Dr. Edward Knipling, administrator of Agricultural Research Service at the Agriculture Department, joins In Depth to discuss how his team deals with the challenges of using big data.

A new contractor is in at the Thrift Savings Plan. SAIC wins a contract for up to six years and $224 million for IT services, and it beat out the incumbent, Serco, to get the contract. Kim Weaver, director of external affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, explains what Serco does now that SAIC will take over.

Congress is on recess now, and agencies might be taking notice. All of the sudden, new solutions to furloughs are popping up. Tom Shoop, editor-in-chief at Government Executive, says the timing of the two events might not be a complete coincidence.

The Homeland Security Department chooses 17 companies to implement the Obama administration’s new approach to securing federal computers and networks. The awards under the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation contract include hardware, software and services to move agencies away from a static approach to cybersecurity. John Streufert, director of network resilience at DHS, tells Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller about the department’s plans to improve federal cybersecurity.

To stop security leaks, the National Security Agency is cutting its system administrator staff by 90 percent, but that could eliminate a big business opportunity for federal contractors. Ron Marks, senior fellow at George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute, explains what the NSA’s automation system could look like.

The Army Corps of Engineers says it’s worried about a future when it has major difficulties hiring and retaining enough people with science, technology, engineering and math skills. Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu explains some of the agency’s early efforts to do something about the problem.