Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Two years after setting goals to modernize the federal financial system, the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service says it sees the strategy pay off. The bureau worked alongside the IRS to get more than 160 million coronavirus relief payments to taxpayers, all with most of its workforce teleworking. For more on how the pandemic accelerated its IT modernization efforts, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the bureau’s Chief Technology Officer, Joseph Gioeli. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With so much new technology coming into the armed services, and with half the world it seems catching up to the U.S. military, maybe a little transformation might be needed. For how it might look, the Hudson Institute has launched what it calls the new Center for Defense Concepts and Technology. For what it's looking at and why, the Federal Drive turned to Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Bryan Clark. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back in March, Washington attorney Heidi Burakiewicz filed a class action suit to get hazardous duty pay for federal employees exposed to a virulent biologic. COVID-19, that is. Now the case has gained more plaintiffs. For an update, Ms. Burakiewicz joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Each year tens of thousands of Americans volunteer to help communities through the Corporation for National and Community Service, the CNCS. The whole idea got a boost recently with the release to Congress a comprehensive plan from the National Commission on Military, National and Public Service. And by the pandemic. For the recent trends in community service and where it needs to go, the Federal Drive turned to the CNCS chief executive, Barbara Stewart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The good-government groups pushing out a series of recommendations to Congress and the administration on the future of the federal workforce. They say federal human capital needs some serious attention. The latest comes from familiar faces and organizations, including the Senior Executives Association. Some recommendations on federal hiring and recruitment you've heard before. But now they're suggesting an overhaul to the Office of Personnel Management. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined the Federal Drive to walk us through the recommendations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Military medicine has gone through continual evolution over the decades. Coronavirus, just as surely as any armed conflict, is changing the way military doctors are looking at medical care. Leaders at the Defense Health Agency say COVID-19 is forcing caregivers to innovate and treat the pandemic like a war. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To support its domestic duties, the Coast Guard has a database of some 700,000 boats. The Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement system works okay as far as it goes, but it's got issues. For what those are and why the Coast Guard needs to fix them, we turn to a director on the Homeland Security and Justice team at the Government Accountability Office, Nathan Anderson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Few lists get as much attention as the list of high risk federal programs published by the Government Accountability Office every two years. For several cycles the high risk list has been headed by my next guest. For his work he's also a finalist in this year's Service to America Medals program. We welcome back a regular Federal Drive guest, and now awardee, the GAO's managing director for strategic issues, Chris Mihm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last month the White House issued an executive order, 13-392, to curb what President Trump believes is over-reliance on credentials in federal hiring. And not enough emphasis on skills and merit. As is often the case, it's up to the Office of Personnel Management to figure out how to implement the order. Joining me with what they're thinking, acting OPM director Michael Rigas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly a quarter of employees at Veterans Affairs say they've experienced sexual harassment at work in recent years. The Government Accountability Office finds VJeff.Clines@state.sd.usA's anti-harassment policies are confusing, and that its reporting structure creates too many conflicts of interest. VA says it's making changes. It's updating policies and training , and rearranging leadership. But it may take as many as four years to make some of these changes. No one's thrilled with that timeline. For more the Federal Drive spoke with Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some agencies made updating their information technology a priority before the pandemic. Those investments paid off when everyone scattered to telework. Ditto for agencies that embraced DevOps, with the goal of developing new systems faster than with the old ways. For more, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with two people. First, the deputy chief information security officer of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Cris Brown. Later on you’ll hear from a senior platform engineer from the FDIC Hunter Wagner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Congress passed the CARES Act a thousand years ago in March, lots of people got lots of jobs to do in disbursing more than $2 trillion. Inspectors general got the job of holding everyone else accountable. For what it was like from the inside standing up the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, or PRAC, the Federal Drive with Tom turned to its executive director, Robert Westbrooks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House and Senate conferees are working out differences in their respective versions of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2021. They've got a lot to iron out. Including a fresh raft of procurement laws. A few of those make sense, others probably should be scratched says my next guest. He's the executive vice president and counsel at the Professional Services Council, Alan Chvotkin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A modern looking new building in Winchester, Virginia is the FBI's new records storage and retrieval facility. No more long warehouse corridors of gray steel shelving stacked high. This is a high tech place from the get-go. Joining the Federal Drive with Tom Temin for a verbal tour, the assistant director of the FBI's information management division, Arlene Gaylord. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Video games were helping the military bring in recruits, but once the commenters started asking questions things got controversial. Now Congress might withhold funding for military video game teams. Congress is also hell bent on raising cybersecurity to the highest levels of the government. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione joined the Federal Drive with the latest in the DoD Reporters’ Notebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices