Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Besides being as crabby as the last Congress, what will the new Congress look like, now that there is a slightly larger Democratic advantage in the Senate and a slight Republican advantage in the flipped-to-red House. To discuss the details, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with WTOP Capitol Hill Correspondent Mitchell Miller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Medicare Advantage was established to make health care delivery more efficient. Nowadays, nearly half of all Medicare recipients are part of a Medicare Advantage plan. Unfortunately, the Medicare Advantage payment model is subject to fraud. Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with someone who has studied the problem in detail: Molly Knobler, senior counsel at the law firm DiCello-Levitt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In what IRS officials call a groundbreaking event, the agency recently hosted a national virtual settlement event. In 59 meetings over four days, it settled 44 cases of less-than-rich taxpayers. To find out more, Federal Drive host Tom Temin talked with attorney Gretchen Altenburger, from the IRS Office of the Chief Counsel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the relatively brief 21 years since its inception, the Transportation Security Administration has gone through a lot of change. Everything from its uniforms to its screening technology has been thought and re-thought. Now TSA has expanded its museum. For details, Federal News Network's Eric White spoke to TSA's historian, Heather Farley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like much of the legislation enacted in the past couple of years, the National Defense Authorization Act has something for everybody. That includes the nation's federal and military firefighters. For more, the Federal Drive turned to the president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Edward Kelly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been a very long time coming, but looks like it’s finally smooth sailing for the Pentagon’s plan to overhaul its household goods moving system. The contract DoD plans to use to restructure its global household goods enterprise has been held up by bid protests for more than two and a half years now. This week, a deadline that could have prolonged the court battles came and went without incident – good news for DoD and its chosen contractor, Homesafe. Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu has been covering this contracting saga, He joined the Federal Drive with more on what just happened and what’s ahead over the coming years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Customer experience emerged as a federal technology issue for for federal agencies this past year. An executive order from December 2021 kicked the effort into gear with a focus on data, systems and services. Federal News Executive Editor Jason Miller joins me now, to look back on how CX and other initiatives left their mark over the last 12 months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're not done digesting the biggest regular spending bill in history. Within that $1.7 trillion so-called omnibus spending package, Congress set a couple of new deadlines for federal agencies. For one, it wants the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget to figure out how to solve durable problems with federal hiring. Joining the Federal Drive with more, Federal News Network’s Drew Friedman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Members of the military special forces can do extraordinary things. But eventually they muster out, with little preparation for work in the private sector. That's where the Tampa, Florida based Star network comes in. Star stands for Special Operations Forces Transition Assistance Resource. It's a group of executives who volunteer to help SOF members while pledging to hire them. One new member of the Star network joins me now. She's the CEO of Naviga Recruiting and Executive Search, Kathleen Steffey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Veterans Affairs has never been a static organization. In recent years, legislation has added external practitioners to augment health care available in VA's own facilities. For a review of how this has gone so far, and a look ahead to 2023, the Federal Drive turned to VA's undersecretary for health, Dr. Shereef Elnahal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2022 was another busy year for federal chief information security officers and cybersecurity teams across government. It started with the clean-up from the Log4j mess, and continues with a flurry of new guidance, binding operational directives, and you-name-it. Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday joined the Federal Drive with more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The omnibus budget package is a lot more than a bill to fund government operations. Congress stuffed its five thousand pages with tax and business provisions. Some have real impact. For what federal contractors have discovered so far, the Federal Drive turned to the executive vice president for policy at the Professional Services Council, Stephanie Kostro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maybe it's lack of leadership. Or lack of attention. But the Justice Department has failed on a critical congressional mandate, that's according to the Government Accountability Office. Justice has been required to update a national strategy to deal with exploitation of children every two years. For what has actually happened, the Federal Drive turned to the GAO's director of Homeland Security and Justice issues, Gretta Goodwin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A series of challenges in the new year, hosted by the Homeland Security Department's Science and Technology Directorate, will help measure the accuracy of tools meant to test the validity of someone's identity. The sessions will challenge industry to deliver secure, accurate, and easy-to-use remote identity validation technologies. This so agencies can prevent identity fraud when users apply for government services, open bank accounts, or verify social media accounts. For more, Federal News Network's Eric White spoke to the head of S&T’s Biometric and Identity Technology Center, Arun Vemury. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Veterans Affairs Department is getting ready for a big expansion of health care and benefits thanks to the PACT Act. It all gets underway at the start of the new year. The VA saw its fair share of challenges in 2022. Like the rocky rollout of its Electronic Health Record. And a thud, when plans to modernize its network of facilities fell flat. Joining me for a review of all things VA, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices