Sen. Grassley puts hold on Biden’s deputy VA pick

The federal government is setting a new record for overall small business contract spending. More than a quarter of federal contracting dollars went to small businesses last year. That is well above a 23% goal set governmentwide. Ten agencies earned an A-plus on the Small Business Administration’s contracting scorecard, and another 10 received A’s. SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman said small business owners in the federal marketplace support over a million jobs, including jobs in manufacturing, construction, and research and development. (Agencies making ‘substantial progress’ toward higher small, disadvantaged contracting goal…

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Biden’s pick for OPM deputy director addresses concerns about federal hiring, retirement processing

President Joe Biden’s nominee for second-in-command at the Office of Personnel Management, Rob Shriver, shared his priorities for the federal workforce with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. During a Sept. 29 nomination hearing, the committee raised concerns about the future of telework, the federal hiring process and delays in retirement processing — all of which are involved in OPM’s mission. Telework was a prominent issue for a few of the committee members. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) asked Shriver about the governmentwide telework policy for agencies, saying that…

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