Federal Drive with Tom Temin

The Army recently made one of the biggest changes to its enlistment promotion program in decades. The system is based more on merit than seniority, and Army brass hope it will boost retention and efficiency. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione spoke with Sergeant Major Mark Clark of the Directorate for Military Personnel Management about what the changes mean on Federal Drive with Temin.

Although spending on blockchain technology is relatively small, blockchain is moving into numerous applications at all levels of government. The secure ledger technology, if nothing else, will help the government count and control its physical assets. Shawn McCarthy, research director of IDC Government, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss the latest.

Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Karl Schultz shares with his colleagues at the other military services the need to push for both modernization and readiness. Admiral Schultz joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin from the Sea-Air Space conference to discuss a range of issues, including a piece of good news, the contract to build a new icebreaker.

Rebuilding the nation's infrastructure. It's a topic that comes up from time to time. Now congressional leaders are talking again, along with the White House, about what you might call an ambitious plan that would dwarf the 2009 stimulus plan. Has this new gambit got a chance? For an update on this and other legislative matters, The Firewall editor in chief David Hawkings joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

In its 2020 budget request, the Navy has asked for solid increases for new technologies including artificial intelligence and unmanned systems. Officials also have large ship-building plans while they plan for the eventual construction of a whole new class of submarine. It's all a big balancing act. From this week's Sea-Air-Space conference, chief of naval operations, Admiral John Richardson, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss.

Oracle wrote about 1,000 pages in its bid for the Defense Department’s $10 billion dollar cloud program known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Initiative or JEDI.The company says DoD eliminated it without getting much past the first eight pages, which detailed Oracle’s qualifications under the first evaluation gate. In his weekly feature, the Reporter’s Notebook, Federal News Network executive editor Jason Miller has exclusive details of why Oracle wants more congressional oversight of the JEDI program. He joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss.

As part of this year’s Defense Authorization Bill, Congress told the Defense Department to speed up its payments to small contractors. The new deadline is 15 days. And a piece of newly-introduced legislation would make that timeline the rule across the rest of the government, down from the current 30-day benchmark. Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president at the Professional Services Council, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to talk about what the accelerated payments would mean for contractors.

A new executive order officially sets up a program that's long been discussed around the federal community but has never become a reality. Until now. The EO creates a cybersecurity workforce rotational assignment program that allows cyber experts from other agencies to detail to the Department of Homeland Security and vice versa. And the Defense Department has signed a new agreement to use a reskilling program from the Office of Personnel Management. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss some of these developments and what they mean for the federal workforce.

It's always easier for the big players in an industry to implement new regulations than it is for smaller ones, having more manpower and money. So when the Pentagon announced new cybersecurity standards for defense contractors to implement in order to do business with the government, smaller companies were left worrying if they'd be able to comply. To help with that, the Defense Industrial Base Sector Coordinating Council, or the DIB SCC, is creating the Supply Chain Cybersecurity Industry Task Force. It will be made up of small, medium, and large companies to help all of them shore up the defense supply chain. To give Federal Drive with Tom Temin more details about it, Federal News Network's Eric White spoke with Mike Gordon, Chief Information Security Officer for Lockheed Martin and Chair of the DIB SCC, as well as Steve Shirley, the Executive Director of the National Defense Information Sharing and Analysis Center, and Vice chairman of the DIB SCC.

Federal law enforcement agencies are wrapping up their investigation into what they say is one of the biggest crackdowns on Medicare fraud in history. So far, two dozen people have been indicted for their roles in a scheme that billed Medicare for 1.7 billion dollars in unnecessary medical devices. Authorities say the criminal enterprise involved more than 100 durable medical equipment companies, plus doctors and telemedicine firms. Justin Bidwell, Assistant Special Agent in Charge at the Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General, explained to Federal Drive with Tom Temin how the scheme worked.

Trust is at the center of every program and project across the Veterans Affairs Department. The goal is to rebuild the trust of veterans, particularly in how the agency delivers healthcare. VA’s most recent data shows great strides, but it’s the institutionalizing of those efforts that will produce long-term change. Lee Becker, chief of staff at VA’s Veterans Experience Office, told Federal News Network executive editor Jason Miller about how the department expects to exceed its long-term goals on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Just like signing up for an appointment at the Apple store, the IRS has gotten recognition for its work scheduling visits to its Taxpayer Assistance Centers for in-person tax help. Donny Vester, a supervisory management analyst at the IRS, has won a Service to the Citizen Award for his team’s work reducing wait times at these centers. He, and another award winner, USDA Chief Information Officer Gary Washington, told Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman how better customer experience has improved their agencies’ missions.

When an agency’s contract award gets challenged by a bid protest, one way to deal with the problem is to simply cancel the award and give it to the protestor instead. That’s what happened in an Army case last year, and unsurprisingly, the company that had initially won the contract filed a second protest of its own, saying the Army hadn’t documented its reasons for the decision. The Government Accountability Office agreed, and now what had been a relatively small technical services procurement is back where it started almost two years ago. Joe Petrillo is a procurement attorney with Petrillo and Powell, he joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to talk about how GAO applied its legal standards for corrective actions in this case.

By the end of 2019, the General Services Administration plans to begin testing the first online marketplace to see if the government can buy commercial items more easily.GSA laid out its plans yesterday to implement the congressionally-mandated e-marketplace initiative. Federal News Network’s executive editor Jason Miller joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss what you should expect over the next five years.

There is a large number of Senate-confirmed positions throughout government that are currently filled by acting officials, especially in the Interior Department. But at least one of those acting appointments may be flat-out illegal. That’s the allegation raised by a new complaint by the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. PEER says David Vela can’t legally serve as the National Park Service’s acting deputy director for operations, because he was appointed by another deputy director, not the NPS director, since that position is vacant. PEER is asking the interior IG to render its own opinion on the legality of the appointment. Peter Jenkins is senior counsel at PEER, he explained the complaint on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.