Government Matters

Takeaways from the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act scorecard

Carol Harris, Director of Information Technology Acquisition Management Issues at GAO, provides takeaways from the latest FITARA scorecard and discusses the possibility of expanding the scorecard to include additional IT metrics

Updates on the State Department coronavirus response

Mike Mestrovich, Principal Deputy Chief Information Officer at the State Department, discusses the challenges of the State Department’s shift from teleworking to returning to the office and explains the Cloud-Smart strategy

Updates on the Navy’s shipbuilding plan

Mackenzie Eaglen, Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Michael O’Hanlon, Senior Fellow and Director of Research for Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, and RADM Sinclair Harris (USN ret.), National Vice President of Military Affairs at the Navy League, discuss progress on the Navy’s shipbuilding plan, delays to the plan, and the argument about what to include when counting ships

Updates on coronavirus relief bills

Mike Hettinger, President of Hettinger Strategy Group, and Rich Beutel, Principal at Cyrrus Analytics, LLC, discuss areas they are following in the coronavirus relief bills from the House and Senate and their chances of getting through

Fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace

Jeffrey Neal, Author of www.ChiefHRO.com, makes suggestions for promoting diversity in the workforce by changing federal hiring practices that could be discriminatory

Updates from the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Information and Technology

Lynette Sherrill, Executive Director of Enterprise Command Operations at the VA OIT, discusses the impact of COVID-19 on work at the VA, including the major increase in call volume to the IT service desk

Acquisition reform and the Defense Department

Katharina McFarland, Director at SAIC, discusses the lack of major acquisition reforms in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act as well as the most important reforms in recent years

Guidance for contractors during the coronavirus

Daniel Snyder, Director of Government Contracts Analysis at Bloomberg Government, details what guidance the Defense Department has issued to contractors and what to watch with defense spending in the fourth quarter

U.S. to provide alternative payment options to arms customers during COVID-19

Aaron Mehta, Deputy Editor and Sr. Pentagon Correspondent for Defense News, discusses new payment options for foreign arms customers and concerns that some defense contractors have

New Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act scorecard

Richard Spires, Principal at Richard A. Spires Consulting, discusses his take on the new FITARA scorecard, recommendations to evolve it, and the impact of IT on agency missions

HHS’s search for an innovation partner for medicine

Mary Denigan-Macauley, Director of Health Care and Public Health & Private Markets at the Government Accountability Office, discusses the progress of the Department of Health and Human Services on working with a private nonprofit to invest in companies making drugs or vaccines

Looking ahead to the next FITARA scorecard

Jonathan Alboum, Principal Data Strategist at ServiceNow, shares his takeaways from the hearing on the FITARA scorecard and possible changes for the future

Fostering innovation during the coronavirus

COL Todd Rasmussen, MD (USAF), Associate Dean for Research at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, describes the Army’s new COVID-19 Airway Management Isolation Chamber and the military’s approach to medical innovation

Rethinking work arrangements after the coronavirus

Sean Morris, Chief Operating Officer of Government and Public Services at Deloitte, discusses how challenging traditional, pre-pandemic ways of working has the potential to bring about positive change for government agencies

New rule bans telecommunications equipment and services from China

Eric Crusius, Partner at Holland & Knight, discusses how the Defense Department’s ban on telecommunications equipment from China impacts contractors and how they can implement it

Conducting oversight on the CARES Act

Robert Westbrooks, Executive Director of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, discusses how the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee is promoting accountability in COVID-19 relief efforts

Frictionless acquisition and the President’s Management Agenda

Michael Wooten, Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy at the Office of Management and Budget, details the Cross-Agency Priority Goal of frictionless acquisition and some of the changes that have been made

New principles for AI ethics for the intelligence community

Ben Huebner, Chief of Civil Liberties, Privacy, and Transparency at ODNI, explains how agencies across the intelligence community collaborated to put together principles for the ethical use of artificial intelligence

Best practices for boosting morale

Angela Cotellessa, Program Manager of the Center for Leadership Development in the Office of Personnel Management, shares different ways that managers in the federal government can keep employee morale high during the pandemic

Antiviral infusion treatment of Ebola virus developed by NIH team

Nancy Sullivan, Chief of the Biodefense Research Section at the National Institutes of Health, talks about leading a two-decade effort to develop a treatment for Ebola that has drastically reduced the death rate for this disease

Limitations on year-end spending at the Defense Department

Steve Cortese, Former Staff Director of the Senate Appropriations Committee, explains why he thinks that it is a bad idea to let the Department of Defense roll over half of its operations and maintenance budget to the next year

The Defense Department and audit performance

Mike McCord, Member of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy for the United States, discusses the Defense Department’s audit troubles and related challenges in recruiting financial management employees

The Navy and relations in the Pacific

Harlan Ullman, Chair at the Killowen Group, describes what he believes Fleet Admiral Ernest King would say about the Navy’s current strategy, based on his World War II experiences

The Public Buildings Reform Board and selling properties

Adam Bodner, Executive Director of the Public Buildings Reform Board, discusses the General Services Administration’s strategy for selling property that it no longer needs

Updates on the L-Fund

Kim Weaver, Director of External Affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, provides information about the new L-Funds added to the Thrift Savings Plan and explains how the money is invested

Reconciling two versions of the NDAA

Seamus Daniels, Program Manager & Research Associate for Defense Budget Analysis at CSIS, talks about the House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act and speculates about what a potential Biden administration would think about the National Defense Strategy

Cybersecurity amendments in the NDAA

Ari Schwartz, Managing Director of Cybersecurity Services at Venable, discusses some of the cybersecurity amendments from the Cyberspace Solarium Commission that are in the House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act

Regulating satellites in space

Kaitlyn Johnson, Associate Director of the Aerospace Security Project at CSIS, breaks down the debate over what organization or agency should have the authority to regulate satellites and space debris

Audit finds Internal Revenue Service has reduced fraud and identity theft

Danny Werfel, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group, discusses the new audit finding that the IRS has been successful in reducing fraud and identity theft