Federal Drive with Tom Temin

A 2011 law called the America Invents Act established something called the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. And it changed the system from first-to-invent, to first-to-file. Randy Landreneau said the law is a mistake and needs to be changed back. He is president of a group called US Inventor, which lobbies Congress to rewrite the law, and he joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for more discussion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three years ago, the Agriculture Department launched Farmers.gov. The new IT system was meant to deliver self-service tools to farmers and ranchers who rely on government support. USDA plans to spend almost $170 million on it by 2023. So how’s it working? No one quite knows because USDA hasn’t followed its own rules for documenting progress on IT programs. The feedback it’s gathered from farmers isn’t especially illumining either. The Government Accountability Office made 15 recommendations to improve USDA’s oversight of the program. For more, Federal News Network's Jared Serbu spoke with the GAO's Vijay D'Souza on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration has been busy pumping out new guidance on its vaccine mandate for federal employees. In recent days it offered up new details on how agencies should discipline employees who fail to roll up those sleeves, and what the process for requesting a religious or medical exception might look like. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for the latest highlights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Background investigations reform hit a major milestone last week when clearance officials said all Defense Department clearance holders had been enrolled in continuous vetting. That system of automated record checks will eventually replace periodic gumshoe reinvestigations. Officials call continuous vetting more streamlined and effective. But the reform initiative still faces some hurdles. For more Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday spoke to Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everybody talks about using data to inform decision making about meeting the mandates of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, a.k.a. the Evidence Act, but fewer actually do it. Katherine Dawes is one of those outstanding exceptions. She's the acting evaluation officer at the EPA and as of last week, a recipient of the Data Coalition's 2021 Annual Datum Awards. She joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to talk more about her role. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration has released details of what are known as class deviations. Allowable changes in the federal acquisition regulation to take into account the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and what contractors must do for their own safety and that of federal employees they encounter. Joining the Federal Drive with industry reaction, the executive vice president for policy at the Professional Services Council, Stephanie Kostro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Einstein once said, if at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it. Well the Air Force Research Laboratory seems to be taking that heart. Air Force technology officials want to make sure that if they hear a good idea to solve a challenge, they'll be able to bring it to fruition. Through the Lab's Air and Space Forces Science and Technology Front Door project, officials hope to nurture partnerships with S&T experts to do just that. To learn more, Federal News Network's Eric White spoke with two of the lab's science and technology leads, Elizabeth Escamilla and Brian McJilton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You've heard of the labor shortages facing many sectors of the economy. One path to bring in more nurses, technicians, or mechanics is to reinvigorate apprenticeship programs. Now the Labor Department has appointed 29 members to its Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship, a move officials hope will guide them towards improving mentorships. For more on the administration's plans, Federal News Network's Eric White spoke with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The State and Commerce departments are both launching strategies to maximize the use of their data. But they've got different goals in mind. State wants to build up data skills in its workforce. Commerce is looking at ways to help under-served communities. For more on these documents, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman has more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lawmakers are asking tough questions of the Department of Veterans Affairs about a struggling IT project. And no, it's not the new electronic health record. The House and Senate VA Committee have growing concerns about VA's 2 billion dollar program to modernize its medical supply chain management system. In his weekly Reporter's Notebook, executive editor Jason Miller writes about this emerging troubled program. Jason joins me now with the details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The very brief shutdown that started within parts of the Transportation Department is now over. Members of Congress agreed to reauthorize the highway trust fund that funds several DOT agencies during a vote on Saturday. But that’s about all that got down. Agreement is still elusive on the big federal spending questions, including the infrastructure bill, the president’s Build Back Better package, not to mention annual appropriations bills for the fiscal year that just started last week. Here to bring the Federal Drive up to speed on where things stand is Loren Duggan, deputy news director at Bloomberg Government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The now infamous Fat Leonard case stretched far and wide into the Naval contracting community, and it may not be over yet. A new podcast provides new insight to the man at the center of it all, by speaking to him directly, Leonard Francis, the man currently facing several charges from the U.S. government. The host of the new series, Tom Wright, who is a reporter with the Wall Street Journal and co-founder of Project Brazen, recently spoke to Federal News Network's Eric White to discuss what he heard from him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the second year in a row, economists at the FDIC are turning to college students to help answer some of their toughest research problems. Not just by asking students to answer academic questions – but by helping to figure out exactly what questions bank regulators ought to be asking. The second annual FDIC Academic Challenge launched a few weeks ago. This one’s focused on the effects of COVID-19 on the banking system. For more, the Federal Drive spoke with Jon Pogach, the Chief of Financial Modeling and Research at the FDIC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month marks 10 years since agencies were directed to protect classified information by setting up insider threat programs. The Obama-era executive order led to dozens agencies to set up insider threat programs from scratch, and also created the National Insider Threat Task Force to oversee the protection efforts. The current director of the task force, Bob Rohrer, spoke with Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday about the progress that’s been made and the future of insider threats. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal contractors has, much like it did for federal employees, raised more questions than answers. Federal contracting attorneys are being inundated with questions from clients about the scope of this mandate. Federal News Network’s Alazar Moges spoke with some of those attorney’s about what they’re hearing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices