Federal Drive with Tom Temin

The Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) have for decades limited Social Security payments available to certain federal employees; mainly those under the old Civil Service Retirement System and anyone else who receives a pension from earnings that were not taxed by Social Security. A bill to repeal GPO and WEP had a Congressional hearing last month at a field hearing in Louisiana. For analysis, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with John Hatton, the Vice President for Policy and Programs at the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Veterans with disabilities often benefit from service dogs. Service dogs just don't happen. They require careful training. The PenFed Foundation has information on what it takes to raise and train a service dog from a puppy. To learn more, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with James Schenck, CEO of the PenFed Foundation and Andrea McCarren, the president of the PenFed Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Government Accountability Office, the chief oversight arm of Congress , has a new chief scientist. He joins the agency after having been chief scientist at Noblis, a nonprofit research and consulting institute with many federal clients. For more, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Dr. Sterling Thomas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: Meet the new chief scientist at the government's premier oversight agency. How you can create a gift that lasts a dozen Christmas seasons. The Social Security evil twins get a fresh look from Capitol Hill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is pushing technology manufacturers to make their products secure by design, shifting the responsibility for securing products to manufacturers instead of their customers. CISA released its initial guidance on secure-by-design principles in April, and followed up with an update in October. For the latest, Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday spoke with CISA Senior Technical Adviser Jack Cable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new model-based decision support tool will soon allow Air Force leaders to predict how a single investment decision can impact an entire program and its budget. The first-of-its-kind decision advantage tool, called Rhombus Guardian, will help senior leaders to not just understand the direct costs of a particular decision, but also how that decision ripples through an entire ecosystem. If Air Force leaders, for example, decided to add or take away an aircraft, the new tool would be able to highlight both the price tag of the plane and the implications of that decision on aircraft availability, personnel, or other important domains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The State Department sends Foreign Service officers all across the world to advance America’s diplomatic mission. But those Foreign Service officers, and the families they bring with them, often contribute to the mission through off-the-clock volunteer efforts.  Now the State Department is honoring these members of the Foreign Service community for their volunteer work overseas.  For Robert and Kimberly Gudenkauf, a big change in their overseas community started with a simple act — taking in an injured stray dog. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Government Accountability Office recently upheld the protest of a contract award from the Defense Intelligence Agency. DIA was hiring a small business to conduct counterintelligence training. It used a slightly unconventional approach to evaluating bidders. But the source selection authority made a basic mistake. For the details, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked with attorney Zach Prince, a partner at Haynes Boone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The last thing the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) needs is new employees who have a substance use disorder or or felons with access to VA pharmacies. But the agency lacks a consistent procedure for finding out about such people from the Drug Enforcement Administration. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the VHA, in fact, hired thousands of people who might have drug-related convictions. For more, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked with Seto Bagdoyan, GAO's Director of Forensic Audits and Investigations. GAO Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Theaters, opera halls and concert venues were all hit hard by the pandemic. People didn't want to gather in close quarters. To get a gauge on how and where people might be participating in the arts again, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) focused on that topic in its most recent five-year survey. For more on the methodology and how the results guide NEA activities, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked with the agency's director of research and analysis, Sunil Iyengar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: The National Endowment for the Arts takes the pulse of U.S. appetite for the arts. A staff shortage doesn't mean you can hire just anyone. An award protest reaffirms: You've got to treat all bidders equally. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An acting commissioner for the Federal Acquisition Services. Two governmentwide acquisition contracts to be awarded and a third launched. Dealing with the FBI relocation mess. The General Services Administration you might say, has a lot on its plate. To dive deeper into what contractors are watching, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with federal sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress finished just days ago, moves the marker on several matters peripherally connected to the armed forces. Covington and Burling attorneys Alex Hastings and Michelle Pearce dropped by the Federal News Network studios in Chevy Chase, Maryland to talk with Federal Drive Host Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: A preview of what Commerce hopes to do with a new data strategy. The National Defense Authorization Act moves a lot of chess pieces. Why the General Services Administration has a busy year coming up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices