Federal Drive with Tom Temin

The Biden administration is moving at a snail's pace to staff itself. Slower in fact than the last three administrations. That's according to analysis done by Katy Tenpas, a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency keeps expanding. The Federal cyber advisor, a Senate confirmed position, has been in place for months. So why is the Government Accountability Office testifying on the need for a national cyber strategy aimed at protecting critical infrastructure? We get an answer from the GAO's director of information technology and cybersecurity issues, Nick Marinos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like a pile of pick-up sticks, the Biden administration's contractor vaccine mandate has collapsed in a heap. After a slew of state lawsuits and unfavorable court decisions, the administration won't enforce the mandate. But that doesn't end the matter necessarily. Joining the Federal Drive with what might come next, the president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, David Berteau. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether in the public or private sectors, technology has arrived at the task of recruiting and hiring people. Now, more employers are adding artificial intelligence to their technology stacks. AI has the potential for misuse, or even for introducing unlawful bias all by itself. It's a big concern for my next guest. She's chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Charlotte Burrows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The latest attempt to give small business government contractors a boost comes at a strange time in federal acquisition. The Biden administration aims to double the percentage of contracts going to small disadvantage businesses in 2022, at a time when the number of all small firms are shrinking. In his weekly Reporter's Notebook, executive editor Jason Miller covers the challenges agencies face in meeting the Biden administration's small business goals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By all indications, the Congress this week will have managed to keep a streak going. It will get the National Defense Authorization Act to the president's desk before the of the calendar year. Beyond that? Bloomberg Government deputy news director Loren Duggan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Each year the holiday buying season brings in a raft of phony and counterfeit goods into the country. And each year Immigration and Custom Enforcement's Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center works to stop them. Here on the Federal Drive with this year's update, the deputy director of the center, Ricardo Mayoral. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A group of scientists at the Argonne National Laboratory have one word for you. Just one word. Plastic. Well, polyurethane to be precise. This widely used material is almost never recycled. Now the lab has teamed up with Northwestern University and Dow Chemical Company to, you might say, modernize how polyurethane is made and handled. Joining the Federal Drive with more, the fuels and products group leader at Argonne's systems assessment center, Troy Hawkins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congressional auditors have found big flaws in the Defense Department's signature supplier security program. That would be the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program. A Government Accountability Office review found numerous problems with “CMMC 1.0.” Now the question is, will those issues continue to haunt the revised “2.0” program? For more, Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration is setting long-term zero-emission goals for federal buildings and vehicles. A new executive order sets 2050 as deadline. The General Services Administration is already putting plans in motion, not waiting for the Build Back Better law now stalled in Congress. Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman joined the Federal Drive with more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What promises to be a long accounting for the federal response to the pandemic, it's already underway. One agency that was called to respond early is FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A recent report from the Homeland Security Office of Inspector General found a mixed bag. Joining the Federal Drive with details, the DHS deputy inspector general for audits, Bruce Miller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2022 defense authorization bill is on the fast track to passage. Finally. Some of the blockbuster provisions were left out, but there are still plenty of measures that directly affect service members and their families. For what those are, Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the biggest unanswered questions about the Pentagon’s Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability contract has been this. Will vendors be able to compete for work on a project-by-project basis. And the answer is yes, but with a caveat. DoD does plan to conduct task order competitions for each new cloud requirement. But vendors won’t submit bids. Instead, the department will use a new technology tool called “AT-AT” to pick winners based on what it already knows about each company’s capabilities and prices. If it sounds unusual – it is. In an exclusive interview with Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu, Danielle Metz, the deputy DoD CIO for information enterprise, explained how it will work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stop us if you've heard this before. But in a politically divided America, trust in government is at a low point. A survey sponsored by the Project on Government Oversight finds voters across the spectrum suspect there's corruption in the government. With a view of what Congress can do about it, POGO's government affairs manager, Dylan Hedtler Gaudette. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The bottom seems to be falling out of the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for federal contractors. Seven states filed lawsuits against it. And now a judge in Georgia has blocked the mandate nationwide. For one view of what contractors should do now, the Federal Drive turned to Jenner and Block partner Matthew Haws. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices