Federal Drive with Tom Temin

A group of 15 trade organizations recently surveyed small, women and minority-owned businesses, in part to measure their participation and readiness to compete for federal contracts. A particular focus was put on the funding coming from the Chips and Science Act and the bipartisan infrastructure bill. For one view, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Angela Dingle, the CEO of Women Impacting Public Policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a push from the White House, most agencies have spent the last couple of years trying to improve diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the federal workforce. But for the federal oversight community, the journey toward a more equitable and diverse workforce started even earlier — before President Joe Biden issued the 2021 executive order. “We started this DEIA committee because we felt like we needed to make sure that we had a mechanism where folks could come together and really talk about things and create a safe place for us to enhance our DEIA competency,” Sandra Bruce, Inspector General for the Department of Education, said in an interview with Federal News Network. “It really is a journey, not a destination.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A long-awaited overhaul of the Defense Department’s system for moving military members’ household goods from place to place will be delayed yet again — and for a still-undetermined period of time, officials said Thursday. Unlike previous setbacks, the latest stumbling block isn’t related to the numerous legal challenges that have faced the Global Household Goods contract (GHC), which is worth up to $17.9 billion over nine years. This time, IT integration problems are to blame. Officials at U.S. Transportation Command first noticed the issues during an initial round of IT testing in August, and they first believed the bulk of them would be resolved by the end of 2023. But integrating the government’s systems with the new ones being built by HomeSafe, the winner of the new household goods contract, turned out to be even more complex than it first appeared. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: An extended interview with an astronaut turned NASA executive, who's calling it a career. Why cloud computing has little to do with saving money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 38 years at NASA, today's Federal Drive guest has done lots of things. As an astronaut, he flew three space missions, commanding two of them. He oversaw retirement of the Space Shuttle. He rose to associate administration, the number three ranking person at NASA. Now he's retiring. That was more than enough to get Federal Drive Host Tom Temin to offer this extended interview to Bob Cabana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'Tis the season to be jolly. But don't get too distracted from important priorities, like end-of-year financial planning. For some orientation, I Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Thiago Glieger, a wealth adviser with RMG Advisers of Rockville, Maryland, a firm that specializes in federal employees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this summer, disposal experts with the Defense Department destroyed the last remaining M55 rocket filled with deadly sarin nerve agent at a storage facility in Kentucky. It was a major milestone, marking the safe elimination of all declared chemical agents amassed between World War I and the late 1960s. To find out what and who were involved in this extensive initiative, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Threat Reduction and Arms Control, Kingston Reif. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: A big milestone in the long effort to get rid of chemical weapons. The Defense Intelligence Agency is close to releasing its artificial intelligence strategy. I know you're busy, but don't overlook end-of-year financial planning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ahead of a new year of health care, federal employees and annuitants have less than a week left to take advantage of Open Season — and possibly make changes to their enrollments. Enrollees have until 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 11 to make their final selections. If they don’t act, their current plan in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program will automatically roll over into 2024. Not every enrollee should necessarily make a change to their health, vision and dental plan options. At the very least, it’s wise to learn how your plan will change in 2024, said Kevin Moss, editor of the Consumers’ Checkbook’s Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees. “You can’t assume that the plan you had this year will be the exact same plan next year,” Moss told Federal News Network. “You might find new pre-authorization requirements, cost share changes, new benefits or benefits that are no longer available. Also, the in-network status of providers can change any year, as can the coverage status of prescription drugs.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The agency in charge of protecting thousands of federal facilities across the country is still facing steep staff shortages amid a rise in threats against government employees and buildings. But the Federal Protective Service hopes retention incentives will help keep employees around long enough to bring in new recruits and respond to an uptick in activity ahead of next year’s presidential election. Kris Cline, director of the FPS, said his agency continues to face recruiting and retention challenges, with approximately 25% of FPS positions currently vacant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: Two agencies make a catalog of big solar energy projects across the country. Everyone's talking about that GAO report on empty federal offices. Relief for Defense subcontractors drowning in a sea of contract clauses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For smaller suppliers, selling to DoD still isn't a walk in the park – but things are getting a little simpler. Last month, the department enacted a long-awaited rule change that prohibits prime contractors from flowing unnecessary contract clauses down to their subcontractors. It is all a part of more changes that are meant to simplify commercial buying in DoD that are still in the rulemaking pipeline. Dan Ramish is counsel at the law firm Hayes Boone. He talked with Federal News Network’s Deputy Editor Jared Serbu about what the changes mean. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The bills for facility maintenance that federal agencies have decided to put off until future years are ballooning. The Government Accountability Office looked at four big agencies: GSA, HHS, Interior and Energy. GAO found the collective size of their deferred maintenance backlogs grew 80% over just the past five years – and agencies have not done a great job of explaining the reasons to Congress. David Marroni is an acting director for physical infrastructure issues at GAO. He talked about the problems with Federal News Network’s Deputy Editor Jared Serbu on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everywhere you look, you see more land covered by solar panels. In fact, the Energy Department estimates some 4,000 large solar projects are underway in the U.S. Now, thanks to Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and the U.S. Geological Survey, solar watchers can access a database of them. It shows their size, location and other details. For the whys and hows of this project, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with the Director of Energy's Solar Energy Technology Office, Becca Jones-Albertus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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