Federal Drive with Tom Temin

The Department of Health and Human Services has some new authorities to hopefully help resolve the nationwide shortage of baby formula. That’s after President Biden invoked the somewhat rarely used Defense Production Act. But it’s not exactly clear how HHS will use those newly-delegated authorities, and how much they could help. Meanwhile lots of questions about the crisis on Capitol Hill. That’s where we find WTOP’s Mitchell Miller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More and more, the Defense Department's weapons systems must be cyber resilient. Now there's a publicly available webinar for science and engineering people that outlines what DOD calls its Cyber Resilient Weapon Systems Body of Knowledge. The webinar takes an hour to get through. Melinda Reed is director for resilient systems, in the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. She talked with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some members of Congress believe former President Donald Trump had a conflict of interest. As a private citizen, Trump had leased, from the General Services Administration, the old Post Office Pavilion. It became a Trump Hotel. Now Representative Dina Titus (D-Nev.) has introduced a bill that would require the GSA to terminate any lease with an elected federal official or head of an executive agency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration is setting a higher bar for customer experience across government. But it’s the General Services Administration that’s laying the foundation for those improvements. GSA under a recent executive order is charged with making USA.gov a one-stop shop for individuals seeking federal services. It’s also making digital services at other agencies possible through its shared identity authentication services. For an update on all of this Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By nearly all accounts, the federal workforce will be highly hybrid in the post-pandemic era. Few will return to the office five days a week. Few will telework five days a week. For one view of what this means for technology and the investments needed to support the new work mode, the Federal Drive turned to the president of HP Federal, Todd Gustafson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Navy builds lots of things that float. But it also needs ports, depots, and other constructed facilities. The Naval Construction Battalion Center is celebrating 80 years, having been established June 2, 1942. For the latest on its contemporary mission and activities, we turn to its commander, Captain Jeff Powell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By most accounts, federal agencies have made great strides since last May's cyber executive order. Still, at the one mark, lawmakers pressed Biden administration officials on whether agencies have done enough to defend critical networks from cyber attacks. For more, Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than two years after the Agriculture Department relocated, with a lot of controversy, two research facilities out of Washington, D.C., staffing levels at the labs are getting closer to normal. But the Government Accountability Office says USDA’s process for deciding on Kansas City, Missouri, left out a few things. Joining the Federal Drive with more, Federal News Network’s Drew Friedman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the government spent billions on health measures in response to the pandemic, officials worried whether enough would flow to the poor and vulnerable. Such people live in both urban and rural areas. My next quest coordinated the work to get millions of vaccines and other medications to community health centers. She's the director of the Office of Quality Improvement at the Health Resources and Services Administration, and a finalist in this year's Service to America Medals program, Dr. Suma Nair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By any measure software vendor Solar Winds was a high flyer, with many federal customers for its IT managements software. Now the company says it's nearly recovered from the 2020 Sunburst hack that sent federal agencies fleeing...and became part of the cybersecurity vernacular. The Federal Drive got more from Solar Winds chief information security officer, Tim Brown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The governmental response to the COVID pandemic pulled in many agencies at the federal, state and local levels. But how well did they work together? The intergovernmental response is the topic of the latest study, sought by Congress, from a working group of the National Academy of Public Administration. Its main finding: there's work to do. The Federal Drive got more now from working group co-chair and University of San Francisco professor Richard Callahan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Army is modernizing almost everything. The effort extends from rifles used by individual soldiers to the Army's information systems and software development. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione got an update from the Army's Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, Young Bang. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the White House added up results from the latest federal employee pulse survey, the General Services Administration saw some positive feedback from its crew. GSA Deputy Administrator Katy Kale tells Federal News Network's Drew Friedman, she's particularly satisfied with the sheer the number of responses GSA got. First she comments on what it's important to have a series of surveys. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just like innumerable other government agencies, the Air Force runs on paper-based forms that have to be filled out manually, and each one takes time. But "how much" was a difficult question to answer, until the Virginia Air National Guard’s 192nd Wing saw a chance to do things differently. The wing has been experimenting with AI to take some of the repetitive tasks out of all that paperwork. And based on initial tests, the process could save the Air Force 156,000 man hours every year for just one form. Chief Master Sgt. Joe Young has been leading the testing process for the 192nd. He talked with Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration wants to speed up federal permits and environmental reviews for projects under the $1 trillion infrastructure law. The White House permitting action plan includes a Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council. For how the council hope to expedite things, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the executive director Christine Harada on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices