A number of federal agencies are in the app-development business: NASA, Transportation Security Administration and Veterans Affairs Department to name a few. But mobile app development governmentwide is dispersed and done in silos, federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel said from the CES Government conference inLas Vegas. Each agency and bureau identifies problems and creates solutions that are independent of each other. A federal mobile strategy due in March will address the government’s role in app development, VanRoekel said. Meantime, within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, specifically the National Weather Service, officials are creating a draft policy about the…
Monthly Archives: January, 2012
Because we enjoyed it so much last year . . . . AP is reporting: Obama asks Congress for $1.2 trillion increase in the nation’s debt limit
Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel announced Wednesday that he will release a new mobility strategy by mid-March to speed up federal adoption of mobile technologies and strategies. For now, the administration is engaging the public through an online dialogue to generate best practices and ideas. Anyone can submit ideas to be considered. One issue the new strategy will address is the creation of contracting vehicles for agencies to more easily purchase mobile technology, VanRoekel told reporters. The strategy will also address how to: ● Improve delivery of government information, products, and services through technologies, including those that are mobile…
The military services and Defense Department agencies have until Jan. 15 to detail how they will reduce the number of commercial and government applications running in their data centers, under requirements of the 2012 Defense Authorization Act that President Obama signed last month. The law adds to pressure the department already faces under administration orders that DoD and other agencies close at least 1,200 data centers by 2015. DoD has committed to closing 61 of its more than 770 centers this year. Under the Defense Authorization Act, DoD must also develop a strategy to move its data and services from…
Industry and government information technology executives want more from their new employees. Chief information officers are looking for workers with business skills and an understanding of cloud computing, social media, analytics and other emerging technology, according to research conducted by market intelligence firm International Data Corp. CIOs are concerned about a lack of IT talent to manage their next generation systems, said David McNally, an IT executive adviser at IDC. The data was extracted from IDC’s CIO Agenda Survey conducted last month and presented during a webinar on Tuesday. Of the 63 CIOs surveyed, 43 percent said new IT workers will…
The General Services Administration late last week released security standards cloud solutions must meet before operating within federal agencies. The security controls are part of the Federal Risk Authorization and Management Program (FedRAMP) launched by the federal chief information officer in December. FedRAMP is intended to quickly ensure that commercial cloud computing technology meets federal security standards so that agencies can more readily adopt it. The security requirements, largely based on standards set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, will apply to information technology systems at the low and moderate security levels. They address issues such as continuous monitoring…
As we all know, the Postal Service is responsible for delivering mail across the entire country. And its probably safe to assume that the invention of cars helped make that process quite a bit easier. But just in case you wanted a visual, here you go: From the Smithsonian: Dog sleds transported mail in some areas of the northern U.S. and the Alaskan Territory during winter months. Contract carriers used these sleds across Alaska from the late 19th century into the early 1920s. Isolated for much of the year, remote populations sometimes relied on dog sleds for contact with the…
Federal employees have taken a lot of heat over the last few years. They are called overpaid and underworked. The fight over their pay and benefits has been well documented. But some famous people have had not so famous careers within the federal government. Here are a few. 4. Abraham Lincoln Yes, yes, I know he was a member of Congress and one of our most famous presidents. But did you also know he was the Postmaster in New Salem, Ill, for almost three years? He became postmaster on May 7, 1833 and lost the position when the post office…
Two former federal watchdogs are now working for major defense contractors, the Project on Government Oversight reported this week. Former Defense Contract Audit Agency Director Michael Thibault joined DynCorp International as its vice president of government finance and compliance last month, POGO reports. Thibault spent the last two years as co-chairman of the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, which concluded that as much as $60 billion in federal contract spending was wasted or lost over the past decade in Afghanistan and Iraq. Also, Gordon Heddell, who resigned as the Pentagon’s Inspector General on Christmas Eve, was hired last month as…
2011 was not the best year for federal construction projects (i.e. the worst?) across the country. Accounts were slashed, budgets cut and accounts slashed – I count that one twice – in an effort to cut government spending. So what may be left by the wayside as we move into 2012? 3: Justice Department: The Los Angeles Courthouse This $399 million, 650,000-square-foot project is supposed to house the overflow of federal justices in the Los Angeles Area. While the money for this project has already been appropriated, members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on public buildings have asked…