The Pentagon is working on changes to its acquisition system. Frank Kendall, undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition Technology and Logistics, detailed some of them with Francis yesterday. Bill Greenwalt, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, recently wrote about five factors plaguing Pentagon procurement and how to fix them. He joined Francis on his weekly Pentagon Solutions segment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is taking another break from reverse auctions. The agency wants to evaluate some potential problems before it continues to use them as a contracting vehicle. The Government Accountability Office recently released a report detailing some flaws in reverse auctions, the new kid on the block when it comes to federal contracting.

Related stories:

VA puts reverse auctions on hiatus again to study value proposition

Savings from reverse auctions not being maximized

The deadline to contribute to the Combined Federal Campaign is moving to Jan. 15. Numbers are down this year, but there’s a big push to finish strong in the CFC. Col. Jeremy Martin is Commandant of the Defense Information School and Chair of the Chesapeake Bay Area CFC.

Read more CFC news.

NASA, the Patent and Trademark Office and the Federal Communications Commission are among those agencies that put a premium on management, employee engagement and training. All three earned a spot among the top government places to work in in the Partnership for Public Service’s 2013 Best Places to Work rankings.

A ten year plan is in place for the System for Award Management at the General Services Administration. The program launched a year and a half ago, and had trouble right away. But GSA says the system works now, and it’s planning SAM’s course for the next decade.