Federal Drive with Tom Temin

With the pandemic forcing everyone to improvise life, groups dedicated to helping military families have been really active. Michelle Baldanza of the Fisher House Foundation, and the Blue Star Families CEO Kathy Roth-Douquet joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for with an update. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Incoming presidential administrations get more advice and lists of recommendations than they can swing a cat at. But the Biden team is probably listening closely to one source: Transition information from the Government Accountability Office. GAO has a lot of online resources not only for appointees but also for new members of Congress. Federal Drive with Tom Temin got a rundown from the GAO's chief operating officer, Kate Siggerud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Small Business Administration has been mandated by Congress to evaluate and revise the size standards for eight industrial sectors. Tom Temin took a look at the process with Khem Sharma, the director of the Office of Size Standards at the Small Business Administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tense times have arrived for federal contractors. Whether seeming coercion to lower contracted prices or the threat of supply chain sanctions for anyone connected to the Solar Winds epic breach. For analysis, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to federal sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Old age often comes with chronic disease. Not all of the aged have equal access to the care they need. To help improve access, Health and Human Services is asking a wide range of health care providers, academics and startups for information and ideas. Joining the Federal Drive with more on the effort, the Chief Medical Officer in the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Dr. Leith States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the government deals with what might be the worst cybersecurity breach ever, one federal expert says agency cyber planning misses an important practice. National Institute of Standards and Technology Fellow Ron Ross joined the Federal Drive to discuss what should happen next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may or may not get a white Christmas. But you can count on a new battle in the war among Microsoft, Amazon and the Defense Department over the Jedi cloud computing contract. Now Microsoft and DOD have petitioned the court to dismiss Amazon's latest protest of the award, which Microsoft got and Amazon didn't. Federal News Network's Jared Serbu joined the Federal Drive with more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress and the incoming Biden administration say they have have big plans to improve federal cybersecurity in the wake of the SolarWinds cyber breach. Current and former federal IT officials are concerned whether Congress and the Biden people will ask the right questions. In his weekly feature, the Reporter's Notebook, executive editor Jason Miller writes about why the SolarWinds breach needs to be a catalyst to change agencies' approach to cybersecurity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress in the last few weeks may have sounded like a broken record. But the calendar will soon knock the needle somewhere. With what to expect in the waning days of the 116th Congress, we turn to WTOP Capitol Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's hard to tell which industry has been most scrambled by the pandemic. One candidate is public education, which is mostly a mess. But federal employees can obtain tutoring thanks to a program of the Federal Employees Education and Assistance Fund. For this and more of what its doing in a weird holiday season, we turn to FEEA executive director Joyce Warner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Defense Department planners know they can't succeed with a technological edge over enemies, unless the U.S. industrial base can design and build things the military needs. That's the idea behind an initiative called the National Imperative for Industrial Skills, backed by $27 million in seed money. Here with more, the director of the industrial base analysis and sustainment program, Adele Ratcliff. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Army is rethinking a lot of old notions. It’s already launched a People Strategy that puts a new and larger emphasis on soldier work/life balance. Now, the Army is out with an Installations Strategy. This plan also upends previous Army thinking about bases and facilities. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione talks about the plan with the Assistant Secretary for Installations, Environment and Energy, Alex Beehler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal agencies are beginning to detail how exactly they'll vaccinate federal employees from covid. The State Department already authorized initial vaccines for certain employees. Veterans Affairs is out with its own distribution plan. It shows a daunting task of vaccinating nearly 248-thousand health care practitioners ... plus tens of thousands of other essential workers. Local union leaders at the American Federation of Government Employees say they're looking for more details about those plans. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko has more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Affected companies, and that's thousands of them, are still assessing rules that came out in September for the Defense Department's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program. And they're weighing in with comments to DOD. Among them, a group of groups known as the Council of Defense and Space Industry Associations. Joining the Federal Drive with some of their concerns, the assistant vice president for national security policy at the Aerospace Industries Association, Jason Timm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tis the season to be jolly. And also to buy, unwittingly for not, billions of dollars worth of counterfeit products. This year, counterfeit personal protective gear has joined the piles of fake luggage, cosmetics and electronics. Joining the Federal Drive with an update, the executive director of the Office of Trade Policy and Programs at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, John Leonard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices