The Telework Reform Act (S. 3015), introduced Thursday, also attempts to bolster the training and monitoring of those in federal telework positions. 

“By re-thinking how the government uses remote work, we are encouraging federal agencies to hire in diverse communities across the country; instead of requiring our workforce to be centralized in Washington, D.C.,” Lankford said in a statement. “We should allow both people to serve their nation and build a career.”

Sinema added that the legislation serves as a means to cut costs and boost “career opportunities by improving federal telework for Arizonans and military spouses who rely on telework to stay employed when moving due to military orders.”

The legislation seeks to permit federal agency directors to “noncompetitively appoint” veterans or people married to armed forces members and law enforcement officers to remote work positions. 

It also introduces multiple reporting requirements for agencies with regard to telework, including annual reviews and contingent renewals of remote work pacts between employees and supervisors, as well as mandated yearly trainings on best telework practices and supervisory reporting protocols.  

Additionally, the legislation calls on agencies’ chief human capital and chief financial officers, in conjunction with the director of the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services administrator, to deliver a report to Congress one year after the bill’s enactment on expected cost savings, productivity outcomes, needed cybersecurity and IT changes, which job classifications could benefit from remote-exclusive work, and how agencies could better coordinate with the Defense Department secretary on the recruitment of spouses for telework.  

Lankford and Sinema’s bill is a pivot from previous Senate efforts to curb pandemic-era telework practices within the federal government. In May, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and six Republican cosponsors introduced the Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems (SHOW UP) Act, which sought to reverse all federal agencies’ COVID-19 telework policies. And in August, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, asked the State Department’s acting inspector general to conduct an agency-wide review of “federal agencies abusing remote work on the taxpayer’s dime.”

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It’s not the first time an expansion of the TMF — a White House-administered program for boosting agencies’ IT — has been proposed as a component of a coronavirus response bill, only to fall aside as the House and Senate negotiated the packages.

In this case, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. took issue with the cost, the congressional source said. Her office could not be reached for comment prior to publication.

Democratic Reps. Carolyn Maloney of New York and Gerry Connolly of Virginia, who chair the House Oversight Committee and its Government Operations subcommittee, respectively, petitioned hard for a TMF boost benefitting high-priority IT and cybersecurity projects in a late January letter to House leadership.

But despite President Biden‘s initial support for improving federal IT, he’s also been looking for ways to shrink spending in the relief bill. The president wants a $1.9 trillion package that emphasizes helping unemployed people, lower-wage workers and families with children.

The proposed TMF funding would represent, by far, the biggest boost to the fund since its creation in 2017. Over the program’s entire lifespan, Congress has allocated a total of $150 million to it. Proponents of the TMF tout it as a quick and efficient way to get dollars to crucial IT projects, outside of the usual flow of agency budgets.

That efficiency is even more important during the pandemic, wrote the eight representatives in the January letter to leadership.

“Without modern and nimble IT systems, the federal government cannot deliver critical payments and services to individuals, families, and businesses who rely on them,” the lawmakers wrote.

Discussions are already underway to include the $9 billion for the TMF in another piece of upcoming legislation, said the congressional source, who asked not to be identified so as to speak freely about the negotiations.

The relief bill still includes $1.2 billion for other IT- and cybersecurity-related provisions, the congressional source said. Those include shared security services from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; governmentwide projects from Technology Transformation Services within the General Services Administration; and rapid hiring by the federal chief information security officer and U.S. Digital Service.

Biden’s transition team supports increasing TMF funding as a way of launching shared IT services across government and enhancing security in the aftermath of the devastating SolarWinds breach.

Billions in TMF funding have previously been cut from COVID relief bills. A $3 billion TMF appropriation was included in the House version of the first coronavirus relief package in March but ultimately left out, as was a $1 billion appropriation proposed by House Democrats in July for a subsequent relief bill.

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The Pandemic Federal Telework Act comes in response to COVID-19 cases rising across the U.S. while agencies consider bringing personnel back into the office.

All eligible employees would be allowed to telework full-time, and agencies would have to evaluate extending the option to other workers, should the bill become law.

“Maximizing telework is a no brainer — it keeps employees on the job while also keeping them safe and healthy and reduces the spread of the virus in our communities,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., one of the bill’s sponsors, in a statement. “This is the best way to keep workers safe so they can continue providing vital services to the American people during this difficult time.”

Van Hollen partnered with Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., on the legislation as they did on the Emergency Telework Act when the pandemic began.

Under the new legislation, agency heads would be allowed to waive telework requirements when jobs can’t be done remotely. The White House would be expected to develop a plan for telework in the event of a future public health emergency and allow the Technology Modernization Fund to be used for IT upgrades enabling telework.

Managers and supervisors, including those who are appointed, would be expected to participate in telework training within 180 days of assuming their posts so they’re prepared to manage a remote workforce.

“This bill wisely will maintain our government’s ability to serve the American people during the COVID crisis,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, in a statement. “It also will help create government efficiencies that last well beyond the pandemic, by enhancing telework capabilities and equipping managers and supervisors to oversee a remote workforce.”

Lankford also indicated an interest in continuing to make telework available after the pandemic.

The National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys backed the bill, as most of its members are teleworking during the crisis, and so did the Professional Managers Association that represents IRS managers among others.

“As we have already seen, it is inevitable that some IRS employees will need to report to federal facilities to handle taxpayer needs, such as sorting the thousands of pieces of mail correspondence the IRS receives every day,” said Chad Hooper, national president of PMA, in a statement. “To ensure these individuals and other IRS employees are not placed at a heightened risk for exposure to the coronavirus pandemic, it is critical that all employees who can complete their mission remotely do so to allow for social distancing in federal facilities for those who cannot telework.”

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