Hey SSVPers!
Has anyone applied for Unemployment? What happened?
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Mixed Outlook for DOE
As Lawmakers Prepare to Work on Spending Bill, Mixed Outlook for DOE
Todd Jacobson
Weapons Complex Monitor
June 14, 2013
The funding picture for the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration will likely become a lot more clear over the next two weeks as the House and Senate Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittees mark up their versions of the Fiscal Year 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations Act. The House is set to go first, marking up its version of the bill on June 18, while the Senate is scheduled to write its bill the following week, on June 25. The results for DOE and NNSA programs are likely to be very different, DOE Budget Director Christopher Johns said this week, especially as the House E&W Appropriations Subcommittee wrangles with a tight allocation that could mean stiff cuts for some DOE and NNSA programs. “What we anticipate there is that it will be dramatically bad for the Department of Energy in that House mark, just because their funding level is so low,” DOE Budget Director Christopher Johns said at the Energy Facility Contractors Group annual meeting June 12. “It reflects not so much the view of the subcommittee we work with but rather the overall funding level.”
The House subcommittee’s $30.4 billion allocation is $2.9 billion below the panel’s presequester level from a year ago, and $700 million below the post-sequester level. In contrast, the Senate subcommittee’s allocation is believed to be several billion dollars higher, though the exact allocation has not been made public. Overall, there is a $91 billion difference between the top line spending numbers in the House and Senate, with the House setting its top line at $967 billion and the Senate setting its at $1.058 trillion. The Obama Administration requested $7.9 billion in FY 2014 for the NNSA’s weapons program, which was granted an anomaly in the current Continuing Resolution funding the government to spend $7.6 billion, and $1.8 billion for its nonproliferation work.
The higher Senate allocation is likely to offset the lower House allocation, and Johns cautioned contractors not to “overreact” to House funding levels because conference negotiations are likely to assuage the funding cuts. It’s likely, however, that the government is funded by a CR for at least part of FY 2014, Johns said. He also suggested that DOE could end up with an enacted budget level that also layers on sequestration cuts, leaving DOE with approximately $25 billion—about the same as FY 2013. Both scenarios would be difficult to deal with as the cumulative impact of the sequester takes its toll, Johns said. “We were able to sort of limp along in ‘13 using carryover balances, realigning money, this sort of thing,” he said. “A lot of that flexibility we’re sort of losing as we move along. We’ll have less ability to manage to that kind of funding level in ‘14. We’re actually managing to a higher funding level in ‘13 due to the carryover and the reprogrammings, but we can’t do that forever.”
Johns said the impact of the sequester hasn’t been as bad as many believed because the Department was able to defer or delay some projects in the hope that the funding picture could improve in future years. “What we’ve found so far is through realigning dollars and through slower spending earlier in the year there have been definite impacts on contractors and on individual employees but it hasn’t been the dramatic first-year impact that we thought might happen,” he said. While the funding cuts may not be deeper in FY 2014, the impact might be, Johns said. “It’s been a little difficult to articulate where the sky-is-falling kinds of problems are this year but it may not get better next year if the budget position doesn’t improve,” he said.
Todd Jacobson
Weapons Complex Monitor
June 14, 2013
The funding picture for the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration will likely become a lot more clear over the next two weeks as the House and Senate Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittees mark up their versions of the Fiscal Year 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations Act. The House is set to go first, marking up its version of the bill on June 18, while the Senate is scheduled to write its bill the following week, on June 25. The results for DOE and NNSA programs are likely to be very different, DOE Budget Director Christopher Johns said this week, especially as the House E&W Appropriations Subcommittee wrangles with a tight allocation that could mean stiff cuts for some DOE and NNSA programs. “What we anticipate there is that it will be dramatically bad for the Department of Energy in that House mark, just because their funding level is so low,” DOE Budget Director Christopher Johns said at the Energy Facility Contractors Group annual meeting June 12. “It reflects not so much the view of the subcommittee we work with but rather the overall funding level.”
The House subcommittee’s $30.4 billion allocation is $2.9 billion below the panel’s presequester level from a year ago, and $700 million below the post-sequester level. In contrast, the Senate subcommittee’s allocation is believed to be several billion dollars higher, though the exact allocation has not been made public. Overall, there is a $91 billion difference between the top line spending numbers in the House and Senate, with the House setting its top line at $967 billion and the Senate setting its at $1.058 trillion. The Obama Administration requested $7.9 billion in FY 2014 for the NNSA’s weapons program, which was granted an anomaly in the current Continuing Resolution funding the government to spend $7.6 billion, and $1.8 billion for its nonproliferation work.
The higher Senate allocation is likely to offset the lower House allocation, and Johns cautioned contractors not to “overreact” to House funding levels because conference negotiations are likely to assuage the funding cuts. It’s likely, however, that the government is funded by a CR for at least part of FY 2014, Johns said. He also suggested that DOE could end up with an enacted budget level that also layers on sequestration cuts, leaving DOE with approximately $25 billion—about the same as FY 2013. Both scenarios would be difficult to deal with as the cumulative impact of the sequester takes its toll, Johns said. “We were able to sort of limp along in ‘13 using carryover balances, realigning money, this sort of thing,” he said. “A lot of that flexibility we’re sort of losing as we move along. We’ll have less ability to manage to that kind of funding level in ‘14. We’re actually managing to a higher funding level in ‘13 due to the carryover and the reprogrammings, but we can’t do that forever.”
Johns said the impact of the sequester hasn’t been as bad as many believed because the Department was able to defer or delay some projects in the hope that the funding picture could improve in future years. “What we’ve found so far is through realigning dollars and through slower spending earlier in the year there have been definite impacts on contractors and on individual employees but it hasn’t been the dramatic first-year impact that we thought might happen,” he said. While the funding cuts may not be deeper in FY 2014, the impact might be, Johns said. “It’s been a little difficult to articulate where the sky-is-falling kinds of problems are this year but it may not get better next year if the budget position doesn’t improve,” he said.
Former Top DOE Intelligence Official to Serve as ‘Interim’ Administrator
Former Top DOE Intelligence Official to Serve as ‘Interim’ Administrator
Weapons Complex Monitor
June 14, 2013
Todd Jacobson
Bruce Held, the former director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, is expected to be tapped to serve as the “interim” administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration when acting NNSA chief Neile Miller leaves the agency at the end of the month, NW&M Monitor has learned. Held would bridge the gap between Miller’s departure and the nomination and confirmation of a permanent NNSA administrator, which Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz said this week is not likely to occur until the end of the summer. Held is not a candidate to become the permanent NNSA administrator, which is believed to be narrowed down to former Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore Director Mike Anastasio, current Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs Madelyn Creedon, and former Air Force Global Strike Command chief Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz.
When Miller announced last month that she was leaving the NNSA—first on June 14, and later revised to June 28-she said in a message to employees that Defense Programs chief Don Cook would serve as the acting NNSA administrator. It’s unclear why Moniz chose to take a different route.
Held returned to Forrestal as the Department’s associate deputy secretary after Moniz was confirmed by the Senate, taking a position that would allow him to transition to lead NNSA. Officials with knowledge of the Department’s plans told NW&M Monitor that President Obama first had to authorize Held to serve as the “interim” administrator, a process that could take several more weeks to complete. In a statement to DOE employees this week announcing Held’s return to the Department in the associate deputy secretary role, Moniz said Held would “help out on a number of issues, ranging from cyber security and nuclear security to management performance, and we know we will benefit from his sage counsel in his new position.” Moniz also said that Held’s “invaluable experience as a strong leader, an exceptional manager, and an expert on national security issues will be critical to the Department as we move forward to meet the challenges before us.” Held left the Department in December after serving as the Director of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. Previously, he was the chief of Counterintelligence at Sandia National Laboratories, and served as a clandestine operations officer in the Central Intelligence Agency in Asia, Latin America and Africa. He was also a special assistant to Clinton Administration National Security Advisor Anthony Lake and a special assistant to former CIA Director George Tenet.
Amid speculation about the likely next NNSA administrator, Moniz told reporters on the sidelines of a House Energy and Commerce Energy and Power Subcommittee hearing that the White House was currently vetting choices for a host of DOE positions. “I’m hoping that you’ll start to see nominations come later in the summer, certainly early September, but I hope this summer we’ll see some of those coming out,” Moniz said. “I have a number who have now started the process. But I do want to add, as you know, we must have close to 10 Senate confirmed positions that we need to have up for nomination and hopefully confirmation, but of course we are also building all of the senior advisor staff.” In addition to Held, Moniz said energy policy expert Melanie Kenderline and investment banker John McWilliams had also been brought into the Department as senior advisors. “These are highly accomplished people,” Moniz said. “Dan Poneman and I aren’t home alone entirely.”
Weapons Complex Monitor
June 14, 2013
Todd Jacobson
Bruce Held, the former director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, is expected to be tapped to serve as the “interim” administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration when acting NNSA chief Neile Miller leaves the agency at the end of the month, NW&M Monitor has learned. Held would bridge the gap between Miller’s departure and the nomination and confirmation of a permanent NNSA administrator, which Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz said this week is not likely to occur until the end of the summer. Held is not a candidate to become the permanent NNSA administrator, which is believed to be narrowed down to former Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore Director Mike Anastasio, current Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs Madelyn Creedon, and former Air Force Global Strike Command chief Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz.
When Miller announced last month that she was leaving the NNSA—first on June 14, and later revised to June 28-she said in a message to employees that Defense Programs chief Don Cook would serve as the acting NNSA administrator. It’s unclear why Moniz chose to take a different route.
Held returned to Forrestal as the Department’s associate deputy secretary after Moniz was confirmed by the Senate, taking a position that would allow him to transition to lead NNSA. Officials with knowledge of the Department’s plans told NW&M Monitor that President Obama first had to authorize Held to serve as the “interim” administrator, a process that could take several more weeks to complete. In a statement to DOE employees this week announcing Held’s return to the Department in the associate deputy secretary role, Moniz said Held would “help out on a number of issues, ranging from cyber security and nuclear security to management performance, and we know we will benefit from his sage counsel in his new position.” Moniz also said that Held’s “invaluable experience as a strong leader, an exceptional manager, and an expert on national security issues will be critical to the Department as we move forward to meet the challenges before us.” Held left the Department in December after serving as the Director of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. Previously, he was the chief of Counterintelligence at Sandia National Laboratories, and served as a clandestine operations officer in the Central Intelligence Agency in Asia, Latin America and Africa. He was also a special assistant to Clinton Administration National Security Advisor Anthony Lake and a special assistant to former CIA Director George Tenet.
Amid speculation about the likely next NNSA administrator, Moniz told reporters on the sidelines of a House Energy and Commerce Energy and Power Subcommittee hearing that the White House was currently vetting choices for a host of DOE positions. “I’m hoping that you’ll start to see nominations come later in the summer, certainly early September, but I hope this summer we’ll see some of those coming out,” Moniz said. “I have a number who have now started the process. But I do want to add, as you know, we must have close to 10 Senate confirmed positions that we need to have up for nomination and hopefully confirmation, but of course we are also building all of the senior advisor staff.” In addition to Held, Moniz said energy policy expert Melanie Kenderline and investment banker John McWilliams had also been brought into the Department as senior advisors. “These are highly accomplished people,” Moniz said. “Dan Poneman and I aren’t home alone entirely.”
Lab Employees Opt for Early Retirement
The Independent
June 13, 2013
Lab Employees Opt for Early Retirement
A total of 399 employees are leaving the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. They opted to participate in the Lab's voluntary separation program.
Their last full day at work was June 12.
Up to 600 employees would have been allowed to take part.
With the exit of 399 employees, the Lab's work force dropped from 6200 to 5800.
No specific jobs were targeted for elimination. All career employees were eligible to apply for the voluntary reduction program. Those who applied had until last Monday to rescind the decision.
Lab spokesperson Lynda Seaver said whether or not further reductions will be determined once the fiscal numbers for 2014 are known.
The draft budget reduces funding for the Lab by $100 million, about an eight percent reduction. Seaver said the debate is still going on as to specific cuts. However, NIF is one of the programs that will face reduced funding.
Once the Lab receives its final 2014 budget, it will reassess its situation, Seaver says.
In the press release announcing the voluntary separation program, Lab Director Parney Albright stated, "Although there remain a number of unknowns about how the budget request for FY14 would flow down to our Laboratory, it is clear the budget proposal will face an uphill battle in Congress this summer, with continuing debates about reducing federal spending, a possible FY14 sequester and the debt ceiling."
Following completion of the voluntary reduction process, the Lab will examine the skills of its remaining workforce and balance that against funding for 2014.
The Lab is still faced with challenges with regard to the 2013 budget. Funding was reduced 10 percent by sequestration.
Seaver said that the payroll could be reduced by 10 percent by giving employees every other Friday off. The every-other-Friday furlough days are paid like holidays, at the reduced rate.
June 13, 2013
Lab Employees Opt for Early Retirement
A total of 399 employees are leaving the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. They opted to participate in the Lab's voluntary separation program.
Their last full day at work was June 12.
Up to 600 employees would have been allowed to take part.
With the exit of 399 employees, the Lab's work force dropped from 6200 to 5800.
No specific jobs were targeted for elimination. All career employees were eligible to apply for the voluntary reduction program. Those who applied had until last Monday to rescind the decision.
Lab spokesperson Lynda Seaver said whether or not further reductions will be determined once the fiscal numbers for 2014 are known.
The draft budget reduces funding for the Lab by $100 million, about an eight percent reduction. Seaver said the debate is still going on as to specific cuts. However, NIF is one of the programs that will face reduced funding.
Once the Lab receives its final 2014 budget, it will reassess its situation, Seaver says.
In the press release announcing the voluntary separation program, Lab Director Parney Albright stated, "Although there remain a number of unknowns about how the budget request for FY14 would flow down to our Laboratory, it is clear the budget proposal will face an uphill battle in Congress this summer, with continuing debates about reducing federal spending, a possible FY14 sequester and the debt ceiling."
Following completion of the voluntary reduction process, the Lab will examine the skills of its remaining workforce and balance that against funding for 2014.
The Lab is still faced with challenges with regard to the 2013 budget. Funding was reduced 10 percent by sequestration.
Seaver said that the payroll could be reduced by 10 percent by giving employees every other Friday off. The every-other-Friday furlough days are paid like holidays, at the reduced rate.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Davis-Bacon Act problem
Does anyone have any information on the Davis-Bacon Act problem LLNS is
facing?
I heard a rumor it could be big, bigger than the retiree lawsuit.
I heard a rumor it could be big, bigger than the retiree lawsuit.
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