- President Donald Trump nominated Eric Ueland to be the top federal management official. Ueland, who is currently the acting chief of staff for the Office of Management and Budget, would be the deputy director for management at OMB if confirmed by the Senate. He would replace Jason Miller, who was DDM for all four years of the Biden administration. Ueland is a former Senate staff member, having worked for majority leader Senator William Frist (R-Tenn.) and then as staff director for the upper chamber’s budget committee. Along with Ueland, Trump nominated Ethan Klein to be an associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, which is another name for the federal chief technology officer. He was an emerging technology policy adviser during the first Trump administration where he focused on autonomous and unmanned systems.
(Trump nominates OMB DDM, federal CTO – White House)
- Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is urging John Phelan, the Navy secretary nominee, to divest his assets in any company that contracts with the Defense Department. For instance, Phelan managed the family office of the founder of Dell Technologies and invested over $50 million in Dell. The company has a $2.5 billion contract with the Navy, along with other major DoD contracts. Since January 2024, Phelan has earned more than $5 million in capital gains and dividends from his investment in Dell. Warren also urged Phelan to cut ties to Palantir. The senator asked Phelan to commit not to lobby DoD or work for companies that do business with DoD for four years after leaving office.
(Warren urges Navy secretary nominee to cut ties to defense contractors – Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.))
- At the Department of Agriculture, employees recently fired from their jobs will be returning to work today. The nearly 6,000 USDA employees who were removed from their jobs last month are officially being reinstated, at least temporarily. That comes after the Merit Systems Protection Board granted a 45-day stay on the agency’s recent terminations. MSPB’s decision last week gave USDA five days to bring back the workers. A USDA spokesperson said all probationary feds will receive backpay dating back to the day they were terminated. The reinstatements today only apply to USDA, but the Office of Special Counsel is currently investigating many other recent firings of probationary feds across government.
(Update on probationary employees – Department of Agriculture)
- House lawmakers passed a full-year continuing resolution that would cut $13 billion from non-defense discretionary spending and increase defense discretionary spending by $6 billion. The Senate must pass the bill before Saturday at midnight to avoid a partial government shutdown. At least eight Democrats in the Senate must vote for the bill for it to pass with a 60-vote total and move to President Donald Trump to become law.
(Republicans are marching ahead with government funding bill despite Democratic opposition – Federal News Newtwork)
- The General Services Administration is exploring a possible takeover of contracting functions of other federal agencies. GSA’s contracting shop, the Federal Acquisition Service, is planning to possibly take over the contracting functions at several agencies. GSA is asking current and former contracting officers to complete an online form to express interest in taking on this project. So far, the agency is eying the Office of Personnel Management, the Education Department, the Small Business Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. According to GSA employees who spoke to Federal News Network , GSA is planning to take over these contracting functions at these pilot agencies by March 30.
(GSA considers takeover of contracting work at other agencies amid reorganization – Federal News Network)
- A group of lawmakers is taking steps to try to clarify regulations for probationary federal employees who were recently fired. The “Protect Our Probationary Employees Act” was introduced in both the House and Senate this week. If enacted, the bill would ensure that any reinstated probationary employees could pick up where they left off in their probationary period, rather than starting from scratch. The legislation would cover any probationary terminations that occur throughout the entirety of the Trump administration. The House bill is mostly supported by Democrats, but two Republican congress members have signed on as cosponsors.
(Lawmakers introduce bill to clarify regulations for probationary federal employees – Federal News Network)
- The Education Department laid off nearly half its workforce as part of Reduction-in-Force (RIF) efforts happening across the federal government. All impacted employees will receive full pay and benefits until June 9, as well as severance pay or retirement benefits based on their length of service. The department said it now has nearly 2,200 employees. That’s compared to a workforce of more than 4,100 employees when President Donald Trump took office in January.
(Education Dept cuts workforce by nearly 50% in mass layoffs – Federal News Network)
- President Donald Trump taps Michael Obadal to serve as the under secretary of the Army. Obadal, an Army veteran with over two decades of service, is currently a senior director at defense technology company Anduril. The company has received major contracts from the Defense Department and plays a key role in the Army’s ongoing modernization efforts. If confirmed, Obadal would take over for Gabe Camarillo, who served as the Army under secretary during the Biden administration. The Senate recently confirmed Daniel Driscoll as the secretary of the Army.
(Trump taps Anduril executive to serve as Army under secretary – Congress.gov)
- The Defense Department is working to bring the latest cyber protections to weapon systems. DoD plans to release a zero trust guidance for operational technology by August. Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office Director Randy Resnick said DoD has been experimenting with applying zero trust protections to OT for the past year. Operational technology includes weapon systems, critical infrastructure like water utilities, building management systems and more. Resnick said the forthcoming guidance will be most useful for systems that are being built today.
(Randy Resnick comments at March 11 panel “The federal blueprint for zero trust” – “Xccelerate” event hosted by Merlin Group )
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