Fed Gov Today

The National Finance Center does payroll, human resources, and retirement services for 650,000 federal employees across 170 agencies. It’s up against the same modernization challenges other federal government organizations are facing. Margie Graves, Senior Fellow at the IBM Center for The Business of Government, and former Deputy Chief Information Officer of the United States, led a team for the National Academy of Public Administration that advised the NFC how to stay ahead of the curve. She tells me what her team found, and how NFC can keep moving in the right direction. The Department of Health and Human Services small business contracting goal for Fiscal 2023 is 22%. The agency has goals for subcategories of small businesses for this fiscal year too. On the newest edition of Fed Gov Today TV, I ask Shannon Jackson, Executive Director of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization at HHS, about the progress he’s making toward those goals.The war in Ukraine has dozens - or maybe hundreds - of second- and third-order effects in addition to the suffering and violence because of war fighting. One of those is the security of nuclear materials in the region. Zachary Johnson, Foreign Affairs Specialist at the National Nuclear Security Administration, is a finalist for a Service to America Medal in the Safety, Security, and International Affairs Category. He shares the management and relationship-building principles that keep nuclear materials safe in some of the worst conditions in the world.

GovForward FedRAMP Headliner Summit August 23Big changes are coming to the 8(a) program at the Small Business Administration. Vendors will soon have to tell their own stories about why they should be in the program. Joe Jordan, President and CEO of Actuparo and former Administrator of Federal Procurement Policy, explains why both contractors and SBA could have some trouble ahead.The newest service in the military is preparing to battle the nation’s adversaries if it ever becomes necessary. But the Space Force is battling an internal challenge too. The Vice Chief of Space Operations, Gen. David “DT” Thompson (USSF), says the service has to deal with what he calls “bureaucratic inertia.” On the newest edition of Fed Gov Today TV, I ask him how that fight is going.Civilian and national security agencies are speeding up the use of DevSecOps for software. That software is fueling both mission delivery and back-office functions. Paul Puckett is Chief Technology Officer at Clarity. He’s former Director of the Enterprise Cloud Management Agency at the Army. I introduced Paul on stage as the keynote speaker at the Carahsoft DevSecOps Conference on Thursday. After his speech, titled “Keep/Start/Stop: Retro On A Decade Of DSO”, I asked him what message he wanted to convey in his remarks.Photo: Paul Puckett at Carahsoft DevSecOps Conference, August 17, 2023.

GovForward FedRAMP Headliner Summit August 23The new edition of one of the federal government’s guiding performance documents is out. The update to Circular A-11 includes references to strategic reviews, customer experience, and evidence-based policymaking. Robert Shea, Chief Executive Officer of GovNavigators, former Associate Director at the Office of Management Budget, and former Commissioner on the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, explains what’s in the update, and what it means.The Department of Veterans Affairs is in the seventh year of what it calls the “VA Way.” The agency says the “VA Way” is “the department’s customer experience formula that connects all VA employees to our I CARE values.” On the newest edition of Fed Gov Today TV, I ask Nathan Sanfilippo, Executive Director for Multi-Channel Technology in the Veterans Experience Office at the VA, about the intersection of the “VA Way” and his office.An update is coming for the Defense Department’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification. Washington Technology reports the Pentagon and the Office of Management and Budget expect the update to come next month. Ron Marks, President of ZPN Cyber and National Security Strategies, nonresident senior fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council, and former special assistant to the assistant director of central intelligence for military affairs, tells you what the update, and the timeline for its release, mean for the department and the defense industrial base.Photo: Cover of update to Circular A-11, courtesy of the Office of Management and Budget.

The State Department’s “Tech for Life” initiative will give each employee her or his own phone number to connect to the department’s IT. The CIO at the State Department, Kelly Fletcher, says the department is running two pilot programs this summer. Karen Evans, Partner at KE&T Partners, and Managing Director of the Cyber Readiness Institute and former E-gov Administrator at OMB, and former Chief Information Officer at the Department of Homeland Security, explains why she thinks “Tech For Life” is a ground breaker.Kelly Fletcher on “Tech For Life” on Fed Gov Today TVThe Air Force is about a year and a half out from the “Fix Our Computers” LinkedIn post that sparked a rethinking of internal customer experience in the service. But that post wasn’t the beginning of the service’s customer experience journey. Colt Whittall has been Chief Experience Officer at the Air Force and Space Force for about four years. On the newest edition of Fed Gov Today TV, I ask him what the Air Force’s U-X operation was thinking, and doing, when the “Fix Our Computers” furor started.The Defense Innovation Unit is taking on the Pentagon’s need for speed in hypersonics. The Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities program’s goal is more hypersonic tests, more often. Barry Kirkendall, Technical Director for Space at DIU, tells you about the program’s mission and goals.Photo: Barry Kirkendall via LinkedIn

The Department of Veterans Affairs is moving to a new supply chain management solution. The agency’s solicitation has been on the street for a couple weeks now. Greg Giddens, Partner at Potomac Ridge Consulting and former Principal Executive Director of the Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction at VA, tells you what he sees in the solicitation, and what he reads between the lines.The Department of Homeland Security is on a zero trust journey like the rest of the federal government. On the newest edition of Fed Gov Today TV, I ask the Chief Information Security Officer at DHS, Ken Bible, where his agency is on its journey.2023 is the 45th anniversary of the Civil Service Reform Act that established the Senior Executive Service. Data about the SES shows some important trends. Max Stier, President and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, tells what the data show, and what he thinks it means.Photo: Ken Bible on Fed Gov Today TV, August 6, 2023.

The next generation of the Army’s Project Convergence is scheduled for the beginning of next year. Federal News Network reports Project Convergence-4 will focus on battlefield scenarios. Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan (USAF ret.), former director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, tells you what really matters in AI research, and how a movie he watched recently sparked that thought.The Air Force’s innovation arm has five new lines of effort in its third iteration. AFWERX says the goal of its effort is “expanding technology, talent, transition, and capabilities.” Mark Ingram, Chief Strategy Officer at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Integrated Capabilities Directorate, and finalist for a Service to America Medal in the Emerging Leaders category, traces the history of AFWERX, and considers what the AFWERX of the future will look like.Photo: Mark Ingram, courtesy U.S. Air Force

Scientists could save the earth from an object that’s coming at us from outer space thanks to a test NASA has done. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test team at NASA, called DART, has proven it can change the path of something coming toward earth by smashing a spacecraft into it. Brian Key is Program Manager, and Scott Bellamy is Mission Manager, in the Planetary Missions Program Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center at NASA. They’re finalists for a Service to America Medal in the Career Achievement category. They tell you how their team did its work, and what other organizations can learn from their success, even if they’re not in the space business. Photo: Members of the DART team celebrate on Sept. 26, 2022, as images live-streamed from the spacecraft show it successfully impacted the asteroid Dimorphos, completing the world's first planetary defense test mission. (Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman)

The Defense Department says it considers diversity a “strategic imperative”. But data seems to show diversity hasn’t changed much in the last decade. Brenda Farrell, Director of Defense Capabilities and Management at the Government Accountability Office, tells you what she looked at, and what she found, about diversity in DoD.A network based at the National Cancer Institute has “changed the way national guidelines for cancer screening are established.” One of the leaders of that network is up for a Service to America Medal. "Rocky" Feuer is Chief of the Statistical Research and Applications Branch in the Surveillance Research Program at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. He’s a finalist for a Service To America Medal in the Volcker Career Achievement category. He reviews his career and work, and what’s ahead for him, and for cancer research.The Thrift Savings Plan is celebrating year two of the implementation of its Converge system. It’s looking at metrics to gauge how the transition continues, and what it should do next. Kim Weaver, Director of External Affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, covers what those metrics are, and what year two of Converge will look like for TSP participants.Photo: NIH’s Rocky Feuer (photo credit: Partnership for Public Service)

The Internal Revenue Service will award a procurement worth up to $1.7 billion to modernize its Integrated Enterprise Portals platform. The agency says that platform “served over 11.4 billion page views to 660 million site visitors globally.” Richard Spires, principal at Richard A. Spires Consulting and former Chief Information Officer at the Department of Homeland Security and the Internal Revenue Service, tells you how the IRS can maximize the money it will spend on its modernization.Richard’s first book: Success in the Technology FieldNew book coming soon: Government Can DeliverThe National Treasury Employee Union will have a new leader soon. That transition will happen next month. Tony Reardon is the outgoing President of the National Treasury Employees Union. I asked him about the current state of the civil service and the employees that make it up, and what he sees ahead for his successor and other federal employee leaders.Sexual harassment complaints are down 92% aboard research vessels the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration operates. NOAA’s Deputy Undersecretary for Operations, Benjamin Friedman, says that change required transforming “the whole operation and its culture.” Rear Admiral Nancy Hann, Director of NOAA’s Commissioned Corps and Director of the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, is a finalist for a Service to America Medal in the Management Excellence category. She told me how she and the NOAA team built a structure, and a culture, that’s cutting the harassment numbers, and serving employees better.Photo: NOAA’s RADM Nancy Hann (Image credit: NOAA/Lt. Kevin Doreums)

This edition of Fed Gov Today is sponsored by Eleven09 and Carahsoft.The Coast Guard is running into some problems with its new Offshore Patrol Cutter program. Those problems are stacking up on top of some issues with the ships the new program will replace. Marie Mak, Director of Contracting and National Security Acquisitions Issues at the Government Accountability Office, took a close look, and testified about it on Capitol Hill. She tells you where the Guard is going wrong, and how to recover.The Defense Department says it’s on track to hit its 2027 goal to implement its zero trust strategy. The Federal zero trust strategy has hard deadlines and goals for every agency too. At Edge 23, Kyle White, co-founder and Managing Partner of Eleven 09, tells me what he sees agencies are still trying to figure out about zero trust.Representatives of the Science and Technology Directorate and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at DHS are at the National Homeland Security Conference in Chicago this week. The leader of the S&T Directorate, Dimitri Kusnezov, writes on the S&T blog that he’ll speak about, and seek to learn about, Maritime Safety and Security; support for first responders; and artificial intelligence, among other topics. At Edge 23, I ask him how much of his job involves specific technologies, and how much involves the concepts around those technologies.Photo: DHS’s Dimitri Kusnezov at Edge 23 in San Diego