PEO Pulse - April 3, 2020

►► PEO PULSE - April 3, 2020

The "PEO Pulse" is a weekly digest of relevant news, recent PEO EIS events and updates to keep our workforce informed. Take a look at the headlines in this week's edition: 

• CONGRESSIONAL UPDATE
• ARMY NATIONAL GUARD MOVES TO MODERN PERSONNEL SYSTEM, GIVES SOLDIERS MOBILE ACCESS
• PEO PERSPECTIVE, APRIL 2020
• CAPT. LUCAS SAWTELLE SUPPORTS A LEADER WHO CARES
• MORE THAN 9,000 RETIRED ARMY MEDICAL PERSONNEL RESPOND TO CALL
• ARMY HOSPITALS IN NYC AND SEATTLE READY FOR NON-COVID-19 PATIENTS
• INSIDE THE ARMY'S EMERGENCY DEPLOYMENT OF DOCTORS TO MANHATTAN
• COVID-19 COULD HAMPER NATIONAL SECURITY, NEW DATA SHOWS
• FBI WARNS ON ZOOM CONFERENCE SECURITY
• DOD PLAN TO CLASSIFY SPENDING PLANS GETS THUMBS DOWN FROM ALMOST EVERYONE
• PENTAGON TURNS TO NEW BUYING TOOLS 10 TIMES MORE OFTEN
• DOD ISSUES PERMISSION SLIPS FOR WORKERS IN NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION
• BIPARTISAN COALITION OF LAWMAKERS STEPS IN TO HELP MILITARY FAMILIES PAYING TWO RENTS
• HAZARD PAY LAWSUIT FILED, LABOR DISPUTES ERUPT OVER COVID-19 SAFETY
• ARMY WANTS HELP WITH VIRTUAL CRITICAL-CARE SERVICES IN COVID-19 FIELD HOSPITALS
• ARMY LOOKING TO MODIFY CONTRACTS AS INDUSTRY COPES WITH COVID-19
• ARMY PROMOTES DEFENSE INDUSTRY BASE RESILIENCY DURING COVID-19 RESPONSE EFFORTS
 

►► UPCOMING EVENTS

• April 16 - Lunch & Learn (virtual)
 

►► CONGRESSIONAL

This month, PEO EIS continues to provide annual budget overview updates to Authorizer and Appropriator professional staff members. These briefings are being conducted virtually in light of the currently pandemic, ensuring the safety of all participants.

On March 26, the Senate passed H.R. 748, providing nearly $2 trillion to individuals, businesses, and states, among others, in response to the coronavirus pandemic under the Senate-passed version of H.R. 748. The measure, negotiated between the Senate and administration, includes among other items loans to companies and state and local governments and relief payments to individual taxpayers. It also provides $342 billion in emergency supplemental funding, including $100 billion for hospitals.
 

►► EIS IN THE NEWS

ARMY NATIONAL GUARD MOVES TO MODERN PERSONNEL SYSTEM, GIVES SOLDIERS MOBILE ACCESS
The Army National Guard hit a major milestone by finishing the roll out of a massive personnel system that allows soldiers to stay up to date on their pay and benefits through mobile phone. More than 330,000 Army National Guard members in all 50 states and four territories are now on the Integrated Personnel and Pay System-Army (IPPS-A). The initiative, once completely finished in December 2021, will digitally hold human resources information and talent management attributes for more than 1 million soldiers in the Guard, Reserve and active force.

PEO PERSPECTIVE, APRIL 2020
At PEO EIS, we are encouraging maximum use of telework to ensure the health and welfare of our personnel.The Army is working diligently to advance the capability and capacity of our network posture to support the rise in demand, as Department of Defense Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy said in a statement to C4ISRNET on March 25: “In this unprecedented time for our nation, DoD networks remain fully capable of supporting the mission-critical duties necessary to execute our missions.”

CAPT. LUCAS SAWTELLE SUPPORTS A LEADER WHO CARES
Capt. Lucas Sawtelle, Ms. Chérie Smith’s executive officer, is a valued member of the PEO EIS team. A Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) Level II certified Program Manager, he plans to complete his DAWIA Level III coursework in the next 18 months. Born in Columbia, South Carolina, he joined the Army as a college option officer candidate and received his commission as a Quartermaster officer in Fort Benning, Georgia. 

 

►► ARMY

MORE THAN 9,000 RETIRED ARMY MEDICAL PERSONNEL RESPOND TO CALL
More than 9,000 retired soldiers have responded to the U.S. Army's call for retired medical personnel to assist with the response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, as hundreds of active duty soldiers deploy to support Army field hospitals in New York and Seattle. Earlier this week, the Army sent a notification to more than 800,000 retired soldiers to gauge their willingness in returning to service in a volunteer capacity. In a Pentagon briefing on Thursday, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville called the initial response "very, very positive."

ARMY HOSPITALS IN NYC AND SEATTLE READY FOR NON-COVID-19 PATIENTS
The Army hospital established inside the Javits Convention Center in New York City began treating patients this week, and another hospital dispatched to Seattle plans to receive its first patients early next week, but neither plan to treat coronavirus cases. Instead, the intent is to take in non-coronavirus cases to relieve pressure from local hospitals. The Army’s focus on medical cases not related to the pandemic may prove limiting, as Navy hospital ships dispatched to New York and Los Angeles have remained mostly vacant and have similar referral policies.

INSIDE THE ARMY'S EMERGENCY DEPLOYMENT OF DOCTORS TO MANHATTAN
The alert order came on March 24. By the next morning, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, soldiers were boarding a C-130 Hercules aircraft like deploying combat troops. The Army's 531st Hospital Center was headed to New York, where health professionals are struggling to contain the highest number of novel coronavirus cases and deaths in America.
 

►► FEDERAL

COVID-19 COULD HAMPER NATIONAL SECURITY, NEW DATA SHOWS
Could the coronavirus pandemic seriously diminish military readiness? That's been a key question from personnel and reporters to Defense Department leadership in the past several weeks. But a new map suggests COVID-19 could significantly alter DOD's readiness -- particularly for tech -- as well as its modernization capabilities should a major portion of personnel contract the virus.

FBI WARNS ON ZOOM CONFERENCE SECURITY
The FBI is warning Zoom video-conferencing platform users to guard against "VTC hijacking" and "Zoom-bombing" by outsiders intent on making threats and offensive displays. According to the FBI's Boston Division, two Massachusetts high schools reported separate instances of individuals breaking into online classes in late March being conducted via Zoom teleconferencing software.

DOD PLAN TO CLASSIFY SPENDING PLANS GETS THUMBS DOWN FROM ALMOST EVERYONE
The Defense Department is getting what seems like almost universal pushback on its legislative proposal to classify its spending plans for future years. The Pentagon floated the proposal for the 2021 defense authorization bill. It would hide the Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP) from the public, the Congressional Research Service and the Government Accountability Office. The FYDP calculates what DoD thinks it will spend on programs and services five years out from the present.

PENTAGON TURNS TO NEW BUYING TOOLS 10 TIMES MORE OFTEN
The amount of funding for defense research awarded through other transaction authorities have increased nearly tenfold in five years, according to a new analysis seen exclusively by Defense News. The report, by data and analytics firm Govini, shows the use of OTAs and small business innovation research contracts has expanded to the point that, in 2019, the two methods accounted for $9.6 billion, or 10 percent of the Defense Department’s research, development, test and evaluation spending.
 

►► WORKFORCE

DOD ISSUES PERMISSION SLIPS FOR WORKERS IN NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION
The Defense Department issued memos and permission letters March 31 for personnel working in the Washington region amid local governments' stay-at-home orders. State and local orders "do not preclude DOD civilian employees and military members from traveling to or from where they perform their official duties," Paul Ney, Jr., DOD's general counsel, wrote in a March 31 memo. 

BIPARTISAN COALITION OF LAWMAKERS STEPS IN TO HELP MILITARY FAMILIES PAYING TWO RENTS
A bipartisan coalition of 35 lawmakers and a handful of defense advocacy groups are calling on the Defense Department to do more for military families financially strapped by the Pentagon’s stop move order. In a bipartisan-supported letter started by Rep. Debra Haaland (D-N.M.), the group urges Defense Secretary Mark Esper to support military families forced to take on monetary costs because they cannot move to their next permanent changes of station (PCS).

HAZARD PAY LAWSUIT FILED, LABOR DISPUTES ERUPT OVER COVID-19 SAFETY
While federal agencies have broadened telework and are making more protective equipment available to employees, safety concerns related to the Coronavirus are continuing, and have led to a lawsuit, labor-management disputes and the prospect of further action by Congress. A number of agencies now say they have achieved “maximum” telework status, or close to it, with only a minimum number in jobs that allow for remote work required to continue coming to the regular workplace.
 

►► INDUSTRY

ARMY WANTS HELP WITH VIRTUAL CRITICAL-CARE SERVICES IN COVID-19 FIELD HOSPITALS
The Army is looking for help in creating “virtual critical care wards” in the new field hospitals that the military and aid groups are building around the country in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The goal is to scale up existing critical-care telemedicine technology in hospitals so it can be linked to the field hospitals, according to a presolicitation released Monday. The new National Emergency Telecritical Care Network (NETCCN) will be “a cloud-based, low-resource, stand-alone health information management system,” according to the Army.

ARMY LOOKING TO MODIFY CONTRACTS AS INDUSTRY COPES WITH COVID-19
The Army may modify contracts if the novel coronavirus pandemic makes it difficult for contractors to fulfill their obligations, the service announced March 31. On March 20, as states and cities throughout the country were forcing non-essential businesses to close, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord issued a memo to the defense industrial base saying the Department of Homeland Security had identified it as a critical infrastructure sector.

ARMY PROMOTES DEFENSE INDUSTRY BASE RESILIENCY DURING COVID-19 RESPONSE EFFORTS
As the nation continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Army is promoting Defense Industrial Base resiliency and total force teamwork by maintaining close contact with contractors, assessing the impacts of specific contract terms and determining supply chain impacts from the coronavirus. “Our mission of delivering materiel capabilities to the warfighter is accomplished by the total force, including military, civilian and Defense Industrial Base partners,” said Dr. Bruce D. Jette, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. 

This message contains curated content from external sources, and does not indicate PEO EIS endorsement of the views or ideas expressed therein.