Earlier this week, an unusual coalition of more than two dozen well-known defense thinkers from ten different think tanks penned an open letter to Congress and the Pentagon, issuing an urgent call to reform three specific areas of Pentagon spending: Base infrastructure, the civilian workforce and military compensation. The experts, who span the ideological spectrum, don’t all agree on the solutions. But they do agree those issues are threatening to “consume the defense budget from within.” For a different take on the issue, In Depth turns to Retired Navy Vice Adm. Norb Ryan, president and CEO of the Military Officers Association of America, an advocacy group for active duty and retired military members.

From left, right and center, analysts beg DoD to tackle overhead costs (related story)

MOAA Fact vs. Fiction on personnel costs

Filibusters and party line votes are delaying and even preventing some White House nominees for key positions. The confirmation process is slow and heated right now and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is considering a solution. But in order to change the process he’ll have to rely on a tactic called “the nuclear option.” David Hawkings, an editor at CQ Roll Call, joins In Depth with more.

Federal employees pursuing a phased retirement might have some new requirements. Before you leave the agency, the Office of Personnel Management wants you to groom and train the next generation of federal employees. The rule isn’t final yet and OPM is looking for comments on the idea. John Salamone, vice president of Federal Management Partners, joins In Depth to discuss the phased-retirement option.

OPM issues phased retirement guidance (related story)

Conventional contracting wisdom states in order to have strong and consistent federal business opportunities a company needs access to a contract vehicle. That’s not always the case, though. Guy Timberlake, co-founder and chief visionary officer at the American Small Business Coalition, broke down a comparison between awards for contract vehicles and otherwise the past three years, and he found an interesting trend.

What’s behind the decrease in awards placed against contract vehicles? (related link)

Agencies soon will be able to compare specific performance measures of the federal financial management shared-service providers. The Office of Management and Budget says the information will be the difference maker between this and previous attempts to get agencies to move to shared services. Federal News Radio’s executive editor Jason Miller joins In Depth to explain why OMB believes this time is different for shared services.