Federal Drive with Tom Temin

On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: How the Transportation Department tries to bolster a little-known piece of infrastructure. Cloud computing is the next line in the competition with China. Does the GSA have the best data to work with during price negotiations with contractors? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new report from the General Services Administration's Inspector General didn't have many nice things to say about its Multiple Award Schedule’s Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) pilot. First criticizing the agency for not using the data, then calling the data itself unusable. This left at least one contracting expert confused on the IG's true intent here. For more, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Larry Allen, President of Allen Federal Business Partners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's fair to say, federal agencies will never buy commercial cloud computing services from Chinese vendors. But China aims to take the lead in cloud computing worldwide. To examine that competitive challenge to the United States, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Jim Lewis, Senior VP for the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Only a couple of shipyards in the United States can build Navy ships. Hundreds of small shipyards, though, build important pieces of the country's at-home infrastructure: barges, ferries, tugboats. That is why the Transportation Department, through the Maritime Administration, has an ongoing program of grants to small shipyards, to help them stay afloat, so to speak. For an update, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with MARAD Administrator, retired Navy Rear Admiral Ann Phillips. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After years of working as a small shop with most of its requirements outsourced to the Air Force, Cyber Command’s J9 acquisition and technology directorate finally has the ingredients for an independent acquisition program. While it may be some time before it can take on big platform acquisitions on its own, it now has the budget, if not the manpower, to increase the scope and scale of what it buys. The plan is part of a five-year build up that will eventually see the directorate operating with more people and more responsibilities. Now it just needs to move forward and develop a track record, said Michael Clark, CYBERCOM’s director of cyber acquisition and technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With cameras whirring, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders will meet with President Biden tomorrow. Their topic? What else but the debt ceiling impasse. For more on this and other congressional matters, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with WTOP Capitol Hill Correspondent Mitchell Miller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the Postal Service, acquisition of new delivery vehicles has been a long, convoluted affair. It's not over. Although the Postal Service did the requisite environmental impact statement, it wasn't good enough for stakeholders. USPS faces lawsuits. Somehow it all has to do with gas engine versus electric. For details and what has to happen next, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Josh Bartzen, the Audit Director of the Postal Service Office of Inspector General. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Each year we turn to celebrate some of the most capable and accomplished career federal civil servants. Finalists for Service to America Medals, known as the Sammies. It's a signature program of the Partnership for Public Service. Federal Drive host Tom Temin got a preview on the Sammies with Partnership President & CEO Max Stier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: It's time to celebrate some of the government's best and brightest The Postal Service can't just buy new delivery vehicles … oh, no, no, no. That tick-tick-tick-tick-tick you hear? It's the countdown to debt ceiling doomsday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last several years, Congress has passed several pieces of legislation meant to speed up the Defense Department’s acquisition system. Now, DoD officials have an idea of their own: they’re asking for new authorities that would let the military services begin early work on critical new programs without lawmakers’ explicit permission, arguing the current approval process takes too long and risks putting the U.S. military at a technological disadvantage. The reforms Congress has passed since the middle of the last decade have been focused on moving technologies through DOD’s acquisition bureaucracy more quickly. But none of them have made a significant dent in the delays that come from the annual budgeting and appropriations process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After years of alleged discrimination toward pregnant employees at the Department of Homeland Security, a group of Customs and Border Protection officers has now reached the next step in a lawsuit against the agency. The discrimination case, affecting current and former officers and agricultural specialists in CBP’s Office of Field Operations, is now certified as a class action lawsuit. An administrative judge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission certified the class of employees on April 21. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guidance from the White House a couple of weeks ago seeks to get more federal employees back to their offices. It's a big data-gathering exercise. To find out the pros and cons, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Bob Tobias, a Professor in the Key Executive Leadership program at American University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Camp Ripley is a 53,000-acre civilian and military training facility operated by the Minnesota National Guard. Keeping it up and maintaining it is no trivial matter. But Josh Pennington, the base's environmental supervisor, is up to the task. He and his team were among winners of the 2023 Secretary of Defense Environmental Awards. To learn more, Federal News Network's Eric White spoke with Pennington. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Selective Service System collects names on behalf of a place few Americans choose to work. Yet the Selective Service itself ranked in the top 10, of best places to work among small agencies in the latest list. To find out the secret, Federal Dive host Tom Temin conducted an in-studio interview with Joel Spangenberg, the Acting Director of the agency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: What it takes for a small agency to be a great place to work. The administration's new telework guidance is far from perfect. How the Army conserves 53,000 acres of training territory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices