People

You might be a 'fedneck' if...

A "fedneck," according to members of the online forum FederalSoup.com, is a long-time government employee (and FedSoup fan) who can be identified by certain characteristics or behaviors.

Digital Government

HHS to award $235M in health IT grants to local communities

The Health and Human Services Department will fund 15 communities to demonstrate the use of digital health records.

Digital Government

NORAD enhances Santa tracking abilities

North American Aerospace Defense Command sees Ol' St. Nick when he's sleeping and knows when he's awake.

Digital Government

HHS to award $220M in grants to support national health IT network

Communities that receive funds should leverage existing federal electronic programs such as the Defense and Veterans Affairs virtual lifetime health record.

Digital Government

VA nixes troubled tech projects

The department ends or slashes funding for 15 IT projects as part of new accountability program.

Cybersecurity

Conflicting information security standards slow acquisitions

Agencies have similar baseline requirements but add custom specifications, making it difficult for vendors to build widely accepted products.

Digital Government

Unreal ID

As everyone on the planet knows by now, all you need to attend a state dinner at the White House is either a red sari or a tuxedo -- and lot of chutzpah. But, and this is even stranger, unless something changes drastically within the next 30 days, I'm going to need a passport to take a domestic air flight.

Ideas

Metro IT Money Unspent

Washington's Metro system has spent only eight percent of the economic stimulus funds it has budgeted for information technology, according to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. The Recovery Act enacted last February provided the beleaguered transportation system with $10.65 million for hardware and software to improve maintenance, monitor network traffic and protect Metro systems for disaster recovery.

Ideas

Nothrop Grumman forms cyber consoritium

Federal contractor Northrop Grumman <a href="http://www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.html?d=179362">announced</a> a Cybersecurity Research Consortium Tuesday morning that will combine its own research expertise with that of Carnegie Mellon, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Purdue University to develop solutions to counter cyber threats.

People

OMB survey asks who's gone green

The Office of Management and Budget wants to know more about agencies and their green purchasing and recycling habits.

People

DOD social-media policy still in limbo

Official promises the policy is very close to completion.

Cybersecurity

NARA weighs standardizing access rules for foreign vendors seeking secret data

A NARA office wants to establish a standardized process through which some highly sensitive data could be released under special agreement to foreign-owned or controlled contractors.

People

Facebook plans DC event for application developers

Facebook will hold an event to help software developers create government applications for the social networking site.

Cybersecurity

Immigration and Customs looking at performance-based software development

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is considering using performance-based contracts for software development to modernize its IT systems.