Wyatt Kash

 

Posts by Wyatt Kash

LinkedIn Use Rises; But Social Sites Still Off Limits For Many Federal Managers

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Despite the rising impact of social media sites on federal agencies, only 44% of federal decision-makers are allowed access to social networking sites at work, according to a study released Thursday.

An equal percentage of federal employees said they are expressly not allowed to access social networking sites, according to the market research firm Market Connections, which produced the study. The balance of respondents said they did not know for sure if they were allowed to access such sites. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 13, 2012 at 4:32 PM

White House Launches ‘Do Not Pay’ Database To Curb Improper Payments

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The Obama Administration is launching a new aggregated database and online tool intended to help federal agencies identify and prevent duplicate or improper payments.

Called Do Not Pay, the new tool will attempt to make it easier for agencies to avoid sending funds out to dead people or entering into contracts with companies who have attempted to defraud the government. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 12, 2012 at 4:19 PM

GSA Officials Created Made-Up Awards To Justify Expenses

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General Services Administration officials used the pretense of fake awards programs as a way around federal travel expense rules in order to hold dinner events at taxpayers’ expense, according to a report today by Roll Call, citing an interview transcript it had obtained.

The transcript of the interviews, conducted by GSA’s Office of Inspector General, show that the problem of abusive spending practices may run deeper than first reported when GSA’s inspector general released a critical April 2 report that the agency spent almost $823,000 on an October 2010 Las Vegas conference for about 300 people. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 12, 2012 at 3:48 PM

National Public Alert System For Mobile Phones Goes Live

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A new, first-of-its-kind, national alert system in the U.S. that allows the public to receive major emergency alert notifications on their mobile phones without having to sign up or pay for them went live this past weekend, according to a report from Government Technology.

The new Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) was developed through a partnership between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Federal Communications Commission and wireless phone carriers in what is seen as an important step forward to increase public safety nationwide, according to FEMA officials. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 11, 2012 at 11:36 AM

Procurement Forum Highlights Gains And Strains In Federal IT

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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 →

 /  Published March 30, 2012 at 1:35 PM

Election Outcomes Unlikely To Alter Government IT Priorities

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The future of federal technology spending may not be as bleak as current government budget cutbacks seem to suggest, a group of former government information technology officials suggested at a Federal IT forum today.

But changes in the type of technology services agencies are acquiring, the way they acquire them, compounded by election year uncertainty, are forcing contractors to reassess their strategies. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 28, 2012 at 1:27 PM

Agriculture CIO To Join Accenture Unit

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Christopher L. Smith, who is retires next month as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief information officer is taking up new duties as U.S. federal chief technology and innovation officer for Accenture Federal Services, officials at Accenture announced today.

Smith will assume the new position on April 9, following his April 7 retirement from USDA, where he served as CIO since 2009. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 27, 2012 at 6:47 PM

How 30 Federal Agencies Reached Rare Unity On Senior Executive Service

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When it comes to carrying out the work of the federal government, few initiatives have held greater promise or importance than the Senior Executive Service.

Commissioned by Congress more than three decades ago, the SES program was envisioned as a way to attract and develop an elite corps of America’s highest caliber executives and deploy them across the federal government to address both immediate and longer term management needs within federal agencies. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 27, 2012 at 10:30 AM

White House Cyber Chief Lays Out New Priorities

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White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt has announced three priority areas where federal departments and agencies “need to focus their cybersecurity activity” –and a new set of cyber security goals to be reached by 2014.

Schmidt, in a White House blog posted Friday, said his office has recognized “the challenge of knowing which (types of technology and talent) will be most effective when dealing with advanced adversaries, especially in a limited budget environment.” Keep reading →

 /  Published March 26, 2012 at 4:07 PM

Intel Now Inside DC’s Metro Map

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Washington area Metro riders may be wondering who changed the names of all of their metro stops. If they work in federal IT, that’s just the reaction executives at electronics giant, Intel, are hoping for.

Intel created an altered version of Washington’s Metro subway map as part of a new advertising campaign in Washington that is catching attention with the region’s riders on the way to work. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 23, 2012 at 7:57 AM
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