More federal hiring reforms to come, as Congress passes Chance to Compete Act

A bipartisan bill to reform the way federal agencies recruit and hire their employees is heading to President Joe Biden’s desk for a signature. Congress has passed the Chance to Compete Act, a bill that will codify skills-based hiring practices for the federal workforce. The House cleared the bill Monday evening by voice vote, following shortly after the Senate’s passage of the companion legislation late last week. Once enacted, the Chance to Compete Act will require agencies to conduct technical and skills-based assessments of federal job candidates, rather than the…

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Concerns over NASA’s SEWP VI small business strategy come to surface

Concerns about NASA’s sixth iteration of its governmentwide acquisition contract known as SEWP have been bubbling underneath the surface for much of the past few months. Industry experts have quietly been wringing their collective hands over NASA’s plans for the small business size standard it detailed in the draft solicitation. The worry is the new size standard would exclude or make it nearly impossible for a large swath of small businesses to compete on the contract. Those fears broke through the surface in a new letter from Reps. Roger Williams…

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Iowans Knew This Day Would Come

My father was a registered independent for most of my childhood because he resented having to choose. But choosing was not hard for my mother. She was an MSNBC devotee, a liberal Pennsylvania transplant who took her adopted role as an Iowa Democrat seriously. She wanted me to take politics seriously, too. Which is why, on a freezing January night in 2000, Mom zipped up our coats, buckled 7-year-old me into our white Toyota Previa, and drove us along five miles of gravel to the nearest town: Danville, population 919.…

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Schumer And Gillibrand Remain Hopeful Manchin Will Come Around To Reconciliation Bill

<p>Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) on Sunday remained hopeful that a deal can be reached with centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on the reconciliation package, following the Build Back Better plan&#8217;s <a href=”https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/reconciliation-build-back-better-passes-house-senate”>passage</a> in the House.</p> Talking Points Memo

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