The nation’s roads are up for sale. But who should have control over them?
State and local governments are in desperate need of cash for all manner of road, building and bridge repair, and are increasingly turning to private money for funding.
infrastructure
Army Maj.Gen. Mark Bowman, Joint Chiefs of Staff CIO.
The U.S. military operates many of the world’s largest and most complex computer and communications networks, giving the Defense Department extraordinary capability and flexibility to conduct a vast assortment of global operations, from direct combat to humanitarian missions. Keep reading →
COMMENTARY: For quite some time now, Americans have been hearing about the dire state of infrastructure in the US. It’s clear that traditional sources of funding new projects and repairs are struggling to keep the nation’s infrastructure from falling apart, let alone thrive. What isn’t as clear is how to fix it.
Formula grants distributed through the Highway Trust Fund have long been the preferred way to fund infrastructure. But the inefficiency of earmarks and the decrease in revenues from the gas tax are posing significant challenges for this funding model. Keep reading →
Given the hype around cloud computing, you could be forgiven for thinking that everyone in the government contracting market agrees on what, exactly, it is. They don’t. Keep reading →
The White House’s recently launched “Future First” initiative marks a milestone in the federal government’s effort to invigorate the implementation of new technologies. As Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel begins to roll out new initiatives like “Shared Services First,” agencies should ask themselves “What technology will help us better manage systems amidst the current data explosion?”
The answer lies in the ability to handle large volumes of machine-generated data, also known as big data. Agencies need to automate how they manage large volumes of machine data because the growth of data is outpacing human capacity to monitor and understand its relevance. Keep reading →
What would happen if patients with implanted, wireless-controlled, medical devices suddenly learned the technology had been hacked?
And who’s really watching out for consumer privacy as location information from their mobile devices is getting swept by up a growing number of companies? Keep reading →
After five years of steady growth, information technology spending by the federal government is expected to decline about 1 percent a year over the next five years in inflation-adjusted terms, from $81.2 billion in fiscal year 2012 to $77.7 billion in fiscal 2017, according to a new forecast being released this week by the TechAmerica Foundation.
By most measures, IT budgets are expected to stand up to some of the most intense budget pressures in years, in part out of the belief that IT is critical to streamlining government operations. Moreover, a number of forces are accelerating federal IT demand in government, including: Keep reading →
The green economy is more than quietly turning windmills and grand visions of new infrastructure; it is also construction boots on the ground in public buildings across the US.
With budget constraints looming on the mind of government officials at every level, the question of how to pay for mandated or wished-for infrastructure improvements that cut energy usage in public buildings has grown ever more pressing. The use of energy savings performance contracts may be part of the solution to that quandary. Keep reading →