Today on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin Where Justice Department lawyers go when they need guidance of their own This GSA official takes on the dark underside of Artificial Intelligence How other national governments handle grants management. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If Black Friday and Cyber Monday are about what you can get, then today is about what you can give. For Giving Tuesday, four groups that support needy members of the military have joined forces with one another and with industry. They're reaching out to the public to raise funds under a program called Mission Give. For how it all works, we turn to the president of the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Robert Ruark. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Protests of contracts went down last fiscal year. And that's not the only development on the procurement front. The micro purchase threshold, the simplified acquisition threshold, the 8(a) sole source contracting ceiling, and several other similar acquisition limits are likely to go up in 2025 and to boot, the oversight and accountability of subcontracting by primes is going to get more scrutiny, just some of the story lines. Federal News Network's executive editor Jason Miller, has been covering in his latest reporters notebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin Promotion to the ultimate behind-the-scenes agency job Four military-connected groups team up to help service members in need Time to stick a fork in this bogged down procurement Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Heated debates over military pay and quality of life issues continue as Congress finalizes the 2025 defense policy bill. House Armed Services Committee members told this to their Senate counterparts. "It's disheartening to see most of the recommendations from the house LED panel not included in the Senate version of the bill." Federal News Network's Anastasia Obis has more and specifically, what do House lawmakers want that the Senate is leaving out of the NDAA? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The National Institutes of Health procurement arm issued requests for proposals on a multiple award contract three and a half years ago. The program, known as CIOSP4, still hasn't made any awards. It's still bogged down in protests. The program it replaces had been extended several times. My next guest says it's time for NIH to start over. Federal sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen joins me now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You won't see her name in the newspapers. She won't introduce sweeping policy. What she *will* do is ensure all the people who do the mission-related work of the Federal Deposit Insurance Company can do *their* work. Jennifer Schoen is the newly named director of the FDIC's division of administration, and she joins me now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That plan of president-elect Donald Trump to slice the government down to size. It's known as the Department of Government Efficiency. The outside advisory group headed by Elon Musk is getting some traction in Congress. Here with the latest, WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Mitchell Miller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You can find lots of reasons why it takes more than two years to build the annual defense budget. A big one is the fact that DoD acquisition systems and its financial management systems don't talk to each other, at least not very well. That's a problem the Pentagon is starting to solve, though programs, big and small are beginning to use a common data lexicon, and officials are hoping for some big management gains. Thanks to that added visibility we get details from Federal News Network's Jared Serbu.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There's a new feature coming soon for participants in the Thrift Savings Plan. A little over a year from now, starting in January of 2026 participants will be able to make Roth in plan conversions in the TSP with some important tax implications. That's not the only thing changing there. Federal News Network's Drew Friedman caught up with the TSP Director of External Affairs, Kim Weaver. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices