Management

  • An Energy Department program designed to help consumers save money and the environment wasn't doing so well. It was hampered by lawsuits and a tug-of war between manufacturers and environmental groups. Then John Cymbalsky became program manager in 2010. Since then, the Energy Department has spit out energy-efficiency standards at double the pace. Now, he's nominated for a 2014 Sammies award. He joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss what he did differently to fix the program. View a photo gallery of all Sammies finalists. Read a Q&A and related story.

    July 21, 2014
  • The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council would require all contractors at the prime and sub levels to report counterfeit or suspected counterfeit parts to the government.

    July 21, 2014
  • Evan Lesser, founder and director for ClearanceJobs.com, will discuss the state of hiring in the clear community. July 18, 2014

    July 18, 2014
  • To maintain readiness under current budget pressure, the Defense Department needs to have a long-term mindset and rethink their force structure, according to Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), chairman of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee.

    July 18, 2014
  • Top Pentagon officials have been railing against the consequences of sequestration ever since the Budget Control Act was passed in 2011. And in their planning documents, they've also decided not to acknowledge the likelihood that the cuts are here to stay. For the last three years, officials have submitted budget requests that exceed the caps in current law, and they've indicated they plan to continue doing so in future years. Even if the Pentagon isn't building its military plans around sequestration, some outside analysts are taking a look at what various scenarios would look like under lower funding levels. One of them is Rob Levinson. He's a senior defense analyst for Bloomberg Government, and shared some financial predictions on In Depth with guest host Jared Serbu.

    July 18, 2014
  • What is the U.S. Department of the Interior doing to advance its performance and results agenda? How can strategic planning translate into better agency results and foster culture of performance improvement? Join host Michael Keegan as he explores these questions and much more with Dr. Richard Beck, director, Office of Planning and Performance Management at the U.S. Department of the Interior.

    July 18, 2014
  • It's hard to tell how many agencies are actually checking all the boxes on the Obama administration's plan for detecting disgruntled or rogue employees. Agencies were supposed to have taken initial steps to set up insider threat programs by June 30, according to an update posted on Performance.gov. But it's impossible to know the number of agencies who met the initial criteria so far. The progress update says that information is classified.

    July 18, 2014
  • Remember the fable of the rabbit, trapped by a hungry fox, who begs to be punished by being thrown into the briar patch? Think of yourself as that rascally rabbit, and Congress as the hungry but not so bright fox, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. We're talking about the shutdown showdown.

    July 18, 2014
  • Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners and Cameron Leuthy, senior budget analyst at Bloomberg Government will discuss the end of fiscal year 2014 spending and what's ahead in 2015. July 21, 2014

    July 17, 2014
  • The hunt for a job in the federal government can be confusing from the very start. Logging onto USA Jobs and searching for a job as a "secretary" can land you options ranging from public affairs officer to associate deputy assistant secretary for program planning and budget. Then comes navigating the technical requirements, executive core requirements, and the actual application process itself. Tim McManus is Vice President for Education and Outreach at the Partnership for Public Service. He shared some tips for aspiring feds on In Depth with guest host Jared Serbu.

    July 17, 2014
  • The Defense Department's overseas contingency budget might survive the end of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wednesday, two of the Pentagon's top civilian and uniformed leaders asked the House Armed Services Committee to keep authorizing an OCO budget even after the U.S. finishes the draw-downs in the region. DoD's latest OCO request came late in the year, and it's less than Congress anticipated. The House set aside $79 billion for OCO funding when it passed DoD's baseline budget for fiscal 2015, but now the Pentagon is only asking for about $59 billion. Todd Harrison is senior fellow for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. He explained how the budget deliberations on Capitol Hill might unfold on In Depth with guest host Jared Serbu.

    July 17, 2014
  • Last week, President Obama signed the annual authorization bill for the U.S. Intelligence Community, making several changes to the way federal agencies and contractors deal with classified information and IT systems. Several of the provisions appear to be a reaction to the security clearance issues raised by the Edward Snowden case and by the Navy Yard shooting. Pamela Walker is senior director for homeland security at the Information Technology Alliance for Public Sector. She's been analyzing the final bill, and joined In Depth with guest host Jared Serbu to talk about some of the provisions.

    July 17, 2014
  • The Environmental Protection Agency's administrator recently mentioned the administrative obstacles of firing employees and suggested Congress change the law. One of the unions representing EPA employees is now responding in a letter that blames management, not employees for agency problems.

    July 17, 2014
  • Two congressional leaders want to know whether USIS' history was considered when awarding a $190 million Homeland Security Department contract.

    July 17, 2014