March 29, 2024

Pandemic Puts New Focus on Telework

Telework

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River Morning Coffee logoeconomic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

The Defense Department has rolled out the Commercial Virtual Remote IT service to handle the increase of its employees working from home during the pandemic, Defense News reports. Could CVR change work culture at the Pentagon? “The department has always been telework-ready long before the pandemic,” DoD CIO Dana Deasy said, but noted full-time telework was the exception and not the rule, so that a lot of education about tools and best practices was needed. “There will be some permanency to what we have here.”

Last week, the Office of Personnel Management released its annual report on the state of teleworking in the federal government — with data from 2018. “When it came to telework two years ago, many agencies seemed stuck in the Dark Ages,” reports Federal News Network. “Now large swaths of the federal workforce are working from home in their sweatpants.” The question asked: So will agencies — especially those who previously insisted their employees could only be productive at their desks — embrace telework when the pandemic ends?

Many companies are facing operational changes during the coronavirus pandemic. Forbes discusses key issues that will help keep employees productive and keep company data secure. PC magazine offers these 20 Tips for Working From Home.

A White House budget office memo advises federal agencies to consider reimbursing paid leave for government contractors so they can keep their workforce in a “ready state” amid the coronavirus health threat, reports Washington Technology. The memo was sent on Friday.

Bloomberg reports that the world economy working from home is getting a glimpse of the virtual future.

Prior to the pandemic, just 25% of all workers in the US had worked from home, and only 29% were able to do so, reports WalletHub. See where Maryland falls on the list of best states for working from home.

US Labor Department statistics show that Maryland lost 20,900 jobs in March, reports The Baltimore Sun. The jobless rate remained at 3.3% in the state.

Facebook, Google, and other platforms have begun using algorithms, new rules, and factual warnings to knock down harmful coronavirus conspiracy theories, questionable advertisements, and unproven remedies that regularly crop up on their services, reports The Associated Press.

 

 

Navy Surgeon General RADM Bruce Gillingham said the Navy plans to launch an investigation to study the spread of COVID-19 onboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt in an effort to better understand how to stifle future outbreaks, Navy Times reports.

The military travel ban is being extended until June 30 in a continued effort to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, reports Military Times.

The number of National Guard troops mobilized in the effort to cope with the coronavirus pandemic continues to increase, reports Military Times. There are more than 33,000 Air and Army National Guard professionals supporting the crisis response.

The Air Force has chosen two Air National Guard base fields — Truax Field in Wisconsin and Dannelly Field in Alabama– as new homes for its F-35A Lightning II aircraft, reports Air Force Technology. The move to Madison, WI, comes after months of debate with residents. Some see it as a major investment in the 115th Fighter Wing others worry about the “ungodly amount of noise,” reports The Bozho.

For the second time in four days, a Russian Su-35 fighter jet conducted an “unsafe” intercept of a US aircraft over the Mediterranean Sea, reports Business Insider.

Nearly 1,000 cadets graduated Saturday from the Air Force Academy in a scaled-down ceremony that capped a semester of virtual classes and solitary dorm-room meals due to the coronavirus pandemic, reports Air Force Times. Vice President Mike Pence was the commencement speaker. “America is being tested,” he told the cadets. The vice president’s remarks extolled patriotism, military might, and American perseverance, The Denver Post reports.

President Donald Trump will deliver the graduation address at West Point, reports The Hill.

All public Naval Academy Commissioning Week events set for May have been canceled, reports the Capital Gazette. The academy’s superintendent said he still plans to graduate and commission the Class of 2020. Details, however, are unclear.

Contract:

Hi-Q Engineering Inc., Poway, California, is awarded a $17,315,857 ceiling increase modification to previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract N65236-17-D-8006 for engineering, test and evaluation, logistics and technical services for fixed very low frequency/low frequency broadcast transmitter stations. Work will be performed in Dallas, Texas (35%); Poway, California (30%); Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (15%); Charleston, South Carolina (10%); and Norfolk, Virginia (10%), and is expected to be complete by May 2022. This modification brings the total cumulative value of the contract to $55,972,607. No funds are obligated at the award of this modification. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); fiscal 2021 other procurement (Navy); fiscal 2021 operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2022 other procurement (Navy); and fiscal 2022 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $17,315,857 will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity.

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