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Jon Etherton, president of Etherton and Associates, Inc., will give us an update on the procurement issues being discussed on Capitol Hill. July 15, 2014
Just about every agency in government has suffered from cutbacks in training and travel funding. But at Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Student and Exchange Visitor Program, talking with the stakeholders in the educational institutions they oversee is a core part of the mission, so when conferences got cut back, leaders knew they had to find another way to engage. They've since moved most of their training programs online. Rachel Canty is deputy director for SEVP. She said the agency's more than happy with the results on In Depth with guest host Jared Serbu.
Congress is mulling through a stream of feedback from outside groups on how to fix a labyrinth of defense acquisition policies. Chris Lamb is deputy director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. He recently testified before the House Armed Services Committee to share his ideas. On In Depth with guest host Jared Serbu, Lamb said a source of frustration is a disconnect between the top and bottom of DoD's chain of acquisition authority.
Capitol Hill turns to an array of outside groups for advice. The deadline for comments to the Armed Services committees was last Thursday. One set of recommendations comes from the Aerospace Industries Association. Betsy Schmid is VP of National Security and Acquisition Policy for the AIA. She's also former staff director of Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. MJ Mitchell is AIA's managing assistant VP for National Security and Acquisition Policy, and former chief financial officer of the F-35 program. The two explained AIA's approach to acquisition reform on In Depth with guest host Jared Serbu.
Although resignations are up among under-30 feds, the bigger problem is hiring, says Jeff Neal, former chief human capital officer at the Department of Homeland Security.
A top House overseer of federal law enforcement thinks that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) should be dissolved.
A report by the Veterans Affairs' Inspector General's office found that a regional supervisor stockpiled about 8,000 veteran-related documents, and that paperwork with sensitive personal information was poorly handled.
Anne Altman, general manager of Federal Government for IBM, will discuss a wide range of contracting topics with host Mark Amtower. July 14, 2014
The Defense Department is getting smarter about workforce planning — making sure it has the right people with the right skills in the right positions. But DoD's five-year strategic workforce plan, released last fall, is short on details in a few key areas, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
The Senate plans to mark up the 2015 defense appropriations bill on Thursday. That will probably help make it the first appropriations bill to pass the Senate for fiscal 2015. Meanwhile the House will try to pass its seventh appropriations bill. Congress as a whole needs to pass 12 spending bills by September 30th if it wants to avoid another continuing resolution or a full government shutdown. David Hawkings is Senior Editor of Roll Call. He shared Capitol Hill's progress on the bills on In Depth with guest host Jared Serbu.
Over the past decade, Congress has stepped up pressure on the Defense Department to gather data about its civilian workforce, and to use that data to develop a strategic workforce plan. The Pentagon has a plan, but according to the Government Accountability Office, it has
The Office of Management and Budget starts to see progress on a set of 15 cross-agency goals. The Cross-Agency Priorities, or CAPs, are a mix of policy and management reforms that range from stronger cybersecurity to better customer service. As of this month, OMB now has action plans for each one and tracks agency progress on Performance.gov. Now the results are trickling in. John Kamensky is senior fellow and associate partner for the IBM Center for the Business of Government. He's shared the results from the latest progress reports on In Depth with guest host Jared Serbu.
An executive in the Patent and Trademark Office was found to have violated several federal laws when she used her position to get a relative's boyfriend a job in her agency. The inspector general of the Commerce Department investigated the matter after getting a tip from a whistleblower.
Despite steps forward, agencies fell short of their 2014 targets for cybersecurity. The Obama administration is pushing chief information officers to focus on priorities of continuous monitoring, phishing and malware, and authorization processes for 2015, according to the newly released cross-agency priority goals on Performance.gov.