Moving technology into government faster doesn't eliminate the need for accountability. A recent Court of Federal Claims decision kept alive a protest over a Navy software procurement and drew an important distinction between evaluating a proposal and determining whether a bidder may have misrepresented its qualifications. Federal contracting attorney Zach Prince joins me with lessons contractors should take from the case.

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For decades, technology transfer usually meant moving inventions out of government laboratories and into the marketplace. Now some small technology companies are heading in the opposite direction, bringing developed technologies to federal labs for testing and validation. That's one of the shifts David Lee and Paige George of the Federal Labs Consortium are watching, and one they hope to build on. They join me now to discuss that change and their upcoming industry forum.

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• In national security technology, some of the most important ideas are now arriving at federal labs from outside government
• Government agencies are bringing technology companies into the problem-solving process a lot earlier
• Winning a government contract may not end scrutiny of what a bidder claimed in its proposal

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Agencies’ spending on paid administrative leave surged sixfold last year. Those costs were largely due to the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program. But data limitations make it impossible to tell exactly how much was spent, or how much was potentially saved, by the DRP.

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Fears about the risks of artificial intelligence continue to dominate conversations in Washington. Those concerns include the potential for AI to enable devastating cyber attacks. But government cyber leaders are urging organizations to focus on basic security practices rather than chasing new tools and technologies. Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday reports.

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 For small and non-traditional businesses that want to do national security work, some of the biggest challenges can be getting security clearances — both for physical spaces, and for people. The Defense Innovation Unit may have some answers in the pipeline. Through an initiative called the Bridge Program, DIU is working to get rid of some of the bottlenecks companies face in working with DoD, including by providing classified infrastructure “as a service.” The organization issued its latest award to deliver those services just last week. Sarah Pearson is DIU’s chief of strategic initiatives. She talked about the goals with Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu.

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Changes to Washington DC's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program sparked a debate about policy. A National Academy of Public Administration working group focused on something different: how the program was actually working for the people living with it. Here to discuss what those conversations revealed is Miles Murphy, senior manager for research and government solutions at the National Academy of Public Administration.

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A new report from the Government Accountability Office looked at workers receiving Medicaid and SNAP and found many are employed, often full time, and frequently work for large employers. We'll discuss what the data show, and what conclusions they do and don't support, with Kathy Larin, Director on the Education, Workforce and Income Security team at the Government Accountability Office.

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For years, policymakers have searched for ways to make housing more affordable. One think tank argues the problem isn't simply a shortage of homes, but a shortage of affordable starter homes and a housing system that struggles to build them at scale. Here to expand on that proposal is Alex Jacquez, senior vice president of policy, advocacy and research at Groundwork Collaborative.

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• Building more homes and building more affordable homes are not always the same thing
• People who benefit from a government program often know things the people who designed it don't
• Millions of people are doing exactly what policymakers say they should do: working. Many still qualify for public assistance.

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