The Merit Systems Protection Board has begun its search for a candidate who will serve as both chief privacy officer and director of the information services team.

MSPB said in a notice posted Monday on USAJobs the chosen candidate will craft and implement privacy programs that seek to protect personally identifiable information from unauthorized access and sharing as well as ensure the board’s compliance with privacy laws and regulations.

The selected candidate will serve as legal adviser to MSPB’s senior management officials and staff on privacy matters and will oversee privacy controls and assessments of privacy risks on a periodic basis.

The incumbent will work within the clerk of the board’s office and will also be responsible for records management operations and programs related to the Paperwork Reduction Act and Freedom of Information Act.

The agency will accept applications for the position through June 15, according to the notice.

The Government Accountability Office has said the Department of Veteran Affairs launched efforts to manage estimated costs and obligations to prevent future funding gaps following VA’s projected $2.75 billion budget shortfall in fiscal year 2015.

GAO said Friday obligations for hepatitis C drugs and VA’s care in the community programs accounted for $408 million and $2.34 billion of the funding gap, respectively.

VA applied new policies that direct VA medical center and Veterans Integrated Service Networks to use historical data in CIC cost estimation; compare CIC estimated costs with estimated obligations; address discrepancies and certify whether these steps were taken each month, GAO added.

GAO further noted VA distributed funds for CIC and hepatitis C drugs across VAMCs and began comparing each center’s obligations in the two areas against allocated funds to determine if obligations match financial resources.

The VA also added FY 2015 data into the projection it uses to estimate budgets in three to four years to reflect increased CIC utilization, GAO said.

GAO said despite VA’s efforts, challenges remain in health care services utilization such as the Veterans Choice Program — a CIC initiative which faces enrollment delays that could impact utilization estimates for fiscal years 2016 and 2017.

The Federal Aviation Administration will offer by late September a $500 rebate to each owner of general aviation aircraft in order to help them procure the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Out avionics system for their planes.

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta announced the planned rebate program with Deputy Administrator Mike Whitaker and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in an agency release published Monday.

The FAA introduced the rebate program in an effort to help aircraft owners meet the Jan. 1, 2020 deadline to equip their planes with the ADS-B Out platform as part of a final rule issued in May 2010.

ADS-B Out works to facilitate aircraft surveillance operations through satellite-based positioning and is part of the FAA’s NextGen initiative that seeks to update the U.S. air traffic control system through the adoption of avionics platforms.

The FAA said it will issue 20,000 rebates on an annual basis to owners of registered single-engine, fixed-wing piston aircraft with avionics systems that meet the agency’s technical standards.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has reached out to each Federal Reserve Bank and provided four recommendations to address the three areas of concern found on the information systems controls maintained by the Fed.

GAO identified security and configuration management-related issues on the information systems during its audit of the fiscal 2014 and 2015 Schedule of Federal Debt managed by the Treasury Department‘s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, the agency said Tuesday.

Louise Roseman, Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems director, said that FRB sees control issues as serious matters and are conducting corrective action on the identified information systems general control issues.

Follow up on the status of the corrective actions will be done during the fiscal year 2016 Schedule of Federal Debt audit.

The Census Bureau has named Kevin Smith, who previously worked under the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as chief information security officer, as associate director for information technology and chief information officer.

The Census Bureau said Monday Smith will serve as principal adviser to the director and deputy director regarding information resources and systems management strategies.

Census Bureau Director John Thompson said Smith’s experience as an IT leader in the government and private sectors make him qualified to lead the agency’s technological transformation efforts and support planning for the 2020 Census.

The bureau noted that Smith will utilize common enterprise IT services to lead its IT program.

He has assisted technology strategies at financial and manufacturing organizations and helped develop digital platforms for the media, entertainment, broadcast and life sciences industries.