Government Matters

Tracking progress at the Defense Innovation Unit

Deborah Lee James, 23rd Secretary of the U.S. Air Force, discusses progress made at the Defense Innovation Unit in its five-year history

Thinking strategically about hypersonic weapons

Seth Cropsey, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, discusses the benefits of hypersonic capabilities

Defining “legacy systems”

Thomas Mahnken, President & CEO of the Center for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments, discusses the replacement of legacy systems

GAO director: Nation on “unsustainable fiscal path” requiring better defense spending management

Elizabeth Field, Director of Defense Capabilities and Management Issues at GAO, discusses recommendations to improve DoD’s management of defense spending

Anticipation of tax changes is one factor driving mergers and acquisitions

Jean Stack, Managing Director at Baird, talks trends in mergers and acquisitions in the federal contracting space

CPARS self-assessments help fix “broken” system, says former acting GSA administrator

Jim Williams, Partner at Schambach & Williams Consulting, explains the purpose of GSA’s Acquisition Alert for contracting officers

Army DEVCOM future of work concept encourages flexibility

John Willison, Deputy to the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, describes a new future of work concept providing more flexibility to soldiers

TSP board “really pleased” with improvements in security posture

Kim Weaver, Director of External Affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, goes over new information from this month’s Thrift Savings Plan board meeting

Stimulus payment distribution could place burden on IRS during tax season

Danny Werfel, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group, discusses the challenge the IRS could face of distributing COVID-19 stimulus payments while processing tax returns

Allocating vaccines for the federal workforce

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) discusses how COVID-19 vaccine allocation for federal employees administered by the federal government would work

Understanding the latest Pentagon audit

Carmen Malone, Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Audit, Financial Management and Reporting at the DoD OIG, goes over takeaways from the fiscal year 2020 Pentagon audit

The Senate confirmation process for Biden’s leadership picks

Anne Joseph O’Connell, Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, and Aaron Mehta, Deputy Editor and Senior Pentagon Correspondent for Defense News, discuss delays in the nomination and confirmation processes for top leaders

Rebuilding the federal workforce

Tony Reardon, President of the National Treasury Employees Union, discusses policies NTEU is advocating for, including federal employee pay raises and COVID-19 protections

Coordinating cybersecurity efforts across government

Suzanne Spaulding, Senior Adviser of Homeland Security in the International Security Program at CSIS, discusses the importance of the national cyber director and the coordination of this role with others in the government

Avoiding a “Space Pearl Harbor”

Bradley Bowman, Senior Director for the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, discusses the necessity of resilient space infrastructure to counter the threat of anti-satellite capabilities from our adversaries

The Air Force’s tactical aircraft needs

Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle (USAF, Ret.), President of the National Defense Industrial Association, discusses the upcoming review of the Air Force’s mix of aircraft and the need to evaluate the size and structure of the force

Top priorities for the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard

RADM Sinclair Harris (USN ret.), National Vice President of Military Affairs at the Navy League, discusses maritime policy recommendations and prioritization of maintaining American sea power

Wargaming at the Department of Defense

Yuna Huh Wong, Research Analyst in the Joint Advanced Warfighting Division at the Institute for Defense Analyses, goes over four major questions the Defense Department should ask before implementing a new wargaming initiative

Expanding login.gov to state and local governments

Nick Sinai, Senior Advisor at Insight Partners, discusses the significance of expanded access to the secure authentication platform login.gov from the General Services Administration

GAO finds DHS should improve grants management for countering violent extremism

Triana McNeil, Director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues at GAO, goes over the Government Accountability Office report on the Department of Homeland Security grants process to counter violent extremism

Pricing reform at the General Services Administration

Roger Waldron, President of the Coalition for Government Procurement, explains how schedules program reform and policy changes can increase access to commercial innovation

The Pentagon’s options for the JEDI contract

Joe Jordan, CEO of Actuparo, discusses the JEDI cloud contract, possible scenarios for moving forward and the expected timeline

Understanding China’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy

Elsa Kania, Adjunct Senior Fellow in the Technology and National Security Program at CNAS, discusses myths she has seen about China’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy and the actual scope of MCF in China

Bright spots in the government’s response to the pandemic

Max Stier, President & CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, discusses innovation, collaboration across agencies and other aspects of the government’s pandemic response that can be replicated going forward

Eliminating inequality and bias in the military

RADM Alvin Holsey (USN), Commander of Navy Personnel Command, describes how the Task Force One Navy developed recommendations to improve Navy readiness by eliminating inequality and bias

Updates on Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification

Karlton Johnson, Chairman of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Accreditation Body, discusses how the CMMC board is listening to the Defense Industrial Base to improve the program for them and the Defense Department

Updates on paid leave, vaccines and mask mandates for federal employees

Jessica Klement, Staff Vice President for Policy and Programs at NARFE, and Joanna Friedman, Partner at The Federal Practice Group, talk about some of the most important news for federal employees to pay attention to from the past week

Fixed-price-incentive contracts at the Pentagon

Bill Russell, Director of Contracting and National Security Acquisition Issues at GAO, discusses what GAO analyzed when looking at how DoD is tracking outcomes of using fixed-price-incentive contracts

Cyber survivability issues in DEOS and other contracts

Bob Bigman, Founder of 2BSecure, discusses cyber survivability and DoD’s ability to implement and secure cloud offerings

Updates on the Veterans Health Administration’s Innovation Ecosystem

Danielle Krakora, Product Manager at the VA Office of Information and Technology, and Hunter Futo, Product Designer and Research Engineer at Electric Church, Inc., describe this year’s competition to develop solutions supporting frontline workers during COVID-19