Best Commission For Financial Capability Podcasts (2024)

1
Navy's sustainment system refocuses on real-world readiness 45:43

4M ago45:43

45:43

This episode features two discussions from the 2024 Sea Air Space conference, starting with a focus on sustainment and logistics. Over the past several years, the Navy has been using a sweeping process improvement effort to wring almost a billion dollars in savings out of its supply chains under a project called Naval Sustainment System-Supply. Now…

1
In Japan, half of military spouse health workers unemployed amid 'shortage' of providers 51:15

5M ago51:15

51:15

Federal News Network has covered the difficulties federal employees and military members have seen when it comes to getting access to health care in Japan. On this edition of the show, we’re going to talk about that – but not just about that. We’re also going to talk about military spouse unemployment. In the case of Japan, and Okinawa specifically…

1
Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland on the Defense Health Agency's new strategic plan 44:20

9M ago44:20

44:20

It’s been a decade of major change for the Military Health System in general, and the Defense Health Agency in particular. From its beginning as primarily a shared services provider, DHA has grown to become the sole operator of all of the military’s hospitals and clinics, the overseer of the TRICARE health plans and a central player in most other a…

1
Commercial technologies are about to completely redefine IT capabilities in the Navy's afloat community 44:01

10M ago44:01

44:01

On this edition of On DoD, Jared talks with two leaders from the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR) who are experimenting with technologies like 5G and proliferated low-earth orbit satellites. We'll talk about the massive increase in bandwidth those technologies allow and the improvements they might enable -- both for quality of lif…

1
Secret-level version of Microsoft 365 rolls out to top Pentagon offices as new OSD CIO marks its one-year anniversary 43:50

10M ago43:50

43:50

On this edition of On DoD: Up until a year ago, the Office of the Secretary of Defense was a bit of an outlier when it came to IT management and governance. Despite having 19,000 employees, there was no single person in charge of making sure those workers had a decent user experience, and no one in charge of delivering common IT services. That chan…

1
Navy says it's achieved big UX improvements amid DoD effort to 'fix our computers' 41:00

12M ago41:00

41:00

Up until this summer, it wasn’t uncommon for Navy IT users, even at the most senior ranks in the Pentagon, to plan part of their mornings around the 10 minutes it took for their computers to boot. But as part of a concerted effort to improve user experience, the service has shown it’s possible to cut those maddening daily waits to only about 30 sec…

1
DoD financial management workforce gives low marks to decades-old PPBE system 48:18

1y ago48:18

48:18

The Pentagon’s decades-old planning and budgeting process doesn’t have a lot of fans – least of all the people who work within it every day. The American Society of Military Comptrollers has been surveying the DoD financial management workforce for their views about the planning, programming, budgeting and execution process as part of a task force …

1
Pentagon has a new plan for 'customer-led' IT service delivery 43:15

1y ago43:15

43:15

The Pentagon has a new plan to improve technology services inside the actual Pentagon – or big parts of it anyway. The first-ever enterprise IT implementation plan for the Office of the Secretary of Defense promises to take a user-centric approach to improving IT services for the 17 major offices that make up OSD. Danielle Metz, the OSD chief infor…

1
An update on DoD's deployment of MHS Genesis 45:11

1+ y ago45:11

45:11

Holly Joers, the program executive officer for Defense Healthcare Management Systems talks with Federal News Network's Jared Serbu and Jason Miller about DoD's ongoing deployment of a new electronic heath record, how the new EHR will work with other federal agencies, and the centrality of data in PEO-DHMS's future mission.…

1
A progress report from the commission tasked with overhauling DoD's 60-year-old budgeting process 43:15

1+ y ago43:15

43:15

The expert commission Congress has tasked with proposing overhauls to DoD's planning and budgeting processes is still a year away from delivering its final report. But the Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution Reform has already gathered a huge amount of information. In its first progress report, the commission says it’s hel…

1
Air Force finds ways to bake cybersecurity into weapons systems, and bolt it on where necessary 20:00

1+ y ago20:00

20:00

The Air Force believes it's made significant progress toward improving the cybersecurity of its weapons systems -- both brand new ones, and systems that have been fielded for decades. On this episode of On DoD, Jared Serbu talks with two leaders from the Air Force's Cyber Resiliency Office for Weapons Systems (CROWS) about how the Air Force is work…

1
How DoD's own budget process keeps the military on the wrong side of the 'valley of death' 49:24

1+ y ago49:24

49:24

A new study by George Mason University's Center for Government Contracting chronicles the ways in which the Defense budgeting process has become increasingly inflexible over the last seven decades, how it's shackled technological innovation in DoD, and what to do about it. On this episode, co-authors Jerry McGinn and Eric Lofgren talk with Jared Se…

1
Getting to work on fixes to the Pentagon's broken budgeting system 51:20

2y ago51:20

51:20

No one particularly likes the way the Defense Department and Congress handle the DoD budgeting process. It’s rigid, inflexible, and very slow. But the PPBE process, as it’s called, has been encoded into the DNA of the Defense bureaucracy for more than 60 years, and turning the ship around is going to be very tough. That’s why there are at least two…

1
New initiatives to bring small businesses into the Army technology ecosystem, and a big acceleration of BYOD 50:12

2y ago50:12

50:12

We start this week’s show with an exclusive interview with Gabe Camarillo, the undersecretary of the Army, about several new initiatives the Army’s launching to incorporate small, innovative businesses into its technology ecosystem. Later in the program, Kenneth McNeill, the National Guard’s chief information officer, talks us about a big expansion…

1
To institutionalize DevSecOps, Navy's Black Pearl aims to 'commoditize the boring stuff' 25:37

2y ago25:37

25:37

When the Navy Department set about the process of simplifying its journey to modern software development, officials decided it didn't make much sense to reinvent the wheel. So instead of building a software factory and development pipeline from scratch, they borrowed heavily from the Air Force's Platform One initiative and tailored it to the Navy's…

1
One reason Navy ship maintenance is taking too long: workers stuck waiting for supplies 45:59

2y ago45:59

45:59

Maintenance periods for the Navy’s ships and submarines are taking longer than they should. And there are a lot of reasons for that, but one that the Navy’s only recently discovered is that most of the supplies shipyard employees need to do the work aren’t on hand at the time the work’s supposed to start. On average, less than a third of the materi…

1
Five years into DoD financial audits, progress has stalled 46:16

2y ago46:16

46:16

The Defense Department and its components are now into their fifth year of having their financial statements independently scrutinized by independent auditors. In the first few years, there were some very promising signs that DoD was on the path to eventually earning a clean opinion, as every other federal agency has already done. But the DoD inspe…

1
Va. National Guard's 'Smart Weapon' aims to stop wasting airmen's time on paperwork 45:45

2+ y ago45:45

45:45

Just like innumerable other government agencies, the Air Force runs on paper-based forms that have to be filled out manually, and each one takes time. How much? That was a difficult question to answer until the Virginia Air National Guard’s 192nd Wing saw a chance to do things differently. 'Chief Master Sergeant Joe Young, who’s been leading the te…

1
Federal News Network Special Report | Nowhere safe to hide: What online harassment is doing to service members and the military 32:28

2+ y ago32:28

32:28

The internet is a forum for harassment that women in the military can't escape. They are being bombarded by toxic comments, vile memes and even stalking. Yet, the Pentagon has few answers for a problem that is hurting mental health and retention. In this extended special report, Federal News Network's Scott Maucione and Amelia Brust explore the pro…

1
How the Pentagon's first chief software officer sees the state of software management in DoD 42:43

2+ y ago42:43

42:43

Jason Weiss was appointed back in January 2021 as DoD’s first-ever Chief Software Officer. Weiss has decided he’s ready to move back to the private sector. In this episode, he tells Jared Serbu about his takeaways from his tour of duty, including some of the ways DoD’s started to experiment with new funding models for software, how software factori…

1
The logistics of fuel storage in INDOPACOM and the military's moving contract 44:07

2+ y ago44:07

44:07

On this episode of On DoD, a bit of a logistics focus.First, we talk with Tim Walton, a fellow at the Hudson Institute, about DoD's somewhat surprising decision to close down its Red Hill fuel storage facility near Honolulu. We'll also talk with Al Thompson, the CEO of HomeSafe Alliance. That's the company U.S. Transportation Command finally select…

1
DoD's Danielle Metz on how the multibillion dollar JWCC cloud contract will actually work 48:18

2+ y ago48:18

48:18

On this episode, an extended discussion with Danielle Metz, the deputy DoD chief information officer for information enterprise. Metz explains how Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle will actually compete for work under the up to $9 billion contract, in an approach that's novel for government procurement. Federal News Network reported on the key d…

1
Army's DEVCOM takes 'future of work' from concept to reality 43:40

2+ y ago43:40

43:40

It’s fair to say there are a lot of institutions across government that are still figuring out what the future of work will look like. In this episode, we revisit one of the Army organizations that’s much further along than most when it comes to answering some of those questions. John Willison, the deputy to the commanding general at Army Combat Ca…

1
DoD's new moving contract and the Army's new unified network plan 41:33

2+ y ago41:33

41:33

On this week's show, we talk to Al Thompson, the CEO of Homesafe Alliance, the joint venture U.S. Transportation Command just picked for a $6.2 billion contract to overhaul the military's household goods moving system. Later, Jared talks with Maj. Gen. Rob Collins, the Army's program executive officer for command, control and communications-tactica…

1
Demystifying Other Transaction Agreements 48:46

3y ago48:46

48:46

On this edition of On DoD: a deep dive on other transaction agreements. According to the Federal Procurement Data System DoD’s use of OTAs has skyrocketed from 342 agreements worth $1.4 billion in 2016 to 3,200 agreements worth more than $16 billion in 2020. Despite that growth, the rules governing OTAs – what few rules there are – aren’t universal…

1
Top priorities for two of the Pentagon's newest senior technology executives 44:17

3y ago44:17

44:17

On this edition of On DoD, Jared Serbu talks with two newly-sworn-in DoD technology leaders about their priorities:-- Heidi Shyu, the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering-- Jay Bonci, the Air Force Chief Technology OfficerBy Federal News Network | Hubbard Radio

1
DAU leadership's take on the future of Defense acquisition 41:52

3y ago41:52

41:52

The Defense acquisition workforce has faced challenges at other times in its history, but as of 2021, it’s living in interesting times. Contracting officers, program managers and other acquisition professionals are navigating their way through some big changes. Just to name a few: a major recent rewrite of the DoD 5000.02 series of policy instructi…

1
New approach to Navy readiness gives leaders ways to measure bang for bucks 45:21

3y ago45:21

45:21

Rear Admiral Pete Stamatopoulos, the commander of Naval Supply Systems Command joins us to talk about Naval Sustainment System-Supply -- NAVSUP's effort to provide Navy leadership with a holistic and businesslike approach to the Navy's supply and maintenance decisions. Over the past year since it's been up and running, it's saved an estimated $500 …

1
Why the fighting force is 'ever shrinking' despite robust Defense budgets 45:04

3y ago45:04

45:04

On this edition of On DoD, Jared Serbu speaks with Maj. Gen. (ret.) Arnold Punaro, who's just released a new book, The Ever-Shrinking Fighting Force.Punaro, a former staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee who's advised Defense secretaries of both parties on reform issues, argues there are three main categories of cost growth that hav…

1
RIP Commercial Virtual Remote, the tool that forced DoD to behave like an IT enterprise 42:03

3y ago42:03

42:03

On this week's show, Danielle Metz, the deputy DoD chief information officer for information enterprise talks with Jared Serbu about the shutdown of Commercial Virtual Remote.CVR, the service DoD created to let employees work from home at the beginning of the pandemic, was a first-ever example of the entire DoD converging around a centrally-provide…

1
13 ways the Defense Department needs to tighten its oversight of other transaction agreements 40:30

3+ y ago40:30

40:30

If you’re curious about exactly where DoD is spending its money on other transaction agreements (OTAs), you won’t find satisfying answers in any public spending databases. When the military services award OTAs through third party consortiums, as they often do, the actual records of which contractors are receiving the awards are stored on spreadshee…

1
Army’s top R&D command charts a course for post-pandemic telework 42:18

3+ y ago42:18

42:18

On this week's show, John Willison, the top civilian leader at Army Combat Capabilities Development Command joins Jared Serbu to discuss how DEVCOM is thinking about telework in a post-pandemic environment. In a recent survey, 40 percent of the command's workforce said they want to keep working remotely 100 percent of the time, and DEVCOM thinks th…

1
A plain language version of what DoD's latest financial audit found 42:15

3+ y ago42:15

42:15

The Defense Department is now onto its fourth year of full-scale financial audits. At first glance, the results from the first three years aren’t encouraging: DoD has more auditor-identified financial problems now than it did a year ago. But there are some signs of forward momentum if you know where to look. Our guest, Carmen Malone, the Deputy Ass…

1
What DoD's new Adaptive Acquisition Framework really means 40:48

3+ y ago40:48

40:48

In this edition of On DoD, the Defense Acquisition University's Mike Coolican joins Jared Serbu to explain the fundamentals of DoD's new Adaptive Acquisition Framework, and why this rewrite of the 5000 series is different from past efforts.By Federal News Network | Hubbard Radio

1
New financing could start to improve Army housing as soon as this summer 43:15

3+ y ago43:15

43:15

Under a new agreement with LendLease, a large military housing operator, $1.1 billion in debt-financed housing improvements are expected to start as soon as May across six large Army bases. To explain how the deal will work, two guests from the Army's housing partnerships office join Jared Serbu. Scott Chamberlain is the chief of capital ventures i…

1
The Defense Production Act and how the Biden administration might use it 31:38

3+ y ago31:38

31:38

The Defense Production Act is a special presidential authority we heard about quite a bit toward the beginning of the pandemic as the Trump administration used it to procure personal protective equipment, vaccine-related supplies and other materials. But President Biden has promised to take things a bit further – using the DPA to ramp up vaccine pr…

1
Big changes coming to how the Navy and Marine Corps buy cloud computing services 42:54

3+ y ago42:54

42:54

The Navy Department is making some big changes to how it buys and uses commercial cloud computing services. Within the next few months, all the Navy and Marine Corps’ cloud purchases will be funneled through a single “marketplace,” and program managers will no longer be allowed to use their own contracts to buy cloud. Jared talks with two guests fr…

1
How the Navy is using data analytics, AI to boost aviation readiness 37:00

3+ y ago37:00

37:00

Like the other military services, the Navy has been working in recent years to improve the readiness of its aviation fleets – especially since cuts under the Budget control Act almost a decade ago dealt a serious blow to readiness. Bigger maintenance budgets over the last few years have helped, but money isn’t everything. The Navy is trying to inno…

1
Pentagon can't fix software acquisition until it gains a better understanding of its own workforce 43:47

3+ y ago43:47

43:47

A new Pentagon working group is trying to bring more rigor to DoD’s management of its software acquisition workforce. But the department faces a major hurdle: it knows almost nothing about the workforce as it stands today – not even how many people are in it. The RAND Corporation recently published recommendations on how DoD can identify the workfo…

1
Navy came late to the OTA game, but spending on IT, cyber now 'exploding' 44:45

3+ y ago44:45

44:45

In August, the Navy announced it was increasing the ceiling value for its Information Warfare Research Project OTA to $500 million. That’s after IWRP exhausted its initial 100 million dollar ceiling in just a little over a year and a half. To talk about how that happened and some of the technology that’s come out of IWRP since the OTA was first sig…

1
DoD's Space Development Agency shows how fast the FAR can be 41:22

4y ago41:22

41:22

The Pentagon's acquisition system often gets a bad rap -- often deservedly so. But DoD's fledgling Space Development Agency is offering the latest example in why the Federal Acquisition Regulation doesn't have to be synonymous with slowness. SDA just awarded a major multi-million dollar systems integration contract in the span of three and a half m…

1
Army cutting costs by sharing services with local communities 44:18

4y ago44:18

44:18

The Army is finding new ways to partner with the communities around its bases. Thanks to a 2015 law that lets the military services sign service agreements with local governments without the pain of traditional federal contracts, the Army has now signed dozens of Intergovernmental Service Agreements for everything from snow removal to animal contro…

1
Gearing up for great power competition also helped the Air Force prepare for COVID-19 42:45

4y ago42:45

42:45

On this week's program, Maj. Gen. Cameron Holt, the deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for contracting joins Jared Serbu to discuss a wide range of lessons the acquisition community learned from COVID-19.By Federal News Network | Hubbard Radio

1
How the Army is rethinking its financial managment systems (it's not just an IT problem) 17:49

4y ago17:49

17:49

On this week's program, Jonathan Moak, the Army's top financial management official, and Greg Garcia, its top IT official, join Jared Serbu to discuss a new initiative to modernize the Army's approach to financial management.By Federal News Network | Hubbard Radio

1
Unresolved IG recommendations piling up at DoD 43:10

4y ago43:10

43:10

Troy Meyer, DoD's principal deputy inspector general for audit joins Jared Serbu to discuss why open recommendations are headed in the wrong direction (there are now 170 that are five years old or older, compared to 80 last year).Later, we get an update on the Air Force's experiments with Enterprise IT as a Service from Maj. Gen. Kevin Kennedy, the…

1
Pentagon CMO claims billions more in savings as Congress seeks to eliminate the position 49:08

4y ago49:08

49:08

Lisa Hershman, DoD's chief management officer, joins Jared Serbu to discuss the role and mission of the CMO.The office only existed since 2018, but has achieved billions of dollars in savings through long-term business reforms, Hershman says. Congress is leaning toward eliminating the CMO position altogether, but Hershman says lawmakers need to giv…

1
Pentagon IG offers advice for effective contracting during pandemic 44:25

4y ago44:25

44:25

With billions of dollars in CARES Act funding yet to be spent and several billion more potentially in the appropriations pipeline, it’s far too early to tell how effectively the Defense Department is spending its share of the disaster funding.But according to the Pentagon’s inspector general, DoD – and its auditors – have more than enough experienc…

1
Navy aims to unify its IT networks with NGEN-R contract 40:50

4y ago40:50

40:50

On this week's show, Capt. Ben McNeal, the program manager for Naval Enterprise Networks talks with Jared Serbu about how the Navy hopes to use its latest NGEN contract to consolidate its networks (there are still 140 of them).Later, Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro (Ret.) talks about the Defense Business Board's latest study on how to restructure the Penta…

1
Federal agencies apply supercomputing resources toward COVID-19 pandemic 47:05

4+ y ago47:05

47:05

From modeling airflows aboard medical evacuation aircraft to simulating vaccine candidates, the Defense Department's supercomputing resources are being brought to bear on various aspects of the government's pandemic response. Dr. Will McMahon and Dr. Kevin Newmeyer from the DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Program join Jared Serbu to sh…

1
Pentagon releases last of four solicitations to test 5G technologies 43:15

4+ y ago43:15

43:15

Last week, the Defense Department released its latest in a series of requests for prototype proposals (RPPs) to help pave the way for incorporating 5G technologies into military networks. Depending on how the project pans out, it could lead to significant improvements in how 5G networks operate in the commercial sector too.Sal D’Itri, the chairman …

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Commission For Financial Capability Podcasts

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