People
Innovation: Are feds afraid of their own shadows?
Agency performance suffers when employees are too fearful to try new ways of doing things, writes Steve Kelman.
Digital Government
Senator wants approvals for conference spending
Under a forthcoming bill, a senior agency official would have to give approval for any conference costing more than $200,000.
Digital Government
DHS field agents to transition to mobile devices within 5 years
Homeland Security Department CIO Richard Spires outlined plans for upgrading law enforcement technologies and systems at the department.
People
Government workers get an attaboy
A week-long effort dedicated to honoring public servants kicks off in May.
People
GSA takes budget control from regions
GSA's regions no longer have authority over their budgets, part of the battered agency's effort to recover from its recent scandal.
Digital Government
Iran seeks partners to bolster its Internet firewall, ramp up censorship
Documents show the information ministry is inviting companies to describe their censorship software and 'suggest frameworks for cooperation.'
Digital Government
EPA passes new fracking rules
Natural gas companies can keep drilling per usual, say the Environmental Protection Agency's new rules for hydraulic fracturing or, as everybody who's not a government employee refers to it, "fracking."
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is Coming! Cybersecurity is Coming!
As widely reported, next week will be busy as the House takes up a series (probably) of cybersecurity bills as part of the House Republican Leadership's designated "Cybersecurity Week."
People
How to create cross-agency networks that work
A recent book identifies eight guiding principles for fostering collaboration between organizations, writes IBM’s John Kamensky.
Modernization
How cloud storage could catch up with big data
Erasure coding is emerging as a cost-effective way to safely maintain vast amounts of data in the cloud.
Digital Government
Audit finds shortcomings in how FDA manages IT investments
The Food and Drug Administration has an IT investment budget of about $400 million a year that needs to be managed better, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
Acquisition
Contracting reforms could come in the next defense authorization bill
Rep. Sam Graves, whose Small Business Committee already approved eight small-business contracting reform bills, is asking for similar measures to appear in the fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act.
Digital Government
IRS cautioned not to give up legacy e-file system yet
The Internal Revenue Service is in the final phase of transitioning to its Modernized e-File system, but recent performance problems suggest it should not give up its legacy system yet, according to a new audit.
People