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 →
New college graduates entering the workforce this year may have gotten their first iPhone in high school and their first email address in middle school. While the class of 2007 used laptops for research in their dorm rooms, this year’s graduates could fact-check.
Surely, these new hires will have different expectations for the technology employers will provide and how it will be used. Keep reading →
The Partnership for Public Service has announced the winners of this year’s Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals, awarded to public servants who are making high-impact contributions to the health, safety and well-being of Americans.
The top medal, Federal Employee of the Year, will be presented to Lynne Mofenson (pictured above) of the National Institutes of Health for her pivotal role in preventing the AIDS epidemic among children by developing ways to prevent mother-to-child transmission. The awards, popularly known as “Sammies,” will be given to the nine recipients at a Washington, D.C. gala Thursday evening. Keep reading →
This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the National Security and International Affairs medal Michelle Bernier-Toth, managing director for Overseas Citizens Services in the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs.
When American citizens got caught up in the uprising in Syria, the overthrow of governments in Egypt and Libya, the earthquake in Haiti or other overseas crises, they turned to U.S. embassies and consulates for information and assistance. Keep reading →
This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Management Excellence medal, Arleas Upton Kea, director of the Division of Administration at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in Washington, D.C.
As the nation’s economic meltdown unfolded, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) needed to greatly increase its staff to deal with hundreds of failing financial institutions and complete an aggressive set of bank examinations. At the same time, employee surveys revealed there was a declining level of job satisfaction at the regulatory agency. Keep reading →
This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Homeland Security medal 
, director of Disaster Services for the Corporation for National and Community Service, and her AmeriCorps team.
Within hours after the nation’s deadliest tornado in nearly 60 years ripped through Joplin, Missouri, killing 161 people and destroying some 7,000 homes and businesses, the first team of AmeriCorps members arrived on the scene to lend a helping hand. 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 →
The Department of Veterans Affairs recently committed to a continued partnership with Microsoft Corp. to use emerging tools and technologies to harness the power of big data and drive efficiency, mobility and better service.
Spanning from the desktop to the data center and mobile devices, the renewed agreement will allow the VA to analyze big data the department has been unable to evaluate in the past. It also means continued investment in a groundbreaking data warehousing/big data analytics initiative. Keep reading →
At a time when education costs are soaring and student debt is rising, there’s one institution of higher learning that’s tuition free for most students and is saving money – lots of it.
It’s the federal Chief Human Capital Officers‘ innovative cross-government HR University, which has saved more than $17.6 million in taxpayer dollars since it was launched last year, according to the Office of Personnel Management, the council’s partner in HRU. Keep reading →
New austerity is here to stay – coupled with more demand for user-friendly citizen engagement from our government workforce. And cybersecurity concerns are growing as well, as our enemies become more sophisticated and inventive. How can Federal agencies meet all three pressures – lowering costs while improving services and keeping data safe?
More than ever before, innovative technologies are needed across government, to keep the government workforce engaged while also helping them to effectively deliver support for the mission. Government is working hard today to implement the infrastructure needed to deliver more services, increase and enhance interaction and enable greater workforce mobility and citizen engagement. Mobility is growing in importance, even as cybersecurity becomes a bigger issue. Despite the promise of mobility to bring greater productivity and flexibility, 78 percent of federal IT professionals said mobility also brings greater security risks, according to a recent VMware survey. Keep reading →