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The Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp discuss throughout the show each day. The Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the stories you hear on the air. In today's news, a new bill allows agencies to share information on job candidates among each other, and the FAA wants to lower the maximum building height around airports.
A series of management blunders and agency misbehavior in recent years ranging from the General Services Administration to the Veterans Affairs Department, haven't only put agency leaders in the hot seat — and sometimes out of work. They've also highlighted the importance of better risk-management planning by agencies, current and former federal officials told Federal News Radio as part of a special discussion on risk management.
The Homeland Security Department is putting up almost $100 million to fund the next generation of cybersecurity technologies. DHS issued a broad agency announcement that lists the first four areas in which DHS wants to know the art of the possible. Doug Maughan, director of the DHS Science and Technology Directorate's cybersecurity division, tells Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller about the initial set of cybersecurity research areas. Read Jason's related article.
The head of the Army Corps of Engineers says the nationwide network of civil works infrastructure his agency manages is falling apart. The Corps doesn't have enough money coming from Congress to fix the problems, so it's looking for new ways to pay for the work it needs to do. Federal News Radio's DoD Reporter Jared Serbu has the details. Read Jared's related article.
The Homeland Security Department fires more of its employees than any other agency. Last year DHS dropped almost 1 percent of its workforce. The Federal Times reports the government-wide average is about half that. Jeff Neal is senior vice president of ICF International and former Chief Human Capital Officer at the Department of Homeland Security. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose those numbers might sound low, but they're actually pretty normal for the federal government. Read Neal's related column.
A group of foreign nationals working on one of NASA's major projects found a way to choose their own security clearances to gain access to sensitive technologies. The way they did it was pretty simple. NASA just let them do it. Belva Martin is director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management Issues at the Government Accountability Office. In a new GAO report, she looks at NASA's supply chain security. She shared a few ways the agency can tighten up its grip on In Depth with Francis Rose.
The White House wants $60 billion for the Pentagon's overseas contingency operations in fiscal 2015. Defense News reports the President's OCO budget has an extra $5 billion request for a new counterterrorism fund, too. Over the next few days, Capitol Hill will host a number of defense officials to make their cases for some specific programs. Roger Zakheim is counsel for Covington and Burling, and former deputy staff director of the House Armed Services Committee. He wrote about the relationship between the White House and Congress when it comes to defense budget planning. He shared his thoughts on In Depth with Francis Rose.
Training should not be about checking items off a list, says GSA Chief Learning Officer Mike Casey. It should be more like a "self-weeding garden."
As the military opens more key roles to women, there's one glaring problem: the pipeline. Military academies don't have a lot of female students. West Point has struggled more than the others, but change is on the horizon. Of the nearly 1,200 cadet candidates reporting next week, 22 percent will be women. That's a record number. Col. Deborah McDonald is director of admissions at West Point. She joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss the latest numbers.
How much should contractors charge the government for labor for a project? Perhaps not surprisingly, it depends on the type of contract and what the government instructed the contractor to do. It gets murkier when subcontractors are involved. In a long running case between QinetiQ and the General Services Administration, GSA is asking for millions it says the company overcharged. The company sued, saying it was doing what the government asked for. In this week's Legal Loop, procurement attorney Joe Petrillo joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to sort out this highly-watched case.
The Postal Service's financial crunch means that it is delivering mail with some very old trucks. Nearly all of its 190,000 vehicles are gas guzzlers from the 1990s. This is the type of problem that keeps Chief Sustainability Officer Tom Day up at night. He joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss the problems with the service's delivery fleet.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan has cleared his first hurdle on the way to becoming director of the Office of Management and Budget. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee gave him the nod, even though some members weren't thrilled with his answers to their questions. Federal News Radio's Executive Editor Jason Miller joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to recap the drama, and share details on everything else the busy committee did yesterday that could impact federal agencies. Read Jason's related article.
The Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp discuss throughout the show each day. The Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the stories you hear on the air. In today's news, a Senate committee passes a bill to overhaul the overtime pay system at Border Patrol, and the White House wants to cut or consolidate reports.
Lt. Gen. Robert Ferrell, the Army's CIO/G6, said the service now is requiring all enterprise software titles to be modernized, virtualized and migrated to an approved data center.