Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Pacific Gas and Electric, the beleaguered California utility at the center of the wildfire phenomenon, has turned to the Argonne National Laboratory for help. PG&E is looking for small-area weather and climate models that can help it make plans on a regional scale. Joining the Federal Drive with how the arrangement works, Argonne's chief scientist and head of its department of Atmospheric Science and Climate research, Dr. Rao Kotamarthi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If there's one thing every member of the armed services does, it's move. The Army wants to prod soldiers to handle their own permanent change of station moves, rather than relying on the government system – which tends to get overburdened, especially in the peak summer months. To encourage DIY moves, officials are offering financial incentives, and trying to make the process easier. And those measures appear to be paying off. Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu has details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Postal Service has a new strategy it hopes will brighten its future. It wants to invest $40 billion on infrastructure and on the workforce. The 10-year strategy is designed to lift the agency out of billions of dollars in losses it’s posted since 2006. About half the plan USPS can tackle on its own, but it’ll also need help from its regulator and Congress. Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman joined the Federal Drive with more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress is doling out money wholesale, including to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security. But CISA is only a couple of years old and not totally mature organizationally. That's according to the latest looksie by the Government Accountability Office. Federal Drive with Tom Temin talked with the GAO's Director of Information Technology and Cybersecurity Issues, Nick Marinos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Not surprisingly, the Biden administration imposed a regulatory freeze across the government, presumable until its own people are in place everywhere. What can we expect afterwards.and what would industry like to see? The Federal Drive turned to the president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, David Berteau. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Veterans Affairs Department is taking a few weeks to review the status of its Multi-billion-dollar electronic health record project. This after VA deployed the EHR at its first site last fall. The department said at the time that it was a successful effort. But members of Congress say they're hearing plenty of concerns from employees and veterans in Spokane, Washington, where the EHR first went live. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joins me now to explain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The pandemic has left a hole in a crucial fund the Army uses for supplies, for overtime, for a host of needs that are hard to predict from year to year. It's a good sized hole, too, maybe up to 900 million dollars in its working capital fund, a fund the Army is hoping the Pentagon will help it replenish. Federal News Network's Scott Maucione joined the Federal Drive with what's going on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation wants its new diversity and inclusion plan to extend beyond the agency itself to the financial institutions it overseas. For details on the plan and how the agency will carry it out, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the director of the FDIC, Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, Nikita Pearson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The IRS faces a considerable backlog of 24 million tax returns from businesses and individuals, on top of new responsibilities Congress dropped on the agency in the middle of this year’s filing season. IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig says that backlog led the agency to push this year’s filing season deadline back to May 17. But the new deadline also adds new challenges for an agency that’s spread thin. Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman has more.

For the first time in a decade, it’s looking like earmarks are about to make a comeback in the congressional appropriations process. Both parties in the House have agreed to participate in a new earmarks process that proponents say includes some safeguards to prevent abuses. And speaking of FY22 spending, there’s still no telling exactly when we’ll see the Biden Administration's first budget proposal. Jack Fitzpatrick is congressional reporter with Bloomberg Government, and he joined the Federal Drive to bring us up to speed on the 2022 budget process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's just a two-page fact sheet. But the new document, from the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force, aims to help organizations guard against one of the most persistent and dangerous cybersecurity threats, namely ransomware. Secret Service deputy director Greg Mcaleer, and FBI cyber division unit chief Ryan Pierrot, talked with Tom Temin about the whys and hows behind the task force's work on the document. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Congress went big on a stimulus spending known as the American Rescue Plan, it appropriated a billion dollars for the Technology Modernization Fund. The Fund is for use by federal agencies seeking to update their information technology. Gordon Bitko is the senior vice president of policy at the Information Technology Industry Council. He talked with Tom Temin about where the money might best be used Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the January 6th attack on the Capitol, the Defense Department started looking into extremism within its ranks. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called for each commander to conduct a one-day stand down to address the issues. Federal News Network's Scott Maucione got his hands on some of the Air Force’s training materials. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's no end of disputes between software vendors and their customers when it comes to licenses. A fresh wrinkle came in the case of the Small Business Administration and Software AG when the agency switched from a processor-based license to a processor core based license. With the lessons learned, Smith Pachter procurement attorney Joseph Petrillo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talent development, giving employees opportunities and planning for the future workforce are important to every agency. For how they're doing talent development and workforce planning at one large bureau, executive director of the Office of Talent Management at the Veterans Benefits Administration, Jeff Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices