Federal Drive with Tom Temin

It's been a tough couple of years for the Combined Federal Campaign. The national capital region raised a little over 34 million dollars during last year's campaign which fell smack dab in the middle of the longest government shutdown in history. It's a stark contrast to the years where the region raised over 60 million dollars in one year. But the CFC is confident it can bounce back. Vince Micone is the CFC chairman for the national capital region. He's also the deputy inspector general for management for the Special Inspector General for the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program. He spoke with Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko about the theme for this year's campaign.

For years the Indian Health Service operated by the Health and Human Services Department, has struggled with healthcare quality and management issues. Now the HHS inspector general is urging Indian Health Service management to get a grip on what it takes to fix it. For highlights, we turn to the Deputy Inspector General, Ruth Ann Dorrill.

Federal agencies and industry have been competing for scarce cybersecurity talent. Now a new group of people you might have overlooked has emerged as a talent source. People with neurological issues, such as autism, often have the skills and intelligence needed with the right training. Here with how this has worked in a federal setting, this year's GEAR Center challenge grand prize winner, the vice president for Strategic Engagement and Partnerships at the Mitre Corporation, James Cook.

The Census Bureau is doubling down on its cybersecurity as part of its prep work for the first U.S. decennial count that allows households to respond online. But it’s also taking steps to crack down on misinformation on social media that might dissuade people from responding to the census. Part of that effort is a nationwide messaging campaign to set the record straight about what the bureau does and doesn’t do with all that census data. Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman had more details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

As the General Services Administration reaches 70 years in business, Federal News Network has been exploring what that means for the agency whose main customer is the federal government itself. From the first time the legendary Texas Congressman Jack Brooks dialed a number using the newly established contract called federal telephone service, GSA has been in the business of operating contracts that supply telecom services to federal agencies.Continuing the series, GSA @ 70: Mission Evolved, and to gain some long-term perspective, Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with a 32-year employee: Tom Howder, acting deputy commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service. He explained how acquisition looked back then and reviewed telecom, which is where he got his start.

Deals made under other transaction authority, as opposed to regular procurement contracts, help the government buy innovation and prototypes. That was the case with the Air Force looking for new space launch technology. Space X did not get a deal. It protested and discovered whether a protest is even possible under OTA. For details, procurement attorney Joseph Petrillo of Petrillo and Powell joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

As the military grows it needs to recruit young, bright people to fill its ranks. The Air Force is hitting its goals so far, but it’s changing some of the ways it presents itself to the next generation to make the service an appealing employment option. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione spoke with Maj. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, commander of the Air Force Recruiting Service, about the issues the Air Force faces and how it’s planning on overcoming them. Maucione spoke with Leavitt at the recent Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

As it enters its eighth decade, the General Services Administration is pushing ahead on a number of fronts to keep the agency and its services relevant to the rest of government it serves. The agency enables nearly every other to operate more easily by handling nuts-and-bolts activities like acquiring car fleets, buildings and information technology. As part of our series, GSA @ 70: Mission Evolved, Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Alan Thomas, the commissioner of GSA's Federal Acquisition Service. He outlined what he called the federal marketplace strategy, a series of policy, process and technology changes. He also discussed his federal marketplace strategy for modernizing FAS services, and the larger implications of the strategy.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has long championed mobile access to its services. In fact, it has so many mobile apps, it's developed a new one to help veterans keep track of it all and ultimately improve their access to health care. VA's Director of Web and Mobile Solutions, Shawn Hardenbrook, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to share the story of Launchpad.

Trump administration's executive orders on federal employees and employment launched an epic struggle. Much of the president's May 2018 workforce orders have been locked up in legal battles for the past year. But the Office of Personnel Management sees a window of opportunity to implement portions of one of them. OPM is out with new regulations now. They're designed to streamline and shorten the firing and disciplinary process for federal employees. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to break down the details.

Just a year after awarding five contracts to support IT modernization, the Agriculture Department is moving on. USDA decided to bring all of its efforts in house and end its relationship with contractors and the General Services Administration under the Centers of Excellence initiative. In his weekly feature, the Reporter's Notebook, Federal News Network Executive Editor Jason Miller writes about why USDA believes it's ready to steer its IT modernization ship. He joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin now to discuss more details.

Congress seems to be working hard to avoid a lapse in appropriations when the fiscal year ends in a couple of weeks. But as last year's budget battles and the longest partial government shutdown ever have shown, anything can happen. For a review of what you can and cannot do during a lapse in appropriations, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the Government Accountability Office's Managing Associate General Counsel, Shirley Jones.

The Army is set to release a brand new data strategy any day now. Lt. Gen. Bruce Crawford, the service’s chief information officer, said the goal is to make sure the Army’s vast data holdings are visible, accessible, understandable, trusted, interoperable, secure. To get there, the Army says will need to set standards and enforce them "ruthlessly." Crawford sat down with Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu to talk about the new strategy.

The Department of Homeland Security has thrown down the gauntlet to the government’s best cybersecurity minds. It launched the President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition, daring individuals and teams across government to compete in a three-part challenge taking place over the next three months. Rob Karas is the deputy director of vulnerability management at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at DHS. He told Federal News Network Executive Editor Jason Miller about why the President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition is not just for federal cyber experts, but any government employee who thinks he or she has what it takes.

You might have heard the widely reported fact that the federal government has not suffered a major cybersecurity breach in a couple of years. Trevor Logan argued, in reality, the government is as vulnerable as ever. In fact, he said agencies fail to meet even basic cybersecurity standards. He is cyber research associate at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and he joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for more discussion.