Reps. Darrell Issa and Gerry Connolly say federal IT mismanagement has not only cost taxpayers billions, but has a dire effect on the economy.
The two congressmen with a history of butting heads agree sweeping federal IT reforms and giving CIOs budget authority would fix the problem. They talked about why on a stage in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. on Monday. Keep reading →
How well members of Congress truly understand how technology is transforming the way America works – and drives much of the U.S. economy – is a matter of frequent debate.
Despite the relentless march of technology groups upon Capitol Hill to explain the mounting cost of intellectual property theft from cybersecurity breaches, the impact of big data analytics, or why cloud computing services are changing the procurement of IT, it seems too few members of Congress actually get what the fuss is about.
Who gets it and who doesn’t maybe a little easier to gauge, thanks to a new “Technology Policy” report card launched by TechCrunch.
TechCrunch is best known for profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products and breaking technology news – and as a matter of disclosure, is owned by AOL (which publishes Breaking Gov, Breaking Defense and Breaking Energy). The website’s editors, however, get to see how public policy impacts technology innovators, and thus hope to shine a brighter light on the matter, says Greg Ferenstein, with a new section on the site called CrunchGov.
The score card, which is powered by the Sunlight Foundation, is more a measure of where politicians stand on issues that affect the technology industry as a whole, according to Ferenstein, rather than on their breadth of understanding of how technology is rewiring the way American business – and even government agencies – work.
Even then, notes Ken Wasch, president of the Software & Information Industry Association, “The tech industry is awfully broad..and includes all kinds of interests.” He cites just a few of the issues his members are focusing on, including the evolution of “first sale, grey market, reimportation,” and the Kirtsaeng copyright issue.
That notwithstanding, TechCrunch plans to grade each member of the House of Representatives (and a few selected members of the Senate for now) on how closely their voting aligns with three core issues deemed to align with “the consensus of interests” of the technology industry: Immigration, crowdfunding and an open Internet. Details about the methodology and grading system can be found on their FAQ page.
Among those deemed to be Tech Titans are: Representatives Eric Cantor (R) VA; Anna Eshoo (D) CA; Mike Grimm (R) NY; Darrell Issa (R) CA; and Zoe Lofgren (D) CAAnd among those deemed to be Tech Threats are: Representatives Lamar Smith (R) TX; Marsha Blackburn (R) TN; and Sen. Charles Grassley (R) IA.
Cybersecurity champions, such as Rep. Mike Rogers (R) MI for instance, earned a B rating, despite their clear-minded advocacy for advancing the use of technology.
The website is similarly beginning to build a legislative database, recognizing that “tech policy is more than just piracy and immigration reform: it’s tax reform, STEM education, cybersecurity, privacy, patent rights, broadband expansion, libel law, wireless spectrum – not to mention all of the local policies, such as taxi and hotel regulation, wreaking havoc on startups,” says Ferenstein.
The database is expected to catalog tech legislation, with links to news stories, and a list of who supports and opposes the legislation. But to complement that, the site is also attempting to build a crowd-sourced “public markup utility” called Project Madison, which aims to get users to provide feedback to pending legislation.
“We hope that better ideas can facilitate bi-partisan agreement on otherwise doomed bills and avoid the unintended consequences of poorly crafted laws,” said Ferenstein.
Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif) is proposing legislation that would provide sweeping reforms in the way technology is managed and acquired at federal agencies in an effort to eliminate duplication and waste.
The provisions would grant significantly more power to federal chief information officers to control the technology that agencies acquire. Keep reading →
The scrutiny over what federal employees spend to attend work-related conferences has continued to escalate after a recent salvo of letters to the secretaries of the Departments of Defense, Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services and other agencies.
The letters, from Congressman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee he chairs, ask for a detailed accounting of travel spending in connection with 150 conferences. After analyzing “thousands of documents,” the committee concluded that the General Services Administration was hardly alone when, in 2010, it permitted employees to spend an average of $600 per day per employee to attend an over-the-top regional training conference in Las Vegas. Keep reading →
Another in a string of top officials at the General Services Administration was placed on administrative leave Monday, four days after a video that features him joking about the lavish spending at a Las Vegas conference became public.
David Foley, deputy commissioner of the agency’s Public Buildings Service, was placed on leave pending disciplinary review for his conduct at the Western Regions Conference in 2010, the Washington Post reported. Foley appears prominently in the six-minute video clip (pictured right in screen shot above) released last week, which won top prize in a talent contest among employees who attended the four-day event in October 2010. Foley rewarded the employee who stars in the video, 28-year-old Hank Terlaje (pictured left in screen shot above). Terlaje raps in sunglasses about the government tab – $823,000 – to entertain 300 employees at the luxury M Resort Spa Casino. He brags that he will “never be under investigation” for the excess. Keep reading →
GSA staffers who went on a posh Las Vegas retreat paid for by the federal government produced a video about their exploits that has made its way onto YouTube.
The video showed a staffer in a parody about their four-day extravaganza that cost $823,000 and is now the subject of a congressional probe. Among the lyrics: Keep reading →
A GAO report to Congress has identified several areas where the government duplicates efforts, creating unnecessary costs and inefficiencies, but also reflects an improvement over last year.
The 2012 Duplicative Program Report, recently released by the Government Accountability Office, identified 51 areas “where programs may be able to achieve greater efficiencies or become more effective in providing government services.” Keep reading →
Despite a broad push for transparency, our government has a long way to go to get there, according to Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Issa, R-CA. spoke about his vision Wednesday for improving open government and federal spending transparency at the O’Reilly Media 2011 Strata Summit, a day after President Obama renewed a call for transparency globally. Keep reading →