In Depth Show Blog – March 18

Jim Huske, senior vice president for government training and professional development at Graduate School USA, joined Francis to discuss the school’s W. Edwards Deming Award. According the school’s website, the award “is presented annually to a federal government organization or a civilian or uniformed branch of the military, in recognition of an impressive workforce development and training initiative that has measurably improved the organization’s performance.” Joining Huske, was Patricia Jonas, executive director of the Office of Appellate Operations at the Social Security Administration — a past winner of the award.

The next generation of NASA’s government-wide acquisition contract is getting closer to operational. The Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement 5 contract (SEWP-5) will take on a number of challenges. NASA recently held an Industry Day for vendors to ask questions about the new contract. NASA has made procurement slides and technology slides from the event available on its website. Joanne Woytek, program manager for NASA SEWP, joined Francis Rose to discuss the changes vendors can expect to see on the latest version of the contract.

New acquisition strategies may help your agency deal better with shrinking dollars all across the agency. On Thursday, ACT-IAC and the General Services Administration will host Acquisition Excellence 2013. Kathleen Turco, associate administrator of the Office of Governmentwide Policy at GSA and Chair of the 2013 conference, joined Francis to discuss the latest acquisition priorities at GSA and to preview the event.

The Defense Department is taking a stand against Chinese cyber attacks. Twenty-seven new offensive cyber teams will start supporting the U.S. Pacific Command. But one expert says a more aggressive defense policy can cause more harm than good. Jeffrey Carr is CEO of Taia Global and author of “Inside Cyber Warfare: Mapping the Cyber Underworld.” Carr joined Francis to discuss why he believes the U.S.’s response to Chinese cyberespionage makes it look weak. (For more cybersecurity news, click here.)

The training wheels for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s human capital management programs can’t come off quite yet even though the agency’s in year four of planning new ways to improve its human resource programs. Michelle Sager is director of strategic issues at the Government Accountability Office, which recently completed a report on HUD’s HR challenges. She spoke with Francis about the report’s findings.

Sequestration has claimed another victim. The General Services Administration canceled its SmartPay and FedForum conferences, citing a reduction in travel and training budgets. Earlier this year, the agency canceled its annual GSA Expo, which was scheduled for May. Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners, joined Francis to discuss the fallout from the canceled events.