Barney Krucoff, former geographic information officer in the state of Maryland’s information technology department, has been appointed as chief data officer for the Washington, D.C. city government.

He aims to increase the flow of information between the district’s agencies as well as help the local government establish rules intended to facilitate data sharing and people connections,  according to a DC.gov blog post published Wednesday.

The post stated his appointment is part D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s push to modernize and expand the district’s central data catalog to provide citizens, media, entrepreneurs and academic organizations access to public data such as traffic patterns and health statistics.

He initially joined the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer in 2004 as geographic information officer, then moved to Maryland to serve in a similar role from September 2011 to March 2016 before he returned to OCTO in June.

Krucoff previously served as a community planner at the National Capital Planning Commission, geographic information system manager at civil engineering firm Michael Baker Jr. Inc.

The Office of Personnel Management has issued final regulations for the enforcement of a new disabled veteran leave category as part of an effort to extend the time for veterans to address medical issues.

OPM said Thursday federal employees hired Nov. 5, 2016 and beyond with a service-related disability rating of at least 30 percent will be able to avail of the disabled veteran leave established under the Wounded Warriors Federal Leave Act of 2015.

“This rule ensures the federal government supports our service members who have sacrificed their own health and well-being to serve our country,” said Beth Cobert, acting OPM director.

“We want these veterans to have sufficient leave during their first year of federal service in order to take care of any medical issues related to their service-connected disability,” added Cobert.

The disabled veteran leave will start on an employee’s first day of employment as a one-time benefit during a 12-month period.

A NASA program has opened opportunities for accredited educational institutions and nonprofit organizations to design, build and operate nanosatellites and flight hardware.

NASA said Friday it seeks partners for the next round of its CubeSat Launch Initiative to help facilitate the agency’s research programs in the areas of science, exploration, technology and education.

Interested parties can submit proposals through Nov. 22 and NASA will consider selected experiments as potential auxiliary payloads on agency space missions in 2017, the space agency noted.

The agency deploys CubeSats to support missions on planetary exploration, Earth observation and fundamental Earth and space science.

CSLI was established to create opportunities for small satellite payloads flown as auxiliary payloads on rockets planned for upcoming launches.

The Government Accountability Office has called on the Office of Personnel Management to clarify guidance for agencies to develop supporting data for the costs and advantages of the government’s telework program.

GAO said Monday sustained operations and reduced employee absences are among the benefits agencies get from telework programs and the costs include training, program managemen and information technology requirements.

For the report, GAO reviewed telecommuting initiatives at the Transportation Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., General Services Administration, Merit Systems Protection Board and the Agriculture.

The government watchdog said it found the agencies lack annual data to support the benefits or costs of their telework programs.

GAO noted that the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010 “requires an annual assessment of agencies in meeting established outcome goals.”

OPM agreed to the government watchdog’s recommendations such as the inclusion of cost savings questions from previous surveys in the 2016 agency telework survey.