Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Congress provided the Department of Veterans Affairs received nearly $20 billion to take on COVID-19. The money came with the requirement to account for it. Now VA's Office of Inspector General has found that the department worked hard to document its handling of the money. But weaknesses in VA's financial management systems raise questions. For more, VA's deputy assistant inspector general Nick Dahl spoke to Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who’s in charge of the Veterans Affairs Departments police force? That's one question VA officials hope to settle as they struggle to reform VA's law enforcement arm. Government overseers said veterans and employees could be at risk in the meantime, and are pressing the VA to sort out a confusing leadership structure that could be preventing the department from instituting other changes. Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A tough congressional look at the budding Space Force and an experienced hand chosen to lead Air Force acquisition. Two of the top stories on the defense front this week. Most urgent perhaps is something of a budget crisis for the National Guard. For more, Jared Serbu and Scott Maucione joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For all of its talk about yet more procurement reform, the Biden administration still hasn't appointed anyone to run the small but crucial Office of Federal Procurement Policy. Meanwhile, over at the Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, something big is brewing. Federal Drive with Tom Temin talked about that with federal sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In terms of customer service, the IRS is in a difficult spot. A delayed filing season, extra duties piled on by Congress, and some enduring technology issues. No wonder taxpayers could hardly get through with a phone call. For how the agency might improving things for the next filing season, the National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pentagon acquisition might not animate dinner party conversations. But it's a hugely important topic in military planning circles, and it generates reams of articles each year. That's why, each year, the Army backs a program known as the Major General Harry Greene Awards for Acquisition Writing. Among the winners of the most recent round is a professor at Defense Acquisition University, Dave Riel joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Defense Department said it was going to start considering climate change a major part of its national security planning. That was back in January. Now, the department is almost finished with its strategy. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe’s Biden’s pick to run the Census Bureau has outlined to Congress steps he's take to improve workforce morale. Robert Santos said Census employees worked under harrowing conditions last year, in some cases 80-hour work weeks to get ahead of pandemic delays. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee also heard from Biden’s pick to run Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency without a permanent director for more than four years. For more on these nominees, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Few events have affected the National Transportation Safety Board as much as TWA Flight 800. It tragically exploded 12 minutes after departing New York back in 1996. It touched off a year's long investigation and a long list of lessons learned. Now the reassembled fuselage of the doomed 747, in storage in a Virginia warehouse for the last 25-some years, is about to be scrapped. For some perspective on the significance of the moment, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the NTSB's managing director, Sharon Bryson. And the chief advisor for international affairs, Frank Hilldrup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Library of Congress has been on a long-term quest to digitize what it can, of its collection and find new ways to connect with the public online. Now its digital innovation lab has a new chief, Nicki Saylor joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal employees on the whole weathered the COVID pandemic pretty well, but some did get sick and some did die. Now a Senate measure would bolster safety for when feds returned to the office. WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Mitchell Miller joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin with more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If the pandemic proved anything, it's never to early to start thinking about hour health care needs long term. That means now's a good time to review your needs. Federal Drive with Tom Temin talked about that with the director of wealth management at the Government Employees Benefit Association, Greg Klingler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reaching and serving people without bank accounts has been a persistent challenge for federal agencies. But on the hunch that banks themselves could helped the so-called un-banked, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has launched a tech-sprint to come up with what it describes as technologies and techniques to do just that. The Federal Drive's talked about all that with the FDIC's chief innovation officer, Sultan Meghji. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Department of Veterans Affairs wrapped up a highly-anticipated strategic review of its massive electronic health record program. But the toughest work lies ahead. VA said it will implement a new governance structure to manage the project. And it's working on new budget estimates and a deployment schedule. VA Secretary Denis McDonough said the review findings were disappointing. But he is confident VA and Cerner can correct the missteps. Congress isn't so sure. More from Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3-D printing is helping the Defense Department manufacture body armor, vehicle parts and other important stuff. But now the DoD inspector general has revealed holes in the cybersecurity of the military’s 3-D printers. For what it all means, the Federal News Network's Justin Doubleday spoke with Joe Veranese, the business systems manager at America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices