Federal Drive with Tom Temin

The Energy and Homeland Security Departments have agreed to work together to cut energy consumption and carbon production by DHS facilities. They've signed an agreement under which Energy's Federal Energy Management Program, or FEMP, will give technical assistance to DHS. Joining the Federal Drive with details, FEMP procurement team leader Skye Schell and agency engagement lead Hayes Jones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Agencies have extensive instructions from the Biden administration on improving diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility within the federal workforce. President Biden signed a new order late last week. It runs more than 5,000 words. The order has a little bit of everything. It addresses unpaid internships, pay in the federal government, training, opportunities, ex convicts and even agency literature and gender pronouns. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined the Federal Drive to walk us through the new order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just under 100 proposals made their way to the Technology Modernization Fund Board by the June 2 deadline for accelerated consideration. These business cases are vying for some of the $1 billion Congress added to the TMF in the American Rescue Fund Act. In his weekly feature, the Reporter's Notebook, executive editor Jason Miller writes about how some agencies are approaching their TMF proposals and how closely Congress is watching the administration's efforts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some significant movement is expected on infrastructure spending in the U.S. House this week. Lawmakers plan to vote on a more than $500 billion water and transportation package. That’s just one piece of House Democrats’ ambitions for infrastructure this year, and it’s separate from the approach the White House and the Senate are discussing. To bring us up to speed on the Hill, the Federal Drive was joined by Loren Duggan, deputy news director for Bloomberg Government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The old question persists. Why should it be so difficult to remove underperforming federal employees? Our next guest argues that feds could become at-will employees with fewer job protections, and that wouldn't mean a return to the patronage system. He was Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy during the Trump administration, now with the conservative America First Policy Institute, James Sherk. He talked with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shrewd federal contractors and other companies like to hire military veterans, who bring valuable skills. Now two veterans have written a how-to book that seeks to teach hiring managers what they call a data driven approach to hiring and retaining veterans. Authors Kristin Saboe and Nathan Ainspan talked about the issues with Tom Temin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Census Bureau’s Opportunity Project puts federal data to work, pairing agencies up with tech teams from the private sector to create digital projects that benefit the public. This year’s sprints focused on addressing COVID-19 and post-pandemic recovery. But for the year ahead, the bureau is also working with five agencies to run these types of data sprints on their own. For more on the pandemic sprints and next steps, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the director of the Opportunity Project Director Drew Zachary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prime contractors may be key to fixing the Pentagon's supply chain visibility problems. Those vulnerabilities were laid bare by COVID-19 last year, and a House task force is now preparing legislation to address the issue along with other supply challenges affecting the Defense Department. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Pentagon is shedding some light on a much anticipated review of its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program. Officials said small business is at the top of their priorities. This as the chief executive of the CMMC Accreditation Body said its possible there are just weeks to go until assessments get the green light.Federal News Network's Justin Doubleday talked with the Federal Drive's Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can nonprofit contractors under the AbilityOne Program compete with one another on price, as if they were regular contractors going after a solicitation? That's what the Court of Federal Claims was asked to rule on. The case got to the heart of what the AbilityOne program is all about. The Federal Drive got the details from Smith Pachter McWhorter attorney Joseph Petrillo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Defense Department has a new plan to speed up its adoption of artificial intelligence technologies. The A-I and Data Accelleration Initiative – or ADA – formally launched this week. It includes four lines of effort, all designed to make sure DoD isn’t just working with A-I in experimental settings, but moving it into practical applications in combatant commands around the world. Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu has details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Spectrum Consortium, funded by the Defense Department, is devoted to R&D related to the emerging 5-G and related internet-of-things technologies. Now it has new executive director with Capitol Hill, Pentagon and industry experience. Dr. Maren Leed talked with Federal Drive host Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facilities management contracts sound like mundane things. But they're expensive, and they require no less oversight than any other type of contract. But the National Security Agency didn't do a stellar job of managing a $400 million contract for facilities and logistics. For the lessons learned, NSA Inspector General Robert Storch talked to Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Consider for a moment nonmilitary crimes like murder or larceny committed by members of the military. It looked like smooth sailing this year for a bill that took prosecution of these crimes out of the chain of command. The legislation had more than 60 sponsors in the Senate and heavy support in the House. Then the letters from top brass started coming it. Now it looks like there's a fight brewing among the military service chiefs, the defense secretary and Congress. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione has the latest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The federal government's flagship leadership development program will go through a review and some changes in the coming years. The Office of Personnel Management says it wants to make the Presidential Management Fellows program more inclusive. That's after hearing from current and former fellows, and seeing what OPM calls an unacceptable decline in the number of diverse applicants. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined the Federal Drive to explain what the frustrations are, and how OPM intends to improve. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices