Beth McGrath

Secretary Gates’ decision to cut three major offices will result in ”a substantial number” of employees and contractors having to find new jobs. The CIO’s functions will be split between DISA and ATL. DoD is moving major acquisition oversight to the chief management officer’s office.

Government making progress on cutting clearance times, but member of Congress fear backsliding.

The Pentagon will issue new guidance this summer to move the military services away from buying technology in the same way they buy weapons. DoD’s challenges are similar across the government, according to a new survey of CIOs. TechAmerica finds in their 21st survey of CIOs that technology managers believe acquisition employees need more expertise in buying IT.

These are the stories Federal News Radio reporters are working on today.

Beth McGrath, DoD’s deputy chief management officer, said reworking acquisition regulations will include new ways to buy technology and promote agile development. The Pentagon is targeting everything from the way it buys technology to standardizing business systems in an effort to save money and become more efficient. DoD wants to standardize 15 common, commercial business processes.

Beth McGrath, the deputy chief performance officer at DoD, discussed why an interoperable electronic health record — or EHR — makes sense and how the project is coming along.

On the In Depth show blog, you can listen to the interviews, find more information about the guests on the show each day and links to additional resources.

Beth McGrath, the Defense Department’s deputy chief management officer, issued a memo in April creating a new integrated business framework. The goal of the framework is to tie costs to performance and strategy.

Federal officials say the budget environment — with or without sequestration — is leading agencies to come to grips with the idea that no matter how much they cut, no matter how much they work to become more efficient, they still will not have enough people or money to get everything done. The goal is to install discipline and data into the decision making process.

On the In Depth show blog, you can listen to our interviews, find more information about the guests on the show each day, as well as links to other stories and resources we discuss.