Tom Coburn

Cybersecurity Bill Amendment Aims To Cut Waste Via IT Consolidation

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Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) have filed a bipartisan amendment to the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 to conserve energy, save taxpayer dollars and reduce government waste by requiring federal agencies to shut down needlessly duplicative federal data centers.

Agencies have been instructed to develop consolidation plans under the administration’s Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI), which would save over $2 billion according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). However, a number of agencies have been slow to begin to implement the plans – or, in some cases, to even take stock of the total number of centers they currently manage. The proposed amendment to the cybersecurity bill seeks to remedy that. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 31, 2012 at 1:00 PM

Congress To Federal Workers: ‘The Party’s Over’

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In an effort to ensure taxpayers won’t be footing any more big bills for lavish Las Vegas parties, lawmakers have approved the first of what could be several new rules governing events for federal workers.

The House voted Wednesday to approve the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA) to set new standards for federal agencies planning outings. It includes a $500,000 spending cap on conferences held by individual agencies and would require every agency to disclose what they are spending on contracts on a single public website. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 26, 2012 at 11:30 AM

GAO Report Finds Government Inefficiencies, Encourages Action

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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 →

 /  Published February 28, 2012 at 4:00 PM