People

Acquisition 2.0 in action

These tools will help innovate and streamline processes by providing a more collaborative environment for decision-making, experts say.

Digital Government

Oops, Forgot That Education Data

The Veterans Affairs Department manages a whole bunch of claims -- for disability, education and even burial benefits. Until this month, the department presented data on pending claims in a relatively <a href=http://www.vba.va.gov/REPORTS/mmwr/2009/092809.xls>straightforward fashion</a> in a spreadsheet called the <a href=http://www.vba.va.gov/REPORTS/mmwr/index.asp>Monday Morning Workload Report</a>.

Cybersecurity

Exit system for foreign travelers stands at a crossroads

The Obama administration is poised to decide whether to proceed with a program to use biometrics to keep track of foreign visitors' departures.

Cybersecurity

Lawmakers press for automated exit system

Some lawmakers are looking for the Obama administration to deploy an automated system that would use biometrics to verify the departure of noncitizens from the United States.

Digital Government

Loran Gets 3 Month Reprieve

The Coast Guard-operated Long Range Navigation system (Loran) managed to survive the Obama administration's cancellation attempts until at least January thanks to language in the final version of the <a href=http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_reports&docid=f:hr298.111.pdf>Homeland Security Department Appropriations bill</a>, which awaits the president's signature.

Digital Government

Federal agencies expected to make broad move to Windows 7

A new survey suggests federal information technology managers expect to adopt Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system more broadly and more quickly than they did with Microsoft’s Vista OS.

Digital Government

Report: China expands cyberspying in U.S.

The Wall Street Journal

Modernization

Tech Channels

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Digital Government

GSA awards $99 million contract for IT support to combat drug trafficking

Booz Allen Hamilton will explore functionalities that will enhance an information sharing system for law enforcement agencies.

Modernization

Official: Despite budget cuts, NASA to continue spending on IT

Key areas for the space agency include supercomputing and data mining, and integrated modeling techniques such as structural, optical and thermal simulations.

Digital Government

FCC votes to move forward with proposed net neutrality rules

The FCC voted today to authorize a notice of proposed rulemaking that would set limits on how Internet carriers can interfere with traffic in the name of network management.

Ideas

The Hoping it Fails Syndrome

Something you hear quite often when covering government is the concern among top managers that some, or sometimes many, federal employees want executives who are trying to change government to fail. Most often, it's not politically driven. The change involves business processes and strategic shifts, ideas that are not ideologically spawned or driven. Mangers I have talked to say these employees just don't want to change the way they have worked for years, or they see the change as a threat to their control over a specific detailed process or policy, or they fear the change threatens their livelihood.

Digital Government

Check Your Paycheck

The Office of Personnel Management <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20091021_4165.php?oref=topnews">announced</a> on Wednesday that they had successfully consolidated 26 payroll systems into four. At the pres conference about the consolidation, Linda Pena, associate deputy assistant secretary at Veterans Affairs Department, where employees had to replace a 1960s era payroll system, said most VA employees didn't realize the system had changed until they saw a different name on their paychecks.