IT spending

Government Business Owners, Not Just CIOs, Need ‘The Risk Talk’

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Communication about the perils of taking inappropriate risk – and how to accept or not accept IT risk in government – is seriously lacking these days. There is clearly a link missing in the chain that connects government business managers with matters of importance such as IT risk.

Take for instance, the Utah data breach and all of the “lessons learned” that have been discussed since following a data breach that exposed the health data of 500,000 people and social security numbers of 280,000 Utah Medicaid recipients. The incident, which took place earlier this year, led the executive director of Utah’s Department of Technology Services to resign in May. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 11, 2012 at 9:00 AM

DOE Wants Big Data To Mix, Blend Information For Users

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Big data can mean a lot of things to different federal agencies. To the Department of Energy, big data not only means managing an information sharing network to promote big science, but also making the results of that research available to the public.

This information can be blended together in a variety of ways, depending on the end users’ needs, explained Robert Bectel, CTO and senior policy advisor at the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Speaking at a recent federal IT event, he explained that as one of the department’s technology evangelists, his goal is to make sure that taxpayers get the most out of their money by allowing federal workers to do the most on the job. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 29, 2012 at 9:00 AM

Amazon’s Cloud Cover Expanding

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A leading federal cloud provider has launched Amazon Web Services (AWS) on its GSA IT-70 contract, giving Amazon yet another boost in what is already a rapidly expanding presence in government.

Laurel, M.D.-based Aquilent made the announcement last week on the heels of news that Microsoft Corp. plans to develop a new multi-tenant cloud community for federal agencies. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 16, 2012 at 2:00 PM

Centralized Services Make More Sense As Mobile Movement Grows

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Government has never lacked for big ideas. Getting them accomplished has been another story, although the nation’s interstate highway system, the Internet and landing men on the moon are among just a few examples of where the federal government has succeeded in doing amazing things.

One of the big–if not quite so lofty–ideas now being floated in planning discussions among senior IT leaders at the Office of Management and Budget, is a long term view towards developing a government-wide entity to supply the back office computing systems and core business services for federal agencies. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 16, 2012 at 3:00 PM

Appropriators, Not Just OMB, Contribute To GAO’s Finding On IT Overspending

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I got a chance to look through the Government Accountability Office’s latest report recommending that the Office of Management and Budget “needs to improve its guidance on IT investments” in government.

No doubt, the biggest underlying issue driving over investment in federal information technology is redundancy in government. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 31, 2011 at 5:44 PM

OMB Method For Tracking Federal IT Costs Leads To Overspending Says GAO Audit

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Federal government efforts to identify and track federal information technology investments remain insufficient to curtail duplicative spending, according to the latest in a series of a reports released by the Government Accountability Office critical of government IT spending practices.

The GAO report, released Oct. 27, took primary aim at the the White House Office of Management and Budget, and the way it categorizes and tracks IT investments, citing a number of principle shortcomings, although those familiar with OMB’s operating levers note the problem goes beyond OMB. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 31, 2011 at 5:05 PM