Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Automation is steadily gaining control over every mode of transportation especially cars, trains and airplanes. That raises the question of whether employees at the Transportation Department have the skills to deal with and oversee these modes. The Government Accountability Office found DOT has some work to do in workforce planning and recruitment. Heather Krause, GAO's director of physical infrastructure issues, had more details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you buy for, or sell to the federal government, you can expect substantial change from the Biden administration. If past is prologue, the Democratic administration will impose or reimpose lots of procurement rules coming from people with experience. For more of what to expect, federal sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen spoke to Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With ongoing threats of violence, tomorrow's inauguration presents extra challenges on the security front. Given the officials who gather in close proximity, every presidential inauguration presents the opportunity to decapitate the government. The next guest on the Federal Drive has a few ideas for how the event should take place. He the senior fellow in governance studies at Brookings, John Hudak. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To improve the training and education of its cyber, signal and electronic warfare operators, the Army has enlisted the University of South Carolina. The university will develop a variety of degree-granting distance learning classes. For details, the Federal Drive turned to the executive director of the SC's Office of Innovation, Partnerships, and Economic Engagement, Bill Kirkland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One thing you can say about the Defense Department's cybersecurity efforts, they sure get a lot of oversight. The DoD office of inspector general reviewed 44 recent reports from various sources seeking to see how they all added up. For more, the Federal Drive turned to DoD's assistant IG for audit of the cyberspace operations directorate, Carol Gorman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The technology innovation gap between the public and private sectors is smaller than perhaps at any time in the past 25 years. Federal CIOs and other technology leaders say the COVID-19 pandemic played a big role in closing that gap, but it's not the only reason. In his weekly Reporter's Notebook, executive editor Jason Miller details how agencies have caught up over the last decade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the new Defense Secretary is confirmed, he'll face an old problem. How to get clean financial audits of the department. One seemingly intractable issue is how to account for intra departmental transactions. There is a plan though. It's one of several developing topics in this week's DoD reporters notebook. Joining the Federal Drive with what you need to know, Federal News Network's Scott Maucione and Jared Serbu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Coast Guard wants to bring in 4,000 new members this year. But Commandant Admiral Karl Schultz says he seriously doubts the branch can top 2,500. To help, the Coast Guard is creating an officer recruiting corps to bring in candidates fresh out of college. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione spoke with the Executive Officer of Coast Guard Recruiting, Commander Andrea Smith, and with Commanding Officer Richter Tipton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Congress totally preoccupied with the aftermath of the Capitol riot and fresh pandemic spending, is there what you might call a normal agenda. Joining the Federal Drive with some answers on what to expect near-term, WTOP capitol hill correspondent Mitchell Miller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Each day the incoming Biden administration names more appointees. They'll soon be dealing with the career workforce. That workforce has ongoing challenges of its own, skills development, talent retention. As does the chief human capital officer function itself. For perspective I spoke with the CHCO of the General Services Administration, Traci DiMartini. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The IRS is asking Congress for another $4 billion to implement the Taxpayer First Act and to overhaul the agency's public-facing services. This comes as the National Taxpayer Advocate details how the agency is struggling with the budget it's already got. IRS personnel answered only 24% of taxpayer calls during fiscal 2020, and callers waited on-hold for an average of 18 minutes. For more on where the IRS can step up its service to the public, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with former National Taxpayer Advocate, now the executive director of New America’s Center for Taxpayer Rights, Nina Olson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So many people have been teleworking for so long, many leaders of industry and government are starting to presume this is, pardon the cliché, the new normal. They're rethinking how much office space they'll need permanently. My next guest cautions, not so fast. There are good reasons to retain office space with people in it. He's the president of PM Consulting Group, Walter Barnes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The pandemic has altered life for employees of state and local governments, no less than it has for their federal counterparts. Recent research by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence points up several trends for the year ahead. For the highlights, the Federal Drive spoke to the Center's senior research associate, Gerald Young. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy, known as ARPA-E, has just awarded some $47 million to seven companies doing innovative work in, energy. The money comes under a program ARPA-E calls Scale Up, to help promising new technologies get off the ground. Joining the Federal Drive with more, ARPA-E Director Lane Genatowski Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been a long time coming, but this week, the Defense Department started migrating its IT users to a multibillion dollar commercial cloud computing contract. No, we’re not talking about JEDI. This cloud is called Defense Enterprise Office Solutions, the software-as-a-service platform that’ll eventually deliver email and collaboration services to the entire department. Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu has the latest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices