GSA staffers who went on a posh Las Vegas retreat paid for by the federal government produced a video about their exploits that has made its way onto YouTube.
The video showed a staffer in a parody about their four-day extravaganza that cost $823,000 and is now the subject of a congressional probe. Among the lyrics: Keep reading →
The General Services Administration went “over-the-top” in spending $820,000 on a training conference in Las Vegas, the IG said. And GSA Administrator Martha Johnson took the fall Monday over the lavish event that included expensive dinners, fancy entertainment and elaborate receptions.
Johnson resigned after the inspector general concluded in a report that her agency improperly paid for a training session that featured a mind reader, bicycle giveaways, lots of expensive meals, hiring outside conference planners and an after-hour reception that cost $31,000, not to mention six trips to the site by GSA officials to plan the event, costing nearly $150,000. Keep reading →
This year’s 100 most influential executives in the government IT community were honored at a a gala tonight at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C.
The Federal 100 Awards recognize government and industry leaders who have played pivotal roles in the federal government IT community and who “have made a difference in the way technology has transformed their agency or accelerated their agency’s mission.” Keep reading →
The days of government-issued BlackBerrys may be waning, but the reason may have less to do with the overwhelming popularity of iPhones and Android-operated devices than with the growing maturity of back-end systems used by agencies to manage their mobile devices.
For the General Services Administration, having an approved and functioning mobile device management system in place was a crucial component in its decision in recent weeks to begin offering its employees a choice over which smartphones and tablets they may use for government work. Keep reading →
Non-IT professional services continue to represent a major share of government contract spending. While the General Services Administration’s Schedules program offers technology and other professional services on an a la carte basis, agencies have asked us to provide a total professional services solution, which often requires acquisition of multiple services across separate functional areas.
To answer this request, GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service is preparing a business case for approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a new contract vehicle that we are calling Integrations.
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This article was adapted from a blog post originally published on GSA’s website.
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COMMENTARY – Transparency, accountability and auditability are central to the federal push for open government. Nowhere is the need for improvement and reform greater than in the federal procurement process.
Procurement professionals, however, are hamstrung from being able to answer even the most basic Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) audit questions, in terms of the procurement and delivery of services. Keep reading →
AOL Government Editorial Director Wyatt Kash recently caught up with McClure, and his principal deputy, 
When it comes to keeping abreast of government IT innovation, few individuals enjoy a better perspective than Dave McClure, associate administrator for GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies. McClure spent 14 years with the Government Accountability Office leading IT reviews — and five more years with Gartner, heading government research, before joining the General Services Administration in 2009. In addition to supporting a number of major federal IT initiatives, McClure also makes time to meet with entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley to keep his finger on the technology pulse.
The General Services Administration has done the equivalent of expanding from a busy brick-and-mortar book store to a burgeoning e-reader business akin to a mini-Amazon that has already saved the government tens of thousands of dollars.
Until recently, the public used the mail to request printed documents from the GSA’s distribution site in Pueblo, Colo., where government’s printed copies are stored. The site continues to operate, handling millions of print requests. Keep reading →
The General Services Administration’s main website (gsa.gov) has seen a dramatic 18-point improvement in citizen satisfaction since the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) began measuring federal website approval ratings in 2003.
The index, measured every quarter with the latest released on Thursday, showed that GSA scored 74 points in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 56 when ACSI began taking the temperature of customer satisfaction with federal government websites. Overall report results indicate Americans are more satisfied with services provided by the U.S. federal government than they were a year ago. Keep reading →
Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel provided preliminary technology details that will support President Obama’s plans, announced earlier today, that call for merging the trade and commerce activities of six federal agencies and for making it easier for businesses to interact with federal agencies.
VanRoekel also elaborated on a series of new initiatives his office is taking to promote cross-governmental technology strategies in the coming year. Keep reading →