Federal Drive with Tom Temin

A month after the initial decision, a new explanation has emerged for the Pentagon’s sudden decision to cancel the $374 million program it’s been working on for the past several years to replace its much-maligned Defense Travel System (DTS). But for Capitol Hill, the latest rationale has raised almost as many questions as it’s answered — enough to prompt lawmakers to call Defense officials to testify at a July hearing and to demand documents that could help explain the sudden change in course. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Defense Department is moving to improve oversight of personnel with access to classified information, appoint “top secret control officers” and establish a joint office for insider threats after a junior Air National Guardsman allegedly leaked troves of highly classified data on the Discord website. The new actions are laid out in a June 30 memo signed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. They are based on a 45-day review Austin ordered in April after 21-year-old Jack Teixeira was arrested for being the alleged perpetrator of the leaks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Usually, contractors protest to the government over matters related to money. But there's a long history of non-monetary damage, usually related to interpretation of a contract. To hear more about a recent case that has affirmed this line of claim, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Haynes Boone procurement attorney Dan Ramish. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is among the oldest enduring federal programs. Now, the Agriculture Department has found a way to help recipients eat well even if they live in what's known as a food desert: no access to supermarkets or high quality food. Two finalists for Service to America Medals brought SNAP to online food buying. Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with the two Sammies finalists: Lisa Gafaldi, a Senior Technical Adviser to the SNAP program and Shelly Pierce, Director of the SNAP Policy and Innovation Division. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A bill with bipartisan backing would give substantial raises to federal firefighters. Their union says they make close to minimum wage for this dangerous work, and they haven't had a raise in a generation. For more on the Federal Firefighter Pay Equity Ac, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Greg Russell, the government affairs representative of the International Association of Firefighters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: The push is on to improve pay for the nation's federal firefighters. These USDA employees modernized an old program so poor Americans could eat better. When contractor claims against the government don't involve money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Office of Personnel Management is asking agency leaders to take it up a notch to support federal employees’ mental health and wellness. Every agency’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) has a set of traditional offerings to help feds through personal and work-related issues — including mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment and financial and legal services. EAPs are voluntary programs that feds can opt into, when or if they’re looking for those services. But now OPM is calling on agencies to revamp their EAPs and start including even more resources for feds, to create what the agency called Employee Wellness Programs (EWPs). New employee wellness guidance, which the agency published in May, expands on OPM’s EAP revitalization efforts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Supreme Court, in the case of a former mail carrier who declined to work Sundays, is setting a higher standard for employers in and out of government to reject religious accommodations in the workplace. The court, in a unanimous opinion issued Thursday, clarified businesses must grant religious accommodations to workers, unless doing so would result in “substantial increased costs” carrying out the business. The court’s ruling in Groff v. DeJoy raises the bar from a previous requirement that employers must demonstrate more than “de minimis,” or minor costs to claim a religious accommodation is unreasonable. The Supreme Court made its ruling in the case of Gerald Groff, a former rural letter carrier in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Time-wise, there's not much left of the federal fiscal year. Less then three months now. Money-wise it's a different story. Agencies will spend around $217 billion between now and September 30, more than half by the Defense Department. Contractors, especially small businesses, need to make sure their pipelines are clear, according to federal sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen, who spoke with Federal Drive Host Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's perfectly legal for federal agencies to make grants to foreign entities. Research and scientific good can come of it. But it requires oversight. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) looked at how the Health and Human Services Department, and in particular the National Institutes of Health, overseas foreign grants, or money that went to grant sub-recipients in foreign countries, like China. For more on this, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Candice Wright, the GAO's Director for Science, Technology Assessment and Analytics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Federal Drive with Tom Temin recently brought you an interview with one of this year's Data for Diplomacy awardees from the State Department. The award cited the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations for its work in a program called the Conflict Observatory. Team lede Susan Wolfinbarger joins Federal Drive Host Tom Temin once again for an update on a new observation post in the deeply troubled Sudan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: The State Department launches a special program to monitor the violence in Sudan. NIH needs to tighten oversight of foreign grant money recipients. That rumbling you hear is the end of the fiscal year approaching. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When 13 technology and venture capital leaders wrote an open letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on June 26, it was a plea to reform the Defense Department’s acquisition process. The letter lists four items it calls “actionable,” but the realities of acquisition reform may mean the status quo won’t change, at least not quickly. The letter referenced an interim report published by the Atlantic Council in April that listed ways the Defense Department can immediately modernize acquisition. The letter sent to Austin sought to highlight the importance of those reforms. The final version of the Atlantic Council’s report is due to be completed in November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices