The future workforce of the Defense Department lies in part with the children of military families. DoD is working hard to improve its child education opportunities. It explored new ideas during the Military Child Education Coalition 15th National Training Seminar, which was held at the Gaylord National Harbor Hotel in Maryland and wrapped up yesterday. Doctor Bill Harrison, board vice chairman of the Military Child Education Coalition, moderated a panel discussion with Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Robert Papp, Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower at the U.S Air Force Lieutenant General Darrell Jones and Program Director of Fleet and Family Readiness of the Naval Installations Command Edward Cannon.

The sequestration model of forcing budget cuts is blunt and indiscriminate toward federal programs. The Defense Department is thinking of alternative ways to soften the blow and maximize its own efficiency. Outside policy experts and think tanks also have their own recommendations. Christopher Preble is vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. He is a defense expert who joined nine think tanks to outline quick reforms to drive down DoD’s budget. Preble is now looking at a new plan being offered by Michele Flournoy, the former undersecretary of Defense for policy. Preble joined Jared to discuss his thoughts on Flournoy’s recommendations.

More and more lawmakers are looking for a quick fix to solve budget issues within federal agencies. An evidence-based government uses data and analytics to find the value behind the dollars spent on government decisions. The Office of Management and Budget is asking federal agencies to develop their 2015 budgets with evidence-based thinking. John Kamensky is senior fellow at the IBM Center for The Business of Government. He talked with Jared about five easy steps any agency can use to make decisions with more evidence and evaluation.

RELATED LINK: Four evidence-based initiatives in the federal government

The Department of Health and Human Services is adding some rigor to how it manages the billions of dollars it spends on technology. HHS is building on the initial success of the PortfolioStat process. Frank Baitman is the HHS chief information officer. On this week’s Ask the CIO, he tells Federal News Radio’s Executive Editor Jason Miller about how this new governance process laid the path for the latest agencywide technology program.

Defense and Veterans Affairs Department officials are reassuring House lawmakers that the two departments will continue to share electronic health records, despite developing separate electronic health systems. On Wednesday, officials attempted to differentiate for lawmakers the goals of sharing health records and having one electronic health system. Federal News Radio’s Jason Miller joined Jared to discuss whether VA and DoD cleared up the confusion.

Read Jason’s related article.

The Office of Personnel Management’s proposed changes to the Combined Federal Campaign, the annual federal fundraising drive, are getting a frosty reception from local charities. The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, US Postal Service and Census held a hearing today to discuss OPM’s plan to do away with volunteers coordinating committees. Instead, the charity drive would be run by regional committees established by OPM. It also wants to require charities to pay an application fee and eliminate cash and check donations in favor of electronic donations. Jared played clips from Debby Hampton, president and CEO of the United Way of Central Oklahoma and Mark Lambert, OPM’s associate director for Merit System Accountability and Compliance, who testified at the hearing.