Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Congress has taken a stand against harassment and discrimination, including within its own halls. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) announced mandatory training for representatives and staff to raise awareness of and make it clear there's no place for harassment on Capitol Hill. Federal News Radio's Meredith Somers shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The final version of the 2018 defense authorization bill, hammered out by House-Senate conferees and overwhelmingly approved by the House on Tuesday, includes a provision ordering the Defense Department to deliver a set of recommendations on reforming career management for military officers by the end of March. Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu has more on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

As a federal employee, be glad you don't have to go to a federal exchange for health care insurance options. To the contrary, you've got more choices than most people know what to do with. Open season is underway, so you've got to pick something between now and Dec. 11. Tammy Flanagan, senior benefits director at the National Institute of Transition Planning, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin with more guidance.

It's getting closer and closer. The 2020 decennial count is on the horizon and the Census Bureau is in full prep mode. Will it be enough though? With lags in funding and new technology in need of testing, the agency has it's work cut out for it. For more, Federal News Radio's Eric White spoke with Robert Goldenkoff, director of strategic issues at the Government Accountability Office, on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Say you're the incumbent contractor. Say you get not-so-great performance reviews, so you lose the recompete. If you decide to protest, don't try to keep details of the performance reviews from the court. The judges don't like that. Procurement attorney Joseph Petrillo of Petrillo and Powell shares more on a company that found this out on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Even federal scientists and laboratory employees might not know, the government operates more than 300 labs. Following a two-year effort, this collection of facilities has an updated website where you can find information about all of them. John Dement, chairman of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer, talked about it on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Veterans Affairs Department is wrapping up negotiations with Cerner Corporation for a new electronic health record. It will be a 10-year contract, and VA wants to get the project off the ground quickly. It wants to follow the Defense Department's own implementation path. Federal News Radio's Nicole Ogrysko tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin VA will need some start-up money from Congress to get moving.

It takes four times longer to get a security clearance today than it did three years ago. The backlog of investigations now stands at 695,000. A decision from the Office of Personnel Management back in 2014 eventually led to that backlog. Federal News Radio's Scott Maucione and Nicole Ogrysko join Federal Drive with Tom Temin with more on this and what else they've discovered in their special report, Is the Security Clearance Process Destined for Failure?

The Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act would give agencies working capital funds to use for moving off legacy systems.

Federal agencies may seem stuck on the threshold of reform in how they acquire information technology and use it to modernize themselves. Now Accenture Federal Services and the Partnership for Public Service have issued what they call a blueprint for leading lasting technology reforms. Federal News Radio's Eric White discussed it Mallory Barg Bulman, vice president for research and evaluation at the Partnership, on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The battle over who's in charge of federal security clearances has been waging for decades. Big backlogs and long wait times for clearances and reinvestigations have prompted to transfer 75 percent of the investigative workload from the Office of Personnel Management and its National Background Investigations Bureau to the Defense Department. Yet just a few years ago, Congress transferred the program from the Defense Department to OPM. Federal News Radio's Scott Maucione and Nicole Ogrysko tell Federal Drive with Tom Temin the latest plan is not going well.

Visit the new Intelligence.gov,and you'll notice something very different from the mysterious, secretive reputation of the community: people, the flesh and blood of the IC. Officials with the IC say they want the site to make intel and its personnel more visible, without compromising the mission of the component agencies. Federal News Radio's Meredith Somers shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Like a panda cub's mother, Congress lavishes a lot of attention each year fashioning its bills to authorize the Defense Department. The House and Senate vote on their conference version for 2018 this week. For people buying and using information technology, it's got lots to say about procurement and bid protests. Eric Crucius, senior counsel at the law firm Holland and Knight, joins Federal Drive with Tom Temin with some things you need to know about.

With time running out on its continuing resolution and a big holiday season coming up, Congress has a lot on its plate. This week look for that conference report on the National Defense Authorization Act and more debate on tax reform. Bloomberg Government editorial director Loren Duggan tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin what to expect.

It may not be a household word, but a set of standards called D-MARC can really improve email security by cutting out the possibility of fakery. That's why the Trump administration's executive order on cybersecurity directed agencies to install it. That was back in May. How are they doing? Jeff Wilbur, director of the Online Trust Alliance, provides a status update Federal Drive with Tom Temin.