Federal Drive with Tom Temin

The armed services have been dealing with a number of important issues in the past year. Issues they'll need to keep grappling with in the year ahead, 2022. Among them, how to assess and mitigate the occurrences of sexual assault within the ranks. And how to lower the persistent rate of suicides among solders, sailors, airmen and marines. Federal News Network's Scott Maucione has been covering these topics, and he joined the Federal Drive with an assessment and look ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Homeland Security is moving ahead with a new concept for managing risks to parts of the U.S. economy. Instead of focusing on individual sectors, DHS is now assessing the most critical functions, and the technologies that support them. For more, Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learning agendas are becoming a popular buzzword in government these days. Individual agencies are working on their own learning agendas to publish next spring. Now the Biden administration is launching a new learning agenda as part of his emerging President's Management Agenda. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to explain what this means, and how federal employees, the private sector and others can weigh in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A National Security Agency cloud computing acquisition is in limbo after losing bidder Microsoft successfully challenged one of the source selection criteria. The case shows how carefully agencies need to tread, especially when price is not the main criterion. Smith Pachter McWhorter procurement attorney Joe Petrillo review the case on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal real estate officials and Congress both know the government has plenty of property to dispose of. Yet 20 years of effort has produced very little in the way of excess property sales. Five years after Congress refreshed the effort with a new law, the General Services Administration has only sold one building. For more, we turn to the acting director of physical infrastructure issues at the Government Accountability Office, Jill Naamane. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From SolarWinds to President Joe Biden's executive order on cybersecurity to the collapse of the Pentagon's JEDI program to Log4j, it's been quite a year for cybersecurity in the federal government. And for its first cousin, cloud computing. Federal News Network Executive Editor Jason Miller has been following all of it. He joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin with a summary and what you can expect for 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to the Federal Drive with Tom Temin on Federal News Network. In the race to find technology talent, sometimes you have to grow your own. Accenture Federal Services is doing just that with an apprenticeship program for veterans in the St. Louis, Missouri, area. For details, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the managing director and lede of its Advanced Technology Center Accenture, Ali Bokhari, and one of the apprentices now working as a full time engineer, Tyler Eccleton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Few acquisition methods have proven as popular with agency buyers than indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity contracts. Known affectionately as IDIQs. Protests, though, have killed off at least one planned IDIQ, and threaten delay or stop a couple of others. Joining the Federal Drive with more on this unfortunate trend, federal sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As part of the Homeland Security Department, the Coast Guard is about to adopt an employee performance management program DHS is pushing to its components. For how this will affect employees, Coast Guard human resources specialist Brooke Lawson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AIDS, the deadly virus-caused disease that dominated medical news in the 1980s, is still a scourge. Especially in certain nations outside of the U.S. And helping mitigating it remains a priority for the State Department. For an update, the Federal Drive turned to the senior advisor in the Office of the U.S. Global Aids Coordinator and Health Diplomacy, Jirair Ratevosian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Small Business Administration is elevating its Office of Women’s Business Ownership. It's part of the Biden administration’s focus on what it calls equitable recovery from the pandemic. Now the office reports directly to the SBA Administrator, currently Isabella Guzman. It’s also trying to encourage more women business owners to compete for federal contracts. For a closer look at this work, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the assistant administrator of SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership, Natalie Madeira Cofield. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Military service members get a housing stipend every month depending on their rank, where they live, and their family situation. This coming year, the Defense Department is increasing its average basic allowance for housing by an unusually high percentage. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione with the details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even Democrats on Capitol Hill are saying the gigantic so-called build back better legislation won't happen in 2021. They'll be back with it next year. Meantime members are concerned with how the vaccine mandate is playing out for federal employees and service members. More now from WTOP Capitol Hill Correspondent Mitchell Miller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you oversee an enterprise as big as the Defense Department, you need a plan. And that's what the Office of Inspector General does every year … develop a plan for the year ahead. The OIG's 2022 plan is out. For highlights, the management challenges lead in the OIG, Courtney Fones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Financial criminals need mules to move the cash. The Justice Department builds fences to keep the mules from getting very far. In fact, the Money Mule initiative has been running for four years, and it's gaining ground. For what it is and how it works, the consumer protection branch deputy assistant attorney general Arun Rao. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices