Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Nearly a year after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to make artificial intelligence a priority, a governmentwide AI Community of Practice has been gaining momentum. The group now has more than 400 members across 26 agencies. Members see AI as one day having a transformative impact on the way the federal government does business. But that will require three familiar lines of effort: Technology, data and the workforce. Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman had more details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Census Bureau is busy with a lot of things now, including hiring hundreds of thousands of temporary, part-time enumerators. They'll go door-to-door throughout the nation, helping make sure everyone is counted. But the hourly pay varies from $13 or $14 an hour in southern, rural areas to nearly $30 an hour in places like San Francisco. For more on the enumerator program, Federal Drive with Tom Temin was joined by the bureau's associate director for field operations, Tim Olson.

On Friday, the Defense Department marked an important milestone in its effort to boost the cybersecurity of its industrial base. It released the final guidelines for its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program. Version 1.0 will start appearing as requirement in contract solicitations this year. But as Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu reported, it won’t completely penetrate the acquisition system for another six years. Hear more on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

A post-impeachment Congress returns to Washington this week with several issues to consider. These include a long-delayed bill to reform the Postal Service. For a rundown, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to Bloomberg Government editorial director Loren Duggan.

Imagine an organization with the mission of finding fault with nearly everything everyone else does. In a nutshell, that's exactly what the Government Accountability Office does. And it's a good thing. In fact, Dan Lips and Tony Mills argue the highly productive GAO should get even more funding. Lips is director of Cyber and National Security at the Lincoln Network, while Mills is director of Science Policy at R Street. They joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin in studio for more discussion.

For a brief look into what it's like to work as an inspector general, we spoke with Justice Department IG Michael Horowitz about his experience producing two highly sensitive and highly publicized reports having to do the FBI, the FISA Court and President Donald Trump. Then we heard from from National Science Foundation IG Allison Lerner about the challenges in an agency that mostly awards large grants.

Anyone who's come within a mile of software and software development knows the Dev Ops model, and its derivatives have become something of a holy grail for federal agencies and contractors. Now there's a new forum to share best practices and learning about this software strategy. The Dev Ops Federal Interagency Council. It's a government group, but it receives support from the Advanced Technology Academic Research Center, a nonprofit whose founder and president, Tom Suder, joined us in studio with his thoughts.

Officials at U.S. Transportation Command say they’re getting close to awarding a multibillion dollar contract. It'll overhaul the system for moving servicemembers household goods across the country and around the world. TRANSCOM says it’s received several credible bids from industry, but still needs to resolve concerns on Capitol Hill before it moves ahead. Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu has the latest.

When he's not taking on highly charged political cases that get him praised and damned on talk radio, Michael Horowitz is a regular old inspector general and chairman of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. An ongoing concern is the number and length of vacancies for IG spots in many agencies. For this and other current IG topics, Mr. Horowitz joined the show in studio. Also joining, National Science Foundation inspector general and CIGIE co-chair Allison Lerner.

Performance metrics are king for the Veterans Benefits Administration. It's constantly trying to improve on quarterly timeliness goals for processing a wide variety of veterans claims. But it's also balancing some big long-term projects that take up valuable time and attention. VBA spent the past year finding new ways to motivate and reward its employees. Top leadership says the new methods are working. More now from Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko.

Not many federal employees get to speak truth to power. But the taxpayer advocate at the IRS is required to. Each year the advocate evaluates the IRS problems and challenges that affect taxpayers, and issues recommendations for the agency and for Congress. For the latest, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the Acting National Taxpayer Advocate, Bridget Roberts.

Facial and object recognition are becoming more prevalent in the Army’s artificial intelligence technologies. The Army is also noticing hackers are using certain pixels to confuse programs that analyze images. Now the Army Research Office is looking for ways to stop these hacks. For more, Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione spoke to MaryAnne Fields, the office's program manager for intelligent systems. Hear more on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The basic requirement of weapons systems whether hand-held or mounted on a billion-dollar platform is to fire when you pull the trigger. And that's actually a tall order given the complexity of today's military systems. The Government Accountability Office has published a sort of primer on how the Defense Department should ensure reliability in its weapons. Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to Nate Tranquilli, GAO's assistant director of the Contracting and National Security Acquisitions team, for the highlights.

The Trump Hotel and the General Services Administration's headquarters are a few blocks apart, but the organizations seem miles apart. With the Trump Hotel potentially up for sale, GSA once again finds itself in uncharted territory. Last week marked the deadline for would-be occupiers to submit initial bids for the Old Post Office lease. If the Trump Organization finds a buyer for its 100-year lease of the Old Post Office, GSA will have just 45 days to approve the sale and transfer of the lease. Federal News Network's Jory Heckman joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin with more information.

Management reforms at the Defense Department feel like they've gone on longer than the Punic Wars. Now Congress, with the Senate having recently confirmed a chief management officer, is sending out signals it may not want a CMO in the first place. Long time federal management watcher and former defense policy official Jerry McGinn, now executive director of the Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for his take on how things ought to be organized.