Federal Drive with Tom Temin

When it comes to oversight, transparency, and consistent ethics in government, you can never rest on your laurels. That's why the durable Project on Government Oversight, or POGO, has delivered to the new Congress a new set of legislative recommendations for those very qualities. Joining the Federal Drive with highlights, POGO's director of public policy, Liz Hempowicz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For a variety of reasons, Americans' trust in government is at a pretty low ebb right now. A survey of four thousand citizens conducted by Deloitte shows what the company calls a crisis of trust. Trust has been declining for decades, and the pandemic really blew a new hole in the balloon. With more on the survey and some clues to restoring trust, Deloitte's executive director for government insights, Bill Eggers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some federal employees and retirees have received ominous warnings in recent months. A few agencies have told their employees they may have to wait longer than normal for that first annuity check. Filing for retirement can be a long, and complicated process. It starts at the agencies, then goes to the federal payroll providers, and then the Office of Personnel Management. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined the Federal Drive to walk us through the delays, and where they're coming from. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration is making diversity and inclusion top priorities for the State Department's workforce. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he'll name a chief diversity and inclusion officer, elevating a position that already existed at the department. That new officer position lines up with a recommendations made by a task force by a group called the Truman Center. For more on those recommendations, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke task force member, and former Ambassador, Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For federal contractors, the pandemic has shown just how far off course normal procedures and government relations can get pushed. Few conditions can wreck a contract, and a performance rating, than a project that gets too far off schedule. For some post-pandemic-world advice for preventing that, the Federal Drive spoke to Jenner and Block partner Matt Haws. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cybersecurity teaching will take place right alongside mechanical and many other types of engineering at a planned new facility at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. It promises to modernize the academies approach to these important fields. Joining the Federal Drive with what's going on, professor of civil engineering, and the Dean's executive agent for design and construction, Ledlie Klosky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The General Services Administration recently overhauled its Regulations.gov web site, the site where Americans can go to comment on proposed federal regulations. The new features strengthen the integrity of commenting, an important component in rule-making. For more on the ongoing work to modernize rulemaking, the Federal Drive turned to the Deputy Associate Administrator for the Office of Regulation Management at the GSA, Virginia Huth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The General Services Administration kicking off a two-year effort to reimagine services contracting across the government. Even with its successful OASIS contract in place, GSA continues to push how contractors will provide a wide range of services starting in 2023. Executive editor Jason Miller, in his weekly Reporter's Notebook, writes about GSA's new initiative with a funny working title--BIC MAC. Jason joined the Federal Drive with details on GSA's plans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Defense Department's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center is now in a new phase of existence. It’s past its narrow, so-called pathfinder projects. Now it's focusing on bigger projects and how it can integrate AI throughout the Department. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione talked about the organization’s first steps with acting deputy director Jacqueline Tame. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exceptional family members, such as those with Down's Syndrome, are full of love. But they also can bring challenges such as when the family has to relocate or find an accommodating school. For military services members, that's where the Exceptional Family Members Program comes in. It has an online tool to connect these families with resources they might need. The tool recently got a major enhancement. Joining the Federal Drive with details, a program analyst with the Defense Department's Office of Military Community and Family Policy, Karen Terry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No matter how you look at it, the process for investigating people and granting them security clearance has been a hairball for decades. Now the agency doing this work is firmly re-established back in the Defense Department as the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, or DCSA, home to the National Background Investigation Services. Joining the Federal Drive for an update on the agency and its mission, director Bill Lietzau. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Agriculture Department is loosening its pre-pandemic telework policy. It'll look more like the policy USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack started back in 2014 when he led the department during the Obama administration. But that's just a start. The department is considering broader changes, that could make the workplace more flexible than it's ever been. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined the Federal Drive with the details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The ink is barely dry on the American Rescue Plan the president will sign tomorrow, but the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency already knows where it’s spending its funding windfall. CISA leaders told House Appropriations Subcommittee members yesterday that the $650 million they'll receive to strengthen federal networks will have a huge impact. Federal News Network’s executive editor Jason Miller joined the Federal Drive with details of their spending plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bureau of Prisons has one of the federal government's grimmer missions: keeping more than 125,000 convicted offenders safely behind bars. It needs to do a better job of assessing the staffing levels of frontline employees though. For more, the Director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues at the Government Accountability Office Gretta Goodwin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Postal Service expects electric vehicles to make up about 10% of its next-generation fleet of delivery trucks. But a group of House Democrats has introduced legislation that would push the agency faster off fossil fuels. USPS awarded the delivery vehicle contract last month but lawmakers say the award misses an opportunity for the agency to save on long term transportation. Here with latest, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman has more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices