Federal Drive with Tom Temin

If you've bought a major appliance in the last few decades, it's probably come along with a sticker from the EPA's Energy Star program rating its energy efficiency. But you might not know the EPA is also in the business of scoring and certifying the efficiency of huge data centers. The agency has just released the latest version of its certification standards for data centers. For more about how the program works, Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Federal News Network's Jared Serbu talked to Ryan Fogle. He's the data center product manager for Energy Star. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the IRS possibly getting big budget boosts in the next few years, the question becomes whether it can hire the people it says it needs … with any reasonable speed. A long time federal management expert says a solution is right there in plain sight. American University professor Bob Tobias joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress averted a government shutdown yesterday – and it’s a good thing. Shutdowns can cause problems that drag out for years. Look no further than the employee pay issues surrounding the 2013 and 2018 shutdowns, which are still being litigated in court. Federal employee plaintiffs who worked without pay during the shutdown argue they’re owed damages under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The government argues that’s wrong, because under the Anti-deficiency Act, it would have been illegal to pay them during the shutdown. Lawyers are now filing briefs before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which is expected to sort out the apparent conflict between those two statutes. Federal employment Heidi Burakeiwicz represents tens of thousands of employees who sued for damages after both the 2013 and 2018 shutdowns, and she joined the Federal Drive to bring us up to speed on the cases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress managed to accomplish what was perhaps its easiest task on yesterday's to-do list: avoiding a government shutdown before the end of the fiscal year. Congress passed a continuing resolution that will keep agencies running for the next nine weeks. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined the Federal Drive to run through what was a busy week for the federal workforce. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy is putting a new emphasis on helping agencies reduce their Procurement Administrative Lead Time. “PALT” is the time it takes between when an agency issues a contract solicitation and when it actually makes a contract award. And there’s good reason to focus on PALT: According to a new analysis by Bloomberg Government, the average lead time increased 72% over the last five years. BGOV’s Paul Murphy led the data analysis project, and he joined the Federal Drive to talk more about the rise of PALT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Air Force has a new chief technology officer. Jay Bonci (BAHN-see) took his first government leadership position in August, following a career as a technology executive at Akamai. He takes over for Frank Konieczny – the former long-time CTO who retired earlier this year. Mr. Bonci joined the Federal Drive to talk a bit about the technology challenges he sees for the Air Force, and what he hopes to achieve in the position. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As more and more attention gets paid to the environmental hazards of PFAS and PFOS chemicals – especially in drinking water, Congress is considering several different approaches to remediate the problem. One of them that’s already passed the House would use the Environmental Protection Agency’s existing Superfund program to regulate the contaminants and order cleanups. And while the approach might seem fairly straightforward, our next guest argues it’s more likely to lead to years of litigation than actual environmental cleanup. Philip Comella leads the Environment and Energy Practice Group at the law firm Freeborn and Peters. He wrote an article a few weeks back arguing that Superfund is the wrong tool for the job, he joined the Federal Drive to discuss Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The NDAA is nominally a defense bill, but the must-pass legislation has become a vehicle for all sorts of other initiatives in recent years, including federal cybersecurity efforts. This year’s defense bill is set to once again boost the powers of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. For more the Federal Drive spoke with Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The military has seen a 26% rise in eating disorders in recent years. Health advocates are calling the House passage of the 2022 defense authorization bill a win for helping those service members and their families. The bill expands intervention training for military health professionals and lengthens the amount of time dependents can use TRICARE benefits for help. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione talks about the issue with The Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy and Action’s Chief Strategy Office Jillian Lampert. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What can state and national data show us about childhood obesity, health care, access and neighborhood conditions? Our next guest has done some significant research into compiling that data, research that helped officials at all levels of government develop policy. She's the director of the Division of Epidemiology and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau at the Health Resources and Services Administration, and a finalist in this year's Service to America Medals program. Dr. Reem Ghandour spoke with Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The entire federal workforce has never been subject to a vaccine mandate before. And the policy is raising questions about how agencies will discipline employees who fail to comply the new requirements. Federal contractors got a few more details about what the policy will mean for them last week. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to explain the latest guidance, and why so many other aspects of the vaccine mandate are still up in the air. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One in four State Department embassies and other facilities are, in the department’s own estimation, in terrible shape. In fact the maintenance backlog stands at about $3 billion. The number of facilities is growing faster than the budget. Is there a way out? For some possible answers, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to two auditors at the Government Accountability Office. Catina Latham is acting director for Physical Infrastructure, and Jason Bair is director for International Affairs and Trade issues. They discussed some of their findings on State Department facilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s an old issue: Conflict of interest in the awarding of contracts. In one recent protest, a Navy employee involved in developing specifications ended up in a job with one of the bidders. For how the case turned out, Federal Drive with Tom Temin talked with Smith Pachter McWhorter procurement attorney Joe Petrillo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The federal contracting community will feel relieved if Congress proceeds with a continuing resolution, and avoids a lapse in appropriations. Fondly known as a government shutdown. But starting the fiscal year on a CR is hardly ideal. Federal sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen explained why when he spoke earlier with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the Justice Department, assistant U.S. attorneys and trial attorneys are both, well, lawyers that do litigation. But they work under different pay systems. The assistant U.S. attorneys say that on the whole, everyone else earns more. And they've asked department's management division to move them from administratively determined pay to the regular General Schedule -- like the trial attorneys. Adam Hanna is an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Illinois, and co-chair of the compensation committee of the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys. He talked about the pay issues with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices