If you like saving taxpayer money — to the tune of $13.1 billion to date and counting – then you already love Energy Savings Performance Contracts or ESPCs.
ESPCs are a super deal for American taxpayers and federal agencies alike. But despite the impressive savings they have produced, ESPCs are not well known in the IT world. Keep reading →
The U.S. Government receives its share of jabs for being a belated adopter of technology. Federal officials have taken many steps — and some missteps –in recent years, however, to reverse that reputation.
Some of those steps were examined in depth on the Sept. 8 episode of “Federal Spending” as analysts explored how federal IT is trying to be more innovative with public portals, data center consolidation and encouraging cloud adoption. Keep reading →
Seven months after a hijacked passenger jet slammed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, a Defense Department accountant who lost both of her hands in the attack visited the Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP) looking for help.
“I don’t think there’s anything you can do for me,” said the woman, who had recovered from burns over 70 percent of her body. Keep reading →
For us East Coasters, our recent experience with an earthquake was an unusual one. Of course, they’re comparatively rare here and not as strong as the ones that plague the West Coast, but it still makes you think about what would happen to your house (and you) if a really big one hit.
What about my house? Even aside from how it would stand up structurally, I’ve got a lot of books and bookcases – maybe an avalanche waiting to happen. Then there are the china cabinets – it really wouldn’t do to have grandma’s best strewn across the room in shards, would it? Keep reading →
Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel announced that the Chief Information Officers Council has officially launched the Technology Fellows Program.
Working with the Office of Personnel Management, the initiative follows through with another essential reform item from the 25 Point Plan to Reform Federal IT Management. Keep reading →
Last week, my organization and Deloitte released a snapshot of the Best Places to Launch a Career in the Federal Government.
The good news for government is that a majority of new federal employees under the age of 30 report high levels of overall satisfaction when it comes to their specific jobs and agencies. Keep reading →
A transportation planner with the Federal Highway Administration was awarded the grand prize, including a $50,000 check, for submitting the best overall idea, among more than 1,000 entries, on how to use informaltion technology to improve the quality of government.
Aung Gye took the top prize for suggesting that the U.S. could minimize the need to acquire new vehicles and equipment by developing a nationwide interactive data base that would track underutilized assets including office space, conference rooms, automobiles and other equipment. Keep reading →
Nearly 90,000 high resolution scans of the more than 200,000 historical U.S. Geologic Survey topographic maps, some dating as far back as 1884, are now available online.
The Historical Topographic Map Collection includes published U.S. maps of all scales and editions. The historical maps are available for digital download to the public at no cost in a GeoPDF format. Printed copies are also available for $15 plus a $5 handling charge from the USGS Store. Keep reading →
If you could improve your agency’s bottom line and reduce your IT infrastructure costs, all without sacrificing mission-critical capabilities, where would you start?
Ideally, you’d like to know where you’re getting the best performance from your IT investment, along with knowledge about over-use and under-use so you’d know where to make cuts, and whether you might be able to consolidate some operations to save money. Keep reading →
As I write this article, there are currently more than 10 different bills being evaluated in various Congressional committees, all of which address some aspect of cybersecurity.
Many of these bills are large, over-arching concepts – FISMA 2.0 and the like. But many others are being developed to address the specific risks and threats of certain types of systems, from “critical infrastructure” (generally regarded as assets that associated with energy production and distribution, the food supply, and national defense), to financial systems, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and other industries. Many of these bills – if passed and signed into law – will mandate industry-specific security controls, risk calculations, and other requirements for private organizations. Keep reading →