The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter's vision for the Defense Innovation Unit was to connect commercial start ups with the Defense Department at a time when the relationship between the two was fraught, and as Silicon Valley was driving technological advances, while the Defense Department was falling further behind. Over the past decade, DIU showed the Pentagon can move faster, but a lot more work needs to be done to transform DoD into a truly innovative organization. Federal News Network's Anastasia Obis is here with the 25th anniversary story. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Coming up today on the Federal Drive with Terry Gerton Another oversight office gets zero-ed out We're still documenting the benefits and challenges of telework The table stakes for government contracting are increasing, and so is uncertainty See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Labor Department's small office tasked with ensuring contractors meet their affirmative action obligations has been dismantled by the Trump Administration, but like many other downsizing actions, this one has been temporarily halted by a federal judge. Here with more on what this means for the people who work there and the contractors who have to report, Bloomberg Law's Rebecca Klar.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A new GAO conversation with private sector organizations documents afresh the benefits and challenges of telework and finds a great deal of agreement between workers and employers. Are there lessons here for the federal government? Joining me with more details, GAO's Director for Education, Workforce, and Income Security, John Sawyer.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The government contracting community is more uncertain about the business environment and more concerned about costs. So says the latest version of the Deltek Clarity survey. Here with more insights from the survey is Senior Vice President of Information Solutions at Deltek, Kevin Plexico. Read the report here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Trump administration is proposing changes that would make it easier to fire federal employees. The Office of Personnel Management, in a proposed rule is looking to create ways to remove employees in a matter of days if they no longer meet the suitability and fitness standards required to join the federal workforce. Critics of the plan say this would rein in due process rights for federal employees accused of wrongdoing. Joining me with more on this story is Federal News Network's Jory Heckman.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Trump administration is zeroing out the Technology Modernization Fund for next year, but that doesn't mean its coffers will be empty as part of a newly released fiscal 2026 budget detail, the White House is proposing a new funding model for the TMF. For more on what that model would look like and other IT budget tidbits, Federal News Network's Executive Editor Jason Miller joins me now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There are plenty of laws and regulations designed to protect personally identifiable information. But actually doing it can be challenging, as the VA recently discovered. A new report from the VA OIG offers lessons for every agency. Here with more details, the Deputy Assistant IG for the Office of Audits and Evaluations at the VA, Daniel Morris.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

FAR Part 10 covers requirements for market research. The new version is markedly shorter and comes with practitioner guidance and implementation tools. Joining me with insights as to what this means for the contracting community and future updates, Senior Fellow at the George Mason University Baroni Center for Government Contracting, Emily Murphy.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Keeping the military prepared and ready won't mean anything if they can't turn their computers on. A new report from the Association of Defense Communities and Converge Strategies highlights the importance of protecting America's electricity grid when it comes to the country's military readiness. The report includes a framework for defense stakeholders to understand electric grid risks in their regions and explore national defense opportunities that a stronger transmission infrastructure backbone presents. For a glimpse into that, Federal News Network's Eric White spoke with one of the report's authors and a principal at Converge Strategies, Will Rogers.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.