Defense Department
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Pentagon's most senior contract policy official is set to retire soon, but schedule is uncertain.
June 25, 2014 -
Terrorists in the Middle East are using weapons, supplies, and even new technology made in the United States in their attacks on Iraqi cities and elsewhere. David Olive is a principal of Catalyst Partners and a writer for the Security Debrief blog. He said on In Depth with Francis Rose, they're even using a brand new drug the Food and Drug Administration just approved for military use in April, and it's calling into question the security of the military supply chain.
June 23, 2014 -
The Defense Department's showing negative side effects from a rough transition to a new healthcare contractor in the western United States. Those side effects are because of a 21-billion dollar contract award to a healthcare administration company new to the TRICARE system. Debra Draper is director of health care issues at the Government Accountability Office. She said on In Depth with Francis Rose that cost overruns and healthcare delays are cropping up because TRICARE management didn't pay close enough attention to the company's transition process.
June 23, 2014 -
The Pentagon says it's making a $9 billion investment over the next five years to minimize how much diesel and jet fuel it needs for combat operations. But DoD's consumption is still expected to rise over the next half decade because of new energy hungry technologies like the F-35 and Littoral Combat Ship. Sharon Burke, senior fellow for the International Security Program at New America Foundation, is also former assistant secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs. In a recent article for Foreign Affairs, she argues DoD's energy appetite isn't just a budget concern. She said on In Depth with Jared Serbu it's increasingly going to challenge the military's ability to perform its missions.
June 19, 2014 -
DISA is working with the services to identify a mission-critical application in the cloud to ensure the additional requirements for Level-3 security are appropriate and achievable. Meanwhile, the FedRAMP program office is beginning to consider what the program will look like in two to three to five years.
June 19, 2014 -
Chandra McMahon, Lockheed Martin's vice president for commercial markets, discusses NSA's accreditation system that tests cybersecurity companies against 21 separate focus areas.
June 18, 2014 -
Former Defense Department CIO Teri Takai joins Women of Washington radio hosts Aileen Black and Gigi Schumm for a discussion on women in government roles and her predictions for the Joint Information Environment.
June 18, 2014 -
Robert Levinson, senior defense analyst at Bloomberg Government takes a closer look at the Pentagon's 2015 budget request, and what's in it for contractors. June 17, 2014
June 17, 2014 -
Selling to the Pentagon may get more difficult this summer. Director of Defense Acquisition Policy Dick Ginman wants contracting officers to consider the fees the Pentagon pays when they buy through another agency's contract. Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners and author of the Week Ahead newsletter, writes about how to keep yourself in the running for DoD business. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose how Ginman's new memo will affect business.
June 17, 2014 -
A new Government Accountability Office report says the Pentagon needs more comprehensive information about potential cost savings when it considers implementing future administrative furloughs.
June 17, 2014 -
House Armed Services Committee Vice Chairman Mac Thornberry is in the middle of a bipartisan effort to reform defense acquisition policies. The goal is to save money and inspire new technology development in the defense industrial base. But plenty of ideas to reform DoD acquisition have floated around Washington for years. Steve Grundman is former Deputy Defense Undersecretary for Industrial Affairs and Installations and George Lund fellow at the Atlantic Council. He shared a list of principles to finally turn those ideas into action on In Depth with Francis Rose.
June 16, 2014 -
"Inside the DoD's Reporter's Notebook" is a biweekly feature focused on news about the Defense Department and defense community as gathered by Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu. In this edition, DoD kicks off its "superior supplier" program, and DoD asks Congress to stop pushing acquisition reforms.
June 16, 2014 -
As the Navy retakes control over its own IT networks, it is eager to introduce features that improve the experience for end users. At the same time, the Navy is warning vendors that it's not going to buy just bells and whistles. Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu reports. Read Jared's related article.
June 13, 2014 -
By September, the Navy anticipates it will have retaken full ownership of its main IT network after having outsourced it a decade earlier. The service says it wants to find ways to bring innovation into NMCI, but vendors will have to meet some checkpoints along the way.
June 13, 2014 -
The Navy has just awarded the first of what it says will be several contracts aimed toward resetting its data center consolidation efforts. As Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu reports, the service wasn't happy with the progress it was making up until now, and the new plan will lean heavily on commercial hosting providers. Read Jared's related story.
June 11, 2014