Jared Serbu covers the Department of Defense for Federal News Radio. Jared's reports can be heard Monday - Friday on the Federal Drive and In Depth.

Ahead of OMB guidance, agencies bring their own strategies to BYOD

Early-adopter agencies of the bring-your-own-device idea are blazing their own trail through the security, privacy and policy challenges of personally-owned devices on government networks.

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Pentagon to begin online delivery of US mail

Employees in the Pentagon will be able to access their postal mail via a web-based interface and decide how to handle each envelope.

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GAO dismisses protest over huge TRICARE contract

The Government Accountability Office has turned back a protest over a multibillion dollar contract to administer part of the military's TRICARE health insurance system, the losing bidder said Monday. The Comptroller General's decision was not publicly released as of Monday afternoon, but TriWest officials said they had been notified of the rejection.

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Army deploys first fruits of agile acquisition process

Hundreds of pieces of equipment the Army has assembled as part of its new network modernization strategy will deploy with soldiers to Afghanistan on Oct. 1, the first results of the Army's transition to capability set management.

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Investigation by states shuts down GIBill.com

Under a settlement announced Wednesday by 20 states' attorneys general, the Department of Veterans Affairs will take control of a website that consumer fraud investigators say has been used to mislead military members into making poor use of their GI Bill benefits.

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Senators press DoD to reveal more details on sequestration

Legislation requiring Defense Department to disclose budget-cutting contingency plans would be attached to 'every bill that walks'

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Senators frustrated by FAA nominee's lack of specifics about delayed safety provisions

Acting administrator Michael Huerta had few answers for members of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee concerning the FAA's lack of progress on pilot training and safety regulations. Huerta said the final directive is expected to be out by October 2013. He also said the NextGen system is making progress and establishing important baselines.

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McCain opens door to revenue increases to avoid sequestration

The top Republican on the Armed Services committee signaled Thursday that there's room for compromise toward a deal to avoid automatic budget cuts at the end of this year. But not everyone's sure the negative effects of sequestration can be avoided, or even that Congress would reach a deal.

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Indonesian court gives Bali bomber 20-year term

An Indonesian militant was convicted of helping to build the massive car bomb used in the deadly 2002 Bali nightclub attacks and sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday, concluding the trial for the case's last main defendant.

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Military reexamines professional development after 10 years of war

DoD is examining how to keep servicemembers' "fires lit" once the military services transition to a mostly peacetime status. Gen. Martin Dempsey said some units will be aligned with a particular region of the world. DoD also will take advantage of advancements in technology to help with training.

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Lockheed lands big Defense IT contract

Lockheed Martin, the federal government's largest contractor landed up to $1.9 billion worth of work Friday in a deal to operate Defense Department networks across the globe.

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DoD, VA, Education toughen rules against predatory colleges

Agencies are working toward implementing an executive order designed to crack down on "fly- by-night" colleges that target military members' education benefits

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Suspension and debarments rise amid pressure from Congress

Agencies are making greater use of their ability to declare contractors and individuals ineligible for work by the federal government. Some outside experts suggest the increase may be the result of hasty decisions.

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Army plans to begin four 'utility-scale' renewable energy projects this year

The four acquisition decisions the service will make in the coming months are the first fruits of a task force the Army created to pursue large-scale solar, geothermal, wind, biomass and waste-to-energy facilities on its bases.

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FAA promises to do more homework for future realignment decisions

Agency aims for better metrics to guide future facility closings, consolidations. The FAA has about two weeks to submit a report to Congress with recommendations to close facilities.

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Army, Air Force team up to meet renewable energy goals

Leaders from both services are visiting military bases and renewable energy gatherings together to identify best practices. The Army and Air Force will jointly host a renewable energy industry forum in Washington next month.

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Senators cancel reductions to Air National Guard, cut DoD civilians

Senate panel rejects Air Force's proposed decreases to National Guard aircraft and personnel, orders cutbacks in DoD civilian and contractor personnel and imposes contractor salary caps.

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Buying commercial in DoD: Pentagon struggles to stay away from customization

Last year, the Pentagon spent nearly $75 billion on acquisitions of commercial items, more than double the amount from five years ago. But the word "commercial" in DoD applies to a lot of products you won't find on any store shelf.

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Buying commercial in DoD: 15 years after acquisition reform

During the last Defense drawdown, Congress and the White House pushed the Pentagon to make smarter buying decisions in the hopes that it would save a lot of money. The idea was to have the military buy many products the same way businesses do. A decade and a half later, DoD now spends tens of billions of dollars a year under the commercialized models Congress set up. In a two-part, exclusive report, Federal News Radio examines the debate underway over how well it has worked out.

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DoD ready to meet pent up demand for cyber threat sharing program

The Defense Department has been testing ways to securely send cyber threat information to members of the defense industrial base for years. Now the information sharing pilot has been made permanent and could expand to as many as 1,000 companies.

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