Featuring the federal workforce’s finest, DC’s Funniest Fed Competition finals are tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Arlington Cinema Drafthouse. The best amatuer stand up comics within the federal sector will be cracking jokes for the glory and splendor of being crowned DC’s Funniest Fed. Unfortunately the show is sold out, but good luck to the finalists! Don Heitman (CFTC) Tim Miller (US Army) Abe Barth (HHS) Kate Taylor (US Senate) Jonathan Shepard (USAID) Nate Johnson (SSA) The show isn’t just for “you know what” and giggles, 20 percent of ticket proceeds will be donated to Fisher House Foundation to help…
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Federal agencies have until the end of June 7 (close of business today) to notify you about whether you qualify for telework. This is one of the deadlines that Congress mandated when it passed the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010 in December. So I am calling on all feds to answer – do you know if you can telework? Have you been told by your boss if you are able to work from home instead of at your assigned workstation? According to a report released June 7 by the Telework Exchange, 84 percent of telework managing offices say they have…
Do you ever look around the office and ask yourself, “who is the funniest employee here?” You don’t? Well, if you did, you can now head over to the Arlington Cinema n’ Drafthouse in Virginia to scope out the semifinals and finals for the “Funniest Fed” competition, where federal employees (no contractors allowed) compete to see who will be crowned the funniest. The semifinals are June 8 and the finals are June 24th. And 20 percent of ticket sales will be going to support the Fisher House Foundation, which supports the family of f servicemen and servicewoman with housing at…
Providing limited liability protection to private companies could be a sticking point for lawmakers working to pass cybersecurity legislation. Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., ranking member of the national security, homeland defense and foreign operations questioned whether companies that adhere to federal cybersecurity policies should not be held liable for the impact of a breach. Tierney also raised concerns that government agencies like the Department of Homeland Security are conducting risk assessments for companies that should be responsible for doing them. “I don’t know why we have to give you incentives,” said Tierney, in response to TechAmerica President Phil Bond’s remarks about providing…
GSA administrator Martha Johnson said small changes can add up to big savings at the annual Coalition for Government Procurement partnership dinner May 11. She said if GSA increased its average fuel economy of the 60,000 cars it purchases every year, it could save $4 million dollars and 1 million gallons of gas annually. “Right now agencies face a budget that is far from certain,” Johnson said. She added agencies can help offset smaller budgets by operating more efficiently and by making small but fundamental changes in how they operate, such as buying collectively, increasing fuel economy or reducing space…
The General Services Administration’s acquisition arm could learn a thing or two about customer service from Apple, Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Steve Kempf said Tuesday at a training conference in San Diego. Following a morning keynote by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak at the GSA Training Conference and Expo, Kempf noted the partnership between Wozniak and Steve Jobs that birthed the Apple revolution and a loyal customer base. “At FAS, we want to have a partnership with industry partners and customers that’s like Apple” and its customers, Kempf said. “Think about the way people look at Apple products.” Customers clamor for…
It’s not like the folks who run tmz.com and other celebrity web sites have much to worry about, but federal Chief Performance Officer Jeffrey Zients probably made a select group of people quite happy today with the news that performance.gov is likely going public within a few weeks. The site, intended as the electronic linchpin of the Obama administration’s performance tracking efforts, has been up since last summer, but only to federal employees with passwords. Its public debut has been eagerly anticipated in management circles, but repeatedly postponed. Exactly why has been a bit murky, but Shelley Metzenbaum, associate director…
Inadequate budgets, conflicting priorities among program units and little time for strategic planning are among the top barriers to federal chief information officers increasing their effectiveness, according to a TechAmerica survey released Wednesday. The annual survey, conducted by Grant Thornton, includes interview responses from 46 CIOs and their deputies, congressional staff and other government officials. CIOs at the General Services Administration, Social Security Administration and the Veteran Affairs Department were among the participants. In the face of shrinking budgets, lowering costs, integrating systems and processes and addressing security and privacy concerns ranked as CIOs’ top budget priorities. One CIO recommended…
Multiple news outlets are reporting that Osama Bin Laden has been killed in a mansion near Islamabad. President Obama will be giving a speech later tonight. CNN is reporting that Vice President Joe Biden is calling senior members of Congress to tell them the news of Bin Laden’s death.
Federal executives have until the end of July to develop or revise information technology procurement policies that support their agencies’ telework needs, according to memo released Thursday. When crafting these policies, agencies must account for security risks and ensure that all devices and infrastructure meet federal security and privacy standards, said Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew in the memo. The memo directs chief information and acquisition officers to take advantage of governmentwide and agencywide contracts. Agency technology should provide remote access to internal resources and include the use of thin clients, where most of the computing is done on…