The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

With Congress passing a very short term continuing resolution to keep the government running, there just isn’t going to be that much new business right now. So what can companies do to make sure they get a good start to fiscal year 2025? To help with that answer, Larry Allen of Allen Federal Business Partners.

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After three years, an equity commission at the Department of Agriculture is seeing promising progress. The Commission sent 66 recommendations to USDA leadership earlier this year. Already, the department has implemented several changes, like streamlining the process for small farmers to access programs and resources. The equity commission celebrated its progress and discussed what's still ahead. During a convention last week, Federal News Network's Drew Friedman caught up with the Commission's co chairs, Ertharin Cousin and Arturo Rodriguez.

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Is the Pentagon getting it's moneys worth with the contractors it does business with? It's obvious an important question that many officials, elected and appointed, would like to find out. Also looking into are organizations like the Project on Government Oversight or POGO. It's tasked Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, government affairs manager with POGO to study this topic. We welcome him now to tell us what he's found.

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Back in 2022, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) launched a multiyear hiring initiative to expand veterans’ access to substance use disorder treatment. The agency's inspector general recently reviewed that initiative to see if it was successful in improving VA's ability to treat substance abuse. It found that things could have gone a little bitter. To find out more, we welcome back Leigh Ann Searight, Deputy Assistant Inspector General for VA OIG.

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You hear the Defense Department saying it wants to hear from those innovators and start ups to possibly work with them. However, how is it supposed to hear from them if they don't give them a way to do it. To help, co-founder of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University Steve Blank has created a new resource for startups and scaleups that want to work with the department, a Directory of DoD Program Executive Offices. Federal News Network's Jared Serbu recently had the chance to speak with Blank about it.

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The Federal retirement tsunami so many so called experts warned us about over the last two decades never materialized. In fact, federal employees are working longer into their 60s. In this week's federal report, Federal News Network's executive editor Jason Miller takes another dive into the data to explore the current trends in retirement and how many CSRS employees are left in government. Jason joins me now to discuss.

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Congress may have taken off after passing a brief spending measure, but some are calling for it to return. That would be to deal with the needed emergency relief funding related to Hurricane Helene. There's also the election in the coming weeks that has some members looking into the logistical details of federal agencies involved in that process. For an update on all of this, we welcome WTOP Capitol Hill Correspondent Mitchell Miller.

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Over 6000 National Guard members have been deployed to assist with recovery operations in communities impacted by Hurricane Helene, which has become one of the deadliest storms in recent history. Federal News Network's Anastasia Obis joins us for an update.

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Federal agencies have been grappling with a shortage of qualified cyber talent. But not all agencies are alike when it comes to the tools they have available to recruit cybersecurity staff. In recent years, a handful of agencies have gained authorities that allow them to offer special salary increases to in demand cyber talent. For more on this issue, Federal News Network's Justin Doubleday joins me.

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Today on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin

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