Chicken Little squawked about the sky falling. Pundits warn about the Fiscal Cliff. But federal agencies nearly every year hold up the sky while walking on the edge of a cliff. This is the world of Continuing Resolutions and Government Shutdowns.
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This article originally appeared on the IBM Center for the Business of Government’s blog.
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Once upon a time there was the Packard Commission, convened during the Reagan Administration to find fixes for the Pentagon’s terrible record in buying weapons. They took too long, cost too much and often didn’t do what they were supposed to do. Since then, things have only gotten worse: weapons continue to cost too much, take too long and often don’t do what they are supposed to do.
The Packard Commission, which produced its report in 1986, called for creation of an acquisition czar and recommended an array of other changes to what it then said was not a “rational system” for buying and building America’s weapons. Frank Kendall, who occupies the position of czar (known formally as the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics) today announced the Obama Administration’s second iteration of a rash of reforms he hopes and expects will begin to fix things. Keep reading →
Hope springs eternal, even here in the nation’s capital. After the election, both President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner made nice noises. And many pundits hailed this, believing either that sequestration would get kicked down the road a fur piece or a Simpson-Bowles’ grand bargain was in the works.
The big sticking point — at least rhetorically — had been that the Democrats want higher taxes on those earning more than a quarter of a million dollars each year and the GOP does not. Then came the electorate’s rejection of Mitt Romney and the Democrat’s better than expected performance in the Senate. Add to that the defeat of several high profile Tea Party candidates and some argued that the stage was set for compromise. Keep reading →
How well are you doing and how do you know?
For many federal agencies, answering these questions can be intimidating, because, frankly, measuring mission impact is hard. Keep reading →
Those of us in the airport business take pride in the community and job growth we contribute in good times and bad, so it’s not often we sound the alarm on behalf of more than 400 locally-run economic engines. But sequestration threatens to stall more of our future than many people realize.
Sequestration risks $500 billion in cuts to non-defense federal spending an outcome that is predicted to come down hard on funding for the Next Generation Air Transportation System known as NextGen, and the jobs and economic growth our airports provide. Keep reading →
Companies selling to the government, and government managers who need to know about the latest technologies available from industry, are caught in a maze. But none of the paths leads us to one another. I’m talking about the communications channels so commonly used to exchange ideas and learn from one another.
Technology manufacturers have three main communications modes to support their sales efforts: business development or sales, external marketing activities, and whatever content, e.g., white papers, the company creates. Keep reading →
This is one in an occasional series exploring how federal agencies are finding and implementing innovative ways to drive efficiency and cut costs.
The federal government could save almost $5 billion annually by substituting video conferencing for face-to-face meetings and conventions, according to a new study by Telework Exchange, a public/private partnership emphasizing telework. Keep reading →
Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif) is proposing legislation that would provide sweeping reforms in the way technology is managed and acquired at federal agencies in an effort to eliminate duplication and waste.
The provisions would grant significantly more power to federal chief information officers to control the technology that agencies acquire. Keep reading →
The stalemate over sequestration just got deeper with horribly predictable political posturing over the tardy release Friday of the Office of Management and Budget’s congressionally-mandated report on how the drastic automatic cuts would be implemented.
The 394-page report set the stage for the mutual denunciations in its preamble, declaring House Republican proposals to avert the sequester as “particularly irresponsible.” Keep reading →
Deltek‘s $1.1 billion dollar acquisition, announced Monday by Thoma Bravo, may not have surprised those familiar with the private equity firm’s long history of investing in technology companies. But the timing of the deal and its price tag may come as more of a question in the minds of anyone who works in and around the federal government.
What could Thoma Bravo gain by spending $1.1 billion for a place in the government contracting business given the current spending environment? Keep reading →