U.S. Marines with Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz, Northern Mariana Islands, hand out toys to children during the Toys for Tots campaign, San Jose, Tinian, Dec. 18, 2025. This year marks the 78th year of the national Marine Corps Toys for Tots Campaign and the 9th year in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The mission of the Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys and distribute those toys to children at Christmas. (Photo: U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Afton Smiley) NORAD Tracks Santa Call Center Update: As of late afternoon Dec. 24, the bustling call center staffed by volunteers received more than 100,000 calls from families around the world tracking Santa’s journey over Christmas Eve. “Thank you to our volunteers who are answering phones and helping keep this holiday tradition going strong,” organizers posted to social media. Onlookers take in the National Menorah during the annual lighting ceremony in celebration of Hanukkah. The event took place on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) At the African Burial Ground National Monument, visitors on Dec. 26 can take part in Kwanzaa festivities and learn more about the holiday. According to NPS, Kwanzaa is an annual, non-religious cultural holiday takes place from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1. Established in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, the seven-day celebration of Black culture, history and community draws on African harvest festival traditions, promoting unity and self-determination and connecting people of African descent with their heritage. The name originates from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning “first fruits.” (Photo credit: NPS) Looking for inspiration this holiday season? The U.S. National Park Service hosts winter festivities and holiday happenings at parks across the country and joins in the many historical and cultural traditions of the season. Pictured here is a holiday display from the Harry S. Truman National Historic Site Independence, Missouri. (Photo courtesy NPS) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has holiday card fin-spiration for, in their words, “all the fish aficionados and feather freaks in your life.” So light those Hanukkah candles, decorate that Christmas tree, or prepare to dance alone under the Solstice moon. However you celebrate this December, have a safe and totally not crappie holiday. (Credit: Candy Darter Christmas Card, Erin Huggins/USFWS) The Nordic Air Forces offered Christmas greetings from the air as Sweden invited Finland and Denmark to join its Christmas tree flight over all three nations. Meanwhile Norway continued its iconic F-35 Christmas star. This celebratory show case had it all: A festive salute from the air, an entertaining exhibition of cooperation and valuable precision-flying training for the crews. (Courtesy NATO Air Command) U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White met with Jewish leaders in Brussels to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Lights. “My husband Bryan Eure and I marked Hanukkah in Brussels by celebrating light, resilience, and hope at the Great Synagogue. Even more so after the antisemitic terror attack in Sydney, we stand in solidarity with Jewish communities in Belgium and around the world. We must work together to confront and eliminate antisemitism decisively and collectively,” White posted on X. “Fa-la-la-la-law, we’ll fund it all:” On X, the House Appropriations Committee showcased a holiday-themed overview of their work, culminating on Day 12 with a post highlighting “three bills signed into law with care, not folly.” (Those would be fiscal 2026 Military Construction-VA, Legislative Branch and Agriculture-FDA, according to the committee.) Need more Fish and Wildlife Service holiday inspo…this time, for Kwanzaa? You’re in luck. (Credit: A Very Paddlefish Kwanzaa Holiday Card, Gwen Bausmith/USFWS) NASA’s “Cosmic Snowman” comes to life (sort of): Icons of winter are sometimes found in unexpected places. In one striking example, a series of oval lagoons in a remote part of Siberia forms the shape of a towering snowman when viewed from above. (Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey) But wait, there’s more! Don’t miss a few great video greetings: document.createElement('video'); https://federalnewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/jsc2025m000043_Space_Station_Astronauts_Offer_Holiday_Greetings_251222medium.mp4 The Expedition 74 crew aboard the International Space Station sends warm wishes for happy holidays and a stellar New Year from orbit, where they’re celebrating a year of science, teamwork, and discoveries that connect us all. (Video courtesy NASA)   https://federalnewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/DOD_111431597-1920x1080-6000k.mp4 The 39th Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Eric M. Smith, and the 20th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Sgt. Maj. Carlos A. Ruiz, provide a message to the force on holidays at the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. (U.S. Marine Corps video by Communication Directorate/Headquarters Marine Corps)   https://federalnewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/DOD_111457371-1280x720-3000k.mp4 Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman and Chief Master Sgt. of the Space Force John F. Bentivegna send holiday wishes across the Guardian force and beyond: “Thank you to every Guardian and family member for your commitment to our mission, especially those standing watch over the holidays. We hope you each find time to relax, recharge, and enjoy this special time with loved ones. Semper Supra.”The post “Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to” first appeared on Federal News Network.

Customs and Border Protection is increasing its total recruitment and retention incentives, as the Department of Homeland Security touts a record year for job applications. CBP says new Border Patrol agents can now get up to $60,000 in incentives, including $10,000 after completing academy training and $10,000 for those assigned to a remote locations. Newly appointed Border Patrol agents can then qualify for up to $40,000 in retention incentives over the next four years. Current Border Patrol agents are eligible to receive up to $50,000 in retention incentives. Meanwhile, new officers assigned to “hard-to-fill and most difficult-to-fill locations” under CBP’s Office of Field Operations are eligible for up to $60,000 in retention incentives over a three year contract. CBP is also offering up to $60,000 in retention incentives for “experienced supervisors and officers eligible to retire in certain locations.” New CBP Air and Marine Operations agents are also eligible for $10,000 signing bonuses, while new and current AMO agents can get up to 25% of their salary in retention incentives. The increased incentives are funded under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The bill provided $4.1 billion for CBP to hire 5,000 customs officers and 3,000 border patrol agents over the next four years. CBP for several years has offered both recruitment and retention incentives, as it prepares for an expected officer retirement surge starting in fiscal 2027. The Department of Homeland Security, in an annual review, said CBP’s monthly hiring averages increased by 42.5% compared to the same time period last year. Meanwhile, hiring of Border Patrol agents increased by 84% over the same time last year, according to DHS. ICE hiring surges, but under scrutiny DHS also said Immigration and Customs Enforcement is on track to hire 10,000 new officers by the end of 2025. ICE has also offered $10,000 recruitment incentives and changed its minimum officer age to 18 years old to facilitate the recruitment campaign. DHS said it has received a record number of job applications in 2025 at agencies including ICE, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Secret Service. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed in July, included $8 billion for the ICE hiring spree. “Some” of the new ICE officers are already on the job, according to DHS. But House Homeland Security Committee Democrats are now asking the Government Accountability Office to review ICE’s hiring practices. In a Dec. 18 letter led by Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) to GAO, the lawmakers point to media reports that ICE has put some new recruits into training without doing background checks and other standard vetting. “This rapid expansion – the most significant staffing increase in the agency’s history – raises important questions about how ICE has changed its hiring standards and training protocols to meet its staffing aims,” the letter to GAO states.The post CBP increases hiring incentives, amid record DHS recruiting year first appeared on Federal News Network.

For decades, the federal government has relied on sector-specific regulations to safeguard critical infrastructure. As an example, organizations including the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC CIP) set standards for the energy sector, while the Transportation Security Administration issues pipeline directives and the Environmental Protection Agency makes water utility rules. While these frameworks were designed to protect individual sectors, the digital transformation of operational technology and information technology has made such compartmentalization increasingly risky. Today, the boundaries between sectors are blurring – and the gaps between their governance frameworks are becoming attackers’ entry points. The problem is the lack of harmony. Agencies are enforcing strong but disconnected standards, and compliance often becomes an end in and of itself, rather than a pathway to resilience. With the rollout of the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act (CIRCIA) and the release of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework 2.0, the United States has an opportunity to modernize oversight, making it more adaptive, consistent and outcome based. Doing so will require a cultural shift within federal governance: from measuring compliance to ensuring capability. Overlapping mandates, uneven protection Every critical infrastructure sector has its own set of cybersecurity expectations, but those rules vary widely in scope, maturity and enforcement. The Energy Department may enforce rigorous incident response requirements for electric utilities, while TSA might focus its directives on pipeline resilience. Meanwhile, small water utilities, overseen by the EPA, often lack the resources to fully comply with evolving standards. This uneven terrain creates what I call “regulatory dissonance.” One facility may be hardened according to its regulator’s rulebook, while another connected through shared vendors or data exchanges operates under entirely different assumptions. The gaps between these systems can create cascading risk. The 2021 Colonial Pipeline incident illustrated how oversight boundaries can become national vulnerabilities. While the energy sector had long operated under NERC CIP standards, pipelines fell under less mature guidance until TSA introduced emergency directives after the fact. CIRCIA was conceived to close such gaps by requiring consistent incident reporting across sectors. Yet compliance alone won’t suffice if agencies continue to interpret and implement these mandates in isolation. Governance as the common language Modernizing oversight requires more than new rules; it requires shared governance principles that transcend sectors. NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 introduces a crucial element in this direction: the new “Govern” function, which emphasizes defining roles, responsibilities and decision-making authority within organizations. This framework encourages agencies and their partners to move from reactive enforcement toward continuous, risk-informed governance. For federal regulators, this presents an opportunity to align oversight frameworks through a “federated accountability” model. In practice, that means developing consistent taxonomies for cyber risk, harmonized maturity scoring systems and interoperable reporting protocols. Agencies could begin by mapping common controls across frameworks, aligning TSA directives, EPA requirements and DOE mandates to a shared baseline that mirrors NIST Cybersecurity Framework principles. This kind of crosswalk not only streamlines oversight, but also strengthens public-private collaboration by giving industry partners a clear, consistent compliance roadmap. Equally important is data transparency. If the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency , DOE and EPA share a common reporting structure, insights from one sector can rapidly inform others. A pipeline incident revealing supply chain vulnerabilities could immediately prompt water or energy operators to review similar controls. Oversight becomes a feedback loop rather than a series of disconnected audits. Engineering resilience into policy One of the most promising lessons from the technology world comes from the “secure-by-design” movement: Resilience cannot be retrofitted. Security must be built into the design of both systems and the policies that govern them. In recent years, agencies have encouraged vendors to adopt secure development lifecycles and prioritize vulnerability management. But that same thinking can, and should, be applied to regulation itself. “Secure-by-design oversight” means engineering resilience into the way standards are created, applied and measured. That could include: Outcome-based metrics: Shifting from binary compliance checks (“Is this control in place?”) to maturity indicators that measure recovery time, detection speed or incident containment capability. Embedded feedback loops: Requiring agencies to test and refine directives through simulated exercises with industry before finalizing rules, mirroring how developers test software before release. Adaptive updates: Implementing versioned regulatory frameworks that can be iteratively updated, similar to patch cycles, rather than rewritten every few years through lengthy rulemaking. Such modernization would not only enhance accountability but also reduce the compliance burden on operators who currently navigate multiple, sometimes conflicting, reporting channels. Making oversight measurable As CIRCIA implementation begins in earnest, agencies must ensure that reporting requirements generate actionable insights. That means designing systems that enable real-time analysis and trend detection across sectors, not just retrospective compliance reviews. The federal government can further strengthen resilience by integrating incident reporting into national situational awareness frameworks, allowing agencies like CISA and DOE to correlate threat intelligence and issue rapid, unified advisories. Crucially, oversight modernization must also address the human dimension of compliance. Federal contractors, third-party service providers and local operators often sit at the outer edge of regulatory reach but remain central to national resilience. Embedding training, resource-sharing and technical assistance into federal mandates can elevate the entire ecosystem, rather than penalizing those least equipped to comply. The next step in federal cyber strategy Effective harmonization hinges on trust and reciprocity between government and industry. The Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) has demonstrated how voluntary partnerships can accelerate threat information sharing, but most collaboration remains one-directional. To achieve true synchronization, agencies must move toward reciprocal intelligence exchange, aggregating anonymized, cross-sector data into federal analysis centers and pushing synthesized insights back to operators. This not only democratizes access to threat intelligence, but also creates a feedback-driven regulatory ecosystem. In the AI era, where both defenders and attackers are leveraging machine learning, shared visibility becomes the foundation of collective defense. Federal frameworks should incorporate AI governance principles, ensuring transparency in data usage, algorithmic accountability and protection against model exploitation, while enabling safe, responsible innovation across critical infrastructure. A unified future for resilience governance  CIRCIA and NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 have laid the groundwork for a new era of harmonized oversight — one that treats resilience as a measurable capability rather than a compliance checkbox. Achieving that vision will require a mindset shift at every level of governance. Federal regulators must coordinate across agencies, industry partners must participate in shaping standards, and both must view oversight as a dynamic, adaptive process. When frameworks align, insights flow freely, and regulations evolve as quickly as the threats they are designed to mitigate, compliance transforms from a bureaucratic exercise into a national security asset. Oversight modernization is the blueprint for a more resilient nation.   Dr. Jerome Farquharson is managing director and senior executive advisor at MorganFranklin Cyber. The post Harmonizing compliance: How oversight modernization can strengthen America’s cyber resilience first appeared on Federal News Network.

In the 1980s and 1990s, many large manufacturing companies pursued an offshoring strategy — not always because a careful analysis showed a clear link between offshoring and achieving their business objectives, but because their competitors were doing it. Within a few years, companies had moved significant production overseas, often at the expense of supply chain flexibility. The problem wasn’t offshoring itself, but rather that leaders were starting with the wrong question and not creating clarity around how offshoring fit within their overall strategy. Federal agencies are making the same mistake with AI. The Trump administration’s AI Action Plan unveiled in July 2025 has created urgency for agencies to demonstrate progress on artificial intelligence. But urgency without clear direction produces activity, not outcomes. Across government agencies, leaders are asking, “what’s our AI strategy?” when the question should be, “how can AI enable our strategy?” Here’s why. What happens when pressure replaces strategy The offshoring rush offers a cautionary tale that federal leaders should revisit. For many manufacturing companies, offshoring was an entirely reactive decision driven by intense pressure from Wall Street to demonstrate efforts to reduce costs. Executives would announce an offshoring strategy, consultants would be hired, operations would be moved, and often real cost implications would only emerge over time: hidden costs in coordination, quality control, and lost flexibility to withstand disruptions. In many cases, the operational changes created strategic vulnerabilities across supply chains. The companies that were most successful with offshoring started with their strategic objectives and considered offshoring as one lever to help reduce costs or diversify supply chains. Treating it as a tool to improve cost performance rather than an imperative in itself is what differentiated between it being a competitive advantage or an expensive distraction. Today’s AI adoption race shows the same warning signs. Agencies are under pressure to demonstrate AI progress, and the easiest path is typically to launch pilots, create AI working groups, and report on the number of use cases identified. However, this focus on activities may or may not produce outcomes that matter to the agency’s mission. The hidden cost of strategy-free AI adoption When AI initiatives aren’t rooted in organizational strategy, predictable problems emerge. First, use cases cluster around process optimization rather than transformation. Teams identify ways to make existing workflows slightly faster or cheaper. While these improvements are real, they are only incremental. The transformative potential of AI to entirely reimagine current workflows and significantly change how work gets done remains untapped because of a lack of clarity on what transformation should look like in service of strategic goals. Second, adoption becomes fragmented. Different business units pursue different tools to solve different problems with no coherent thread connecting them. This fragmentation makes it nearly impossible to build organizational capability in AI. Each initiative becomes a one-off experiment rather than a building block toward strategic objectives. Third, and most damaging, employees disengage. When people are told to use AI without understanding how it advances the mission they care about, the mandate feels arbitrary. Especially with the heightened media coverage of AI-driven job displacement, this can lead to resistance. The goal of AI adoption is to reduce administrative burden and increase productivity. But without strategic framing, it can produce the opposite: reduced productivity as people spend time on tools they don’t understand in service of objectives that aren’t clear. What strategy-first AI adoption looks like in practice Consider two hypothetical federal agencies, both adopting the same AI tools. Agency A starts by asking, “what’s our AI strategy?” They might form an AI task force, evaluate vendors, select platforms, and roll out training. They then track metrics on tool adoption and use cases identified. After a year, they report on how much of the workforce has used AI tools and the number of cases documented. But when asked about how those results tie back to the agency’s strategic mission, the answer is likely vague. Agency B starts by asking, “what are our strategic imperatives,” “where are we seeing barriers to progress, or opportunities to accelerate?” Only then do they explore where AI could help remove the barriers or accelerate the opportunities. They might create mixed-level teams to test AI tools in sandbox environments, fail fast, and share learnings. Success is measured by progress against strategic priorities, not by adoption rates. After a year, they report that a smaller percentage of employees have used AI tools regularly, but those employees have eliminated major bottlenecks. These case studies and the results achieved inspire many more people to adopt AI tools. Which agency got more value from their AI investment? Which agency is likely to continue to build momentum on AI? Why top-down alone fails Successfully adopting AI across an organization requires both top-down strategic clarity and bottom-up experimentation happening simultaneously. Senior leaders must provide a strategic framework and ask themselves questions like: Which of our objectives could AI accelerate? Where should we focus resources? What does success look like? However, leaders can’t identify every valuable AI application alone. Employees closer to the tactical work understand where manual processes create delays, where data exists but isn’t being leveraged, and where decisions could be faster with better information. Their insights are critical to making AI adoption practical rather than theoretical. Successful AI integration requires leaders to provide strategic direction, resource allocation and employees to experiment, learn and identify opportunities. This only happens if leaders create safe spaces for experimentation and reward employees who do so, even when experiments aren’t successful. To further activate meaningful participation, federal leaders should engage employees in solving strategic challenges, not simply adopting technology mandates. By inviting people to join committees or creating evaluation teams that include diverse perspectives, the connection between AI experimentation and mission advancement becomes clear. Managing the human side of technological change More so than any previous technology implementation, AI success depends on human behavior. Two employees with identical objectives and access can produce vastly different outcomes based on how they engage with the technology. Success depends on creativity, experimentation, and integration into daily workflows. AI adoption is, therefore, fundamentally a behavior change challenge. Employees must understand how AI serves the strategic objectives they care about and isn’t only an attempt at replacing their roles. AI is evolving much faster than traditional management systems were designed to handle. They were built to produce reliable, repeatable performance, not rapid change. Federal leaders may need to operate outside standard practices by using dynamic experimental teams, engaging more people in finding solutions, and utilizing peer-to-peer communication where employees share discoveries with each other. If agencies avoid the mistakes of previous management fads, the AI Action Plan represents an opportunity to accelerate mission delivery. The agencies that recognize AI transformation as a people challenge rooted in strategic clarity — not just a technology implementation — will be the ones to truly realize value from their investments. Gaurav Gupta is head of research and development at Kotter.The post The hidden cost of launching AI initiatives without strategic clarity first appeared on Federal News Network.

The year 2025 has been transformational for the Defense Department. The Air Force scrapped most of its sweeping reoptimization initiative announced under previous leadership, while the Army undertook one of its most significant acquisition and organizational reform efforts in decades.  Air force drops Biden-era reoptimization efforts  Months after pausing its sweeping reoptimization initiative launched under former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, the service announced earlier this month that it would abandon more than half of its sweeping efforts. The proposed changes under the previous leadership were enormous in scope, spanning acquisition, recruiting, training and the management processes that deliver support services. When Kendall announced the changes in 2023, he said it had “become clear to the entire senior leadership team” that the service was not well positioned for great power competition after spending more than two decades supporting post-9/11 conflicts and demands. Meanwhile, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said some of the most sweeping reorganization efforts would be too disruptive. For example, the Air Force announced it would create a new Air Base Wing organizational model under the sweeping reoptimization effort. The idea was to establish separate Air Base Wings with their own command structures to allow Combat Wings to focus solely on training and warfighting.  Meink said the decision to abandon these plans was made to “minimize change-fatigue to Airmen and enable commanders to concentrate on readiness, lethality, and mission accomplishment.” Perhaps most notably, the Air Force scrapped plans to stand up a new Integrated Capabilities Command that would have overseen the service’s requirements process. A provisional version of the command was stood up a year ago, and functioned as the primary organization overseeing requirements for purchasing weapons. Instead, the leadership will fold its functions into the Air Force Futures, known as A5/7 by April 1, 2026. One of the most popular changes, to bring back warrant officers within the cyber and information technology professions, will remain. For decades, the Air Force was the only service without warrant officers.  Meanwhile, the Space Force will continue implementing key elements of  re-optimization efforts that were specific to the service. Marine Corps Force Design update  The service kicked off its major “Force Design 2030” initiative in 2020 to better align itself with the National Defense Strategy and redesign its force for naval expeditionary warfare. The 10-year initiative is now simply known as “Force Design,” and while the service is still on track with the effort, budget uncertainty could affect the service’s ability to meet the initiative’s critical milestones, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith said earlier this year.  In its 2025 Force Design update, released in October after the service skipped a public update in 2024, the Marine Corps said it continues to stand up Marine Littoral Regiments — specialized units within the Marine Corps that are designed to operate in contested coastal areas. The Corps is extending many of the advanced capabilities fielded in those regiments — including the air defense system, resilient command-and-control systems, unmanned platforms and advanced sensors — across Marine Expeditionary Units. “This modernization strengthens the MEU’s role as a versatile, multi-domain naval expeditionary force from the sea, able to project power, seize and hold key maritime terrain, sense and make sense of the operating environment, integrate with the fleet, and directly contribute to joint kill webs,” the Force Design update reads. In addition, the service is undertaking what it calls the most significant modernization of its Marine Air Command and Control System in a generation, merging legacy air support and air defense functions and reorganizing Marine Air Control Groups so Marines can be trained and employed in multiple roles within Marine Air Operations Centers. The Corps is also embracing the idea of managing the acquisition system as portfolios of capabilities rather than individual programs. One example is the new capability portfolio approach in Program Executive Officer Land Systems, which will give a program responsibility for a suite of programs under a common capability area. Marine leaders say the shift will allow multiple systems to be developed and fielded together, with continuous input from the Fleet Marine Force, instead of advancing programs in isolation with a primary focus on cost. The service’s Force Design sparked a great deal of debate, with critics arguing that the changes would weaken the Marine Corps as a combined arms force due to its divestments in armor, artillery, and aviation capabilities, limit its ground mobility and that the Marines would be less capable fighting in urban environments. Army Transformation Initiative  Shifting away from managing individual programs to a portfolio-based structure is a big part of the Army’s transformation initiative announced in May. Stan Soloway, president and CEO of Celero Strategies and federal acquisition expert, said the move is a continuation of what the service has already been doing and “maybe somewhat of an acceleration.” “There’s nothing radical about it,” Soloway told Federal News Network. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s move to require the Army to include right-to-repair provisions in all new and existing contracts to cut costs and reduce delays caused by relying on original manufacturers for maintenance and support “might be one of the most important lines on the whole memo,” he said. “In many ways, it is one of the huge issues they have to deal with,” Soloway said.  Modifying existing contracts to fix intellectual property issues is not ideal, but the government also has no choice — there are too many existing contracts, some of which may have been created years ago, with flawed IP clauses. It remains to be seen whether the Army’s acquisition workforce is equipped to negotiate these kinds of provisions effectively. Meanwhile, right-to-repair provisions that had broad bipartisan support in the fiscal 2026 defense policy bill, were stripped from the final version of the legislation after industry pushback.  Greg Williams, director of the Center for Defense Information at the Project on Government Oversight, said while this is the opportunity for the Pentagon to exercise its existing authorities, without legislation that enforces consistency, it’s very unlikely that contracting officers will be able to effectively implement right to repair across thousands of contracts.  If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email [email protected] or reach out on Signal at (301) 830-2747.The post Air Force abandons sweeping reoptimization as Army, Marines push forward with transformation efforts first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is embarking on major changes next year. It’s looking to get the rocky rollout of a new Electronic Health Record back on track. VA medical facilities already using the system have been beset with problems for years. Meanwhile, the VA is planning to roll out the biggest reorganization of its health care operations in decades. Here’s a look ahead at VA’s plans for 2026. VA EHR next steps VA is planning for its new EHR from Oracle-Cerner to go live at 13 sites in 2026 — starting with four sites in Michigan in April 2026. Dr. Neil Evans, acting program executive director of VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office, told the technology modernization subcommittee of the House VA Committee that, based on lessons learned from previous go-lives, multiple sites will go live “simultaneously in each deployment wave.” “This approach allows us to scale up the number of deployments, enhance efficiencies and improve the sharing of best practices within and between markets,” Evans said in a Dec. 15 hearing. Carol Harris, the director of IT and cybersecurity issues at the Government Accountability Office, told lawmakers it would be “very risky” for VA to plan for simultaneous EHR go-lives. “It’s going to take a tremendous amount of resources that I’m not quite sure is sustainable for multiple sites at once,” Harris said. Status of EHR rollout so far VA’s new EHR is currently running at six sites. Full deployment would bring the EHR to 170 sites. According to Evans, the department currently expects to complete the deployment as soon as 2031. The VA has been in a “reset” period since April 2023, and paused new go lives until the department addresses persistent outages and usability issues reported by VA medical staff at sites already using the new EHR. A GAO report in March found that only 13% of VA staff using the new Oracle-Cerner EHR believed that the modernized system made VA as efficient as possible, and 58% of users believed the new system increased patient safety risks. Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.), chairman of the technology modernization subcommittee, said the project’s lifecycle cost has grown to about $37 billion. “This timeline is locked in, and the countdown is on. But the question remains: When the switch is flipped in April, will the system deliver, and will it do what we need it to do? Are we going to run into snags like we have in the past? For millions of veterans relying on VA hospitals and staff supporting them, this is not something that is theoretical. It’s real. It’s happening and we have to do it right,” Barrett said. Subcommittee ranking member Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.) said what she has heard from VA and Oracle this year “has not convinced me that VA is ready for launch at 13 facilities in 2026.” “I have raised many questions with VA and Oracle. But the answers do not give me confidence. In fact, I worry that we are spending billions of dollars while simultaneously setting this program, particularly the six sites that are already live, up for failure,” Budzinski said. Reaction from the Senate Senate Democrats are also wary about VA’s EHR rollout plans. In a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins, Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said they have “serious concerns” that EHR problems flagged by GAO and the VA inspector general’s office have not been fully addressed “While we should always strive to innovate and improve the quality of care for veterans, in practice, the rollout of EHRM has been so problematic that it created life-threatening problems and ongoing upheaval for veterans’ ability to get the health care they need,” they wrote. New VHA leader & VA reorganization plans Last week, the Senate confirmed John Bartrum, a former senior advisor to Collins, will serve as VA’s under secretary for health. Bartrum, a combat veteran with more than 40 years of active-duty and reserve military service, previously oversaw policy and funding at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The VA earlier this week announced its intent to reorganize the Veterans Health Administration. Collins said in a statement that VHA’s current leadership structure “is riddled with redundancies that slow decision making, sow confusion and create competing priorities.” VA says the changes aren’t expected to result in a significant change in overall staffing levels. But the Washington Post first reported that the VA no longer plans to fill tens of thousands of vacant health care positions. The VA says it’s briefed lawmakers on the reorganization, and that implementation will take place over the next 18-24 months. Rather than pursue a reduction in force of more than 80,000 employees, as it had considered earlier this year, the VA shed more than 30,000 positions through attrition in fiscal 2025. “The department’s history shows that adding more employees to the system doesn’t automatically equal better results,” Collins told lawmakers in May.The post VA in 2026 looks to get EHR rollout back on track, embark on health care reorganization first appeared on Federal News Network.

Interview transcript Terry Gerton We’ve got the new National Defense Authorization Act. It’s signed into law and there’s a lot in it as we’ve talked on other episodes, 3,000 plus pages. But we’re going to drill in on a particular part today, section 1826. Talk to us about why you think that provision is so important. Dan Ramish So Terry, this provision, 1826, is titled “Exemptions for Non-Traditional Defense Contractors,” and it includes three important exemptions on defense contracts for companies that qualify as non-traditional defense contractors. Those companies will be exempt from the FAR Part 31 cost principles, certified cost repricing data requirements under the Truth in Negotiations Act, and then contractor business systems requirements. And there are provisions that allow for the head of contracting activity or their delegate to waive exemptions or modify or partially apply them, but those are unlikely to be used that much because there’s a requirement to notify Congress when they use that authority. And notably these exemptions don’t apply to civilian agency contracts, only defense agency contracts. There are some questions about how that’ll be implemented, But this provision is very important because it’s very broad in scope. Non-traditional defense contractors are defined as any contractors that aren’t currently performing a CAS-covered contract, a contract covered by the Cost Accounting Standards, and that haven’t performed a CAS-covered contract in the last year. This is a large percentage of the defense industrial base. It includes all small businesses because contracts and subcontracts with small businesses are exempt. Broader than that, George Mason’s Baroni Center for Government Contracting estimated earlier this year that only 7.5 Percent of the Defense Industrial Base could not qualify as a non-traditional defense contractor. So this is very broad in scope of coverage for Defense Industrial base companies. Terry Gerton And the exclusion is actually going to increase with other provisions in the NDA a correct. Dan Ramish Yes, so there are also threshold increases under the cost accounting standards. There is an increase on the individual contracts that are subject to CAS. It used to be that there was a trigger contract mechanism and some contracts as low in value as $2.5 million would be covered. Now, the new threshold for individual contracts will be $35 million and then there’s a second threshold for full CAS coverage which includes all of the cost accounting standards, and that increased from $50 million to $100 million. So the number of companies that are subject to full CAS coverage will be even lower after these threshold increases go through. Terry Gerton So pretty clearly, if you’re working in the defense contracting space, you’re going to need to read these provisions in close detail. But let’s take the three exemptions that you talked about and kind of walk through them one at a time. Let’s first talk about the cost principles. What are they and when do they apply? Dan Ramish So the contract cost principles that are in FAR Part 31 govern the costs that the government will pay under cost reimbursement contracts and other flexibly priced contracts. And the government also looks to the cost principles when they’re negotiating fixed price contracts when cost analysis is required, although for fixed price contracts, the cost principles aren’t binding on the contractor. So really we’re talking about cost reimbursements contracts primarily, and the government in cost reimbursable contract agrees to pay the contractor based on the contractor’s actual incurred costs, typically with an added fee, rather than based on fixed prices. And the government uses cost type contracts when there are significant risks of uncertainty in contract performance, when they can’t define what’s going to be needed under the contract with sufficient certainty. And the Government assumes the risk of cost increases or overruns and in contrast to fixed price contract where the contractor bears the cost risk. But in these scenarios, the government uses the cost principles to tell the contractor what contract costs it will or will not cover. And so as part of this, there are various unallowable costs that the government says as a matter of policy, they won’t pay for. So the most famous of these is alcoholic beverages. Alcohol has been an unallowed cost since 1986. Other common examples are lobbying and political activity expenses or entertainment costs like sports or concert tickets. There are other types of costs like legal costs or compensation costs that aren’t strictly prohibited but have kind of complicated rules for how to recover the costs and when the costs are allowable. So these are complicated rules and challenging to follow. They require complex policies and procedures and training on the part of contractors to make sure that they aren’t charging the government costs that they are allowed to. So being relieved of this burden is significant. Terry Gerton Sounds like contractors might be wiping their brow here, but are there other pieces of the cost rules that folks should be concerned about? Dan Ramish Well, so one important caveat to this cost principles exemption is that there are statutory provisions addressing allowability of certain costs, like alcohol, for example. And so it’s unlikely that the Department of Defense will be able to just wipe the slate clean. They’ll need to establish new and presumably vastly streamlined rules that balance the other statutory constraints. It’ll have to be shorter than the about 75 pages of rules that make up the cost principles. Terry Gerton Dan Ramish is a partner at Haynes Boone. Dan, we’ll continue on this topic here. The next piece up is certified cost or pricing data. Dan Ramish Yes, so certified cost or pricing data is a requirement that originates in the Truthful Cost or Pricing Data Act, which is popularly and formally referred to as the Truth in Negotiations Act or TINA. And when the government is buying products or services from a contractor and there isn’t enough competition or commercial market forces for the contracting officer to determine that the price is fair and reasonable, the contracting officers is required to request certified cost of pricing data. So, survey cost pricing data includes all facts that prudent buyers and sellers would reasonably expect to affect price negotiations. So, it’s kind of intended to address those non-competitive scenarios to put the government negotiator on equal footing. The common types of cost pricing data could include anything from vendor quotes to internal data about business prospects or operation costs or information about management decisions that could affect costs. And the contractor is required to identify and provide the cost of pricing data to the government and certify that the data are current, accurate and complete. And as with the cost principles, failure to comply with the current, accurate, complete requirement in certifying certified cost of price data could create liability, liability for defective pricing, or potentially fraud liability under certain circumstances. So this presents risk as well and requires policies and procedures to ensure that the appropriate data is collected and provided to the government and updated appropriately during negotiations. Terry Gerton The third set of exemptions are from the DoD business systems rules. Tell us more about that. Dan Ramish DoD business systems rules are another fairly extensive area requiring defense contractors to maintain adequate business systems for accounting, earned value management, estimating material management, property management, and purchasing. And if the Department of Defense determines that a contractor’s business systems have material weaknesses, the government can withhold substantial amounts from contract payments. So this is another area where each these systems requires complex compliance apparatus. And with the withholding risk, this is an important area for contractors who are subject to it and its requirements are prescriptive and burdensome on contractors and so another area where this will provide significant relief. Terry Gerton You mentioned at the beginning that there’s the potential that the Secretary of Defense can waive these exemptions. Waving exemptions seems like a double negative. It means holding people accountable to the original standards, right? So what would be the circumstances that would warrant a waiver? Dan Ramish So the language talking about this, you know, there’s a requirement for congressional notice and it gives kind of a sense of where there might be circumstances for a waiver. If a waiver is issued, then the Secretary of Defense is required to provide congressional defense committees a notice of the waiver. And that notice is required include a discussion of efforts made to adapt the acquisition approach for the product or service with respect to which such waiver was granted. So, I think there’s an understanding that there will be circumstances where it’s excessively challenging, for example, the government to have assurances that it’s obtaining fair and reasonable prices or where there are concerns about the types of costs that it is covering. And so there is this kind of escape valve. But the fact that the Secretary of Defense has to notify Congress when they do it will be a significant deterrent for reusing this. So it’s unlikely that this waiver authority will undermine the broader effects of the rule.The post A sweeping NDAA change could strip away decades of cost rules for most defense contractors first appeared on Federal News Network.

Interview transcript Terry Gerton As we’re looking forward to January, you know, it’s a new year, new resolutions. One of those resolutions is often financial wellness as opposed to just health and wellness. So let’s talk about why this is such an important moment for federal employees to be thinking about resetting their financial picture. Thiago Glieger Yeah, Terry the new year always brings a fresh start and it’s a really good time to reset and look at the financial plan because there’s new limits for the tsp, there’s a new year that you get to plan for in terms of your expenses and budgets. So, there’s things we can look at like your investments and how you’re doing on savings and really make sure that you’re still on track for some of the other goals that you set yourself. So lots that we can talk about. Terry Gerton Well, this last year certainly was turbulent and maybe caused some folks to reconsider their financial perspective. Let’s start with TSP. What are the new rules about TSP and what should employees be thinking about as they plan their TSP contributions? Thiago Glieger So as we look to the first paycheck that feds are going to receive in 2026, it’s a good time to review that contribution because in this new year, the limit is going to get bumped a little bit. So we’re going to $24,500 for the employee contribution. And for anyone who’s over 50, you have the catch-up contribution, which now for next year is gonna be $8,000. Okay, so the big difference here, Terry, between this year and next year, is that now there’s a new rule in place that says if you earn over $150,000, that catch-up amount that you used to be able to put into traditional TSP and defer the taxes, now you’re going to have to put that into the Roth. Okay, so it does mean you’re gonna pay taxes on that money right now But you do get to enjoy that tax-free growth later for anyone who is a little bit older than 50, so between 60 and 63, it’s a weird range in there, you can actually do what we now call the super catch-up contribution. So it’s a very new rule as well, and that additional contribution, and it ranges depending on how old you are in that range, you can put as much as almost $36,000 into the TSP for next year. So that’s really good for anyone who, maybe the kids are out of the house at this point, you’re empty nesting and now you don’t have so much expenses, you can focus on saving for retirement more seriously. That’s a really good opportunity to revisit that. Terry Gerton And does that super catch-up for us older folks also have to go into the Roth? Thiago Glieger I believe the answer is yes, because it counts as a catch-up, and this new rule talks about the catch-up amount, having to go into this after-tax bucket, no longer being deducted as a pretax deduction. Terry Gerton So thinking about how much you’re contributing is one facet of your TSP. Thinking about what you contribute to is the other. Certainly the stock markets had a pretty good run in 2025. How should people be thinking about their portfolio mix in the TSP coming into 2026? Thiago Glieger That’s such a hard one, right? Because we all want to be aggressive investors when the markets are doing well. We all want be conservative investors when the market’s are rocky. And I encourage federal employees to look at their investment decisions from within the context of a financial plan. Okay, so for example, when we think about volatility in the markets, that’s the growth that gives us long-term. But that same volatility, short-term, equals risk. And so for someone who is going to be looking at possibly retiring here in the next maybe few years, you really have to be careful with how much you have in the C, S and I funds because those can be very volatile. That’s the stock market. If the markets start declining, you might not have enough time to be able to recover from that market crash if you’re all of a sudden going to start using your TSP for retirement. So the F fund and G fund can be a good solution for this. I like the easy button In the TSP, Terry, the Lifecycle Funds. That really, you can pick the alignment with your retirement date, just know that it’s going to be a little more conservative for the long term, but it does help you not miss being too conservative. Terry Gerton Does it make sense to have a mix across the funds so that you balance risk and reward? Thiago Glieger Absolutely. I think that there’s always some part of the portfolio that has to be inflation fighting. We call that the silent retirement killer, right? Our money can never purchase as much as we really want it in the long term. So stocks give us that inflation fighting, but we need money in the short term like the G fund or the F fund that is safer and more diversified. And that’s where the life cycle can be very helpful. It does the preallocation for you. The closer you are to the date, the more conservative it’s going to be. Terry Gerton I’m speaking with Thiago Glieger, certified financial planner with RMG Financial Advisors of Maryland. So Thiago, on top of TSP, it’s time to rethink budgets, always as you come into a new year, one of my least favorite financial tasks. This past year for federal employees certainly posed a lot of uncertainty and risk; shut down, multiply that. How should people be thinking about budgeting as they begin the new year? Thiago Glieger Yeah, Terry, I, even as a financial planner, I don’t like budgeting either. I don’t think it’s something anyone really enjoys doing. And what has really been helpful for us is to use the word intentional spending instead that makes it feel like it’s a more positive component. And so when we think about how do we want to be intentional about our spending, we want look at, are we set up for a potential emergency? As you mentioned, this was a big year that really brought the, that detail to importance and brought it to light. How are we covering our short-term expenses if something happens? What do we call short-terms? An emergency savings anywhere between three to six months of all of your living expenses. Honestly, before anybody is going to be investing and putting more money in the TSP, you have to have that emergency savings set up. And so then you think about, okay, well, am I still spending reasonably throughout the year? What about a potential car maybe I have to buy or there’s a renovation I have do, or medical procedure I’ve been putting off. These are expenses you want to think about ahead of time so that you have the cash ready and waiting for you. Again, not invested in the markets because the more risk you take in the market, you can’t align their timing with your timing. So you want to use things like cash, CDs, or bonds. Terry Gerton One of the big inflationary aspects of a typical family budget is healthcare premiums and federal employees saw growth there as well coming into 2026. What should they be thinking about with respect to healthcare? Thiago Glieger Yeah, Terry, this is such a difficult conversation because it is so challenging to solve the health care issue that we have. And premiums just keep adjusting every year because of how fast the cost of health care inflation is. When we look at regular inflation, it’s between two and a half long term. Health care is almost twice that. So we have to be thinking about how are we going to take care of ourselves? And one of the greatest underutilized tools that federal employees have is the FSA account. You don’t need to be in a high-deductible medical plan to use an FSA. And an FSA Is essentially money you get to put into this account, you get deducted from your taxes that amount that you put in there. And then you get to use the money completely tax free on things that you would have spent money for medical expenses anyway, like band-aids or going to see your primary care physician or the dentist or anything like that. So I think the limit is about $3,000 for the year which is a pretty big chunk that now you get to save totally on taxes by using that tool. Terry Gerton So Thiago, you kindly changed the word from budgeting to intentional spending. How should people be thinking about getting a really good handle on what they are spending? Is that looking at your credit card on a monthly basis or what practice do you recommend? Thiago Glieger I have found, Terry, that looking at a month-to-month budgeting system can be kind of challenging. I find it hard to remember what I had expenses on last week. So for me, and for a lot of our clients, doing a weekly check-in with yourself tends to work really well because you can say, how did I do this week and how can I do better next week? We also like to break things down into what are our absolute needs versus our discretionary spending. So discretionary spending are things like hey, how many times are we gonna dine out this week or this month? And how many time do we want to go on vacation this year or take a trip here or there? So those things you have a lot more control over and that’s the part that if we can plan carefully ahead, we can make sure that we don’t overspend and then blow out our savings. Terry Gerton We’ve covered a lot of ground in these few minutes. What is one thing you want listeners to keep at the top of their mind regarding financial planning as they come into 2026? Thiago Glieger I would say that starting the year strong in financial planning is about being intentional. It really is never doing all of the things at once, rather just creating some key habits and putting those things in place day after day so that you can have that confident financial future and stability throughout the year.  The post The start of a new year is the perfect time to reset your financial game plan first appeared on Federal News Network.

Interview transcript Terry Gerton It’s been a tough year for federal employees. There’s been lot of uncertainty about jobs and missions. We’ve had shutdown. They got paid, they didn’t get paid. What kind of a toll does that accumulation have on mental health? Roz Beroza You know, it may look very differently for every person, but generally, it has been a traumatic year, which trauma is very specific. It has a long shelf life, but initially, it feels like you’ve been run over by a truck. You’re disoriented. You could be in freeze. This is not just a financial loss, it’s a multi-faceted loss, almost as though a tsunami took everything and internally you lose your identity, you lose your future as you always assumed it would be. The toll for this is huge. Terry Gerton How does it manifest itself for folks on a day-to-day basis? Roz Beroza As I said, Terry, It’s really different for people. Some people don’t feel it. They just start doing what they need to do. Other people cannot get out of bed. Many people feel panicky. We saw that in the Washington Post article in March. There was an article about the effects on the federal employees, and they talked about suicide in that report. Terry Gerton So we’re taking all of that, and now we’re coming into a holiday period, which is always stressful in some way, shape or form. But for folks who’ve lived through these last nine or 10 months, and now maybe coming into the holidays with financial uncertainty, job uncertainty, how does that compound the situation? Roz Beroza It compounds it a great deal because you come into this time of year when you had particular traditions that might have not felt like a financial cost, but this year cannot be — you can’t do the same things you’ve always done. It’s very painful. You can’t buy your kids everything you wanted to buy them. It’s a reminder, not just your thinking brain, but your whole nervous system. So it takes a lot of energy and people feel very, can feel very exhausted. Terry Gerton Well tell us about therapy for feds and why you launched this initiative for former federal employees. Roz Beroza Well, I launched it around May of last year, and, you know, I grew up around Washington, D.C., the government, everybody worked for the government, everybody’s parents worked for the government. That’s our industry here. And it felt like this can’t be happening. The numbers that were predicted, but they started to happen, these huge, massive layoffs. And honestly, Terry, it was an effort to deal with my own despair. I needed to do something, and I looked for a while to see, is there another organization who’s doing something that’s really focused on the mental health of these government employees? And nothing was there. So I just started posting on websites. Terry Gerton I’m speaking with Roz Beroza. She’s the founder of Therapy4Feds. Roz, tell us about the programs that you offer and how it makes mental health therapy accessible, maybe for people who’ve lost their jobs or who might be struggling financially. Roz Beroza Therapy4Feds is sort of like a clearinghouse where somebody who has lost their job because of this administration’s policies, so that’s in 2025, can seek help from a licensed mental health therapist at either no cost or maximum cost of $35 per hour. [There are] Five sessions and at the end of those five sessions they can either continue, they can use their insurance if they have it, it’s up to the therapist and the person that is seeking the service. We also have partnered with an organization called Give an Hour, which also has been in existence since after 9-11. And so they’re longstanding, and their mission is to give affordable, well-known, free health care to those in the military, people who have been victims of fraud, financial fraud, and people with rare illnesses. So we are working together to promote, and also if any of our people can draw from their pool of therapists, we’re using the same pool. Terry Gerton Do you find with the former federal employees any resistance to seek mental health therapy? Roz Beroza You know, I don’t really have a handle on that. I have a handle on the huge numbers that want it, that are at some time during this year, like after the CDC in Georgia, I received huge numbers of people who need it and they would email me about being desperate to get some help, and at that time, I had two therapists in Georgia. You have to have somebody who is licensed in your state. So I have a huge effort out to get licensed therapists to join our network. Terry Gerton Tell us about how therapists who are interested can partner with you. Roz Beroza Well, they can go to my site, which is Therapy4Feds.org and they can register on the site, and it’s very quick to register. You have to, as I say, be licensed, have malpractice insurance. And what happens then is those who are seeking therapy go to their state and they can choose somebody who’s licensed in their state. Terry Gerton And for someone who’s listening who might feel overwhelmed themselves right now, what’s the first step they can take to get help? Same. Roz Beroza Same. Go to Therapy4feds.org and there’s a section there that says “seeking a therapist.”The post Therapy4Feds offers a lifeline for former federal employees facing tough times first appeared on Federal News Network.

var config_5756981 = {"options":{"theme":"hbidc_default"},"extensions":{"Playlist":[]},"episode":{"media":{"mp3":"https:\/\/mgln.ai\/e\/345\/rss.art19.com\/episodes\/7e62589a-a5ff-409f-b2f7-1a6bc87f0412.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg5Xb3JkUHJlc3MGOgZFVA%3D%3D--466d26bc6c0e932b4a48b1403433bf1814d4975e"},"coverUrl":"https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FedNewscast1500-150x150.jpg","title":"Veterans Affairs will no longer perform some emergency services","description":"[hbidcpodcast podcastid='5756981']nn[federal_newscast]"}}; Veterans Affairs will no longer perform abortions in emergency cases, in light of a new legal opinion from the Justice Department. The VA started providing abortions to veterans in certain life-threatening circumstances in fall 2022. This comes after the Supreme Court ruling on the Dobbs v. Jackson case. The department began the process of rolling back the policy this summer. That process is still making its way through the official rule-making process. (Trump-Vance administration bans abortion care and counseling for veterans - Democracy Forward)Another agency CIO is heading out the door. Jeff Seaton, the NASA chief information officer, is retiring after 32 years of federal service. Seaton is taking advantage of the ability to delay his retirement under the deferred resignation program. His last day is Dec. 27. Seaton has been NASA CIO for almost five years and previously worked in senior technology roles at headquarters and at NASA Langley Research Center. The space agency is hiring a replacement for Seaton. Its job announcement said the new CIO will be a career senior executive service member. Applications for the position are due by Jan. 9. (NASA to hire new career CIO - USAJobs.com)One nonprofit is continuing to press for investigations into potential Hatch Act violations during the government shutdown. In a new letter to the Office of Special Counsel, the legal organization Democracy Forward called on OSC to open Hatch Act investigations, pointing to multiple incidents of partisan messaging during October and November. The group specifically highlights how agencies posted messages to their websites that blamed the shutdown on Democrats. And in a separate letter to the Government Accountability Office, Democracy Forward also raised potential violations of the Antideficiency Act during the 43-day shutdown. (Hatch Act letters - Democracy Forward)The Missile Defense Agency has tapped more companies to support the Golden Dome initiative. The agency has made over a thousand awards under its Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense, or SHIELD, contract worth up to $151 billion. The new awards expand a pool of pre-approved vendors eligible to compete for future task orders, bringing the total number of qualifying offerors to more than 2,000 companies. The agency said it has now transitioned to the ordering phase and drafting solicitations.(MDA taps more companies for Golden Dome SHIELD contract - SAM.gov)Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed all department heads to recognize "outstanding” Defense Department civilian employees with cash bonuses. A new memo authorizes Pentagon leaders to award the top 15% of civilian employees bonuses worth 15% to 25% of their basic pay, capped at $25,000. Hegseth directed department heads to issue the bonuses by Jan. 30. The memo to recognize top talent comes amid Hegseth’s broader push to shrink and reshape the Pentagon’s civilian workforce. (Hegseth authorizes cash bonuses of up to $25,000 for top civilian employees - Federal News Network)A top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is no longer reviewing requests for telework as a reasonable accommodation for employees with disabilities. Supervisors have instructed staff to email their medical documentation directly to Lynda Chapman, the agency’s chief operating officer, to “bypass” the traditional reasonable accommodation system, and receive up to 30 days of telework as an interim accommodation. But CDC employees tell Federal News Network that Chapman no longer has access to their reasonable accommodation requests. Former CDC officials say many of the human resources staff trained to handle reasonable accommodation requests were targeted by layoffs earlier this year. (As HHS restricts telework, CDC asks employees to ‘bypass’ reasonable accommodation process - Federal News Network)House Democrats are pressing the Office of Personnel Management for answers on how the agency is addressing abnormally high volumes of federal retirement applications. In a letter sent this week, the lawmakers raised concerns about the delays retiring federal employees are currently experiencing. That’s after the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program spurred a major influx of retirement applications. The lawmakers are giving OPM Director Scott Kupor until the end of January to respond with more details on OPM’s plans.(House Democrats question OPM on retirement processing delays - Federal News Network)House Democrats are urging the Transportation Security Administration to preserve union rights for TSA airport screeners. Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and 11 of his colleagues say TSA’s push to end union rights will not improve efficiency or security at airport screening lines. In a new letter, lawmakers urge Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to keep TSA’s 2024 collective bargaining agreement in place. TSA plans to void the collective bargaining agreement effective Jan. 11. The American Federation of Government Employees is urging a federal judge to take action, pointing to a preliminary injunction that blocked TSA’s previous attempt to eliminate the union agreement. (House Dems urge TSA to preserve collective bargaining agreement - Federal News Network)The owner of a federal contractor is facing up to 90 years in prison after being indicted by a Baltimore grand jury in a scheme to defraud the government that included rigging bids for IT contracts and receiving kickbacks in exchange for influence over IT procurements. Victor Marquez is facing wire fraud charges. The Justice Department said Marquez and his co-conspirators used his access to sensitive procurement information to rig bids for procurements for large government IT contracts. Marquez allegedly received more than $3.8 million in compensation in the form of kickbacks for steering procurements to his co-conspirators, who referred to the payments to Marquez as the “Vic tax.”(Federal IT contractor facing charges of defrauding the government - Justice Department)The post Veterans Affairs will no longer perform some emergency services first appeared on Federal News Network.

Federal employees who are looking to join the Senior Executive Service may soon see changes from the Trump administration, as it looks to reform the training programs that are meant to prepare feds for SES positions. New proposed regulations from the Office of Personnel Management outline the agency’s plans for changing the requirements, timeframe and content of SES “candidate development programs.” If implemented, federal employees interested in joining the SES would see a shorter timeline for completing the development program, more rigorous requirements to fulfill, and more consistency in the training content — regardless of which agency they work for. Overall, OPM stated the agency is looking to drive a “shift in the culture of the SES” through the proposed changes, while also emphasizing the role of SES members in executing the Trump administration’s policy agenda. “By increasing program standards and training requirements, an SES [candidate development program] will better equip program participants to excel in senior leadership roles and effectively implement the president’s agenda,” the Dec. 18 proposed rule noted. Candidate development programs generally help prepare career federal employees for roles in the SES. But currently, the programs are inconsistent across government, according to OPM. Different agencies set different training requirements for potential SES members. Some agencies simply don’t have an SES candidate development program to begin with. “Inconsistencies … have yielded mixed results across participating agencies,” OPM officials wrote. “That variability has resulted in different training and development experiences … and leads to some programs that are more effective than others in preparing their leaders.” Specifically, OPM is proposing to create a standardized and governmentwide version of the SES candidate development program. By using a consistent training template, OPM said the program will be more streamlined and lead to consistent metrics that can be compared across agencies and over time. On top of standardizing and revising the content of SES candidate development programs, OPM also proposed shortening the timeline for participants to complete the program. The plan is to bring the timeframe down to 9-12 months in most cases, rather than the 1-2 years candidates currently get to complete the program. “This length of time involves considerable expense and resources to ostensibly turn ‘almost ready’ talent into ‘ready now’ talent,” OPM wrote. “Decreasing the program cohort duration allows for a more expedited timeline of identifying near ready talent and preparing them fully to fill SES vacancies.” Along with shortening the timeframe, OPM is also looking to increase the required training hours in the development program, from 80 hours up to 100 hours. Candidates would also have to complete at least 10 hours of “coaching and mentoring,” as well as at least one “developmental assignment” lasting about four months. OPM said the added requirements would “enhance and broaden the candidate’s experience, increase his or her knowledge, and maximize his or her understanding of the overall functioning of the agency, so the candidate is prepared for a range of agency positions at the SES level.” Jenny Mattingley, vice president of government affairs at the Partnership for Public Service, said she generally sees OPM’s increased focus on the SES candidate development programs as a positive change. Although there have been discussions for more than a decade on possible reforms to the programs, she said over time, not many changes have moved forward. “Anything that starts thinking about how to make the programs more consistent, more robust, and how to ensure you’re getting qualified folks into the Senior Executive Service — that’s a good focus,” Mattingley said in an interview with Federal News Network. “But it will still take a while just see that play out. Agencies are going to have to re-evaluate their programs make them fit with OPM’s standards — and then actually send people through it.” Currently, SES candidate development programs are largely inconsistent, both within and across agencies, Mattingley said. Some employees who join the SES have completed a development program, but many simply apply for a senior-level position without any further training. At the same time, some employees who complete a candidate development program may not end up joining the SES. Mattingley said it will be important to track how much agencies ultimately invest in their training and development programs. That includes investments in developing entry-level employees at the start of the leadership pipeline, she added. “This is not a new idea,” Mattingley said. “People have been trying to reform the SES for many years, but agencies didn’t implement it in the way or at the scale that I think people hoped that would happen.” In its new proposal, OPM said development programs are a “crucial” tool for agencies, as they assemble succession management in their workforces and prepare “high-potential” employees for the SES. “These programs aim to cultivate leaders equipped with a governmentwide perspective and the competencies necessary to tackle complex challenges,” OPM wrote. “Through the introduction of more stringent … certification requirements, OPM aims to enhance training and development for aspiring SES and accelerate the placement of well-prepared leaders to ensure leadership continuity.” OPM’s new regulations build on initial guidance from May, which told agencies to begin changing how they hire and develop SES candidates. That same guidance also directed agencies to update their SES candidate development programs to align with “new administration priorities.” Many of the changes for the SES also come in response to an executive order President Donald Trump signed on his first day in office, calling for restored “accountability” in the SES. The proposed regulations are open to public comments until Feb. 17. OPM is looking for feedback in particular on additional research it should consider, if there should prescribe time requirements for specific topic areas, the benefits of expanding assessments in the development program, and where there have been similar “promising practices” in the private sector. Marcus Hill, president of the Senior Executives Association, expressed support for efforts to improve consistency and rigor in the training standards, but cautioned that SES candidate development programs should remain non-partisan and be able to transcend presidential administrations. “SES candidate development programs play a vital role in preparing leaders who can serve any administration with professionalism, integrity and readiness,” Hill said. “We encourage OPM to implement these changes in a way that preserves agency flexibility, avoids unnecessary administrative burden and ensures that high-quality leadership development is accessible across the federal government, including at smaller and resource-constrained agencies.”The post OPM proposes overhaul of SES candidate development programs first appeared on Federal News Network.

Interview transcript Terry Gerton You have had an amazing career, really, multi-sector, across all kinds of dimensions and a focus on cyber security. What drew you into public administration and the public space? Diana Burley I really wanted to make sure that technology and technology changes worked for all people. And so, you know, I often tell a story about my grandmother and me being excited and telling her about some new innovation that was going to happen on the World Wide Web back in the ’90s. And she just looked at me like, that’s not… exciting, and what about the people that I’m going to speak with, you know, that I won’t get to speak with anymore and the stories that I won’t hear in the community. And that’s really what struck me is that as we think about all the wonderful things that technology can do to make our lives more efficient, and in many ways, better. We cannot forget about the people and making sure that as we implement these new technologies, we are doing it in a responsible way. Terry Gerton It’s kind of hard to even imagine, if you look back, the massive change in our lives as a result of technology. How have you kept yourself on the cutting edge of policy and talent? Diana Burley I read a lot. I read lot, I listen a lot to podcasts and radio stations and interviews and I engage with the community. I think that in cybersecurity, especially when I would talk to my students, I made sure that they understood that this is not a career space where you can learn it and then go do it and forget about learning. It is truly an example of a space where you have to be continuously learning and engaging. And be excited about that. And so that’s what I do. Terry Gerton As you think about your career, it’s full of recognitions and accomplishments and impact. Is there one thing maybe that stands out that you’re most proud of or a place where you think you really had an impact? Diana Burley You know, every now and then, I will hear from a former student or even a former student that I didn’t actually teach but that saw me speak somewhere, or that heard me give advice to someone, and they’ll reach out just out of the blue and thank me or tell me something about their careers and really that is the greatest feeling — to know that you have positively impacted someone and help them to continue to grow. Terry Gerton And in the technology space, there’s a lot of talk these days that technology has a real responsibility in terms of our lack of trust or our loss of trust in institutions. As you’re a new fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, how do you see the role right now for public administration and public institutions in rebuilding that trust? Diana Burley Well, public institutions have a significant responsibility. It is incumbent upon all of us to ensure that the work that we are doing is done in a transparent way and in a way that the communities and the citizens that we’re working to serve are able to not just hear the end, not just understand the decision or see or deal with the decision, but actually understand the process. And have an opportunity to engage in that process. Terry Gerton Well, you’re certainly in a position where you have an impact on that leading research at the Brookings Institution. Are there particular policies or approaches that you would recommend, especially in the cybersecurity space, to help build that trust back? Diana Burley It’s really all about transparency. I mean, that really is not just the practice that I think is important, but it’s also what I believe should be the core of the policy solutions, is making sure that people understand the rules of the road, how data was incorporated into the systems, how their data is being used, really making sure that individuals have some sense of agency and ownership over their own personal selves. We used to just think about agency over our physical selves, but now we have to believe that it is also important for us to have agency over digital selves. And that to me is the most important thing, regardless of who the people are. Terry Gerton I’m speaking with Dr. Diana Burley. She’s the senior vice president of research at the Brookings Institution and a newly elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Diana, becoming a NAPA fellow is a big milestone. It’s sort of a culminating credit to your career. What does it mean to you personally to be inducted into that organization? It feels good to know. Diana Burley That my work is being recognized for the impact. Napa Fellows and there are so many just extraordinary members of the Napa Academy, their work has made a difference and their work continues to make a difference. And that has always been my goal is to make sure that the work that I was doing had an impact, positive impact on someone’s life. And so this recognition helps me to just know that that is true even in some. Terry Gerton The Academy’s got its fingers in lots of different pies and it’s a cross-sector community. How are you hoping to be engaged with the work that NAPA has ongoing? Diana Burley I’m going to continue doing what I do onto digital transformation and thinking about how technology can help us serve the public better and help us be more efficient in the ways that we conduct our work. And so I am going to engage with the Academy in those spaces and just make sure that I’m bringing the best of. Terry Gerton Of what I know to the work. One of Napa’s big focuses is on building the next generation of public servants. If you were chatting with a young person today who was still considering a future in public service, what advice would you have for them? Come join us. Diana Burley You know, public service is so important. It really is the backbone of our democracy. The individuals who work in these public spaces, they don’t do it for accolades. They don’t it for lots of money. They do it because they believe in making our society work and in helping each other. And so I do believe that it’s not just a mission, it’s a calling. And I would encourage every young person to take advantage of the opportunity. Terry Gerton They have it. Any particular guidance for folks who might think about a career in cybersecurity? Be willing to keep learning. Diana Burley You have to read constantly, learn constantly, engage with people. And if you do that, you will be able to continue to move forward in cybersecurity.The post A new honor for a leader who’s shaped cybersecurity policy and talent across sectors first appeared on Federal News Network.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed all department heads to recognize “outstanding” Defense Department civilian employees with cash bonuses. A Dec. 15 memo authorizes Pentagon leaders to award the top 15% of civilian employees bonuses worth 15% to 25% of their basic pay, capped at $25,000. Hegseth said if department heads want to recognize more than 15% of their civilian workforce with cash awards, they can do so within their internal budget. “Since the dawn of the Republic, civilian employees have played an essential, foundational role in driving the success of America’s military and ensuring it prevails on the battlefield. Over the past 10 months, Defense Department civilians upheld that proud tradition through their steadfast support of the worldwide mission of U.S. armed forces and their dedication to executing the transformational changes necessary to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence,” Hegseth said in the memo. “These achievements have not been easy. The uncertainty and adversity inherent in all periods of change can test even the most elite workforce. Further, the longest Government shutdown in American history imposed severe strain on our civilian workforce. The resilience our civilian teammates have demonstrated throughout this challenging time is an inspiration and deserves to be recognized,” he added. Department heads are required to coordinate with their financial management and comptroller organizations to confirm funding availability for these awards.  Hegseth said the effort to reward the department’s “very best” civilians is separate from any previously issued awards and directed department heads to issue the bonuses by Jan. 30. “I am enormously grateful for the incredible contributions of our entire civilian workforce, and I am proud to work with everyone in the Department, military and civilian, in defending our nation,” Hegseth said. The memo builds on earlier guidance from Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata that seeks to expand the use of civilian workforce incentives and awards to recruit and retain top talent. The document encourages broader use of existing incentives, including cash awards up to 20% of basic pay and time off awards up to 80 hours per year, to “recognize exceptional civilian contributions,” particularly in high-impact or hard-to-fill roles. It also eases approval requirements for large cash awards. The memo to recognize top talent comes amid Hegseth’s broader push to shrink and reshape the Pentagon’s civilian workforce — an effort he once described as “clearing out the debris.” The department has lost more than 60,000 employees since the beginning of the Trump administration through voluntary separation programs, reaching the 5% to 8% reduction goal Hegseth set earlier this year. In addition, the Defense Department, along with other federal agencies, remains under a near-total civilian hiring freeze that has been extended indefinitely to further reduce the size of the federal workforce.  President Donald Trump and Hegseth also announced “warrior dividend” bonuses for service members last week, which Trump suggested would be funded by tariff revenue. The payment is actually a one-time basic allowance for housing stipend and will be paid using funds Congress appropriated to the DoD in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to supplement the basic allowance for housing. If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email [email protected] or reach out on Signal at (301) 830-2747.The post Hegseth authorizes cash bonuses of up to $25,000 for top civilian employees first appeared on Federal News Network.

At the recent Professional Services Council’s Vision Conference, one of the presentations on acquisition trends highlighted as many as 10 agency specific multi-award technology contracts that have been cancelled or put on indefinite hold. These included COMET 2 from the General Services Administration, the Army’s Modern Software contract and the IRS’s digital services blanket purchase agreement. The leaders of the vision team said agencies made the decision to cancel these and other contracts based on the requirements outlined in President Donald Trump’s executive order from March calling for the consolidation of contracts. One of those acquisition programs that is bucking the cancellation trend is the Army’s huge multiple award contract for professional services. The service said in a Dec. 19 posting on SAM.gov that it will proceed with the Marketplace for the Acquisition of Professional Services (MAPS) contract after all. The Army had shelved the program back in March when the White House issued the EO. “We are pleased to announce that after careful consideration the Government has decided to PROCEED forward with the MAPS acquisition!” the Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground wrote. MAPS would bring together two existing contracts, IT Enterprise Solutions-3 Services (ITES-3S) and Responsive Strategic Sourcing for Services 3 (RS3), and would have a 10-year life with a $50 billion ceiling. The Army planned to combine the two contracts in MAPS back in 2024. Instead of recompeting its RS3 as a vehicle called Ascend and moving to version four of ITES-3S, the Army wanted to create its own broad-based professional services contract. Baker Tilly says in a blog post that the Army awarded RS3 in multiple phases between 2017 and 2019, with 260 companies currently participating in the $37.4 billion vehicle. The advisory firm says the service awarded ITES-3S in 2018 and includes 135 companies, and it has a $12 billion ceiling. The Army had considered moving its requirements that MAPS will address to OASIS+ since there is some overlap of professional services requirements. Under MAPS, the Army is looking for a wide variety of IT and engineering professional services, including program management, business process reengineering, cybersecurity and many others. Baker Tilly says while more details are coming, it believes “MAPS is currently proposed as a full and open competition with small business reserves. The government intends to make 100 awards in total, 20 awards per domain with an unknown number of small business reserves for each of the five domains.” Now MAPS is back on tap and the Army will hold an industry day on Jan. 28 at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland to discuss the rebooted solicitation. The Army’s decision comes as the General Services Administration is opening an on-ramp and expanding its OASIS+ contract. GSA to expand OASIS+ GSA said it will enter phase 2 of OASIS+ on Dec. 4. This means the updated multiple award professional services contract will add five new service domains across all six current contracts. OASIS+ eventually will have 13 total domains. The five news ones are: Business administration Financial services Human capital Marketing and public relations Social services GSA says this expansion is a direct response to the market research and feedback it received from federal and industry partners. “Through in-depth spend analysis, customer engagement and a formal request for information (RFI) that was posted on June 17, 2025, GSA identified critical service areas that represent a significant portion of unmanaged government spending,” GSA said in a release. GSA expects to release the RFP for OASIS+ phase 2 on our about Jan. 12. Additionally, on Dec. 16 the agency posted draft scorecards outlining the evaluation criteria for all 13 domains combined under the six solicitations. In its first year, OASIS+ saw agencies obligate more than $366 million through 102 task orders, according to GSA’s data-to-decisions dashboard. The Department of Homeland Security and the Air Force accounted for the biggest agency customers based on total task orders, awarding 31 and 29, respectively, in fiscal 2025. Deloitte Consulting won the most task orders with four, and Leidos won the largest task order for $219 million. And speaking of GSA contracts, its Polaris small business governmentwide acquisition contract is moving forward. As of Dec. 3, agencies can place task orders against Polaris service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) and Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) pools. Among the IT services included on Polaris are: Artificial intelligence and automation Cloud and edge computing Distributed ledger technologies Immersive and emerging technologies “More awards in both pools are expected in Fiscal year 2026. Through this approach, GSA can ensure strong program oversight, manage vendor onboarding effectively and create room for additional opportunities,” wrote Larry Hale, GSA’s assistant commissioner in the Federal Acquisition Service’s Office of Information Technology Category (ITC), in a blog post. “Polaris was built from the start with flexibility in mind. The contract includes key features that help it stay current and responsive, such as on-ramps, no contract ceiling, and technology refresh capabilities.” GSA still is reviewing bids for the small business and women-owned small business pools. GAO dismisses AI contract protests Another program that has garnered a lot of interest and attention received some good news last week as well. The Government Accountability Office dismissed the protest by AskSage of GSA’s awards to artificial intelligence providers under its OneGov initiative. GAO rejected the complaint not on its merits, but because it doesn’t have jurisdiction over contract modifications. GSA modified its schedule contracts with Carahsoft to offer access to AI providers for $1 or less. “Under the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) and our bid protest regulations, we review protests of alleged violations of procurement statutes and regulations by federal agencies in the award or proposed award of contracts for the procurement of goods and services, and solicitations leading to such awards,” GAO wrote in its decision. “Once a contract is awarded, our office will generally not review protests of allegedly improper contract modifications because such matters are related to contract administration and therefore not subject to review pursuant to our bid protest function.” GAO says because AskSage challenges the reasonableness of the modification of the schedule contract between GSA and Carahsoft, “AskSage’s protest raises matters of contract administration and therefore is not subject to review pursuant to our bid protest function.” GAO also determined that AskSage isn’t an “interested party” and therefore not in a position to challenge the modifications. “To challenge the scope of a contract modification, a protester must demonstrate its direct economic interest with respect to its status as an actual or prospective offeror,” GAO stated. “Here, AskSage is a subcontractor or supplier to Carahsoft, not an actual or prospective offeror for the FSS contract between GSA and Carahsoft that has been modified.” Nic Chaillan, the founder of AskSage, wrote LinkedIN that there are always loopholes when it comes to federal acquisition rules. “We are obviously right on the merits. Sad day for America. Now [F]ortune 500 can build a $1 dollar unlimited offering in a contract modification for 12 [months], get agencies locked in and charge billions [in] year 2. Uncompeted. Sad day,” Chaillan wrote in response to others’ comments. “Sad to watch the administration letting those shenanigans happen.” AskSage filed protests with GAO in August, claiming the awards for access to Anthropic and OpenAI tools violated several laws and regulations, including the commercial item pricing requirements under FAR Part 12 and CICA. GSA said at least 43 agencies have taken advantage of the low-cost OneGov agreements for AI tools.The post Army bucks trend, to move forward with $50B MAPS contract first appeared on Federal News Network.

House Democrats are urging the Transportation Security Administration to abandon efforts to do away with a collective bargaining agreement covering some 47,000 TSA airport screeners. In a Dec. 23 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill, 12 Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee say they have “deep concern” about the latest attempt to overturn TSA’s union agreement. The letter signees include Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and subcommittee on transportation and maritime security Ranking Member LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.). Their letter points to an ongoing case in federal court over the Department of Homeland Security’s directive to end TSA’s collective bargaining agreement. The judge in that case issued a preliminary injunction in June blocking DHS’s previous efforts to dissolve the agreement. “DHS’s renewed effort to unilaterally void a valid, seven-year collective bargaining agreement – without a resolution to the pending litigation – displays a clear and flagrant disregard for the rule of law and workers’ rights,” the lawmakers write. TSA has said it plans to eliminate the collective bargaining agreement and implement a new “labor framework” for the agency starting Jan. 11. The American Federation of Government Employees represents most TSA staff under the 2024 collective bargaining agreement. AFGE joined with several unions in filing the lawsuit challenging DHS’s prior attempt to dissolve the CBA. Lawyers representing DHS in federal court recently filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that Noem’s new September determination to end TSA union rights is based on “an entirely different supporting record and data unavailable” at the time of Noem’s previous directive, which led to the court case and the preliminary injunction. AFGE’s lawyers have since countered with an emergency motion to enforce the preliminary injunction. They argue DHS is attempting to “evade the court’s injunction.” The judge overseeing the case recently directed the parties to confer on a briefing schedule for the emergency injunction. The Trump administration has sought to do away with most federal employee unions. At DHS, leaders have argued that collective bargaining for TSA officers “is inconsistent with efficient stewardship of taxpayer dollars and impedes the agility required to secure the traveling public,” according to TSA’s statement on the new labor framework. “Our Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) need to be focused on their mission of keeping travelers safe not wasting countless hours on non-mission critical work,” Adam Stahl, senior official performing the duties of TSA deputy administrator, said as part of a press release. “Under the leadership of Secretary Noem, we are ridding the agency of wasteful and time-consuming activities that distracted our officers from their crucial work.” But in their letter, House Democrats argue that the 2024 union agreement was negotiated “in good faith to address long-standing issues at TSA, such as high attrition rates, inconsistent workplace policies, and the lack of a proper system for employees to voice safety and operational concerns.” “Eliminating collective bargaining protections for TSOs will not improve efficiency or security,” they wrote. “It will silence workers who are best positioned to identify safety risks, exacerbate attrition at a time of ongoing staffing challenges, and ultimately make air travel less safe for the American public.”The post House Dems urge TSA to preserve collective bargaining agreement first appeared on Federal News Network.

Interview transcript Terry Gerton Congress did finish up the National Defense Authorization Act last week, and the president signed it before they left town. What does PSC think is really important about the enacted version? Stephanie Kostro What a great question, Terry. You know, I am a legislative nerd. I was on the House Armed Services Committee staff for a while. And this is a bill that, I’m not alone in looking forward to it every year. And PSC, as you know, represents services and solutions contractors. We have about 400 member companies. And so this is the legislative vehicle that we track very, very closely. There is a lot to like in the fiscal year 2026 version of the NDAA that’s been enacted. We can walk through a few of them if you want. Terry Gerton Let’s do that because there are a lot of provisions, it’s 3,000 pages long. Stephanie Kostro I think the last time I saw it, it was 3,086 pages, which, I mean, that is a doorstop if I’ve heard of one, right? And it is a lot to go through. So there are several topics that in the defense contracting community we track very closely. One of them over the last few years has been this definition of a non-traditional defense contractor. What does that mean? Who qualifies as non-traditional, etc. So let’s walk through a little bit of what made it into the final enacted version. There has been a definition of non-traditional defense contractors. It has not been amended. The one that has been on the books for a while is the one that continues to be on the books. And I’ll just walk you through what that definition is. A non-traditional defense contractor is, “an entity that is not currently performing and it has not performed for at least the one-year period preceding the solicitation of sources by the Department of Defense or War for the procurement of or any transaction, that they’ve not had any contract or subcontract for the department that is subject to full coverage under the cost accounting standards that are elsewhere in the U.S. Code.” So Terry, this is basically, if you’ve had a firm fixed price contract, you are a defense contractor, you are traditional defense contractor. But there are some contractors who have not been subject to these cost accounting standard, and those guys will still not be subject to those provided that they don’t change their contract type. That to me is the fact that they’re staying consistent, it is the … I mean I hate to say this, the traditional definition of non-traditional defense contractors. But what the new law does is provide certain exemptions for these kinds of contractors. Those exemptions include, again, the cost accounting system. It does reduce their audit burden because they don’t have to have a cost accounting system like traditional defense contractors, and it eliminates the need for the defense contract audit agency to approve their accounting system. That is one important exemption that is available for these non-traditionals. Another one is they can use their own project management tools and methodologies. They don’t have to use what is often required for traditionals, this earned value management system, EVMS. In addition, they can use commercial pricing methodologies, they don’t have to use a formal cost estimating system like traditionals. And they can use commercial inventory management systems. They don’t have to use the Department of Defense or War’s material accounting requirements. So these are just a handful of the exemptions that are available to the non-traditionals. Terry Gerton And that is a way of easing the burden for them to be competitive in the defense space, right? Stephanie Kostro That’s exactly it. It’s a matter of waiving or providing exemptions for certain requirements that can be very, very costly to implement. Now, we have traditional defense contractors who look at this and go, hey, I would love to be exempt from that as well. I think that is something that will go to the Hill for the next cycle and talk about being fair to industry as a whole and making sure that we are not creating a de facto set aside for non-traditionals of, hey, this group of contracts because you can be very, very cost competitive, you don’t have to implement these costly systems and we’re gonna siphon money or funnel money towards you. And I think that is a fair observation. At the end of the day, the Professional Services Council, as I mentioned, represent lots and lots of contractors and they’re not afraid of competition, but they would like it to be fair competition and be subject to the same kinds of requirements. And so as we move forward, that is the message that we’ll be taking forward. Terry Gerton And what else in here catches your eye? Stephanie Kostro Oh, there was a lot of media activity regarding the CPARS, which is this performance rating system that contractors go through. What I find fascinating is that what was proposed as the NDAA was going through markup and passage in both of the chambers, they talked about, hey, CPARS this performance rating system, can be time consuming. It can be burdensome not only for the contractor, but also for the contracting officer. There was a movement afoot to only have negative performance ratings available. Like you only had to report when things weren’t going well. Contractors in our world went back and said, but we do want the government to recognize when things are going right. Just focusing on the negative seems to only tell half the story. What the final bill does is very, very interesting. It doesn’t change CPARS — you can have negative and positive ratings — but what it does do is add a broader acceptance of past performance so that if you’ve done commercial work, private sector projects, or non-department of defense or war government work, you can submit those as past performance. And so what that does is an optional avenue where you can just add this additional performance reviews from your portfolio. What it does is it adds to the story it doesn’t take away from it. Terry Gerton And Stephanie, there’s been a lot of conversation over this year about acquisition reform. Do you see any of that conversation reflected now in the statutory language? Stephanie Kostro I see so much of it, and I think as I talk to my colleagues at other associations within government contracting, we focused a lot on what was in the Senate called the FoRGED Act, and on the House side it was called the SPEED Act, streamlining acquisition. We find a lot of elements of both of those chamber initiatives in the final bill. I’ll give you an example. The SPEED Act was really about making sense of the acquisition system. And It’ll sound familiar to you, Terry, when you think about the “arsenal of freedom” speech that Secretary Hegseth gave back on November 7th. He talked about portfolio acquisition executives instead of program executive offices, having contracting officers as part of the team with the program managers, etc., and these portfolio acquisition, executives. You heard about from Secretary Hegseth, reforming or transforming the requirements process, looking at matters related to commercial products and commercial services, all of that is in the statutory language. So they are mutually reinforcing what the secretary is trying to do at the Department and what the bill does here. There is clearly a lot of conversations between Hill staff and Pentagon staff and I think that level of collaboration is going to be fruitful at the end of the day. Terry Gerton What kind of timeline are you anticipating for this new language to actually become practice? Stephanie Kostro Against all of this activity on the defense side, Terry, is this revolutionary FAR overhaul. One of the concerns voiced by the executive branch is that they’re trying to streamline the rules while legislation like the NDAA is, they’re adding to the rules. And so I think because these rules have, or rather these initiatives have been pre-coordinated or collaborated upon, this won’t fall victim per se to the revolutionary FAR overall. We will see rulemaking on this. I would also note that when Secretary Hegseth launched his transformative strategy for acquisition at the Pentagon, he had some very, very near-term targets. He wanted guidance going to folks 45 days later or 60 days later. Those timelines are coming to fruition here in the next two weeks. So we should see programs and milestone initiatives coming out of the services and hopefully we can engage Secretary Hegseth and his staff on what all of that means. The rulemaking always lags some at least you know six months or so after the law and I think that’s going to that’s going to be pushing the envelope a bit on timelines here. Terry Gerton Stephanie, it sounds then like there’s lots of good news in the NDAA for defense contractors if they can take the time to read it all the way through. But there might be some news that’s not quite so thrilling for them. There was rumor about an executive order last week. Tell us about what’s going on there. Stephanie Kostro So the rumors are that there is an executive order in draft form that talks about four defense contractors, executive compensation, dividends, and a limit on stock buybacks. This is very interesting. You know, we in the defense world take on these large projects, these major defense acquisition programs, etc. There are multi-year programs, costs can slip, schedules can slip. And there are tools within the executive branch and within contracting offices to help address those. Cure notices, for example, can come out of program or contracting officers, etc. There are also, there’s something called a Nunn-McCurdy breach, when you have costs and schedule overruns, it does trigger something in law about a review and steps that you can take to address it. It sounds like this executive order — we haven’t seen the language, but rumor has it — that it talks about executive compensation, forcing dividends, limiting stock buybacks as a way to influence industry’s behavior so that there aren’t so many cost overruns and schedule overruns. Again, haven’t seen the language. We are looking forward to seeing it and seeing how it works in practice. Again, there are tools in the toolbox to help address these things. And I hope that they’re referenced in this executive order. Terry Gerton Does that fit with some of the reforms in the NDAA that we were just talking about? Stephanie Kostro It does, I think, it comes back down to, is a negotiation a one-off or does a negotiation continue on through the life of a project? And I think if you look at commercial models or if you look at what the defense contractors have done in the past, that negotiation, once you sign the contract, that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the discussions, right? And so as we move forward, I think these are mutually reinforcing. But again, I haven’t seen the language of the executive order. I look forward to seeing it when it’s published. And I do hope that The Pentagon and the White House and others know that we are here as an association and as an industry to collaborate with them and get to the right answer for everybody, including the American taxpayer.The post The NDAA is signed, and at over 3,000 pages, it could be your holiday read first appeared on Federal News Network.

In an era increasingly defined by rapid technological change, the ability of the United States and its allies to communicate and operate as a unified force has never been more vital. Modern conflict now moves at the pace of data, and success depends on how quickly information can be shared, analyzed and acted upon across Defense Department and coalition networks. Today, interoperability is critical to maintaining a strategic advantage across all domains. The DoD has made progress toward interoperability goals through initiatives such as Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2), the Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) and the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA). Each underscores a clear recognition that victory in future conflicts will hinge on the ability to connect every sensor, platform and decision-maker in real time. Yet as adversaries work to jam communications and weaken alliances, continued collaboration between government and industry remains essential. The strategic imperative Interoperability allows the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Space Force to function as one integrated team. It ensures that data gathered by an Army sensor can inform a naval strike or that an Air Force feed can guide a Space Force operation, all in seconds. Among NATO and allied partners, this same connectivity ensures that an attack on one member can trigger a fast, coordinated, data-driven response by all. That unity of action forms the backbone of deterrence. Without true interoperability, even the most advanced technology can end up isolated. The challenge is compounded by aging systems, proprietary platforms and differing national standards. Sustained commitment to open architectures and shared standards is the only way to guarantee compatibility while still encouraging innovation. The role of open standards Open standards make real interoperability possible. Common interfaces like Ethernet or IP networking allow systems built by different nations or vendors to talk to one another. When governments and companies collaborate on open frameworks instead of rigid specifications, innovation can thrive without sacrificing integration. History has demonstrated that rigid design rules can slow progress and limit creativity, and it’s critical we now find the right balance. That means defining what interoperability requires while giving end users the freedom to achieve it in flexible ways. The DoD’s emphasis on modular, open architectures allows industry to innovate within shared boundaries, keeping future systems adaptable, affordable and compatible across domains and partners. Security at the core Interoperability depends on trust, and trust relies on security. Seamless data sharing among allies must be matched with strong protection for classified and mission-critical information, whether that data is moving across networks or stored locally. Information stored on devices, vehicles or sensors, also known as data at rest, must be encrypted to prevent exploitation if it is captured or lost. Strong encryption ensures that even if adversaries access the hardware, the information remains unreadable. The loss of unprotected systems has repeatedly exposed vulnerabilities, reinforcing the need for consistent data at rest safeguards across all platforms. The rise of quantum computing only heightens this concern. As processing power increases, current encryption methods will become outdated. Shifting to quantum-resistant encryption must be treated as a defense priority to secure joint and coalition data for decades to come. Lessons from past operations Past crises have highlighted how incompatible systems can cripple coordination. During Hurricane Katrina, for example, first responders struggled to communicate because their radios could not connect. The same issue has surfaced in combat, where differing waveforms or encryption standards limited coordination among U.S. services and allies. The defense community has since made major strides, developing interoperable waveforms, software-defined radios and shared communications frameworks. But designing systems to be interoperable from the outset, rather than retrofitting them later, remains crucial. Building interoperability in from day one saves time, lowers cost and enhances readiness. The rise of machine-to-machine communication As the tempo of warfare increases, human decision-making alone cannot keep up with the speed of threats. Machine-to-machine communication, powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, is becoming a decisive edge. AI-driven systems can identify, classify and respond to threats such as hypersonic missiles within milliseconds, long before a human could react. These capabilities depend on smooth, standardized data flow across domains and nations. For AI systems to function effectively, they must exchange structured, machine-readable data through shared architectures. Distributed intelligence lets each platform make informed local decisions even if communications are jammed, preserving operational effectiveness in contested environments. Cloud and hybrid architectures Cloud and hybrid computing models are reshaping how militaries handle information. The Space Development Agency’s growing network of low Earth orbit satellites is enabling high bandwidth, global connectivity. Yet sending vast amounts of raw data from the field to distant cloud servers is not always practical or secure. Processing data closer to its source, at the tactical edge, strikes the right balance. By combining local processing with cloud-based analytics, warfighters gain the agility, security and resilience required for modern operations. This approach also minimizes latency, ensuring decisions can be made in real time when every second matters. A call to action To maintain an edge over near-peer rivals, the United States and its allies must double down on open, secure and interoperable systems. Interoperability should be built into every new platform’s design, not treated as an afterthought. The DoD can further this goal by enforcing standards that require seamless communication across services and allied networks, including baseline requirements for data encryption at rest. Adopting quantum-safe encryption should also remain a top priority to safeguard coalition systems against emerging threats. Ongoing collaboration between allies is equally critical, not only to harmonize technical standards, but to align operational procedures and shared security practices. Government and industry must continue working side by side. The speed of technological change demands partnerships that can turn innovation into fielded capability quickly. Open, modular architectures will ensure defense systems evolve with advances in AI, networking and computing, while staying interoperable across generations of hardware and software. Most importantly, interoperability should be viewed as a lasting strategic advantage, not just a technical goal. The nations that can connect, coordinate and act faster than their adversaries will maintain a strategic advantage. The continued leadership of the DoD and allied defense organizations in advancing secure, interoperable and adaptable systems will keep the United States and its partners ahead of near-peer competitors for decades to come.   Ray Munoz is the chief executive officer of Spectra Defense Technologies and a veteran of the United States Navy. Cory Grosklags is the chief commercial officer of Spectra Defense Technologies.The post Interoperability and standardization: Cornerstones of coalition readiness first appeared on Federal News Network.

Interview transcript Terry Gerton When we talk about the National Defense Authorization on the Federal Drive, we often get into the weeds of technical provisions around acquisition or force structure or policy. But your organization, the Secure Families Initiative, has been advocating for a very different type of provision, the Military Family Bill of Rights. First, tell us a little bit about SFI, and then tell us about this campaign. Brandi Jones Absolutely, Terry. Our organization, Secure Families Initiative, it’s an organization founded by active-duty spouses and currently led by active-duty spouses. So we have a very unique lens into our everyday lives and also our community because we hear from people who are currently serving their families all over the US and all over world. And so having this vantage point and the ability for us to then advocate on behalf of our families, we’ve really been able to put together some awesome legislation points that really get to the root of the issues that we’re hearing in our community. So I’ve been very blessed to be the organizing director here at Secure Families Initiative for the past four years. And I was just really able to take a vision of meeting with families on a bi-weekly basis, specifically our families of color, all over the U.S. And the world and hearing what issues were impacting them. No matter where they were, I would say, I heard something as a throughline and that was concern for safety for the spouses and their children as we’re asked to change our permanent duty station every few years. So it really was like the foundation of hearing these stories and kind of saying, what if we developed legislation that really helped to get to the heart of the issues we’re hearing? Terry Gerton As you’ve built this campaign, you talked about the invisible weight of service and you alluded to it there. Can you share more about what that looks like in real life? What are the protections that the families that you hear from are looking for? Brandi Jones Yeah, it is really. I would say the weight of service is very invisible for our families, but also I would say that federal-state line that we cross when we go to live on installation is also invisible. Like there isn’t exactly a notification to our spouses and children that, you know, you’re now going to be on federal property, which has a different set of laws than on the state side of that line. And so because that line is invisible, like our service, it leads to a lot of grey area and I would say lack of protection that you might find on the state side sometimes because at the end of the day, our spouses and children, we are not federal employees. We are not active-duty men and women who serve and so we’re complete civilians behind the gates. And the things that I’ve heard from our families because of that issue is, you know, when I have an issue that comes up as a spouse, I don’t have a direct line of communication to the commander of the base. Even though that person is in charge of this installation, there’s no policy that says that they need to speak to me directly or that I can speak to them directly. And also I’ve had stories like I’ve been told that these resources were going to be available to me when I arrived on the installation or in the area. But then when I got here, there wasn’t any room at the child development center for me to have daycare or a home for me to live in. And so that leads to a lot of reliance on our neighbors, which is what is really, I would say, encouraged throughout the Department of Defense to our military families, like, use your neighbor for help. But what we’ve come to find out by talking to our families is you don’t necessarily know who your neighbor is like you do in a civilian, a state-side-of-the-line community. And that’s because when we cross onto federal property, there isn’t necessarily, like for instance, Megan’s Law, which when you’re in the town and you’re purchasing homes or renting, you get to research your area. You can see if there’s somebody who is a predator or [perpetrator of] sexual assault. And when we come onto that federal property line, we don’t have access to that information of someone who may be working on the installation or maybe someone who is a spouse of a service member, has a background in this instance that we would never know. And so how we kind of came to that conclusion about our safety and the concerns of that is by saying, we know that crime happens on installation because we have a military police department, yet unlike on our civilian state-side of that line, we don’t have access to any of that information. So, you know, when I’m waking up and I’m not inside of the base, I’m able to hear on local radio or in the local paper, like what were the crimes that happened that day? What can I be heightened and aware of that might be going on in this community to protect myself and my children? But on installation we don’t have access as the spouse or dependent of a service member to that information. Terry Gerton I’m speaking with Brandi Jones. She’s the organizing director of Secure Families Initiative. So Brandi, you’ve just mentioned one really important feature of the Bill of Rights, access to information about crime and convictions on military installations. Tell us some of the other key provisions in the Military Families Bill of rights. Brandi Jones Another thing that kept coming up when we heard from our spouses was not really, ahead of a PCS, having any information given to us as spouses about the place that we’re going to be moving to. So all this actually happens, I would say, is that you kind of get your installation duty station and the way that you’re given that information is by your service member. And so you find out, okay, now you’re going to, let’s say, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. So as a spouse, the onus is on you and as a service number to then find out all information that you could imagine to the law that would go into relocating your family. So ahead of time, you’re not provided anything about the education system, the availability of special needs education. You’re not providing anything about like the data of the area, the racial, ethnic demographics of the area. Like we were speaking earlier, like the crime statistics of the area, or really any information — you have to go out and kind of start this search on your own about anything related to where you’re going to be asked to move. And so having thought through, like what would be some provisions that would really help our families, immediately on our Military Family Bill of Rights, we asked for more information and we asked that that information be provided to our families 45 days prior to our PCS, our Permanent Change of Duty Station.The post The NDAA could redefine life for military families by including a Bill of Rights they helped write first appeared on Federal News Network.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicaid programs made more than $200 million in improper payments to health care providers between 2021 and 2022 for people who had already died, according to a new report from the independent watchdog for the Department of Health and Human Services. But the department’s Office of Inspector General said it expects a new provision in Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill requiring states to audit their Medicaid beneficiary lists may help reduce these improper payments in the future. These kinds of improper payments are “not unique to one state, and the issue continues to be persistent,” Aner Sanchez, deputy regional inspector general in the Office of Audit Services told The Associated Press. Sanchez has been researching this issue for a decade. The watchdog report released Tuesday said more than $207.5 million in managed care payments were made on behalf of deceased enrollees between July 2021 to July 2022. The office recommends that the federal government share more information with state governments to recover the incorrect payments — including a Social Security database known as the Full Death Master File, which contains more than 142 million records going back to 1899. Sharing the Full Death Master File data has been tightly restricted due to privacy laws which protect against identity theft and fraud. The massive tax and spending bill that was signed into law by President Donald Trump this summer expands how the Full Death Master File can be used by mandating Medicaid agencies to quarterly audit their provider and beneficiary lists against the file, beginning in 2027. The intent is to stop payments to dead people and improve accuracy. Tuesday’s report is the first nationwide look at improper Medicaid payments. Since 2016, HHS’ inspector general has conducted 18 audits on a selection of state programs and had identified that Medicaid agencies had improperly made managed care payments on behalf of deceased enrollees totaling approximately $289 million. The government had some success using the Full Death Master File to prevent improper payments earlier this year. In January, the Treasury Department reported that it had clawed back more than $31 million in federal payments that improperly went to dead people as part of a five-month pilot program after Congress gave Treasury temporary access to the file for three years as part of the 2021 appropriations bill. Meanwhile, the SSA has been making unusual updates to the file itself, adding and removing records, and complicating its use. For instance, the Trump administration in April moved to classify thousands of living immigrants as dead and cancel their Social Security numbers to crack down on immigrants who had been temporarily allowed to live in the U.S. under programs started during the Biden administration.The post Medicaid paid more than $207 million for dead people. A new law could help fix that first appeared on Federal News Network.

var config_5756090 = {"options":{"theme":"hbidc_default"},"extensions":{"Playlist":[]},"episode":{"media":{"mp3":"https:\/\/mgln.ai\/e\/345\/rss.art19.com\/episodes\/71892227-546b-4d36-8a04-6ce58ccef42e.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg5Xb3JkUHJlc3MGOgZFVA%3D%3D--466d26bc6c0e932b4a48b1403433bf1814d4975e"},"coverUrl":"https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FedNewscast1500-150x150.jpg","title":"New bipartisan bill makes access to federal disaster aid relief easier","description":"[hbidcpodcast podcastid='5756090']nn[federal_newscast]"}}; The Federal Emergency Management Agency would be required to create a universal disaster assistance application under a bill passed by the Senate last week. The goal of the Disaster Assistance Simplification Act is to make it easier for disaster survivors to access federal aid. Lawmakers say the current process is complex and time consuming, with different agencies using different forms. The bill would also require all information shared between FEMA and partner agencies to meet federal data security standards. (Senate passes Peters, Paul, Lankford and Tillis bipartisan legislation to simplify application process for federal disaster assistance - Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)The Trump administration is challenging a federal judge’s order to rescind more federal employee layoffs. Last week, a judge directed the Trump administration to undo reductions in force for workers who were officially separated from their jobs during the recent government shutdown. The decision would give about 700 individuals their jobs back. The Justice Department has appealed that decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s asking the higher court to allow the RIFs to remain in place. (Notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit - U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California)The Defense Logistics Agency is making the holidays a little bit more like home for troops stationed outside the United States and away from family. Calling it one of its important missions, DLA is providing holiday meals to warfighters around the globe. It will deliver 101,000 pounds of turkey, more than 6,400 cakes and pies and almost 1,500 cases of eggnog to service members to help them celebrate Christmas and New Years. DLA said delivering the food to service members is a major morale boost, combats loneliness and aides in homesickness. (DLA to deliver 101,000 pounds of turkey, other holiday fare around the globe - Defense Logistics Agency)Some service members stationed within the Continental United States will see their take-home pay decrease starting January after the Defense Department updated its cost-of-living allowance rates. All 21 non-metropolitan counties in California and New York will lose COLA allowance. Nine military housing areas will lose the allowance entirely, including Boston, Massachusetts and San Luis Obispo and Riverside in California. Eight military housing areas will see an increase in COLA allowance, including Seattle and San Francisco. The Defense Department said CONUS COLA will cost about $99 million, benefiting roughly 127,000 service members nationwide in 2026.(Pentagon cuts COLA in dozens of counties, reduces rates in major cities - Federal News Network)OPM is hiring a new person to lead its HR technology modernization effort. Nearly two months after telling OPM its plan to modernize and consolidate 119 HR systems across government was "madness," Don Bauer is going to be in charge of that effort. Bauer will join OPM on Jan. 12 as its deputy associate director for workforce standards and data center in the HR Solutions (HRS) office. He will be leading the HR Line of Business, the quality service management office (QSMO) and human capital management core modernization effort. Bauer said after posting a critical column on Federal News Network, OPM leaders called him to discuss the modernization effort, Seven weeks later, Bauer is returning to the government.(Bauer’s criticism of HR modernization effort turns into job offer from OPM - Federal News Network)Pentagon officials acknowledged that military services could inflate cyber readiness levels as the Defense Department works to standardize how it manages its cyber workforce, but said the effort is still in its early stages and validation mechanisms are being developed to prevent “rubber-stamping” qualifications. While the Pentagon is moving away from relying solely on individual military services to self-assess cyber readiness, it still largely depends on self-reported data, which raises concerns about the accuracy of readiness reporting. DoD officials said readiness reporting shouldn’t be treated as a “compliance drill,” but rather a tool the services can use to advocate for additional resources.(Concerns persist over self-reported cyber readiness as DoD overhauls workforce management - Federal News Network)Senate appropriators want to stem some staff cuts at the Department of Homeland Security. The Senate Appropriations Committee’s draft homeland security spending bill for 2026 would add $40 million for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to hire critical staff. That comes after roughly 2,500 FEMA staff departed the agency in 2025 amid sweeping changes under the Trump administration. The draft spending bill would also maintain funding levels at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and stipulate that CISA maintain enough staff to carry out its statutory missions. CISA’s staffing has been reduced by nearly a third in fiscal 2025. (Senate lawmakers look to stem staff cuts at CISA, FEMA - Federal News Network)The Trump administration gave federal employees extra days off around Christmas. But the IRS and the Social Security Administration will stay open. Both SSA and the IRS are looking for volunteers to keep working on Dec. 24 and Dec. 26 and are offering holiday pay to those who sign up. Both agencies typically see a lower volume of calls and in-person visits at this point, but internal memos say they need to stay open to deliver on their frontline missions. President Donald Trump gave most federal employees these days off, but his executive order said some federal employees may still need to report for duty for “national security, defense or other public need.”(Social Security, IRS will stay open on extra holidays Trump granted to most federal employees - Federal News Network)The post New bipartisan bill makes access to federal disaster aid relief easier first appeared on Federal News Network.

This content is provided by FEBA. As 2026 approaches, many federal employees are hearing headlines about Roth changes and wondering whether long-standing retirement strategies are disappearing. The short answer is no—Roth strategies are not going away. But the way certain federal employees use them is changing, and the timing of your decisions is becoming far more important. What is NOT Changing in 2026 (Important first) Before getting into what’s changing, it’s critical to understand what is not changing. Roth conversions are still fully allowed in 2026 and beyond. Federal employees can continue converting money from a Traditional TSP to a Roth IRA, or from a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, with no income limits. These conversions must be completed by December 31 of the year you want them to count for tax purposes. For example, any Roth conversion you want applied to your 2026 tax return must be completed no later than December 31, 2026, even though the taxes won’t be reported and paid until you file in 2027. Traditional TSP and Roth TSP are also both staying in place. Federal employees can still choose to contribute pre-tax, Roth, or a combination of both, subject to annual contribution limits. Roth IRAs are not being eliminated either. They remain one of the most flexible and powerful tools available, offering tax-free growth, no required minimum distributions, and valuable estate-planning benefits. Direct Roth IRA contributions still follow income limits, but Roth conversions remain unrestricted. The big 2026 change: Roth-only catch-up contributions for high earners The major change arriving in 2026 involves catch-up contributions for higher-earning employees. Starting January 1, 2026, federal employees age 50 or older who earned more than $145,000 in the prior year will no longer be allowed to make pre-tax catch-up contributions. This income threshold will be indexed for inflation, but it will affect many GS-13s, GS-14s, GS-15s, SES employees, law enforcement officers with overtime, and other high-grade federal professionals. An important detail here is timing. Eligibility for the Roth-only catch-up rule in 2026 is based on your 2025 W-2 wages. That means the determination is backward-looking, not speculative. If your 2025 income exceeds the threshold, your catch-up contributions beginning with your first paycheck in January 2026 must go into the Roth TSP. This change does not affect your regular TSP contributions. Those can still be directed to either Traditional or Roth TSP. However, any catch-up contributions for affected employees must be Roth. For example, a 55-year-old GS-14 earning $160,000 could still choose how their standard TSP contributions are treated, but their catch-up contributions would automatically be Roth starting in 2026. The immediate impact of this change is felt in your paycheck. Roth contributions are made with after-tax dollars, meaning your taxable income increases and your take-home pay may decrease. For someone forced to put $7,500 into Roth catch-up contributions, that could mean roughly $1,800 more in federal taxes for the year if they’re in the 24% tax bracket. While this may feel painful in the short term, the long-term benefit is meaningful: that money grows tax-free and can be withdrawn tax-free in retirement. The importance of strategic Roth conversions This shift is also why Roth conversions become even more strategic for federal employees. When high earners are already being pushed into Roth contributions, it often makes sense to look at the bigger tax picture. Partial Roth conversions, thoughtful tax bracket management, and pre-retirement tax smoothing can help prevent large tax surprises later. This is especially important for federal retirees who will have a pension, Social Security, and TSP distributions all stacking together in retirement. The most valuable window for Roth conversions often occurs in early retirement, or in the years between retirement and age 73, when required minimum distributions begin. These are often lower-income years where conversions can be done at favorable tax rates. Each year’s Roth conversion must be completed by December 31 to count for that tax year. Roth IRAs also take on increased importance in this new environment. While income limits still apply for direct Roth IRA contributions, conversions remain fully available. Roth IRAs offer flexibility that other accounts simply don’t—no RMDs, control over taxable income in retirement, and more options for heirs. For many federal retirees, Roth IRAs become the account that provides the most control later in life. How federal employees should prepare now So how should federal employees prepare? For those under age 50, the changes don’t apply immediately, but this is the time to begin balancing pre-tax and Roth contributions so you’re not forced into uncomfortable adjustments later. For those age 50 and older with higher incomes, preparation needs to happen sooner. Reviewing tax brackets, understanding how Roth catch-ups will affect cash flow, and coordinating TSP, Roth IRA, and pension income planning should begin well before January 1, 2026. The bottom line for feds The bottom line is that 2026 does not eliminate Roth strategies—it changes how and when they’re used. High earners lose access to pre-tax catch-up contributions, Roth TSP becomes mandatory for those catch-ups, and tax planning becomes more important, not less. For federal employees with pensions, coordinated planning is essential. Handled correctly, these changes can actually create an opportunity. Many federal employees will end up building more tax-free income, reducing future RMD pressure, and gaining greater flexibility in retirement. The key is understanding the rules, respecting the deadlines, and planning ahead—rather than reacting after the fact. TSP Maximization and Roth Conversion Strategy Jan 6, 2026 | 6:30 pm ET Jan 8, 2026 | 1 pm ET Register here During the webinar, we’ll cover: One rule change. One big tax impact. How to balance future tax advantages with current tax implications. Roth conversion strategy. Learn how federal employees can still use Roth planning to reduce future taxes. The G Fund isn’t “playing it safe” if it’s used wrong. Discover how strategic use of G and C funds can stabilize safety and growth. Partial Roth conversions can reduce future tax shocks. See how gradual conversions may help smooth taxes before RMDs begin. Your TSP strategy may need a reset. Discover how the 2026 changes affect traditional vs. Roth TSP contributions in your final working years. Interactive, Live 30-Min Q&A Session! Get your questions answered by Justin and James! The post Understanding the 2026 Roth and TSP changes: What federal employees need to know now first appeared on Federal News Network.

There’s an old adage that tells someone to “put your money where your mouth is.” Well, Don Bauer is going all in at the Office of Personnel Management. Bauer wrote a column for Federal News Network criticizing OPM’s plans to consolidate and modernize human resources systems across the government. In his Oct. 30 column, Bauer wrote that OPM’s initial plan was “not modernization; it’s madness.” Don Bauer is joining OPM to lead its human resources systems consolidation and modernization initiative. Now Bauer is in charge of that madness. Federal News Network has learned Bauer will join OPM on Jan. 12 as its new deputy associate director for workforce standards and data center (WSDC) in the HR Solutions (HRS) office. He will be leading the HR Line of Business, the quality service management office (QSMO) and human capital management core modernization effort. Shortly after the column came out, Bauer received a call from OPM leadership asking for a meeting to better understand his concerns and ideas for how to make this modernization effort successful. “I put that conviction on paper, outlined a concrete executive role designed to carry that accountability and made clear I was prepared to take ownership of the outcome. Not because of title or compensation, but because opportunities to do something this consequential are rare. And when they appear, public service demands more than critique. It demands commitment,” Bauer will write on LinkedIN, in a post expected to be published later today, which was obtained by Federal News Network. “What followed were direct, substantive conversations with OPM leadership; no theatrics, no false promises, just an honest assessment of the challenge, the risks, and what it would take to do this right. [OPM] Director [Scott] Kupor is authentic, passionate, and focused (after a few minutes meeting with him, I quickly determined he was someone I could work for). After spending time with him and the team, seeing the plan behind the curtain, and understanding the real structure and commitment behind this effort, I’m convinced this is a generational opportunity. They believe deeply in getting this right for the right reasons, and that matters. (However, the schedule is still a point of debate!).” Bauer, who spent five years as the State Department’s Bureau of Global Talent Management chief technology officer before leaving federal service in August, knows he will have his work cut out for him. OPM plans to consolidate and modernize 119 HR systems across government and do it by September 2027. OPM expects to award the contract in January and then will spend the next several months implementing the core HR system by the end of April. From there, OPM plans to work one-on-one with agencies to configure the platform to meet their unique needs. OPM’s plan starting to come together Dianna Saxman, OPM’s associate director of HR Solutions, said earlier this month that this consolidation and modernization effort is “different.” “We’re really leveraging the collective wisdom of the entire federal community,” Saxman said Tuesday during a public meeting of the Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) Council. “We’ve already brought experts from many different agencies into a steering committee that is helping us to set the strategy up front.” Along with employing a steering committee at OPM, Saxman said many federal human capital leaders have started collaborating internally with other agency executives, like chief information officers and chief data officers, to plan the integration of the upcoming HR system. During his time at State, and before that working in separate tours of duty at the Custom and Border Protection and Immigration and Custom Enforcement directorates in the Homeland Security Department, Bauer experienced both the highs and lows of federal HR systems. Bauer said at State he directed the full lifecycle of enterprise HR systems —spanning development, cloud modernization, cybersecurity compliance and platform reliability. He said he also oversaw enterprise help desk operations and a global customer support program, delivering service to more than 75,000 users worldwide. Additionally, he led the implementation of technology systems that were secure, scalable, accessible and intuitive while also promoting a culture of integrity, responsiveness and continuous improvement. But Bauer said the OPM job will be a little different. “To be honest, it had never crossed my mind to rejoin the government in a leadership role. My industry contacts were all in on having me participate in some capacity on the acquisition, but for me it is about doing whatever I can to help it succeed. HR in the federal government has been an afterthought for years, and this moment in the spotlight is too important to ignore,” he wrote. “I approached the conversation [with OPM] with a simple premise: criticism carries responsibility. If you’re willing to point out what won’t work, you should also be willing to step forward and help make it work. This effort doesn’t need more commentary; it needs accountable leadership with the authority to align policy, governance and delivery. I refuse to be solely part of those who point out problems but do little in helping to solve them.” He called this job offer and opportunity before him an “absolutely a hold-my-beer moment.” “Some asked how someone openly critical of the initiative could step in to lead it. The answer is simple: critique without service is cheap. If we’re serious about modernizing the federal workforce and the systems that support it, we owe the public our full selves, our experience, our networks, and our willingness to engage honestly,” he wrote. “It’s not every day you write an article critiquing a major government initiative and then ultimately get offered a chance to lead it. Yet here we are.”The post OPM to hire critic of HR consolidation plan first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Cyberspace Solarium Commission’s (CSC 2.0) annual implementation report has sparked fresh concern from representatives and cybersecurity leaders that U.S. cyber progress is slowing. Bureaucratic delays, budget constraints and uneven policy follow-through, particularly around the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s authorities and funding, are all apparent. But does this paint the full picture of the technical implementation and enforcement of U.S. cybersecurity? Hardly. Beneath the policy layer, the technical and strategic modernization of U.S. cybersecurity is actually accelerating faster than ever. While there’s a lot of doom and gloom at the civilian policy level, it’s important we acknowledge the progress individual agencies have made and provide constructive steps to continue to capitalize on that progress. A defining moment came with the finalization of the CMMC 2.0 rule, which is now effective and entered its first implementation phase on Nov. 10. More than 80,000 defense industrial base vendors will be required by contract to comply with rigorous cybersecurity controls aligned to NIST 800-171, with a hard assessment deadline in 2026. CMMC 2.0 ensures that cybersecurity is no longer a check-box exercise or a “nice-to-have” policy objective. It’s now a legal and contractual requirement. By the time full assessments begin in 2026, the Defense Department will have reshaped the entire DIB into a verified ecosystem of secure software and systems providers. That’s a significant milestone that will set the stage for the operationalization of accountability for government technology. Equally as transformative is the DoD’s quiet revolution in risk management. In September 2025, the DoD introduced its Cybersecurity Risk Management Construct (CRMC). This is a long-awaited, direct successor to the outdated, paperwork-heavy Risk Management Framework. The new construct adopts the continuous authority to operate (cATO) model, enabling near-real-time monitoring and risk response. It’s a move away from static compliance documentation toward dynamic, data-driven assurance, reflecting the pace of modern software delivery. The DoD’s transformation is being powered by the Software Fast Track (SWFT) initiative, launched in mid-2025 to modernize acquisition. SWFT brings DevSecOps automation directly into the authorization process, ensuring secure software can reach warfighters faster and without compromising security. It’s a fundamental shift from compliance to continuous validation. Lastly, the CSC 2.0’s report doesn’t touch on the work being done by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to operationalize the AI Risk Management Framework for 2026. This will bring much-needed clarity to secure and responsible AI adoption across government and industry. It’s easy to equate stalled legislation or delayed budgets with a lack of progress. But in cybersecurity, the most impactful advancements rarely happen in congressional hearings. They happen in codebases, acquisition reforms and audit protocols. The policy narrative may be sluggish, but in those areas, we are actually seeing healthy progress as the technical foundation of U.S. cyber defense is advancing rapidly. Through CMMC enforcement, cATO adoption, automated software assurance and AI governance, federal cybersecurity is entering an implementation era where secure software supply chains and continuous monitoring are not aspirations, but expectations. With all that said, does this mean the CSC 2.0’s findings should be ignored? Absolutely not. The reality is that we don’t have a cybersecurity problem; we have an insecure software problem. By not driving forward policy at the civilian-level to change the economics in such a way that incentivizes ensuring the delivery of secure software, we may be ceding the very progress I just outlined. However, to say “U.S. cyber progress stalls” is to overlook this reality. The truth is that 2025 marks the year where U.S. cybersecurity finally shifted from policy to practice. Antoine Harden is vice president of federal at Sonatype.The post US cyber progress isn’t stalled — it’s evolving first appeared on Federal News Network.

When you’ve managed the finances of one of the government’s largest agencies, you learn that modernization isn’t about technology — it’s about questioning everything. When I stepped into the role of chief financial officer at the IRS, I saw not only the complexity of government, but also the opportunity within it. Decades of underfunding forced the agency to make do with outdated legacy systems and processes that had long outlived their usefulness. My challenge wasn’t just to manage that complexity, but to transform it through innovation, modern technology and an empowered workforce. During my time at the IRS, I learned three enduring lessons about leadership in government: Question how the work can be done more efficiently. Collaborate relentlessly. Lead with strategy and purpose. These lessons came not from management books, but from daily experiences with the dedicated people who keep our government running. And they apply far beyond the walls of the IRS to other agencies, most of which are facing similar challenges. Question how the work can be done more efficiently With fewer staff, tighter budgets and higher expectations, leaders need to challenge how the work gets done. Agencies today face a critical gap: the loss of both institutional knowledge and the talent essential to sustain it, making it that much harder to balance existing work as new mandates continue to pile on. The right question isn’t “how can we automate this?” but rather “does this still make sense?” Speeding up a task that serves no purpose only cements inefficiency in place. Leaders must resist the urge to put new technology on top of bad processes. At the IRS, we took the approach of first understanding our processes before automating and held optimization workshops with staff to identify use cases. Once we better understood, we eliminated unnecessary processes that were redundant or outdated. A clear example was the reconciliation of depreciation entries. When a new system was first implemented, manual comparisons made sense. Years later, however, continuing that process no longer did — there were rarely any differences between the manual and system reconciliations. Eliminating the redundant step saved countless hours and allowed full reliance on the system’s automated process. Speeding up a task that serves no purpose does not add value. It only cements inefficiency in place. Leaders must resist the urge to put new technology on top of work that adds no value. Next, we focused on optimizing our policies and processes to rapidly improve our operations through streamlining, automation and/or standardization. For example, multiple campuses once used slightly different manual deposit and refund processes. By analyzing each and standardizing the best approach, we unlocked two opportunities: We could share work across campuses, and we could automate with a single solution to be executed consistly across all service centers. This reduced the time to process deposits and refunds by 80%, saving an estimated 1,300 labor hours annualy. In addition, it lowered error rates to less than 1% and significantly reduced the need for rework or correction. Another example of the proper use of automating is when my team created a large language model that classifies lease documents and ensures compliance with Federal Financial Accounting Standards 54, reducing processing time by 97% and allowing the team to accurately review and classify 100% of the contracts. We also created an LLM to answer travel-related questions using relevant policy documents, which streamlined the process of seeking guidance on travel-related questions and maintained a feedback loop for continuous improvement of the model’s responses. We piloted process mining over procure-to-pay cycle, and found 19,000 process variations, a 689-day average cycle, and just 9% automation. With this information, we could take action to reduce process variations from 19,000 to 5,000, cut cycle time by 15% and boost automation to 50% while streamlining complexities. Taking this one approach can help federal agencies eliminate what doesn’t matter, optimize what does, and automate where it counts, so leaders see results in weeks or months, not years. That’s not just good financial management. It’s good government and can restore confidence in how government manages. Collaboration relentlessly In government, no office operates as an island. Real change requires looking beyond your own shop and collaborating across functions. A CFO cannot succeed without a strong partnership with the chief information officer, and neither can make progress without the business owners whose requirements drive the work. At the IRS, I would not have been successful without a strong partnership with the CIO and other leaders. For example, in digitizing one of the CFO’s revenue processes, we could have digitized only the CFO slice of the process and walked away. Instead, we brought together partners across the enterprise to redesign the process end to end. By engaging office heads early and clearly communicating the vision, we secured executive sponsors who provided strategic direction and timely decisions. The effort was truly collaborative, with monthly meetings between the CFO, CIO and process owners, and cross-functional workshops that drove continuous progress toward a modernized, enterprisewide solution. The solution required reliance on not just technology, but also process optimization. It took years and tears, but when it was complete, we had not just digitized a form, but transformed the way the work was done and set the stage for future modernization opportunities. Today agencies must move beyond “pilot purgatory” and implement real change faster. When CFO, CIO and human capital office leaders are in sync, every dollar spent on technology becomes a dollar invested in people, process improvement and trust.  Bridging these gaps and building collaborative relationships solves problems across the agency now and into the future. Lead with strategy and purpose In the absence of clear strategic direction, agencies often pause initiatives, creating uncertainty about the path ahead. Instead, agencies need a strategy reset to prepare for the future of finance. At the IRS, we challenged the mindset of “the way we’ve always done it,” because sustained progress requires moving beyond manual operations. Our approach was focused on moving toward technology-enabled processes that integrated automation and continuous improvement. This shift is not solely about efficiency; it is about transforming how government delivers on its mission and creating lasting value for the American people. Even in the absence of clear strategy, there are things we know need improving and things we can be doing to prepare, like data clean up and end-to-end process improvement assessments. Technology can help organizations make data driven decisions, deliver fast return on investment in process improvement and optimize core business functions to enhance efficiency and ensure compliance. Building a smarter government These lessons — question everything, avoid automating bad processes and collaborate across silos — are not theoretical. They come from the daily work of running the finances of one of the government’s largest, most complex agencies. They also apply far beyond finance. Whether the task is processing benefits, managing grants or overseeing property, the same principles hold true. Government leaders today face enormous challenges: limited resources, high public expectations, and a growing demand for both speed and accountability. Meeting those challenges requires more than incremental tweaks. It requires the courage to ask hard questions, the discipline to stop work that does not matter and the willingness to build bridges across organizations. A path forward I strongly support efforts to help agencies identify where they can eliminate, optimize or automate. These aren’t slogans, but a practical sequence I’ve seen work wonders inside an agency. Leaders who embrace them will free up resources, reduce burdens on employees, and deliver better results for taxpayers. The path is not easy. Changing entrenched processes never is. But the benefits are real. I have seen firsthand what happens when leaders take a hard look at their work and make the choice to do things differently. It is possible to build a government that spends less time moving paper and more time serving people. That’s a goal we should all embrace. Teresa Hunter, former chief financial officer of the IRS, is now executive director of federal civilian sector at MSI.The post Lessons from the frontlines of government finance first appeared on Federal News Network.

Interview transcript Terry Gerton All right, so Congress left town a couple of days early last week for the holiday recess. What did they get done before they left? Loren Duggan I would say the two biggest things we saw last week. One was the finalization of the National Defense Authorization Act. The Senate passed it after the House had done it the week earlier and President Trump signed that with a bow. So that’s now done for the year. And then the other thing was a big package of nominations moved by the Senate right before they left. So that has gotten some more people into jobs that they can start filling the tail end of this year and into next year. So those were two of the big things they got done before heading out the door, maybe a day early because they were going to stay till Friday at one point but left on Thursday. Terry Gerton NDAA has got a couple of prickly points in it that are interesting, related to the videos of boat strikes and also the slowdown of transfer of troops out of Europe. Loren Duggan Yeah, some of that’s about ring-fencing some money or trying to curtail some travel budget for Secretary Hegseth until he complies with those. The administration often looks askance at those sorts of things and, you know, take them under advisement, that sort of thing. But yeah, there were some provisions there that were trying to take aim at those things, not maybe the strongest language, but a little bit, like maybe an opening bid and getting more information. We did see administration officials go up and show the video, more senators saw it. Um so you know we have seen some dialog around that but that’s going to be an ongoing concern i would think when they come back in the new year too about what they see around that Venezuela and the boats issue that had been dominant for a couple weeks Terry Gerton Right. And on the nominations, they did get 97 more through, but there’s a whole host of folks who got nominated and never got through hearings or confirmations. What happens to them at this point? Loren Duggan There’s an inflection point. The default is you get sent back if you don’t get acted on by the end of the session, but they can, by unanimous consent, hold some back. So there were a few that got their initial procedural vote on Thursday before the Senate left, like the head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. They will be held in status quo into the next session and a few others as well. But others may be sent back and they would have to start over again. That’s pretty routine. And the administration, I assume, is when Congress gets up and running next year, will send those back, the ones they want to keep fighting for. That is a time sometimes when others drop away, but you’re correct. That is like a little inflection point at the end of the first session going into the second. Terry Gerton But it does slow down the filling of some remaining outstanding positions. Loren Duggan It does, but I think overall the Trump administration would be happy with the progress this year with the rules change that allowed them to do these big batches at once instead of, you know, days at a time on one, they did kind of two weeks on a package of, like you said, 97 some. So they’ve gotten a lot through here in the last few months and that was like one of their final votes before they left too. Terry Gerton All right, so we get a polite applause for getting some things off the table, but they’ve left a lot on the table when they come back in January. Let’s kind of walk through those big pieces. First up is going to be appropriation. Loren Duggan That will be a big deal. January 30th is right around the corner. Three of the bills got done when they reopened the government in November. There’s still nine to go. The big question before they left was, would the Senate try to make progress on a five-bill minibus package before they left? They’ve been working behind the scenes all week to try to clear objections. They couldn’t get over one last one, it seemed like, on Thursday. So they just said, okay, we’ll come back and do this in January. But that’s Senate bills. That’s not even getting to a House-Senate compromise that you would need to get onto the statute book when they come back. So a lot to do there. And, you know, the House has been talking about what they want to do as well, but not a clear path yet between now and January 30th. Terry Gerton Well, the Senate got that last-minute objective about the Trump plan to shut down the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Even as you say, they thought they were really, really close. Why was that such a big issue? Loren Duggan I believe that was, what, the senators from Colorado who were objecting to that and, you know, you need unanimous consent to move these things forward, at least quickly and they use their prerogative to hold that back trying to look for some clarification, maybe from the administration thinking about language, we’ll see how that plays out when they come back. If they continue to work through that or maybe something will happen between now and then. But they didn’t want to let that package go through unless they had their concerns addressed. Terry Gerton There was also last minute drama on the House side around the ACA subsidies and healthcare bills. Loren Duggan Yeah, that’s right. So, you know, the big question going into this month was will they extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies? These were COVID era policies that expire at the end of this year, 2025. Meaning if you had those to help pay for plans in 2026, you don’t have them right now. So they left without addressing those. But there was a discharge petition that was signed by enough Republicans plus all the Democrats to force a vote at some point when they come back. Now even some of the Republicans who signed that were doing that because they want to have a debate. They want to have a bill go over to the Senate, maybe get amended. So we’ll see how that plays out in January, but there could be several weeks more wrangling on that when they come back to decide what they want to do. Is the three-year extension Democrats had talked about really what they want to do or pair it with other policies? But there was really no consensus going forward other than members demanding some sort of vote in the House. Terry Gerton Well, those members are going to be back in their home districts for the next couple of weeks. Will they be spending much time listening to constituents and what do you think they’re going to hear about this? Loren Duggan I’m assuming some will hear about this, and that’s been the drama here, is there are Republicans in some swing districts who are concerned about what this policy means in their area, what it’s going to do to them in next year’s midterm elections. When that calendar turns to 2026, that’s going be top of mind for a lot of people, how they’re going to bear going into those elections later in the year. So they will probably hear from them if they encounter them. But you know, it’s also not everybody, but it is a significant population that’s affected, who are on those ACA exchanges and have relied on those enhanced benefits. Terry Gerton Well, when they do get back, there’s just a few weeks before the end of the continuing resolution. So we know they’ll be tackling appropriations. We know they will be tackling this health care bill. What else is going to be on the agenda? Regular hearings? Things that are going to get sort of back on track? Loren Duggan I think they will get back on track with those things. Permitting is still percolating. The House did pass a permitting overhaul bill right before they left and Senate needs to come up with its version of that Senate wants to regulate crypto, come up with market structure there, talk about doing that again and then you know there’s some deadlines later in the year like the highway bill September 30th the Export-Import Bank in December and maybe one of the first fights after spending will be FISA section 702 which is about the government’s authorities for surveillance. So, there’s a lot of fights coming up that congress isn’t going to choose to do because they want it and then there’s others that will be coming up just because of expirations in law so it’s going to be a busy 2026 with that November 3rd midterm election kind of hanging over all of it Terry Gerton I’m gonna ask you to look in your crystal ball for just a minute. These late discussions in the month of December around some of these big issues seem to open up maybe a little more space for compromise. What is your prediction going forward? Loren Duggan I mean, compromises there and discharge petitions are a tool. We’ve talked about them before, I think, where with this narrow majority in the house with a few Republicans and all the Democrats that can make things happen, take control, we could see more of that on more issues next year, you know, whether it’s Russia sanctions, congressional stock trading ban, things like that. So I think there is bipartisanship there. It may come in non-traditional ways and unexpected places, but we’ll be watching that closely.The post The holiday break comes with unfinished business on Capitol Hill first appeared on Federal News Network.