Federal Drive with Tom Temin

With millennial and Generation Z employees projected to comprise a large portion of the U.S. workforce by 2025, the Office of Personnel Management is pushing forward on more incentives to recruit and retain early-career federal employees. It’s particularly important right now, said OPM Director Kiran Ahuja, because of the current imbalance in how many early-career employees there are in the federal workforce, versus the nationwide workforce. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether you think House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leaving on a wave of glory or on a broomstick, things are shifting in Congress. In the meantime, she's still speaker for the remainder of the 117th Congress, affectionately known as the lame duck. Federal Drive host finds out what the lame duck will do, as he spoke with WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Mitchell Miller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration has proposed a new rule for federal contractors. It wants them to report their greenhouse gas emission levels, financial risks, and what the proposals calls "science-based emissions reduction targets." To get one industry view on the proposed rule, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with the federal counsel for the Associated General Contractors of America, Jordan Howard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2019, when Congress and the Trump administration enacted the U.S. Space Force, they left out something: A space national guard. After all, there are Army and Air Force civilian auxiliaries. There's even a Navy Militia. Last month, a Biden administration policy statement came out against a space national guard. Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with someone who makes the argument in favor: Col. Michael Bruno, the Chief of Joint Staff, Joint Force Headquarters in Colorado. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the Pentagon released its latest four-year national defense strategy, it became must reading for contractors and their associations. To find out more about how it is being received in one region with a substantial defense economy, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Mark Faulkner, who is now President of the Institute of Defense and Business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. National Ice Center. It sounds like a hockey rink. But actually it's an agency, operating under the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command. Actually a collaboration of several agencies: the Navy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Coast Guard. To find out more about the National Ice Center, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke, in studio, with the center's director and commanding officer, Navy Commander Casey Gon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Defense Department closed out its fifth year of full-scale financial audits with a failing grade — a result that’s not surprising in and of itself, considering that officials have previously predicted that getting a clean opinion would take a decade or more from the time the audits started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If past is prologue, the CIO-SP4 services contract vehicle is in danger of being crushed by protests. It's supposed to be the next big offering from NITAAC, the NIH Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center. Unsuccessful vendors filed at least 117 complaints with the Government Accountability Office over the last two weeks. Federal News Network executive editor Jason Miller joins Tom Temin with the latest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A fixed-price contract. It is a common strategy for the government. Contractors need to understand that every word in that three-word phrase is there for a reason. If inflation, COVID, and/or supply-chain problems drive up your costs, tough luck. That point was reinforced in a recent lawsuit, about which Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke about with Zach Prince, Smith Pachter McWhorter procurement attorney. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If the IRS gets all the money Congress promised it over the next ten years, its enforcement powers will grow a lot. One school of thought is that protections for taxpayers should also get a plus-up. Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Dean Zerbe, who is a proponent of Congress passing a taxpayers rights bill. Zerbe worked on the IRS reform commission in the late 1990s, and is an attorney working for tax whistleblowers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General is using the weight of a dozen audits to prod a major HHS into action. At issue are overpayments made to hospitals by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The IG has done repeated audits of the payment process and found problems, but isn't convinced it's getting through to CMS. For the details, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Truman Mayfield, the Assistant Regional Inspector General. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The best antidote to the current stock market might be Dramamine. The swooping ups and downs are enough to give anyone motion sickness. For some strategic advice, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with certified financial adviser Art Stein. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the 5th year in a row, the number of bid protests presented for adjudication by the Government Accountability Office has dropped. In 2018, GAO heard more then 2,600 cases. Last year, that number was only 1,600. To find out what might be going on, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Edward Goldstein, GAO's associate general counsel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If the nation learned anything in the last couple of weeks, it's that the process of voting is anything but simple. People overseas and people with disabilities can encounter logistics barriers to voting. The operations of elections is where the Election Assistance Commission comes in. To learn more about that operation, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with commission chairman Thomas Hicks, who also just became a fellow at NAPA: the National Academy of Public Administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does this mean for us? That's what federal contractors are asking themselves in the aftermath of the mid-term elections. Government will apparently end up divided, at least that's the best prediction at the moment. For a dive into this topic, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with David Berteau, the President and CEO of the Professional Services Council. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices