Federal Drive with Tom Temin

The calendar year has nearly four months to go, but the federal fiscal only has three more weeks. Either way you look at it, Congress probably has more work to do than it can expect to actually get done. Loren Duggan, Editorial Director for Bloomberg Government told Federal Drive with Tom Temin what's expected at lawmakers return to work from a summer recess.

Last week, President Trump nominated 42 people to fill key Senate-confirmed roles throughout various agencies. Still though, this has been one of the longest presidential transitions in recent history. Case in point: about half of the Chief Information Officer posts throughout government are still empty. Based in part on the experience of this transition, the Partnership for Public Service has just published a how-to guide for political transitions. Mallory Barg Bulman, the Partnerships vice president for research and evaluation, told Federal Drive's Jared Serbu about some of the lessons learned.

A big policy hole opened up at the State Department earlier this summer with the departure of cyber policy coordinator Christopher Painter. Now, under Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, there are thoughts of eliminating the position. Cameron Kerry, a former Commerce Department general counsel, and now a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Technology Innovation, told Federal Drive with Tom Temin State should be enhancing the position, not getting rid of it.

Despite ongoing talk of federal spending cuts and tighter budgets, 2016 turned out to be a decent year for federal contractors...especially the Big 200. A new analysis by Bloomberg Government shows federal contract spending was up 8 percent for the year, and looking good for this year. Dan Snyder, the deputy director of government contracts research at Bloomberg Government told Federal Drive's Jerod Serbu just how well the group Bloomberg dubs the "BGOV200" did.

The Congressional Budget Office is out with a new study comparing five potential options for overhauling the federal retirement system ranging from doing away with guaranteed pensions altogether, to reversing some of the changes Congress has already made in recent years to increase employee contribution rates. But Bob Tobias, a professor in the Key Executive Leadership Program at American University, told Federal Drive's Jared Serbu CBOs analysis also raised some ominous signs about the effects those higher rates have already had.

Next week marks the 16th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. But the Justice Department program Congress set up to compensate first responders and others injured or disabled by exposure to toxic substances at the attack sites is still getting new claims. Rupa Bhattacharyya, the special master of the September 11 Victims Compensation Fund, told Federal Drive's Jarod Serbu the program is now in its second iteration after the passage of the James Zadroga Act in 2011.

The electronic locator beacons that have been installed on most airplanes and vessels since the early 1980s have been responsible for saving literally tens of thousands of lives. Still, the old system has shortcomings. Its not always durable enough to survive airplane crashes, the satellite constellation it relies on doesnt cover 100 percent of the globe, and it doesnt always convey distress signals as quickly as rescuers would like. But there's a new generation of beaconing technology on the horizon. Lisa Mazzuca, the search and rescue mission manager at NASA, tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin it's very close to solving all of those problems.

The question of whether or not to elevate U.S. Cyber Command to a full unified combatant command has been under discussion for years. But the president and Congress have finally made the decision, putting CYBERCOM on an even playing field with the rest of the Defense Department's combatant commands. Kate Charlet, program director for Technology & International Affairs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin there are several other important implications to the decision. Until recently, she was the acting deputy assistant secretary of Defense for cyber policy.

Last December, President Barack Obama signed the Program Management Improvement and Accountability Act into law. The legislation is meant to reform federal program management policy with best practices, a new formal job series and career path and standardized policies across the government. But it may take years for the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel Management and agencies to fully implement the law in the way the drafters intended. To help, the National Academy of Public Administration has just released a white paper with several recommendations. Dan Chenok, the chairman of the four-member NAPA panel that drafted the paper, tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin about the recommendations.

President Donald Trump recently threatened a government shutdown over funding for a wall along the southern border. Most federal employees who took a short survey from Federal News Radio said they were used to the government shutdown talk at this point. But many said they're feeling anxious about the end of the fiscal year. Federal News Radio's Nicole Ogrysko joins Federal Drive with Tom Temin to tell what federal employees are saying.

The Navy has serious concerns about the readiness of its fleet of combat vessels, partly because of years of backlogged maintenance. But theres been comparatively less attention paid to the civilian-crewed ships operated by Military Sealift Command. The sealift and combat logistics fleet is vital to military operations around the world, and according to the Government Accountability Office, the average ship is 40-years old, and the Navy has no long-term plan to replace them. John Pendleton, director of Defense capability and management issues at GAO, joined Jared Serbu on Federal Drive with Tom Temin to talk about the offices concerns.

When the Labor Department went looking for a contractor to run its Job Corps center in Los Angeles, it eventually settled on a nearly $100 million contract to Management and Training Corporation, ending the centers relationship with the YWCA, which had run the center for the past 52 years. But the Government Accountability Office upheld a bid protest the group filed, finding Labor had given MTC at least two chances to change the key leaders it had proposed to run the center, an opportunity it didnt give to the YWCA. Joe Petrillo, a procurement attorney with the law firm Petrillo and Powell, joined Jared Serbu on Federal Drive with Tom Temin to talk about the case and its implications for other government contracts.

Hurricane Harvey has already left Houston devastated. It's now making a comeback as a tropical storm. The military is usually one of the first responders to natural disasters. The National Guard says military efforts supporting the response to Harvey may rival what we saw in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Federal News Radios Scott Maucione, who has been covering the military support side of the story, shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The General Services Administrations Office of Inspector General is reviewing the lease between the agency and the Trump organization. The watchdog confirms it is evaluating GSA's management of the Trump Hotel lease but offers little else on the review. Federal News Radio's Meredith Somers has all the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The back to school season for college brings more than football and tailgating, it also brings career planning and the search for new employers. This is why federal agencies, even with budget uncertainty and buyout activity, must stay in the game. Margo Conrad, director of education and outreach at the Partnership for Public Service, told Federal Drive with Tom Temin that agencies shouldn't shy away from recruiting just because the government's in disarray.