This probably comes as no shock, but President Obama is threatening to veto a Republican-backed bill that would slash a net total of $61 billion in agency discretionary spending for this fiscal year. Although the administration is committed to cutting spending, it “does not support deep cuts that will undermine our ability to out-educate, out-build and out-innovate the rest of the world,” the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement this afternoon. The administration also charges that the GOP legislation—which was introduced last Friday and is now being debated on the House floor–would reduce Defense Department…
Browsing: Agencies
Last February, the Obama administration used its fiscal 2011 budget request to roll out more than 120 “high-priority performance goals” for federal agencies to meet. Twelve months later, how are all those agencies doing? You won’t find out from the White House’s FY12 request. “Significant progress has been made on some priority goals, while weaknesses have been identified and are being addressed in others,” the document says. It then cites a couple of the cheerier examples—such as the Energy Department’s weatherizing 295,000 homes—but with no context and few details. The agency-by-agency list of goals posted on the White House web…
Federal agencies are modifying their information technology portfolios to align with strategies released by the White House for government-wide adoption of cloud solutions. The Federal Cloud Computing Strategy, released Friday on cio.gov, provides a framework for migrating to the cloud, redefining contracts with cloud vendors and addressing security and governance concerns. There are also case studies highlighting the agencies’ cloud adoption process. When selecting services to move to the cloud, agencies should consider the benefits (efficiency, agility and need for improvements through innovation) and how soon the service can move to the cloud (near-term, medium-term and long-term movers), according to…
The Obama administration responded Sunday to House Republicans’ plan for slashing more than $60 billion in federal discretionary spending during the remainder of this fiscal year. Sort of. “We look forward to working with Congress,” Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew said on CNN’s “State of the Union” talk show. That was all that host Candy Crowley could get out of Lew, despite prodding him several times for a substantive answer. In the bill released Friday night, the House GOP proposed whacking hundreds of agencies and programs to the tune of $69 billion in comparison to last year’s…
Many are the ways in which the government loses money to contractors, but by failing to answer a survey? That’s essentially what happened at the Housing and Urban Development Department, which cost taxpayers more than $267,000 because some of its managers didn’t bother filling out customer satisfaction questionnaires from tech giant Hewlett-Packard. Here’s the story, according to the department’s inspector general: Under the terms of a 2005 information technology contract, HP has to ask managers in HUD’s Office of the Chief Information Officer every six months how happy they are with the company’s work. If the survey response rate falls below 50 percent, Hewlett-Packard…
Critical access and rural hospitals will receive a $12 million boost in technical support funding to become meaningful users of certified health information technology, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced Tuesday. The funding will flow through ONC’s regional extension centers, which provide doctors with training and support services and guidance for adopting electronic health records. In September, regional extension centers received $20 million for the same purpose. Similar to other ONC programs, aid for the hospitals is provided through the Health Information Technology Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in the 2009 stimulus package. The added…
The White House Office of Management and Budget is usually tight-lipped with details about forthcoming money matters—except when it elects not to be. In a New York Times op-ed piece Sunday, OMB Director Jack Lew dropped a couple of tidbits from the Obama administration’s fiscal 2012 budget request due out next week. As the White House had already revealed, it wants to cut the Community Service Block Grant program in half, but Lew attached a number–$350 million—to the amount of that proposed reduction. Cuts to the Community Development Block Grant program are also in the cards, he said, and the…
Fairfax-based General Dynamics Information Technology was awarded an $83.6 million contract to provide network support services for U.S. Special Operations Command. Under the five-year contract, the company will manage global enterprise information technology data, voice, and video communications networks for USSOCOM. Most of the work will be performed at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.
Attention, postal junkies: Here’s a look at a door knocker used by nineteenth-century mailmen to save wear-and-tear on the knuckles. Interesting to learn that the mailbox requirement came about only a century or so ago as an efficiency move. See–even then, what is now the U.S. Postal Service was trying to cut work hours. Thanks to the Smithsonian Institution for the info.
Dan Gordon, administrator for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, said Friday he would consider disclosing more information about government and contractor interactions, but reiterated that the administration’s so-called “myth busting” campaign will not alter regulations or statutes. “We don’t believe we need statutory change or regulatory change, Gordon said in an interview with reporters. “What we really need is cultural change” in the federal contracting community. It could be months before a cultural shift occurs, but Gordon expects increased awareness about proper communication with industry will result in fewer bid protests and more success stories, especially for high-risk and large…