Federal Drive with Tom Temin

The Postal Service says it’s on the verge of overcoming its long-term financial problems. The agency plans to spend $8 billion next year on capital investments, including its next-generation fleet of delivery vehicles. Meanwhile postal officials say they're ready for the upcoming holiday season. Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman joined the Federal Drive with the latest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Veterans make up about one-third of the federal workforce. One of them is a 24-year Army veteran, now Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. John Tien tells Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko about his own Army experiences, and about the department's initiatives for recruiting and retaining more former service members. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal Drive host Tom Temin talks to FNN reporter Justin Doubleday about his article on the big changes the Pentagon recently made to the CMMC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most artificial intelligence innovation is taking place in the consumer sector. Perhaps not enough in the defense industry. But some new research shows how extensively the largest defense contractors are investing in AI startups to supplement their internal AI spending. To dig deeper, Federal Drive host Tom Temin talked with a researcher at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Ngor Luong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Air traffic control towers have been central features of airports since the beginnings of aviation. Many of them have also become architectural landmarks. Now the FAA is seeking new designs for control towers that are both functional and distinctive. Federal Drive host Tom Temin talked about it with project engineer Zane Edwards and contract specialist ThuyLihn Nguyen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Veterans Benefits Administration is about to start paying disability benefits for those exposed to fumes from burn pits in the Middle East as far back as the Gulf War. Payments will go to those with asthma, rhinitis or sinusitis. The new benefit comes after years of complaints and lobbying Congress. For what it means to VBA, the Federal Drive spoke with the Executive Director of Compensation Service, Beth Murphy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Canines have assisted human warfighters in a variety of situations over the years. They even have an association of active duty military members and veterans who make sure the animals get proper treatment when they retire. Now the military working dogs are about to get a sculpture in their honor. The Federal Drive got the story from the president of the War Dogs Association, and former Marine Corps master sergeant, Chris Willingham. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The relationship between a military veteran and the Veterans Affairs Department literally can last a lifetime. It can also be fraught, with disputed decisions and long backlogs. After spending three years as undersecretary for veterans benefits during the Trump administration, Paul Lawrence has a few lessons learned. He joined the Federal Drive earlier in studio with what they were. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine Nation ELC, the annual leadership conference put on by the American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council, returned to in-person earlier this week. Known as the shorthand ACT-IAC ELC, the confab brings together top federal IT officials and executives from tech contractors. It concluded yesterday in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Federal News Network's Tom Temin was there, and joined Federal News Network's Jared Serbu to share his impressions of this not-quite-post-COVID event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service is testing out ways to streamline grant payments through blockchain. The bureau is partnering with the National Science Foundation to help reduce the reporting burden for grant recipients while improving transparency around federal spending. For an update on this work, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the Acting Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation, Adam Goldberg, and got comments from Craig Fisher, a supervisory program manager in that same office. Hear the interview on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have concluded the federal procurement system isn't nearly as competitive as it should or could be. That's because many solicitations end up with only one bidder, or there's no competition in the first place. For more on what they looked at and what they found, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin talked to Karam Kang, one of the project's co-authors and an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just when everyone thought it was safe to be normal, the Delta variant of COVID-19 emerged. It threw off a lot of plans including the federal response to the pandemic. The Government Accountability Office has been regularly reviewing agency response performance. In their latest report, auditors came up with 16 more recommendations. For more, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to the GAO's health care team Director Jessica Farb. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s been a lot of attention paid to poor living conditions in privatized military housing over the last several years. But as the Pentagon’s inspector general documented in a sweeping report last year, the Defense Department's own housing facilities have problems too. A team of 14 auditors, engineers and program analysts found systemic management weaknesses that exposed service members to lead, radon and other hazards in government-owned housing. For their work, the DoD IG team was just recognized with the annual Glenn/Roth Award for Exemplary Service by the Council of Inspectors General for Integrity and Efficiency. To talk more about the work that went into that specific project – and the OIG’s other ongoing work on military housing issues – the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to Jamessia Blunt, a program manager in the OIG’s infrastructure branch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The world of procurement of last week has been dropped into a blender. A yearlong continuing resolution is now a distinct possibility. The Defense Department as upended the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program. And other-transaction-authority buys are spreading like wildfire. Tom Temin got an assessment when he spoke with Federal Sales and Marketing consultant Larry Allen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's not just a slogan. They really do deliver mail through the gloom of night … and in rain and slow. But employees of the U.S. Postal Service have mixed feelings about their employer. The Office of Inspector General took detailed look at how employees view the Postal Service, as employees. Priscilla Lee is a research analyst with the OIG. She talked about the findings with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices