The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

Now there's a Senate version of the Show-Up act, designed to get more federal employees to return to their offices to work. In fact, it's getting a lot of attention, even as the debt ceiling uncertainty continues. For the latest, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with WTOP Capitol Hill Correspondent Mitchell Miller.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently expanded a contract to improve the cybersecurity of its main databases, as well as move the agency to that all-important zero-trust architecture. For the details, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with the USPTO Chief Information Officer Jamie Holcombe and the President of Trustwave Government Solutions, Bill Rucker.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal Drive host Tom Temin launches a week-long series: The Worst Place to Work in the Federal Government. Having best places to work, means some employees endure the worst places. And the worst of all, according to the rankings for 2022 compiled by the Partnership for Public Services, is the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a component of the Justice Department. It's overall index of 35, compared to 55 for the Justice Department itself, is the lowest of any agency. And it dropped a statistically significant five points from the year earlier. Temin's series starts with an overview of the BOP's workforce challenges, with a discussion with Michael Horowitz, the Inspector General of the Justice Department.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the world of food, the word organic remains vague, and the rules a bit loose. Now the Agriculture Department has proposed new rules to tighten up the production and handling of food sold as organic. To hear some details, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke to Dr. Jennifer Tucker, the Deputy Administrator of the National Organic Program.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It may not be likely to become law, but a new bill to reform federal civil service shows how deeply some members of congress feel about the issue. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) just introduced a bill that would turn all federal employees, not just senior executives, into employees at-will. For one reaction, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke to Bob Tobias, a Professor of Management at American University in Washington, D.C.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is renewing its multibillion-dollar contract for a new Electronic Health Record, with new terms meant to hold the vendor accountable for persistent outages. The VA announced Tuesday that it reached an agreement on a renegotiated contract with EHR contractor Oracle-Cerner. Tuesday marked the deadline for VA and Oracle-Cerner to renew the five-year base period contract signed in 2018. The VA announced last month it is indefinitely putting all future deployments of the Oracle-Cerner EHR on hold, until it addresses problems at the five VA sites already using the system.

The VA has obligated about $9.4 billion on the EHR modernization program since fiscal 2018. The renegotiated contract includes larger fines Oracle Cerner will need to pay VA, if the EHR doesn’t meet performance targets.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Navy thinks it has some answers to the “fix our computers” problem, and those answers can’t come soon enough. Officials estimate the service is losing about one man-year of productivity every single day by virtue of how long it takes employees to log into their desktops and laptops — and that figure only accounts for the service’s workforce within the five walls of the Pentagon.

The Navy’s latest attempt to improve user experience will also start inside the Pentagon, where all of its users could start seeing major improvements by next month. That choice was made partly because, for even the most senior leaders there, the experience is far from good.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.