Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Sometimes the simplest things to say are the most complicated to do. Fly to the moon and back. Establish world peace. Or, require everyone in your company to get vaccinated if you want to do business with the federal government. With weeks to go before an ostensible deadline, contractors are still vexed by the nuances of the White House mandate. Here with some insight for coping, the Morris, Manning and Martin partner Kelly Kroll. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U. S. Agency for International Development recently awarded two large academic grants to deal with food insecurity, a problem that's growing worse around the world. $36 million went to the University of California, Davis. And $25 million went to Tufts University. Joining the Federal Drive with what they hope to accomplish, the chief scientist in Bureau for Resilience and Food Security at USAID, Rob Bertram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Department of Veterans Affairs will resume deployment of its massive electronic health record modernization project at a second site in March. New leadership will attempt to get a handle of the initiative. The project has been on hold for much of the last year while the administration learned about problems at the first go-live site. Not everyone is thrilled VA is moving on. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined the Federal Drive to explain the next steps. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ransomware threat has spooked nearly everyone. A big unknown is how vulnerable your organization actually is to ransomware attacks. A cybersecurity company called Black Kite says it's developed a way of accessing your risk by using open source intelligence. Joining the Federal Drive with how it works, Black Kite's chief security officer, Bob Maley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

June Gibbs Brown, one of the federal government's earliest inspectors general, retired more than 20 years ago. But her work lives on through and annual award given by the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. This year's award went to Ruth Ann Dorrill, the regional IG for evaluation and inspections at the Department of Health and Human Services. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the IRS, like a lot of large agencies, procurement, technology, and mission are all tied together. Now the IRS has a new deputy chief procurement officer, someone with long federal and private sector experience. Guy Torres joined the Federal Drive in studio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been almost two years since Congress directed the military services to appoint independent cyber advisors. The new offices went through some initial growing pains, but they're starting to find their footing within the Defense Department’s vast bureaucracy. For more, Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Postal Service delivered more than a billion packages during its peak holiday operations last year, and looks to break that record again this year. But a new study suggests USPS is putting too much of an emphasis on its package business, while sacrificing prompt mail delivery to all parts of the country. For a closer look at this study, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the former Commerce Department under secretary for economic affairs, Robert Shapiro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Postal Service delivered more than a billion packages during its peak holiday operations last year, and looks to break that record again this year. But a new study suggests USPS is putting too much of an emphasis on its package business, while sacrificing prompt mail delivery to all parts of the country. For a closer look at this study, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the former Commerce Department under secretary for economic affairs, Robert Shapiro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No contract type requires more government oversight than cost reimbursement. Looking at just a small sample of invoices incurred by the National Security Agency, its inspector general found the NSA has some work to do. Inspector General Robert Storch had the details on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The White House is mandating that federal contractors get vaccinated, but that doesn’t mean everyone. The Navy is turning a blind eye to by not amending its contracts with the nation’s largest shipbuilder to require the shots. That decision effects tens of thousands of contractors. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin for more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bureau of Land Management, part of the Interior Department, famously relocated from Washington, D.C., to Grand Junction, Colorado, in 2019. It hasn't gone smoothly. The agency is rife with vacancies because many people didn't want to move. The Government Accountability Office now has several recommendations for how BLM can manage back to normal. For more, the GAO's director of Natural Resources and Environment Issues, Frank Rusco, spoke to the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's out - the annual tally of contract protests filed by companies both before and after agencies have made awards. The numbers aren't drastically different but there are some important trends. Here with the numbers and the analysis, Federal News Network's Jason Miller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Defense Department is in the midst of an acquisition program for a new fighter jet. Actually it's an extensively modified version of an old warhorse, the F-15, known as the F-15 E-X. Dan Grazier said the plane may be mostly new, but the Air Force is making some old mistakes in buying it. He is a military fellow at the Project on Government Oversight, and he joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin for more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An executive order from the Biden administration is ostensibly aimed at protecting employees of services contractors. It would require a company that wins a follow-on contract from an incumbent, to give the incumbent employees first right of refusal to work for the winning company. It's an idea that's come up in earlier Democratic administrations. Joining the Federal Drive with one view of it, the executive vice president for policy at the Professional Services Council, Stephanie Kostro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices