Recently I had the privilege of listening to Mr. Dave Patterson, executive director, National Defense Business Institute (NDIA), lead an open forum Oct. 5 on how the national debt crisis impacts the Department of Defense and the defense industrial base.
The forum addressed the recognized and unintentional impacts of the debt debate and the critical consequences for DoD budgets and also examined the industry health index. Keep reading →
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is no stranger to the government technology community. As founder and managing director of Columbia Capital, a venture capital firm, he helped found or invest in a number of technology companies, including Nextel.
So it was a logical leap when Warner reached out to the Northern Virginia Technology Council in 2010, asking for recommendations for remedying the major record-keeping deficiencies discovered at Arlington National Cemetery. Keep reading →
The White House Office of Management and Budget declared today that it had made genuine progress in cutting wasteful and improper payments to the tune of $17.6 billion in fiscal year 2011, with significant decreases in payment errors coming from Medicare, Medicaid, Pell Grants, and Food Stamps.
Combined with the improper payment cuts in 2010, administration officials said agencies avoided making over $20 billion in improper payments in the two years since President Obama issued an executive order initiating an aggressive campaign against wasteful payment errors.
OMB Director Jack Lew, in a press briefing today, attributed the progress to “an unparalleled commitment” by the White House, and the use of “forensic technologies” in rooting out sources of improper payments. Keep reading →
A new sense of urgency emerged Tuesday to save the U.S. Postal Service from disaster. It reported a $5.1 billion deficit for 2011 expected to grow to more than $11.3 billion next year.
Postal Service executives pleaded with Congress to come up with a plan to save the 200-year-old American institution. It’s likely to include layoffs of thousands of workers. Keep reading →
This story was originally published by FedInsider.
Like the Gordian knot, software is the perennial unsolvable problem for federal agencies. What program manager hasn’t been stymied by software that is late, over-budget or just takes years to get right? Unfortunately, there is no quick stroke of the sword to solve this one. Keep reading →
Three chief technology officers from the government contracting community were singled out for their innovation at the 20th annual TechCelebration event sponsored by a leading trade association, the Northern Virginia Technology Council.
The CTO awards, presented jointly by NVTC and Washington Technology magazine last night, recognize chief technology officers for their critical contributions to achieving results for their government customers and their leadership within their own companies. Keep reading →
Disgover.com, a relatively new social networking and collaboration tool, is throwing out that boring and time-consuming 20th century office meeting.
Gone is the urgency for face-to-face meetings, long distance conference calls, high-priority e-mail messages or communal gatherings at a high-end hotel in a posh locale, travel costs that are a drain on government budgets in these austere times. Keep reading →
As anyone with federal experience can tell you, one of the biggest challenges our government faces is the fact that politics, not common sense, oftentimes dictate executive decision making in Washington.
Perhaps one of the most glaring examples of this unfortunate reality is in cases where an incoming leader — say the new federal CIO — comes in and completely scraps the work of his predecessor regardless of its merit or worth. In what is oftentimes nothing more than a yuppie’s way to mark his territory, the all too familiar mantra of “cleaning-house” frequently results in years of productivity, innovation and taxpayer-dollars being flushed down the toilet in order to start with a clean slate. Keep reading →
The government is moving rapidly into an austere financial environment, which will put enormous pressure against cost centers such as information technology and services. Perhaps as significant is the simultaneous pressure from users for more mobile devices, applications, and capabilities to work from anywhere, at anytime, which can often drive a disconnect between user expectations and service provider delivery.
Consequently, there is a pressing need for aggressive and innovative approaches to resolve this set of issues and demands. Chief information officers and chief technology officers must find empirical methods to map the right course for their agencies. Keep reading →