DoD Spending Bill Signed

President Bush has signed into law (PL 107-314) that: provides uniformed military personnel with a 4.1 percent basic raise (raises for certain positions will range up to 6.5 percent); requires Congress be notified of the outcome of a study for conversion of a function to contractor performance regardless of the outcome of that study; allows contractor performance of certain security guard positions that otherwise would be limited to in-house employees; extends through fiscal 2006 language that excludes certain expenses from the requirement that at least half of depot maintenance work be kept in-house; makes DoD “nonappropriated fund” employees eligible to join to Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program; extends through fiscal 2006 DoD’s authority to pay accumulated annual leave to employees involuntarily separated as a lump-sum rather than in biweekly installments; and extends for three years the agency’s authority to continue paying the government share of health insurance premiums for employees involuntarily separated.