Critics of the Navy's maritime strategy -- or lack thereof -- are all over the federal defense community. One retired officer tells the U.S. Naval Institute the defense community may not understand what the word "strategy" means anymore. Congressman Randy Forbes has an open letter to chief of naval operations, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, asking him to lead an effort to restore strategic planning to the Navy. Barney Rubel is former dean of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies at the U.S. Naval War College. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he said those critics are missing an important piece of the strategy puzzle.
Stop us if you've heard this before. If you tell contractors bidding on a big procurement you're going to use Plan X for evaluating prices, you better use Plan X. Otherwise you could lose a protest. That's what happened to the Navy in a $2.5 billion program. Procurement attorney Joe Petrillo joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to explain more of what happened and the lessons learned in this week's Legal Loop.
Troops start the new year with a 1 percent pay raise. That's a little less than the 1.8 percent raise they would have gotten automatically from the annual cost of living adjustment. A study on pay and benefits from the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission is due next month. Vice Adm. Norb Ryan is president of the Military Officers Association of America. He says some kind of reform is long overdue. He shared his Top 3 for 2015 on In Depth with Francis Rose. He says morale is still a top priority for the military, even with fewer commitments in Afghanistan.
Enlisted Navy and Marine Corps service members have a new, easier route to medical school. It's called the Enlisted-to-Medical Degree Preparatory Program. It puts them on equal footing with counterparts in the Army and Air Force. Dr. Art Kellermann is Dean of the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to explain how the new program works.
The new year will bring new contracting initiatives throughout government. A big case in point: The Army's forthcoming Responsive Strategic Sourcing for Services, or RS3. It's one of several big, multiple-award contracts that will drive consolidation of professional services. Many more service contracts are likely to flow through vehicles like RS3 and the Navy's SeaPort E. Kevin Brancato, Senior Defense Analyst at Bloomberg Government, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to provide a broader outlook on RS3 and defense contracting in 2015.
Even without all the fireworks caused by furloughs and the government shutdown that occurred in 2013, Federal News Radio readers found plenty to intrigue them in 2014. Read our 10 most-read stories for 2014.
Jeffrey Cathey and Lewis Runnion with Bank of America will discuss how the company is helping veterans find jobs in the private sector after they complete their military service. December 26, 2014
Maureen Casey with JP Morgan Chase and Company, and the Rand Corporation's Dr. Margaret Harrell, join host Derrick Dortch to talk about a new report that looks at lessons learned from a program that helps veterans find jobs in private sector. December 19, 2014
The Navy knows three things about its plan to build a stronger version of the Littoral Combat Ship. The first is it has the green light from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. The second is who's going to build it. And the third is who's going to build it. Bryan Clark is senior fellow for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. He's former Special Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations and Director of his Commander's Action Group. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he explained the Navy's plan to buy two different versions of the small surface combatant ship from two different companies.
The Defense Department has been slowly rolling out the Intelligence Community Information Technology Environment departmentwide. The Navy's Deputy CIO Janice Haith told an industry audience Friday that the Navy is already embracing ICITE's capabilities.
Until now, the Intelligence Community Information Technology Environment is mainly focused on serving the Intelligence Community. But DoD is taking baby steps toward deploying the intelligence community's shared services plan to its components. Janice Haith, deputy CIO for the Department of the Navy, told an audience at an AFCEA luncheon, the Navy is already where it wants to be in adopting ICITE.
The DoD has awarded contracts to independent public accounting firms to conduct audits of current year appropriated funds for all of the military services.
Many senior IT managers fight an uphill battle. Too often, they're seen just as the tech guy by senior level peers. Enter the National Defense University's Information Resources Management College or iCollege. For many years, it's been offering high-level, strategic education to both military and civilian IT and acquisition career employees. Navy Rear Adm. Jan Hamby is the new Chancellor of NDU's iCollege. She joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss where she hopes to take a venerable institution.
Upgrades are coming at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota that are a long time coming. The Military Times reports the nuclear weapons facility there has maintanance, upkeep, and infrastructure problems. Retired Navy Adm. John Harvey is Virginia's Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security, and former commander of Fleet Forces Command. He led a team along with retired Air Force Gen. Lawrence Welsh to look at the nuclear enterprise. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he shared his thoughts about how the nation's nuclear enterprise is in the news all of a sudden.
Defense Department doctrine makes clear that cyberspace is a military domain, just like air, land, space and sea. But the Navy's top cyber officer said the procurement system hasn't yet caught onto that notion.