Government agencies and departments are learning to live with travel restrictions and discovering innovative alternatives amid an anti-conference trend brought on by budget restrictions and well-publicized abuses.
But some managers fear the trend will inhibit federal workers’ ability to stay current with new technology field advancements or to consult with experts in the private sector via site visits, professional seminars and annual conferences. Keep reading →
The federal government is on the brink of a perfect storm of management challenges. For better or worse, that also presents the nation’s leaders with an opportunity to dramatically reshape how it delivers services, in part by embracing digital technology in new and more powerful ways.
Either way, national leaders moving into new positions at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue in the coming few weeks will have to look seriously at real and “virtual” ways of reorganizing federal bureaucracies, say a group of public administration experts. Keep reading →
It is one of the most challenging times in American history to be part of a government bureaucracy. A dysfunctional congress offers little or no support; agency budgets face gutting as the nation stares down a fiscal cliff; hiring freezes and the looming shadow of furloughs threaten to turn the government’s talent pool stagnant.
But if you’re an innovator, this is – in a strange and unfortunate way – good news. Keep reading →
With the savings on real estate, energy costs and travel expenses along with improved productivity and worker satisfaction, some might think managers and employees would embrace the transition to a telework culture. But that hasn’t been the case for many in the federal workforce.
Still, telework comes with too many benefits to ignore, said panelists at the Telework Exchange Town Hall meeting Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Strong business cases, capable technology, improved employee performance (see GSA performance tracking dashboard video, above) and mandates to reduce greenhouse gases and federal real estate space make telework worth the culture change effort. Keep reading →
Greg Gershman was selected as a Presidential Innovation Fellow for Project MyGov as part of the new White House Presidential Innovation Fellows program.
The program pairs top innovators from the private sector, nonprofits, and academia with top innovators in government to collaborate on solutions that aim to deliver significant results in six months.
The purpose of Project MyGov is to reimagine how citizens interact with government through an experience designed around their needs rather than a confusing and fragmented bureaucracy.
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This is one in a series introducing 18 Fellows working on five initiatives that are part of the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows program.
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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 →
The scrutiny over what federal employees spend to attend work-related conferences has continued to escalate after a recent salvo of letters to the secretaries of the Departments of Defense, Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services and other agencies.
The letters, from Congressman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee he chairs, ask for a detailed accounting of travel spending in connection with 150 conferences. After analyzing “thousands of documents,” the committee concluded that the General Services Administration was hardly alone when, in 2010, it permitted employees to spend an average of $600 per day per employee to attend an over-the-top regional training conference in Las Vegas. Keep reading →
Government technology officials are working urgently to enable federal employees to work using their own mobile devices. That’s in spite of a thicket of management issues and security concerns that continue to hamper their efforts.
Though the path to adoption is proving cumbersome, the rationale is simple: Bring your own device (BYOD) programs are seen as a unique opportunity to reduce agency information technology costs. 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 →
Are you sure the agency Facebook, YouTube or Twitter account you follow is legit? How do you know it’s an official government account?
Before now, you couldn’t. But now through the efforts of the General Services Administration’s new Social Media Registry you can. Keep reading →