Daily Archives: July 15, 2015

New AFSA Governing Board For 2015-2017 Takes Office

July 15, 2015 By in Ambassadors, Foreign Service, FS Groups, State Department Tags: , , , , ,

Posted: 2:21 pm EDT
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AFSA’s new 29-member Governing Board headed by Ambassador Barbara Stephenson takes office today. Click here for the GB members’ biographies and contact emails.

Strong Diplomacy Slate

#StrongDiplomacy gathered this past weekend to re-focus on the important work ahead. But first we savored the sweeping electoral victory that brought every member of the Strong Diplomacy slate onto the AFSA Governing Board. Here’s to you, our supporters—the AFSA voters who made this win possible. (via FB)

The AFSA Governing Board is elected by the membership every two years and is composed of representatives from each AFSA constituency. The entire membership elects three officers – President, Treasurer, and Secretary. Each constituency then casts votes for its agency or retiree Vice President and representative positions. Currently, the board has 29 members – in addition to the three officers, there are five Vice Presidents (State, USAID, FAS, FCS, and retiree), eleven State representatives, two USAID representatives, one representative each for FAS, FCS, BBG and APHIS, and four retiree representatives. See the complete list here.

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Burn Bag: Employment Vacancy Application System Has Systemic Flaws?

July 15, 2015 By in Uncategorized

Via Burn Bag:

“It has recently come to light that the current employment vacancy application system at the State Department has profound and pervasive system-based flaws. It also appears that State Department HR and vendor are largely aware of these flaws, and are not acting to address them in a meaningful way. These flaws appear to exclude many qualified civil service applicants, and may contribute to a dysfunctional atmosphere in which hiring managers may rationalize that “back-channel” hiring practices, nepotism, patronage, and preselection are the only way to work around the systemic difficulties.”

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Snapshot: US Embassy Kabul Capital Investments, FY2002-March 2015 Now at $2.17Billion

July 15, 2015 By in Follow the Money, Foreign Service, Functional Bureaus, Govt Documents, New Embassy, Snapshots, Spectacular, State Department, Transformation, U.S. Missions, US Embassy Kabul Tags: , , , ,

Posted: 2:45 am EDT
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Via GAO-15-410 (pdf):

State’s past and planned capital construction investments in Kabul from 2002 through March 2015 total $2.17 billion in project funding, which includes awarded construction contracts and other costs State incurs that are not part of those contracts. Examples of other State project costs include federal project supervision, construction security, security equipment, and project contingencies.12 Figure 3 shows these investments.

US Embassy Kabul Capital Projects FY2002-2015

US Embassy Kabul Capital Projects FY2002-2015 Past and Planned Capital Investments (via GAO) | click image for larger view

 

In fiscal years 2009 and 2010, State awarded two contracts originally worth $625.4 million in total to meet growing facility requirements at the U.S. embassy in Kabul. The first contract, awarded to Contractor 1 in September 2009 for $209.4 million, was for the design and construction of temporary and permanent structures to include

  • temporary offices and housing,
  • office annex A,
  • apartment building 1,
  • cafeteria and recreation center,
  • perimeter security and compound access facilities,
  • warehouse addition, and
  • utility building.The second contract, awarded to Contractor 2 in September 2010 for $416 million, was for the design and construction of:
  • office annex B,
  • apartment buildings 2 and 3,
  • expansion of existing apartment building 4,

  • compound access and perimeter security facilities, and parking facilities—to include a vehicle maintenance facility.

    State’s plans called for sequencing construction under the two contracts and demolishing older temporary facilities to make space available for new facilities. State’s plans also entailed acquiring the Afghan Ministry of Public Health site adjacent to the compound to build parking facilities for approximately 400 embassy vehicles. In September 2011, after the U.S. and Afghan governments did not reach agreement to transfer that site, State had to remove the parking and vehicle maintenance facilities from the project.

    In September 2011, State partially terminated elements of the first contract—specifically the permanent facilities, including office annex A and apartment building 1—for the convenience of the U.S. government, in part, due to concerns about contractor performance and schedule delays. Contractor 1 completed the temporary offices and housing units, but in September 2011, State transferred contract requirements for the permanent facilities not begun by Contractor 1 to Contractor 2’s contract.

    The estimated completion of project has now been moved from summer 2014 to fall 2017.

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