Fedweek

The budget agreement contains several provisions related to federal personnel policies, for the most part arising out of the scandals at the IRS. It bars IRS employees from using personal email accounts for official business, they will be subject to mandatory firing for taking or failing to take official actions for political purposes or personal gain, and they will not receive performance awards unless their conduct and personal compliance with tax law is considered. The agency also will have to issue detailed reports on employees’ use of on-the-clock time for union duties and will have to train employees more thoroughly on taxpayer rights. In terms of government-wide policy, the general ban on conducting contracting-out cost comparison studies under OMB Circular A-76 was continued for another year (however, a separate program of allowing private collection of tax debt was reauthorized, after having been tried and repealed twice before). Also, the identity protection services related to the breaches of the personnel records files and background investigation files have been extended to 10 years and the maximum insurance for costs related to identity theft was raised from $1 million to $5 million.