Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Few benefits for federal employment match the quality and reliability of the Thrift Savings Plan. Make those contributions over a career and you'll have a heck of a nest egg. Now the people behind the TSP, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, have a new strategic plan for now through 2026. Joining the Federal Drive with highlights, the board's chief operating officer, Suzanne Tosini. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Navy brass know their shipyards are in rough shape. They plan to spend $21 billion on renovations over the next two decades. But the shipyard improvement program is off to a rocky start. The backlog of needed improvements is growing, not shrinking. Costs are escalating, and in at least one case, facility conditions are getting worse. Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu has details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The IRS singled out its paper workload as one of its biggest setbacks this filing season. In response, the National Taxpayer Advocate recently issued a directive for the IRS to use scanning technology. Options include having tax preparers to use 2D barcode, and optical character recognition. For an update, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The James Webb Space Telescope has been sending back mind-bending data since its launch last year. But a few years ago the project was mired in trouble. More than a decade late and billions of dollars over budget. My next came in and got it all back on track. He's the James Webb program manager, and a finalist in this year's Service to America Medals program. Gregory Robinson joined the Federal Drive to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The inspectors general for two intelligence agencies were each overpaid... by tens of thousands of dollars, between 2016 and 2020. That’s according to an internal DoD memo a whistleblower supplied to Empower Oversight, an outside watchdog group. There’s no clear evidence anyone intentionally did anything wrong. But there’s also no evidence the money’s been repaid, or that the matter’s been properly investigated. Jason Foster is founder and president of Empower Oversight. He talked with Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu about what we do and don’t know. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yes, federal employees are returning to their offices. No, conditions won't return to normal, whatever that is. At the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, management and union representatives have been trying out different workplace configurations. Here with more, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1923, Anita Autrey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yes, federal employees are returning to their offices. No, conditions won't return to normal, whatever that is. At the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, management and union representatives have been trying out different workplace configurations. Here with more, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1923, Anita Autrey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. Space Command is in charge of military operations outside of the earth’s atmosphere. But it needs a headquarters down here on the ground. Exactly where, though, that's sparked a lot of contention. Some lawmakers suspected foul play in the Defense Department favoring Huntsville, Alabama as the new home for the command. Now a DoD Inspector General report weighing in on the legality of the decision. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione joined the Federal Drive to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Intelligence agencies typically work with highly classified information. But more and more, they want to take advantage of publicly available data and other open source intelligence. The Russian attack on Ukraine has spurred spy agencies to improve their use of what they call OSINT. Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday joined the Federal Drive with more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is mainly concerned with traffic safety. That mission involves rulemaking. Going back a decade, Congress asked for 19 reports and 22 rules from NHTSA, but the agency has been slow getting all of this administration out the door. The Federal Drive with Tom Temin got more now from the Director of physical infrastructure at the Government Accountability Office Elizabeth (Biza) Repko. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently proposed changes to its program for dealing with corporate whistleblowers. Since the Dodd-Frank banking legislation, whistleblowers receive up to 30% of penalties the SEC collects when they exceed $1 million. The program was trimmed back during the Trump administration. New proposed rules would return the program to its former state. For one view of what should happen next, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the co-founder and CEO of the banking and markets non-profit advocacy group Better Markets, Dennis Kelleher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever since the aftermath of the Titanic disaster, the Coast Guard has been patrolling the North Atlantic for icebergs that could pose hazards. They started with ships, then moved to fixed-wing aircraft. Now, as part of a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology directorate, satellites, Matthew Barger is program manager for maritime safety in the DHS Science and Technology directorate, and Commander Marcus Hirschberg is commander of the Coast Guard’s International Ice Patrol. They talked with Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu about what DHS is calling “Project Titanic," on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Results from the third Office of Management and Budget pulse survey are out. Agencies saw mixed results, but looking at the data is only the first step. Senior leaders have a lot of ways to respond to the feedback and to nip issues in the bud. Federal News Network’s Drew Friedman joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin for the details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Agencies are gearing up to oversee $1 trillion in infrastructure spending. But that’s only a fraction of the $5 trillion overseen by the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, which is still trying to catch up. The White House recently asked PRAC members to explain how the work of overseeing COVID spending might help with infrastructure spending oversight. For more, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman caught up with the Chairman of the PRAC and the Inspector General of the Justice Department Michael Horowitz. Hear their conversation on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Forget about the idea of six degrees of separation. In the world of government contracting, people are no more than a hop or two away from one another. That's why, with a pressured end-of-the-fiscal-year coming, my next guest says it's a good time to remember a few of the human relations ground rules. Federal sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen joined the Federal Drive with more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices