Defense
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What if you\'re paying a fixed price for services, but the contractor starts to fall down on the job? That\'s what happened to the Army in Afghanistan. It hired a company called Mansoor International to provide trucking. Mansoor was paid a fixed price for each trip, but then things started to go wrong. Joe Petrillo, a partner at the law firm Petrillo and Powell, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive for more on the case and the lessons learned we turn to procurement attorney Joe Petrillo, a partner at the law firm Petrillo and Powell.
June 11, 2015 -
The Army is preparing for a more sustainable and adaptable force with the release of the Energy Security and Sustainability Strategy. The plan focuses on ways to optimize resource management and how a more careful use of energy, water and land can help the Army\'s mission. Katherine Hammack, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and the Environment, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more information on the plan.
June 11, 2015 -
Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Brad Carson calls the military\'s personnel system \"almost Soviet\" because of how rigid it is. He will deliver a new plan to Defense Secretary Ash Carter by Aug. 19. Retired Army Lt. Gen David Barno is a distinguished practitioner in residence at American University. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he says if anyone can drive progress in DoD\'s personnel system in the year and a half the administration has left, it\'s Brad Carson.
June 10, 2015 -
The Government Accountability Office reports the Defense Department could do a better job of collecting and archiving best practices on sequestration, in case the department has to deal with it again. Bob Hale, a fellow at Booz Allen Hamilton and former undersecretary of defense comptroller, tells In Depth with Francis Rose what the Defense Department is doing well and how to make the collection of the data moot.
June 10, 2015 -
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told an audience at the GreenGov Symposium Wednesday his service would reach the goal of producing 1 gigawatt of renewable energy five years ahead of schedule.
June 10, 2015 -
Shay Assad, the director of Defense pricing, said the Defense Contract Management Agency will open an additional five centers of excellence over the next few months to help military services and agencies make better decisions when buying commercial items. Assad said DoD also needs to move to value-based pricing.
June 10, 2015 -
Brad Carson, DoD\'s new acting undersecretary for personnel and readiness has until August to deliver recommendations on how to revamp the military personnel system. But in public comments Tuesday, he suggested a major shakeup is in order.
June 10, 2015 -
The Department of Veterans Affairs is proposing a plan to pay for the hospital project in Denver that\'s over its original budget now by more than $1 billion. The Denver hospital problem is one of several the agency struggles with. Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, tells In Depth with Francis Rose what the string of problems says about the direction of the agency.
June 09, 2015 -
Our guest for this edition of On DoD is Vice Adm. Bill Moran, the Chief of Naval Personnel. He\'s a second-time guest: In September, he described his frustrations with the existing military personnel system and some of the ideas the Navy was exploring to remedy them.
June 09, 2015 -
The Defense Authorization Act is the main piece of business for the Senate this week. The House will debate its version of the appropriations bill for defense spending. Those two bills have a big difference in their top-line numbers. David Hawkings, senior editor at Roll Call, writes the Hawkings Here blog. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose how much the Overseas Contingency Operation is at play.
June 08, 2015 -
Half of the Defense Department\'s components are tracing the normal network activity of their personnel. The Pentagon is supposed to look at common user behavior to help it find cases where its employees might leak classified information. It\'s part of a series of executive orders from President Barack Obama that require agencies set up their own insider-threat programs. Joe Kirschbaum, director of defense capabilities and management issues at the Government Accountability Office, tells In Depth with Francis Rose about the Pentagon\'s progress on its insider threat program.
June 08, 2015 -
Secretary of the Army John McHugh notified President Barack Obama that he planned to step down no later than Nov. 1.
June 08, 2015 -
The Defense Department cut 37 billion dollars in seven months during the 2013 sequester. The Pentagon says in some cases, automatic budget cuts cost DOD more money in the long run than they saved. But the Government Accountability Office says the Pentagon could do more to learn from the past so it doesn\'t repeat the same mistakes. Johana Ayers is the director of defense capabilities and management issues at GAO. She tells In Depth with Francis Rose, what the Pentagon has done so far, to learn about the impact of sequestration.
June 05, 2015 -
More than 70 years have passed since the attack on Pearl Harbor, where more than 2,000 sailors and Marines lost their lives. Only 35 were properly identified; the rest were buried as unknowns. But the military wants to change that, and recently announced it plans to exhume and attempt to identify the rest. Dr. Deborah Prince Zinni is a forensic anthropologist and laboratory manager at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. On the Federal Drive with Tom Temin, she tells Federal News Radio\'s Lauren Larson why they launched the recovery efforts now.
June 05, 2015 -
The Department of Veterans Affairs says it has made significant gains over the past several months in paying its health care vendors on time. Providers tell a different story, and say the department routinely fails to comply with the Prompt Payment Act.
June 05, 2015