Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Not many people would trade jobs with those who have to keep watch over inmates in federal prisons. Now that job has become more dangerous as coronavirus has spread in the prisons' close quarters. Joining the Federal Drive with Tom Temin with a situation report, the president of the AFGE National Council of Prison Locals 33, Shane Fausey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Priority recommendations. Those are actions the Government Accountability Office advises agencies to take, to maintain program and financial integrity, and sustainability. In the last couple of weeks GAO has reissued reminders on open recommendations. It's a long list. In the first part of a two-part interview, and starting with the Homeland Security Department, I spoke with the GAO's chief operating officer, Kate Siggerud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Office of Justice Programs is the largest grant making piece of the Justice Department. So when it came to standardizing OJP’s grants approach, staff had to balance the needs of the Bureau of Justice Assistance with those of the Office of Victims of Crime and four other organizations in the agency. For how they manage the six OJP offices and more than $5 billion yearly to 3,000 grantees, Federal News Network's Jason Miller spoke with the principal deputy assistant attorney general of the Office of Justice Programs, Katie Sullivan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal employees: Sit up and listen! Remember how last year's government shutdown posed new ethics questions for federal agencies and their employees? The coronavirus pandemic is no different. There are some basic ethics dos and don'ts if you're working from home or working directly on the frontlines. For what you need to know, Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko spoke to the lead instructor for the Office of Government Ethics, Patrick Shepherd, on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After months of the coronavirus pandemic, governors are taking the first steps to reopening their states. The White House told federal agency heads to take state officials' cues to begin reopening federal facilities. Now, certain federal employees have worked in their offices throughout the pandemic. For what the General Services Administration has been doing to prepare your offices to take in those that have been teleworking. Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the commissioner of the Public Buildings Service, Dan Mathews, on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Champions of nuclear power in the 1950s predicted it would be too cheap to meter. That didn't work out. But they were talking about fission. For decades, nuclear proponents have keep alive the idea of safe fusion power. Now the Energy Department has launched a grant program to rev up research into this science-fiction-like technology. For details, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the program director in the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, Scott Hsu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's easier to spend money on information technology modernization than it is to get lasting results. Accenture Federal Services interviewed some 350 federal executives for insight into how to modernize with impact. For details, the managing director for Accenture's CIO advisory, Dave McClure, and the principal director, Malcolm Jackson, spoke to Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buying in urgent or emergency situations - procurement laws and regulations allow for it. But risk averse agencies and contracting officers are often stuck at times like these. For some advice on how the Stafford Act and related declarations can help, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to Smith Pachter McWhorter member attorney Edmund Amorosi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Widespread personnel changes at the General Services Administration, and future budget warnings from the Defense Department, make for uncertainty on the part of contractors. For this week's decidedly mixed review, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turn to long-time federal sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A provision proposed for the 2021 National Defense Authorization bill would undo a 2018 law, having to do with when departing defense officials can support lobbying, and not just lobby, their former agency. One expert says this would gut ethics reforms the Pentagon has barely gotten around to enacting. From the Project on Government Oversight, military affairs analyst Mandy Smithberger spoke with the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twenty five years ago the government, and the nation, was clearing the rubble from the federal building in Oklahoma City. A domestic terrorist bombing had killed 168 people and did more than a half billion dollars in damage. For some perspective on how things changed, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the then chief of staff for President Clinton, the honorable Leon Panetta. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It started with a lot of promise, but now the experiment looks like it's over. The Defense Business Board, an outside advisory group, recommends eliminating the chief management officer's position, inaugurated in 2008. For the closer term, DOD officials are telling industry and one another, prepare for flatter budgets than they've been used to for the last few years. With more on what's been happening in DOD, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Federal News Network's Jared Serbu and Scott Maucione. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last six weeks, the General Services Administration has demonstrated what the future of federal hiring could look like. Since late March, GSA has hired more than 100 new employees virtually, this includes performing the oath of office online. In his weekly feature, the Reporter's Notebook, executive editor Jason Miller writes about why GSA’s example of changing its approach to hiring and onboarding can’t just a one-off in the federal sector, but an approach whose time has come. Jason joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hazardous pay for federal employees is starting to gather a little steam in Congress. Soon the Senate will arrive back in Washington, the House is uncertain, to debate this and other measures for the continuing coronavirus situation. For a look ahead, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Bloomberg Government editorial director Loren Duggan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How widely and how fast the nation should reopen schools and businesses, it's become the big debate of the day. A group that includes many National Park Service employees is urging the Trump administration to go slow. Joining the Federal Drive with more, the chair of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, and a former NPS executive, Phil Francis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices