Digital Government
Pentagon heads off organizational conflicts of interest
Proposal suggests contracting officers attempt to mitigate potential problems before prohibiting companies from placing bids.
Modernization
Feds to cut greenhouse gases through the cloud
Vivek Kundra says shifting computer work from massive data centers to the Internet will conserve power and fuel.
Digital Government
Soundbytes: Alphabet Soup--LMS, DMZ and TBI
A weekly roundup of comments from Nextgov.com. All comments are presented in their original, unedited form.
Digital Government
The Cloudy Future of Federal Leadership
The Senior Executives Association released a <a href=http://www.seniorexecs.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Professional_Development/Research/Taking_the_Helm/Full_Report.pdf>report</a> on "Taking the Helm: Attracting the Next Generation of Federal Leaders." The group surveyed GS-14 and GS-15 managers to find out their attitudes about moving up to top positions in government, the Senior Executive Service, which includes some important tech posts. The bottom line can be found in Finding 5:
Digital Government
How About a GI Bill Widget?
That's one of the best suggestions to come out of Wednesday's Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on the post 9/11 GI bill.
Cybersecurity
McAfee Update Goes Bad
A ton of reports filtered into <a href="http://isc.sans.org/">SANS' Internet Storm Center</a> on Wednesday about a bad McAfee Antivirus update. Turns out McAfee antivirus is identifying "svchost.exe" as a virus, a critical systems file in Windows that it can run properly without. As a result of the antivirus misidentification, McAfee attempts to remove it, or prevent it from running. Systems that are infected will keep rebooting, or networking will no longer work, according to SANS Chief Research Officer Johannes Ullrich.
Modernization
High court to settle 'sexting' at work case
The future of employee privacy rights in the workplace is taking center stage as the Supreme Court hears a case about sending and receiving racy messages via a government network.
Digital Government
Giving Health IT a Hard Look
More robust oversight of health IT and better reporting of errors are needed to ensure patient safety as the country's health care providers adopt electronic health records, concluded a <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/30235775/Health-IT-Policy-Panel-s-Draft-Letter-on-Patient-Safety-Recommendations#about">draft report</a>, released today, of an Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology policy workgroup.
Modernization
Data mining
iPad cuts into apps development; transparency efforts reduce FOIA requests, experts fear a cyberattack is imminent.
People
4 Facebook lessons from DOD
Agencies need to learn some rules of the road before jumping into social media, writes communications consultant Fred Wellman.
Acquisition
Strategic sourcing: A good idea but...
Despite some success, the ultimate goal of strategic sourcing seems to have gotten lost, writes Bill Gormley.
People
SBA leader vows to crack down on small-business fraud
SBA plans to become more aggressive in suspending and debarring companies from receiving federal contracts, the agency's administrator tells a House committee.
Cybersecurity
Senate committee chairman suggests killing the virtual fence
Sen. Joe Lieberman questions the future of the SBInet virtual fence system is a failure.
Ideas
DHS Consolidates Databases
The Office of Infrastructure Protection at the Homeland Security Department is in the midst of consolidating its dozens of infrastructure security databases--and adding new ones to the pool--to help government agencies and private partners better monitor threats.
People
VA suspends spending on 188 IT projects
The Veterans Affairs Department has extended its program management system to all 280 IT projects and suspended spending on two-thirds of them.
Digital Government
CIOs turns to portfolio management to get IT efforts under control
CIOs from the Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs departments and the Social Security Administration are looking to foster teamwork across traditional boundaries.
Digital Government