Federal Drive with Tom Temin

The Veterans Health Administration is looking to exceed its year-end hiring goals, during a year in which the agency already broke records to grow its workforce. Undersecretary for Health Shereef Elnahal told reporters Tuesday that the VHA in July surpassed 400,000 employees for the first time in the agency’s history. “There has never been a period of time in VA history where the health care system has had this many employees. That 400,000 threshold is a first,” Elnahal said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Advance contracts and GSA contracts for state and local governments, are a couple of the avenues by which the federal government and its acquisition system will get aid to fire-ravaged Maui. For more on that, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked with Federal Sales and Marketing Consultant Larry Allen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is on the Government Accountability Office's High-Risk List. It is there primarily because of its long-term fiscal uncertainty and questions about whether, in the long run, it can pay the benefits it owes retired Americans. But SSA also has an other internal management problem, stemming from its Office of Inspector General. That's according to Federal Drive Host Tom Temin's guest: Faith Williams, Director of the Effective and Accountable Government Program at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It doesn't have boiling flasks or people in white coats, but a lot happens in the Procurement Innovation Lab (PIL) operated by the Homeland Security Department. For an update, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with the PIL's new director, Katherine Crompton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: Things are cookin' at the DHS Procurement Innovation Lab. Count the IG among the challenges facing Social Security. How federal acquisitions will help recovery in Maui. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress has passed just one of 12 bills needed to fund the government next fiscal year. When members return early next month, the question of further funding for Ukraine in its war with Russia will enter the funding debate. For what that could mean, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin turned to WTOP Capitol Hill Correspondent Mitchell Miller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By law and regulation, certain products are barred from purchase by federal agencies, like telecommunications products made in China. Yet the General Services Administration's office of Inspector General has found, that somehow prohibited products have made their way onto the Multiple Awards Schedule contracts. For more, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Deputy Assistant IG for Acquisition Program Audits, Barbara Bouldin and with the Regional IG for Auditing, Michelle Westrup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Washington, it seems like there is a commission for everything. Mostly they produce reports no one reads. But there is one commission that has established a string of permanent accomplishments you can see, touch and feel. It is the American Battle Monuments Commission. This year it celebrates 100 years in business. For a review, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with the commission secretary, Charles Djou. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: Few commissions can leave more permanent results than this one. Stuff you are not supposed to buy, finds its way into GSA multiple-award schedule contracts. How the Ukraine War could gum up federal budget negotiations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The American Federation of Government Employees took a significant step towards unionizing Defense Department employees in Europe. The union plans to have at least one new organizing body in place by the end of 2023 or early next year. Of about 30,000 Defense Department employees in Europe, AFGE is focusing its initial efforts in Germany around Defense Health Agency (DHA) employees and workers at the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), the on-base super stores where service members and DoD employees shop for food, clothes and consumer goods. AFGE filed a preliminary letter with the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FRLA) to trigger an investigation into whether employees at Ramstein AAFES want a union, and if the proposed bargaining unit is correctly described. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The crazy weather throughout the country seems to be reflected in Congress. On recess, when it returns it will have 12 working days to workout a regular federal budget for 2024. Ain't gonna happen. Joining the Federal Drive to explore the possible consequences, the vice president for policy and programs at the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, John Hatton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The system for declaring disasters and getting federal help dates back a century. For the past 25 years disaster declarations have been on the rise. But according to my next guest, politics, skill at the state and local level, and inconsistency in how federal agencies decide things mean the whole system needs reform. Joining the Federal Drive with more, Brookings Metro fellow Carlos Martin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She's a successful State Department negotiator dealing with the United Nations, no less. She's a lifelong athlete, excelling in several sports including rock climbing. And, she conducts her life from a wheelchair. Sofija Korac just received national recognition for work on behalf of people with disabilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White House Office of the National Cyber Director brings in a former Defense official to help lead workforce and education efforts. Daniel Ragsdale worked in the Pentagon’s research directorate, at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and in the Army. He was most recently in the private sector at Two Six Technologies. Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday caught up with Ragsdale this week to talk about his new White House role.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pay compression, it’s a phenomenon that’s been affecting some senior-level federal employees for years. Now, one member of Congress is trying to help adjust pay for those compressed individuals. The new bill comes after months of pressure from senior executive organizations, who want the White House to make good on a promise to at least propose a solution to the pay problem. For more, Federal News Network's Drew Friedman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices