Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Effective Oct. 1, opioid screening will become mandatory, governmentwide. The changes are part of new guidelines the Health and Human Services Department issued after more than two years of public comment. Ron Flegel, director of the Division of Workplace Programs in HHS Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, talks with Federal News Radios Jared Serbu on Federal Drive with Tom Temin about whats changing, and why.

Amid the heated Capitol Hill debates on health care, tax reform and agency funding, lawmakers are actively working on legislation to improve how policies are made and to learn how well federal programs work, thanks to data the government's already collecting. Federal News Radio's Meredith Somers shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

What's come to be known as the Amazon provision in the House version of the 2018 Defense authorization bill is at the center of growing concerns about the future of federal procurement. Both industry and federal agencies will be paying close attention over the next few weeks as House and Senate members go to conference to work out their differences in the authorization bill. This Amazon provision promotes the use of online commercial marketplaces for federal procurement.It is not in the Senate's version of the bill. In his weekly feature, the Reporters Notebook, Executive Editor Jason Miller writes about why this language is causing heartburn in the acquisition community. He discusses it on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Air Force wants to replace its aging UH-1N Huey helicopter. The choppers are used for emergency evacuations, nuclear missile protection and transportation. Boeing is pairing up with Leonardo to offer its Huey replacement called a MH-139. Federal News Radio's Scott Maucione spoke with Boeing's Director of Tilt-Rotor business development Rick Lemaster on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Three major hurricanes in three weeks have multiple agencies thinking about how they can improve all aspects of federal rescue and response. The Coast Guard says social media is playing a big role in how it responds to survivors who need help on the ground. And the Homeland Security Department and FEMA opened up a relatively small program to more people for the first time to respond to tough storms. Federal News Radio's Nicole Ogrysko has more on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The annual Defense authorization bill the Senate passed earlier this month still needs to be reconciled with the House version, once the two chambers and the administration agree on top-line funding levels for the government for the remainder of 2018. But, as usual, the NDAA includes several measures that would affect how the federal government does business with contractors. David Berteau, president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, joins Federal Drive with Tom Temin to talk about a few provisions worth keeping an eye on.

It can help answer questions, draft documents,and perform automated searches. But, like mayonnaise on a sandwich, artificial intelligence will only enhance government service and operations if applied carefully. That's one finding by the Ash Center at the Harvard Kennedy School. Hila Mehr is an Ash Center fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and works in market development at IBM. She talked about the research on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

A new report by a bipartisan think tank says after years of cutting its own budget, Congress has left it in a situation where it has too many responsibilities with too few people and two little time to manage them. The conclusions are based on a survey of more than 100 of the people who actually run Capitol Hill: senior congressional staffers. Brad Fitch, president of the Congressional Management Foundation, spoke with Federal Drive with Tom Temin about the findings, and what Congress can do to rethink the way its organized.

Transforming and modernizing agency networks and using the commercial cloud to do so remains a high priority for federal chief information officers. But growing confidence and expectations around the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act or FITARA is what will propel this effort toward success. CIOs are more positive about the impact FITARA will have over the next few years, particularly in giving them more authorities and additional oversight over technology acquisition. These are among the top findings from Federal News Radios seventh annual online survey of federal CIOs deputy CIOs and other federal executives in the IT sector. Executive editor Jason Miller conducted the survey and joins Federal Drive with Tom Temin discuss it.

When medical device manufacturer Medtronic developed what amounts to an artificial pancreas, it had the potential to help millions with Type One diabetes. That might have been the easy part, compared to getting approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Help on that front came, surprisingly, from the FDA itself. For their work in speeding up the approval process, Courtney Lias and Stayce Beck are finalists in this year's Service to America Medals program. Lias, director of the Chemistry and Toxicology Devices division, spoke with Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Lawmakers looking to move more federal employees out of the Washington, D.C. area might get their wish, and it might not even be that hard. Both the Interior and Veterans Affairs departments said consolidating offices and moving the people who work there to new locations would be a key part of their reorganization plans. Federal News Radio's Nicole Ogrysko shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Whether at the bottom of your coffeemaker or the inside of a nuclear cooling tower, internet-connected devices are everywhere, and that includes the federal government. With no end in sight for Internet of Things, agencies are benefiting from the range of devices but also added risks. Federal News Radio's Meredith Somers tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin more about what government is doing to manage the IoT.

When union employees want to take time off for political activity, they're allowed to, but only as unscheduled and unpaid leave. The Postal Inspector General found that, in some districts, the practice, while legal, got out of hand because it wasn't managed properly. It had the potential to wreak havoc on both budgets and employees who had to fill in. Charles Turley, deputy assistant inspector general for supply management and Human Resources, talks to Federal Drive with Tom Temin about the findings.

Members of the Senior Executive Service know being transferred to a new job or agency goes with that SES status. But that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be happy if it you're shipped off. So how can agency political executives use the SES mobility program without ruffling feathers? For a few ideas, Federal News Radio's Eric White spoke with Jeff Neal, ICF senior vice president and former chief human capital officer of Homeland Security on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Members of the Senior Executive Service know being transferred to a new job or agency goes with that SES status. But that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be happy if it you're shipped off. So how can agency political executives use the SES mobility program without ruffling feathers? For a few ideas, Federal News Radio's Eric White spoke with Jeff Neal, ICF senior vice president and former chief human capital officer of Homeland Security on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.