Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Earlier this year, the CARES Act provided billions of dollars in new unemployment payments to Americans whose jobs were affected by the pandemic. But it also created a huge IT challenge for state unemployment agencies who had to quickly retrofit their systems to administer the pandemic payments. A volunteer group of IT experts, called U.S. Digital Response, sprang into action to help states out, but almost immediately, they ran into a problem common across the public sector: the IT systems were closed, proprietary, and very hard to adapt to new problems. Waldo Jaquith is a member of U.S. Digital Response and a veteran of GSA’s 18-F organization. He talked with the Federal Drive about those challenges, and how agencies can prevent them in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the Social Security Administration denies someone’s claim for supplemental or disability payments, there are a lot of ways to appeal the decision. But the process can, and often does take years. The delays are so significant that members of Congress wanted to know how many Americans are dying or getting forced into bankruptcy while they’re awaiting a decision. The Government Accountability Office tried to answer that question, and in the process, came up with new data on just how long the appeals process takes. Elizabeth Curda is a Director on GAO’s Education, Workforce, and Income Security team. She talked with the Federal Drive about the new findings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fourteen days after the CARES Act passed, the Small Business Administration processed more spending for loans than it would normally handle in 14 years. The agency has also had to scale up its network to handle a workforce of 20,000 users, about five times what it needed before the coronavirus pandemic. For more on how SBA expanded its IT capabilities to meet this economic crisis, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the SBA’s Chief Technology Officer Sanjay Gupta. But first you’ll hear from Deputy Chief Information Officer, Guy Cavallo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Giving birth to a child can be a very stressful time, especially when there is a pandemic going on. That stress is amplified when you’re a military spouse and have a service member overseas or at training. The USO is trying to help women enjoy the little things about childbirth by providing online baby showers with tips on managing stress and a few celebrity cameos. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione talks with USO Senior Programs Director Lindsey Fischetti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this week, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy agreed to postpone a series of changes that have been blamed for mail delays until after the election, and to surge extra transportation capacity to make sure ballots arrive on time. Making sure USPS lives up to its delivery service standards, is of course, especially important during the pandemic – particularly for rural Americans. For more on that perspective, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Betsy Huber. She’s the president of the National Grange, a 150-year-old nonprofit that advocates for rural and agricultural interests in Washington. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are times when the government's acquisition workforce seems to act in desperation. 9/11. Hurricane Katrina. The coronavirus pandemic. It leads to fast buys and sole source buys. But the government's antenna are also quivering, attuned to the possibility of collusion and price fixing. They're attached to a big bug called the Procurement Collusion Task Force. For more we turn to attorney and Baker Hostetler partner Jeffery Martino. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Several federal agencies operate so-called dissent channels. Ways employees can express disagreement with policies or policy proposals. The Project on Government Oversight looked closely at these channels at six agencies. For more on what it found, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with POGO senior investigator Nick Schwellenbach. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Army’s 18th Airborne Corps is trying to find ways to improve soldiers’ lives and how they do their jobs. In the past, that meant leadership would take a wild guess at what it thought the rank and file wanted. Now, in the age of the internet, things are different. The corps is reaching out to soldiers and their families to bring forward innovative ideas that can help the Army and the people involved in it. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione talks with the Eighteenth Airborne’s communication’s director, Col. Joe Buccino about the Dragon Innovation Program. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For maybe the first time ever, lawmakers have real insight into how some agencies are moving away from outdated technology. Five out of ten agencies answered Senator Maggie Hassan's call to describe their IT modernization strategies and priorities. In his weekly feature the reporter's notebook, executive editor Jason Miller got a hold of these plans and writes about why this may be the beginning of a renewed interest from lawmakers in getting rid of technical debt across the government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The US Agency for Global Media lost its authority to conduct and adjudicate background investigations for its own employees. The Office of Personnel Management stripped that authority from the broadcasting agency after years of security mismanagement. The broadcasting agency routinely used outdated security clearance forms, took too long to initiate background investigations for new hires and regularly designated positions at the wrong clearance levels. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to explain why this is so rare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the saying goes, if you’ve seen one Army base, you’ve seen one Army base. But now the Army has a single mobile app that tries to tell soldiers, civilians and retirees pretty much anything they might need to know about their local installation, no matter where they happen to be. It’s called Digital Garrison, and it launched across its first 60 installations this month, with more to come. Scott Malcom is the director of public affairs for Army Installation Management Command, and he joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to talk more about Digital Garrison. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thirty years have passed since enactment of the Chief Financial Officers Act, which established the CFO position at the major agencies. Many smaller agencies have them too. The Government Accountability Office recently reviewed federal financial management. It found things have improved but a new refinements would help. Here with highlights, the GAO's Director of Financial Management and Assurance Issues Dawn Simpson joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last summer, health authorities were perplexed by a wave of sickness and death related to vaping. A concentrated effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eventually found the cause of the problem. It required almost a military degree of coordination among hundreds of CDC employees and health officials at the state level. It all worked, and the credit goes to the director of the Office of Medicine and Science at CDC. A finalist in this year's Service to America Medals program, Dr. Peter Briss joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is appearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee this Friday to explain recent changes in the way the Postal Service does business. There he’ll face questions about recent cuts to overtime and transportation costs. But the Postal Service has been cutting costs for years amid declining mail volumes in an effort to stem its long-term financial losses. For more on the agency’s long-term financial picture Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the former chairman of the USPS Board of Governors David Fineman on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been two years since Congress passed legislation aimed at purging equipment made by untrusted telecom companies like ZTE and Huawei from the federal supply chain. Last week, an interim rule that fully implements the legislation finally took effect. And this part of the law may be quite a bit tricker for companies to navigate. Not only does it ban certain suppliers’ technology from federal networks – it effectively requires federal contractors to do the same thing. Larry Allen is president of Allen Federal Business Partners. He talked with the Federal Drive about some of the challenges vendors could face. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices