Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Call it luck, unintentionally good planning or just an abundance of caution, but the Small Business Administration was ahead of the game when it came to preparations for what turned out to be a doozy of a hurricane season. Federal News Radio's Meredith Somers shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Veterans Affairs Department has a lot of tough and contentious challenges. Several of them come to light as VA attempts to get its arms around the issue of veterans suicide. Twenty veterans a day die by suicide, according to VA's most recent studies. But there's one, big glaring challenge that's stumping VA Secretary David Shulkin. Federal News Radio's Nicole Ogrysko shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Federal agencies large and small are struggling to hire and keep qualified cyber professionals. Agencies say they need more specialized hiring authorities. Members of Congress want them to use more of the authorities they already have. But the problem may be too big to solve simply by changing federal recruiting policies. Jeff Neal, senior vice president at ICF, talked about the challenge with Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Navy says it wants to be a big customer for the Defense Information Systems Agency's cloud-based email and unified communications service. There's just one problem: despite two years of planning, the service doesn't exist yet, so Navy brass are hesitant to drop anchor into nowhwere. Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu has details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

A North Carolina congresswoman says she's got a "GREAT" idea for helping the federal government keep better track of its $600 billion in grant awards. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) plans to introduce what she's calling Grant Reporting Efficiency and Assistance Transparency Act (GREAT), which builds on the standardized spending reports now required under the DATA Act. Federal News Radio's Meredith Somers shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Sometimes procurement does come down to lowest price, but often contracting officers have to make tradeoffs. That's where something called VATEP comes in. For more, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turns Joseph Petrillo, a procurement attorney with Petrillo and Powell and a consultant for his new blog, Patterns of Procurement.

The origins are a mystery, but the effects are real enough. U.S. diplomats in Cuba have been experiencing odd maladies. Some of them have become seriously ill with hearing loss, concussions and headaches. AP reporter Josh Lederman has been following this phenomenon closely, and he shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

For the past several months, Federal Drive with Tom Temin has been bringing you a series of interviews of some of the most magnificent people in the federal government finalists in the annual Service to America Medals program. Tonight the winners get those medals. Margot Conrad, vice president of education and outreach at the Partnership for Public Service, explains the larger roll of the Sammies.

A long-running program at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services established Accountable Care Organizations to treat patients holistically while offering providers share-in-savings incentives. It was designed by two CMS employees, John Pilotte, director of the performance-based payment policy group, and Heather Grimsley, director of the shared savings program division. The pair are finalists in this year's Service to America Medals program. Grimsley explained the program to Federal News Radio's Eric White on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

More and more people are surfing the web these days not with regular computers, but rather with their smartphones and tablets. So much so, that federal website developers should start making their sites more mobile friendly in order to cater to those users. That was the finding of a recent analysis by the General Services Administration's Digital Analytics Program. Federal News Radio's Eric White spoke with Freddie Blicher, who is an analyst with DAP, on Federal Drive with Tom Temin, to get more details on the study.

The State Department is going through a top-to-bottom reorg. And Trump administration has some ideas for what it wants to do with the department. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan took questions from Congress on what the reorganization might mean for employees and the department. Federal News Radios Scott Maucione shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

They don't get the same level of attention as the 2-million-strong federal workforce, but another 30,000 people work as staff members on Capitol Hill. Instances of discrimination and unfair employment practices occur there, too. That's where the Office of Compliance comes in. It's job is to make sure 13 civil rights, labor and workplace safety laws apply in the place they were written. Susan Tsui Grundmann, OOC's executive director, tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin what's been going on since she joined earlier this year.

Big changes are coming to the Combined Federal Campaign this year. Federal employees can make all of their donations through one online portal this year. And retirees can donate to the CFC for the first time. Vince Micone is the chairman of the National Capital Area's Combined Federal Campaign. He tells Federal News Radio's Nicole Ogrysko about what federal employees can expect on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Medicaid dollars are largely administered by the states. But the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services doesn't have enough oversight of managed care programs. That's one finding from a Government Accountability Office report. Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with the GAO's Katherine Iritani, director of health care issues, to find out what's going on.

With a continuing resolution bill already signed and sealed, Congress has other matters to wind up before the end of the fiscal year this Saturday. Among them are the children's health insurance program and the Federal Aviation Administration. Joining Federal Drive with Tom Temin with this week's agenda is David Hawkings, senior editor at Roll Call.