Federal Drive with Tom Temin Federal News Network | Hubbard Radio

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

A new 911 system for antitrust violations in the health care industry.

A researcher helps turn masses of forest data into useful pictures.

How the pandemic changed technology at the IRS for good.


Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With too much data, you can lose sight of the forest for the trees. Federal Drive Host Tom Temin's guest revolutionized the ability of the U.S. Forest Service to visualize, as useful information, the mass of data from aerial surveillance. For his work, he's a finalist in this year's Service to America Medals program: Research Forester Robert McGaughey.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The federal agencies in charge of cracking down on anti-competitive behavior have already agreed to work together on health care issues. Now, they are looking for tips from the public. The Federal Trade Commission, Health and Human Services, and the Justice Department launched HealthyCompetition.com last month. It is for people who have a good reason to think medical bills spring from antitrust violations in the health care industry. David Lawrence is the policy director in the Justice Department’s antitrust division. He talked about the outreach effort with Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A rule going back several years, lets Defense Department contracting officers treat stuff from so-called non-traditional vendors --known as NCDs -- as commercial. Just this month, the Defense Pricing and Contracting unit issued a memo underscoring that authority. For why this matters, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked with Haynes & Boone procurement attorney Dan Ramish.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) says it is working to strengthen its internal financial control practices. That is after a Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit found FHFA’s financial statements miscalculated the agencies obligations under the Federal Employee Compensation Act. And the way it happened might offer a cautionary tale for other small agencies. Anne Sit-Williams is a director for financial management and assurance at GAO. She talked about the findings with Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The more nations launch satellites into space, the more crowded the orbit layers become, especially in the burgeoning low-earth orbit. NASA has a Space Environment Sustainability Advisory Board to help guide policy for an area of space that is starting to look like the Beltway at rush hour. The board has defined the problem in terms of five challenges. For more, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked with the associate administrator for NASA's office of Technology, Policy and Strategy, Charity Weeden.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices