Mary Davie

The U.S. General Services Administration announced today that it is now offering cloud-based email services available to government agencies, through a new package of purchase agreements. The move is expected to make it easier for government agencies to migrate email operations over to Internet-based cloud computing service providers and reduce costs.

GSA developed 20 blanket purchase agreements and awarded them to 17 businesses today, GSA officials said. As a result, federal, state, local and tribal governments will be able to access a variety of cloud based email services. Keep reading →


This is one in our regular More With Less series exploring how federal agencies are finding and implementing innovative ways to drive efficiency and cut costs.

The U.S. government – with a travelling workforce 300 times bigger than the largest American commercial company – has negotiated airline fares so low that it will save the government nearly $6 billion in fiscal 2013. Keep reading →

We’re down to the last few agencies making the move from our Federal Telecommunications Service 2001 (FTS 2001) contract to the Networx contracts and I am proud of the work we’ve done with our agency partners and OMB to make Networx a success.

As many of you know, the Networx transition has not been easy. While the adoption has experienced challenges, we continue to work with agencies and industry to improve the offering, ease the transition, and highlight its benefits. In fact, we are applying the lessons learned from this effort to ensure our future program and offerings are an unqualified success. Keep reading →

Last week, the General Services Administration had the pleasure of hosting a roundtable in Washington, D.C., that brought together federal CIOs, CTOs, and thought leaders in technology from the public and private sectors. Together, they discussed the future of government IT, and how agencies should respond to shrinking budgets and increased expectations for workplace efficiency.

Owing to the growing disparity between shrinking budgets and the need for emerging technologies, agency CIOs are under increasing pressure to do more with less. Keep reading →

The General Services Administration’s decision to abandon a 50-year old conference franchise, known as IRMCO, in favor of a new one-day symposium dedicated to advancing acquisition, proved to be a winning move for GSA Thursday and a step forward for the acquisition community.

The new forum may have done more to reveal than relieve the strains that exist between federal acquisition specialists and those they buy for and from. But it did succeed in bringing together many of the government’s top acquisition and technology officials–and more than 600 government and industry executives–to focus on ways to improve how the federal government buys technology. Keep reading →


In honor of Women’s History Month, Breaking Gov highlights women’s relatively recent breakthrough in the growing and increasingly crucial world of federal IT. This is the first of a three-part series on women in federal IT that reveals who these leaders are and how they’re making a difference.

Just 15 years ago, women were the exception in federal IT roles. In fact, at the time, men claimed every top federal technology job in government. Keep reading →

Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel recently announced the development of a new Mobile Strategy at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I was there, and was glad to hear his perspective on the potential of mobile technology for government, especially since GSA has been working hard to realize that potential.

Putting mobile IT to the test Keep reading →


Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel described his path forward for federal IT in a policy speech in Silicon Valley this October and again in the draft Federal IT Shared Services Strategy released just this month. He articulated a “Shared First” paradigm that will lead agencies to root out waste and duplication by sharing IT services, infrastructure, procurement vehicles, and best practices.
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This article originally appeared on GSA’s Great Government Through Technology blog.
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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 →