Federal Drive with Tom Temin

The National Nurses Organizing Committee and National Nurses United at Veterans Affairs have signed a three-year contract. It covers more than 14,000 RNs at 23 VA hospitals. Negotiations spanned nearly a decade and two president's administrations. For details, Federal News Network's Eric White spoke to organizing committee chair Irma Westmoreland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Because cyber threats ceaselessly change, so do the protective measures agencies need to take. Cybersecurity guidelines from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) never stay static either. In fact, NIST is updating its guidelines in a crucial document known as special publication 800-171. Written help organizations protect sensitive, unclassified information. For the details, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with NIST fellow Ron Ross. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: NIST updates crucial guidelines for protecting sensitive information. Years of negotiating, and now a VA nurses union has a new contract. Regular business, like your agency's budget, is coming back to life in Congress. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An independent agency created to fast-track the sale of excess federal properties is falling behind on its goals envisioned more than six years ago, and is running into many of the bureaucratic hurdles it was meant to bypass. The Public Buildings Reform Board, created under the 2016 Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act (FASTA). recommended in January 2020 that the General Services Administration sell a dozen “high-value,” but underutilized federal properties. GSA sold 10 of those properties for $194 million, well below the board’s sales target of $500-$700 million, according to reports from the Government Accountability Office. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Not enough new entrants. A lack of accountability. Too many modifications to existing contracts and not enough new awards. The Veterans Affairs Department got an earful from House lawmakers last month over its IT contracting habits. The trends highlighted by the Government Accountability Office and House Veterans Affairs Committee members were not necessarily surprising to VA officials, but nonetheless worrisome. To that end, VA is changing the way it manages and works with contractors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: She helps ensure veterans receive equal care no matter who they are or where they live. The SEC is cooking up a new rule for financial services cybersecurity. Farmers.gov really launched USDA’s next generation of cloud services. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Securities and Exchange Commission is contemplating comments to a proposed rule on cybersecurity of financial services companies. Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with someone who specializes in quantifying risks, and wonders whether the proposed rules will actually help. Saket Modi is Co-Founder and CEO of Safe Security, a global leader in cybersecurity and digital business risk quantification. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The population of the nation's veterans has steadily grown more diverse -- with respect to race and ethnic background -- over the decades. And there are more women than ever. Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with a woman who has done yeoman's service to help the Veterans Health Administration not allow underserved and vulnerable veteran populations slip through the cracks. Dr. Donna Washington is the recipient of a recent VA secretary's research award, and she's a staff physician in the Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last year the federal government deputed a three-digit suicide prevention hotline phone number. 988. It replaced a 10-digit number. The new number is thanks to the work of a team at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Team members are now finalists in this year's Service to America Medals Program. Two of the finalists, James Wright and Dr. Richard McKeon joined the Federal Drive to tell their story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the federal contracting world was worrying about a giant but slow-moving contractor cybersecurity requirement from the Defense Department, Veterans Affairs went ahead with a doozy of its own. Five months later, the Federal Drive checked in on how it's going with Holland and Knight partner Eric Crucius. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the politicians debate how much money it should have, the IRS cranked dutifully away this past tax filing season. The agency says it operated on schedule for the first time since 2020, the advent of the pandemic. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration tracked the season closely. With what it found, the deputy IG for audit, Diana Tengesdal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You knew it would come to this. Thrift Savings Plan participants are suing the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board and its recordkeeping contractor Accenture Federal Services. Seven participants filed a class-action lawsuit claiming that the board and Accenture botched TSP’s major system update last summer, costing serious damage to hundreds, if not thousands, of participants. Federal News Network’s Drew Friedman joined the Federal Drive with more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is years behind its original schedule for modernizing the system it uses to manage billions of dollars in grants. But FEMA’s CIO says the agency has made progress recently. It now eyes next spring for consolidating the rest of its grants into a single IT platform. Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday has more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you've got trouble breathing, a respiratory therapist can do you a world of good. Recognizing the importance of respiratory therapy and the people who provide it, Veterans Health Administration's Maryland Health Care System has given its respiratory therapists a career boost. Now they've got a pathway to add advanced practice to their titles. The Federal Drive's next guest spearheaded the effort. He's chief of respiratory therapy for VA in Maryland, Daniel Whitt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new problem has emerged for the long-troubled F-35 joint strike fighter program. It concerns spare parts, and who accounts for them. Are they government-furnished parts or should they be accounted for under a contract. The Joint F-35 program office and its suppliers don't always agree, with the result that millions of dollars worth of parts seemingly vaporize. We get details from the director of financial management and assurance issues at the Government Accountability Office, Kristen Kociolek. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-106098 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices