Federal Workplace Safety Agency Takes On Transgender Restroom Access

     The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) isn't just about hard hats and safer machinery anymore. The federal government agency charged with regulating workplace conditions has formed an "alliance" with a "national social justice advocacy organization for transgender people" primarily to promote gender-appropriate restroom access. The agreement, signed on April 27, is part of a larger OSHA program to partner with groups "committed to worker safety and health to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries, and illnesses."
     This particular alliance provides for the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) to "[r]eview, promote and disseminate the OSHA-developed bulletin of recommended best practices for restroom access for transgender workers." In return, the NCTE will disseminate general OSHA information on a quarterly basis via its website or other method as well as provide OSHA representatives opportunities to speak at NCTE events.
     The press release announcing the agreement notes:

A report released by NCTE and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force found that 55 percent of transgender people surveyed lost a job due to bias. Twenty-two percent of workers in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey reported that they were denied access to gender-appropriate restrooms on the job.

     OSHA describes the Alliance program as follows:

Through its Alliance Program, OSHA works with unions, consulates, trade and professional organizations, faith- and community-based organizations, businesses and educational institutions to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses. The purpose of each alliance is to develop compliance assistance tools and resources, and to educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities. Alliance Program participants do not receive exemptions from OSHA inspections or any other enforcement benefits.

     OSHA's agreement with the National Center for Transgender Equality will last for two years.

Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Feds Paid Politico $432K in 2014 [Updated]

Since Politico, a politics-focused website and newspaper, launched its subscription-based news service Politico Pro in 2011, government agencies have increasingly turned to the service to keep abreast of the latest developments in their spheres of policy. Government records show fiscal year 2011 contracts with the owner of Politico, Capitol News Company, totaling $41,900. By fiscal year 2014, there were no fewer than twenty-eight contracts with sixteen different departments and agencies, including the Executive Office of the President, totaling $431,800.

A chart from the USASpending.gov website illustrates the trend (including the first five and a half months of fiscal year 2015):

The first five and a half months of fiscal 2015 have seen fifteen contracts for $198,188, although at least one agency, the FCC, appears not to have renewed a $50,000 fiscal 2014 contract in 2015.

Although not all of the records found under Capitol News Service explicitly name "Politico Pro" in their descriptions, the primary categories used for the contracts strongly suggest the premium Pro service is the subject of most, if not all of them. Most contracts are categorized as Web-Based Subscription, Newspapers and Periodicals, and Support- Administrative: Library. (Two additional contracts are clearly mis-classified as ADP Software; the descriptions of both include "Politico Pro.")

In addition to the $49,862 contract with the FCC, the other two top dollar 2014 contracts were with the Department of Energy ($61,496) and the Treasury Department ($60,000). Although the larger contracts do not include a breakdown on the number of users permitted under the subscriptions, some of the smaller ones give some details. A $4,995 contract for 2015 with the Executive Office of the President, for example, is for five users for 12 months, while a $2,495 contract for 2015 with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is for "five additional licenses required for incoming commissioner." 

Before Politico Pro's launch, the New York Times reported that Politico does not have a set rate for the Politico Pro service, but rather tailors subscriptions for an organization's number and areas of policy interests. At least one government department determined at one time that the price was too steep: The Washington Post reported in January 2014 that the Education Department declined the service due to the cost. The Education Department had a change of heart in 2015, however, signing a $14,985 contract this year.

In most cases, not only is Politico Pro the preferred policy news service for government agencies, it's the only service some will consider. Most of the contracts for Politico Pro that can be found on the FBO.gov contracting website were awarded on a "sole-source" basis. Other vendors who believe they are able to offer a comparable service were permitted to submit proposals, but in the absence of compelling evidence, the agencies are often effusive in their praise of what they see as Politico Pro's unique product.

For instance, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says, "it was found that the content contained in Politico Pro's product is crucial to the successful completion of the CFPB mission." The Treasury Department's Bureau of the Public Debt has this to say: "Politico Pro is the only source with the early and valuable behind the scenes information that is essential for OFR to respond quickly and plan strategy to newly introduced legislation. This coverage cannot be provided by comparable news outlets or vendors." The Environmental Protection Agency cites the "unbiased" presentation of information as a major benefit: "Politico Pro is unique in that it also does not provide too much content and analysis, which many other services provide. It is first and foremost a news agency, not an analytical organization, and as such it provides information in an unbiased and accessible way."

Since 2011, the federal government has contracted with Capitol News Company for a grand total of $917,193. Capitol News Company's annual revenue is listed as $30,000,000 under "Contractor Characteristics" at the USASpending website. This means that the total government contracts of $431,800 for 2014 represented about 1.4% of the company's total revenue for the year.

Politico did not respond to an email requesting comment for this article. 

UPDATE: After this post ran at The Weekly Standard, Politico's Mike Allen noted it in his Politico Playbook feature, headlined "WHY ELITE OFFICIALS read Politico Pro." Allen  framed the story as more of a commercial for Politico Pro, however, ignoring the taxpayer dollars involved. He begins:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD’s Jeryl Bier reports why POLITICO Pro – our premium subscription service, covering 14 policy areas, from Agriculture to Transportation – is a favorite for elite administration officials...

The whole thing is here, the twelfth item.

Note: A version of this post (before the update) appeared first at The Weekly Standard.

Feds to Spend $500,000 for New Art at Customs and Border Protection Facility in San Diego

    The "busiest land port of entry in the Western Hemisphere" is getting an upgrade, and according to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), about a half a million dollars worth of new artwork will be part of the package. The San Ysidro Land Port of Entry, the border crossing facility for the San Diego-Tijuana region, has been undergoing a $735 million modernization project spanning more than a decade. Since Phase Three of the project is included in President Obama's fiscal 2015 budget, the GSA has begun soliciting contractors, and that includes artists who will be commissioned to provided approximately $500,000 in new artwork for the new buildings.

GSA will modernize and expand the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry to better meet the needs of its tenants: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Border Patrol, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The project entails the phased reconfiguration and expansion of the existing facility to improve pedestrian and vehicular processing, increase operational efficiency, provide greater officer and public safety, decrease operational and maintenance costs, and improve the traveler's experience of crossing the border. The full build-out consists of the demolition and construction of the new port, including primary and secondary inspection areas, administration building, pedestrian building, and other supporting structures... 

GSA allocates one-half of one percent of the estimated construction costs of new or modernized federal buildings for art commissions. The art budget for Phase 3 of the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry project is estimated at $500,000. One or more artists will be awarded a fixed-price contract for a commission.

     The plan for the San Ysidro facility is in keeping with the GSA's Art in Architecture program, in which one-half of one percent of the construction costs for new federal buildings is budgeted for artwork. The GSA's website describes the program:

GSA reserves one-half of one percent of the estimated construction cost of each new federal building to commission project artists. A panel composed of art professionals, civic and community representatives, the project’s lead design architect, and GSA staff meets to discuss opportunities for artists to participate in the building project. This panel reviews a diverse pool of artist candidates and nominates finalists for GSA to evaluate. Artists who receive federal commissions work with the project architects and others as members of a design team to ensure that the artworks are meaningfully integrated into the overall project.

    The GSA provides Alexander Calder's sculpture Flamingo (1974) at the John C. Kluczynski Federal Building in Chicago as an example:

    Artists have until October 6 to register to be considered for the San Ysidro project. Phase Three of the project is expected to be completed in January 2018. About 50,000 northbound vehicles and 25,000 northbound pedestrians cross the border through the facility each day.


Note: A version of this article first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Widespread Vulnerability Found in Dozens of Government 'Open Data' Websites [Updated]

    At first glance, a page on the Health and Human Services (HHS) website seems to be giving that agency's official advice on the "The Health Benefits of Nootropics," a classification of purportedly memory-enhancing drugs.  The page is found on the website's subdomain of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) as part of the Health System Measurement Project.  The page contains the official logo of HHS, the domain in the URL ends with the legitimate HHS address containing "hhs.gov", and the "https://" indicates the connection is even a secure one.  Further down the page, there is even a link to a website selling related products.  A partial screenshot of the profile page at HHS.gov appears as follows:

    Similar pages on the site offer information and counsel on shampoo, surgery, and health issues suffered by computer users.  However, in spite of all the apparently reassuring elements and features of these pages, Health and Human Services had nothing to do with their creation or content, and does not recommend or endorse either the information or the linked products.

    Nevertheless, while the pages are not official HHS information, neither are they technically cases of hacking.  Rather, the creators have exploited a weakness in the "open data" system used by dozens of government websites.  The platform was developed by a company called Socrata.  The system allows users to create profiles and then manipulate data tables that various governments (federal, state, local) host on their websites.  The results can be shared with others for statistical analysis, research, and other purposes, as some users have done. However, in cases like the ones above, a profile page itself can be used to promote a product or information in a way that gives viewers the impression that the host government entity approves or even endorses.  A legitimate looking link could even be included in an email to direct recipients to what they may easily perceive as government-provided information.

    THE WEEKLY STANDARD first reported this opening in January when some internet marketers had created profiles at data.healthcare.gov, the federal government's Obamacare website.  Within a day  after the story ran, Healthcare.gov disabled public access to profiles created for its data site.  At the time, David Kennedy, the CEO of TrustedSec, an information security firm, remarked that the opening could allow scammers to fool users with a "website that’s legitimate to make them believe its something else," and that "an attacker can basically create a functioning website and host any content they want there and under the umbrella of healthcare.gov."

    Use of the profiles can be especially effective since the profiles contain no disclaimers that the government entity does not endorse the content, and there are no warnings when clicking on links that "you are now leaving the website for an external site", a common warning on government sites.

    Health and Human Services is not the only government agency at risk.  The White House announced "Project Open Data" in May 2013 with dozens of federal agencies and sub-agencies taking part.  As recently as January 14, the White House released a Fact Sheet on the White House Safety Datapalooza,  an initiative to safeguard government data that is "part of the Administration’s larger commitment to unleash the power of open data."

    Other examples of profiles such as the one above are numerous, including other federal agencies, plus state, county and local governments.  The products and information being pushed range from private loans to debt consolidation to even "artificial turf":

Cook County, Illinois

Data.gov,  General Services Administration

City of Boston

Honolulu, Hawaii

    Each of the pages above (and dozens of others discovered in the preparation of this story) contains a link to an external website that is obviously not an officially sanctioned site by the government host, but neither are there any disclaimers to warn potential viewers.  The pages appear to violate the Terms of Service of the Socrata platform since "[u]nsolicited promotions, political campaigning, advertising or solicitations" are prohibited.

    More malicious sites could be used for data harvesting or even identity theft since scammers are able to trade on the credibility conferred by the official government websites that host these profile pages.  THE WEEKLY STANDARD has no direct evidence that such activity has yet taken place via an "open data" website, but at this point, clearly the door is wide open to such abuse.  

   An email to an official at Data.gov seeking comment was referred to another official who has not yet responded.  An emailed request to Socrata for comment was initially returned Tuesday evening with a promise of a response, but so far, no additional response has been received.

UPDATE: By the end of the day on Thursday, public access to Socrata profiles had been disabled.  Clicking on links to the profiles now redirect users to a login page.  Neither the government nor Socrata ever acknowledged the vulnerability nor issued any statement regarding the issue despite earlier promises to respond.  Tim Cashman, a Senior Content Strategist at Socrata, initially responded to an email Tuesday night with a promise to "be in touch with a response shortly", and Steven Gottlieb, a Socrata PR contact, and Bill Glenn, VP of Marketing, were both cc'd on his reply.  Several followup emails to all three Socrata representatives, however, were ignored.

Note: A version of this post, before the update, first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Opportunistic Marketers Exploit Opening at Healthcare.gov

    At least three marketers of health-related or insurance products and services have taken advantage of the "data-set" feature at Healthcare.gov to give themselves a virtual presence on the federal government's Obamacare site.  The ability to use a web address containing "healthcare.gov" may lend credibility and even imply endorsement by the government.  An informational website about schizophrenia called Schiz Life and a company hawking an anti-wrinkle skin product called Vivexin have both used the "profile" feature of data.healthcare.gov to introduce users to their services and products, as well as direct users to their respective websites.  A third profile even offers "universal life insurance" from No Exam Insurers.
    Here is an example of one of the profiles in question:

    The information is presented in a rather clinical fashion, but all the profiles contain links further down on the pages that direct users to websites where more information is given and, in some cases, products can be ordered.  There is no disclaimer anywhere on the profile pages that the information presented is not endorsed by Healthcare.gov, nor is there the customary warning found on many government websites that the pages contain "an external link that is not the responsibility of, or under the control of" the federal government.  

    The addresses of all three profile pages begin with "https://", which indicates a secure browser connection, providing further reassurance that the pages are a legitimate offering of the Obamacare site.  The "https://" is followed by "data.healthcare.gov", which is the domain also used for legitimate and intended purposes by the site's administrator and other registered users.  Thus, anyone could set up a similar profile (conceivably with more malicious purposes than these three sites appear to have) and proceed to advertise their data.healthcare.gov link on another website or in an email.  The Healthcare.gov address could easily influence the uninformed to believe that they are accessing government-sponsored webpages, leaving them wide open to "phishing" attacks where identity thieves extract personal and financial information from the unsuspecting.

    The three profiles described above appear to violate the terms of service of data.healthcare.gov which prohibits "Unsolicited promotions, political campaigning, advertising or solicitations."  However, at least one of the profiles has been around for weeks, possibly longer.  Also, there is evidence that a fourth profile promoting an anxiety-reducing and/or weight-loss product has been directly linked to by external websites.

    The "data-set" feature of Healthcare.gov was established to allow users to sort and present the health insurance plans and data used by the site in various ways that might be helpful to those looking for a plan or those researching trends and patterns in the health insurance marketplace.  The site provides details of the different ways the data can be manipulated and even published.  There are a number of apparently legitimate users who have established profiles and created their own data sets.  The profiles even include social-media-type features such as photos and "followers."  But as is the case everywhere on the internet, without adequate safeguards and monitoring, there are always those who will subvert the intended purpose of a given website if given an opening.  As the cost of Healthcare.gov approaches half a billion dollars, it is clear more money is not always the answer.  When it comes to earning the trust of the public, Healthcare.gov obviously has more work to do.

Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Washington State Dems: Federal Shutdown Takes Food From Half of Babies in Our State

    In an attempt to dramatize the effects of the federal government shutdown, Washington State Democrats may have revealed more about their state, and about the state of the economy under President Obama than they intended.  The Advance, official blog of the Washington State House Democrats, posted the following on Thursday:

Federal shutdown could take food from half the babies in Washington state 

Half of Washington state’s babies—and one third of all pregnant women in the state—rely on the Women, Infant and Children nutrition program. 

The program is run by the state, but the funding comes from the federal government. Which is shut down. 

Now the money that feeds those pregnant women, babies and young children will run out in a matter of days, according to the state Department of Health.... 

Almost half of all babies, one third of pregnant women, and one quarter of children under five in Washington State are on the WIC Program. 

In Washington State, WIC reaches over 195,000 women, infants, and children in 205 clinics each month and provides services to over 315,000 individuals each year. 

WIC is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture and operated by the Washington State Department of Health.

    Democrats hold eight of the twelve seats that make up Washington's federal congressional delegation, and eight of nine elected statewide offices in the state are held by Democrats.  The governor of Washington State, Jay Inlsee, is a Democrat and the party holds majorities in both houses of the state legislature.


Note: A version of this article first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Despite Gov't Shutdown, Army Awards $2,163 Contract for 'Massage Chair'

    Sometimes timing is everything.  Yesterday was Day One of the federal government shutdown, and one of the biggest stories of the day was the barricading of the World War II memorial in Washington DC, nearly preventing a group of 92 veterans from Mississippi who had flown in via an Honor Flight from visiting the site. But it was also the day that the US Army chose to award a $2,163 contract for a "massage chair":

    The chair was ordered for Fort Belvoir in Virginia, the site of many of President Obama's local golf outings. The classification is "Furniture", so it is not clear if the chair is intended as a rehabilitation tool, or just a relaxation aid.  A partial description of the chair reads:

Zero Gravity positions you back to minimize pressure along the spine. The chair is equipped with twin rollers to mimic the feel of human thumbs & Fingers, enhancing the massage experience. MP3 player with Music sync with two speakers in the backrest. LED light in the side panel create one kind of nice environment. Designed with a set of S-track movable intelligent massage robot, special focus on the neck, shoulder and lumbar massage according to body curve...

 Other groups of veterans planning visits to the memorial in Washington DC have reportedly been threatened with arrest if they breach the barricades as the Mississippi veterans did on Tuesday.  According to the Daily Caller, Mississippi Rep. Steven Palazzo said that both the White House and the Department of the Interior declined to intervene and allow the veterans an exception for their Tuesday visit.


Note: A version of this article first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Fossil Fuel Production on Federal Land Down 4% in 2012

    The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports today that sales of fossil fuels produced on federal and Indian land continue to decline, dropping 4% in fiscal year 2012.  The slide continues a decade-long trend that accelerated in 2010, as the chart accompanying the report shows:

    The report explains:

Sales of fossil fuels from production on federal and Indian lands in fiscal year (FY) 2012 dropped 4% from FY 2011, according to data from the Department of the Interior compiled and summarized in a recent EIA report. This decline was largely driven by declines in offshore oil and natural gas production and coal production. In 2012, sales of fossil fuels on federal and Indian lands accounted for about 27% of total fossil fuel sales in the United States.
In FY2012, sales from production on Indian lands of crude oil and lease condensate, natural gas plant liquids (NGPL), natural gas, and coal ranged from 3% to 6% of the totals from federal lands. Since FY 2003, fossil fuel sales volumes on federal and Indian lands dropped 15%, driven by declines in offshore natural gas production and to a smaller extent by offshore oil production. However, that decline was outweighed by the 27% increase in fossil fuel production on nonfederal, non-Indian lands from 2003 to 2012, so that total U.S. fossil fuel production increased 11% over that period. 

    In June, the Obama administration expressed opposition to the Offshore Energy and Jobs Act introduced in the House by Rep. Hastings (R-WA) that "would require the Department of the Interior to open a number of new areas on the OCS [Outer Continental Shelf]."  The White House said that its opposition was based on, among other things, the legislation's lack of

Secretarial discretion to determine whether those areas are appropriate for leasing through balanced consideration of factors such as resource potential, State and local views and concerns, and the maturity of infrastructure needed to support oil and gas development, including response capabilities in the event of an oil spill.

Note: A version of this article first appeared at The Weekly Standard. 

Gov't Awards Contract on IED Detection to Northeastern University in Boston

    In what may be just an eerie coincidence, the Defense Department posted a contract award notice today to Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts for research into "Methods for Explosive Detection at Standoff." Of particular concern are Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) that have become a favorite among terrorists and gained widespread attention during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  According to the solicitation first issued in October 2012:

DARPA [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] is soliciting innovative multidisciplinary research proposals to rapidly develop and demonstrate non-contact methods to detect explosives embedded or packaged in opaque media with high water content (e.g., water, mud, meat/animal carcasses) at standoff.

    Accompanying documents further explain the purpose and goals of the research:

A. Background/Vision
Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) are persistent threats that manifest themselves in
almost innumerable forms. Their detection and safe disposal is a formidable challenge.
Over the past two decades, much progress has been made to address this challenge with
the development of technologies with ever increasing levels of sophistication. These
range from indirect methods to detect packaging, wiring, or fusing to more direct
detection methods. Indirect methods such as these are outside the scope of this program...
The vision of this program is to develop methods that permit rapid detection of bulk
explosives embedded within an opaque medium with high water content. This will
preclude the use of trace detection methods and bulk methods where significant
penetration into the medium is not possible. In addition, the use of ionizing radiation,
other than possible employment of backscatter technology must be excluded because of
health concerns to military personnel and civilians in proximity to the area of concern...

B. Program Objectives and Metrics
The goal of the MEDS program is to develop and demonstrate non-contact methods to
detect explosives embedded or packaged in opaque media with high water content such
as mud, meat, animal carcasses, etc. Because detection/imaging methods have not been
developed or applied to this regime, proposals for a proof-of-concept program with
emphasis on demonstration of feasibility are solicited. Objectives are intended to
demonstrate feasibility and are not intended to reflect an operational environment. 

    A revision to the original solicitation on April 8 appeared to postpone the award notice until October 15, 2013 from the original date of Monday, April 15:

The purpose of this Modification 1 to DARPA-BAA-13-01, Methods for Explosive Detection at Standoff (MEDS), is to change the proposal closing deadline from April 15, 2013, 4:00PM, ET to October 15, 2013, 4:00PM, ET.

    However, the award notice was posted this morning without further explanation.  Earlier awards were made to the University of Arizona, BAE Systems, and Quasar Federal Systems under the same solicitation heading.


Note: A version of this article first appeared at The Weekly Standard.