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The Defense Department is looking at programs to cut back or kill because of budget pressures. When you get the work to terminate your program, you don't just stop. The Defense Acquisition University's Smart Shutdown guide book tells you how to shut down the right way. John Adams, director of the specialty engineering education and training program and professor of acquisition program management and systems engineering at the Defense Acquisition University, was Francis Rose's guest on Pentagon Solutions.
Federal cybersecurity officials are in knots over the Heartbleed threat. The vulnerability potentially affects a common data encryption system used on internet servers. Homeland Security says federal web servers are OK. Qualys has a free online SSL Server Test that can analyze a web server. Alan Paller, director of research at the cybersecurity education firm SANS Institute, explained the threat to Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp.
The Defense Health agency is streamlining healthcare. It's standardizing the clinical process across its 57 hospitals and 300 clinics and cutting back on excess medical supplies, with the help of the Defense Logistics Agency. Dave Bowen is director of health care IT and chief information officer of the Defense Health Agency. Navy Capt. James Poindexter is acting division chief of Medical Logistics Shared Services. In this week's edition of Agency of the Month, they tell Federal News Radio's Lauren Larson how the new processes save the agency money. Read Federal News Radio's related article.
The Veterans Affairs Department has paid out $200 million in wrongful death suits to 1,000 families over the past decade. That number brings up questions about the quality of care in VA centers. VA says it investigates every preventable death. It says they represent a tiny fraction of the people who receive care at its medical centers. Yevgeniy Feyman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute specializing in health care policy. He told Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp how VA's death rates compare with all hospitals.
The Supreme Court stands by the government's expansion of federal jobs deemed sensitive to national security. A few weeks ago, the high court refused to hear an appeal in a case stemming from the demotion of a Defense Department employee. He managed a commissary and did not have access to classified information or a security clearance. But the government considered his job "sensitive," barring him from appealing the demotion to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Attorney Lynne Bernabei told Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp what the court's decision means for all federal employees.
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, the Government Printing Office is a step closer to getting a much wanted name change, and the Air Force plans to cut its civilian workforce next year.
Aileen Black and Gigi Schumm from Accelerated Growth Strategies will discuss new technologies that could help federal agencies save money and operate more efficiently. April 15, 2014
David Ramirez, general manager of the Federal Solutions business unit at the L-3 National Security Solutions group, will discuss innovation and what agencies are looking for in terms of services and technologies. April 15, 2014
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says it's time to start deploying the project known as ICITE, a common IT environment for the entire intelligence community. More details from Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu.
Beth Cobert, the Office of Management and Budget's deputy director for management, spoke at a Professional Services Council luncheon this afternoon. Among her top priorities is rolling out the President's second-term management agenda. Cobert says the new plan targets the efficiency and effectiveness of federal programs. She shares a preview of her long to-do list with In Depth with Francis Rose
PerformanceStat meetings are supposed to be a constructive opportunity for your employees to collaborate on your agency's priorities. But more often than not, they're probably just boring. John Kamensky, senior fellow and associate partner at the IBM Center for the Business of Government, writes about the "Secret Sauce of Effective Progress Reviews." He tells In Depth with Francis Rose cartoon characters may hold the secret to making your agency's progress reviews more valuable.
The Government Accountability Office will take a close look at the morale of federal government employees. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Reps. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) and Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) ask for a full review of federal workforce trends from the GAO. And the Office of Personnel Management will soon have a better idea of feds' job satisfaction. It's sending the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey later this month. Pat Niehaus, national president of the Federal Managers Association, tells In Depth with Francis Rose a solution for your agency's morale problems is coming from the inside.
The latest small business contracting numbers numbers show agencies are struggling to hit their goals for doing business with small businesses. Those companies and entrepreneurs want to bring innovation and agility to the federal government, but they struggle to navigate the process. Martha Dorris, deputy associate administrator at GSA's Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies and ACT-IAC Small Business Conference Government chair, and Ira Hobbs, principal at Hobbs & Hobbs and former chief information officer at the Treasury Department and ACT-IAC SBC industry chair, tell In Depth with Francis Rose small business could hold the keys to success for your next IT project.
One of the most frustrating things federal employees face is red tape. The bureaucracy can deter workers from trying new things that might fail. The Health and Human Services Department's IDEA Lab seeks to break down the red tape and silos. HHS Chief Technology Officer Bryan Sivak oversees the lab. He told Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp how the lab helps the agency meet its mission.