gov/retirement-center/retirement-quick-guide/opm-retirement-quick-guide.pdf.

Federal News Network (FNN) invited FMA members to participate in a survey focused on human capital management technology. It is sponsored by Workday, but FNN wrote the questions and are handling the collecting and analysis of the data. The survey is anonymous and the results will be put out in an e-book.

Click on this link to take the survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RNJ5SKG