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Improving federal IT acquisitions

Blogger Steve Kelman contends vendors should make experts available to provide comments or suggestions on technical or contracting strategy issues during the contract bidding process.

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4 keys to finding the best new hires

Federal agencies have an opportunity to broaden the available talent pool, write Ronald Sanders and Jeff Pon from Booz Allen Hamilton.

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IT spending: When bad news is good news

Improved access to federal spending data bodes well for IT decision-making, writes FCW columnist Chris Bronk.

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Federal IT program failures: It's the content, stupid

Many federal IT programs fail because agencies focus on systems rather than content, writes consultant Barry Schaeffer.

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Second Senate panel approves Lew to head OMB

The Senate Budget Committee has approved Jacob Lew's nomination to be director of the Office of Management and Budget.

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FCC website goes open source with Drupal

The Federal Communications Commission is transitioning FCC.gov to the Drupal open-source content management system.

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6 IT lessons learned the hard way

Even the best government IT practitioners had to fail at some point to learn the lessons that propelled them to their eventual successes. Here are their stories.

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Dodaro picked to be comptroller

President Barack Obama selected Gene Dodaro to be the U.S. comptroller general Sept. 22.

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Inherently governmental remains inherently confusing

Ongoing debates about what government work is inherently government reminds FCW cartoonist and blogger John Klossner of a game he played (but not very well) as kid.

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GSA launches online clearinghouse for federal alerts, notifications

The General Services Administration added a new site to its USA.gov Web portal that offers access to thousands of real-time federal notifications and alerts.

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VA initiative aims to improve communications with veterans

The Veterans Affairs Department is taking a number of steps to maKe it easier for veterans to interact with the agency by phone or via the Internet.

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CDC awards grants for public health performance management systems

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wants to boost the performance management capabilities of public health agencies with new funding.

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Performance measures and risk: What should leaders stand for?

Blogger Steve Kelman challenges his students to ponder why some politicians are willing to commit to a goal if there is a chance they might fail.

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New tool adds geospatial capabilities to federal data website

The White House's Data.gov website that features multiple datasets for download now has a new capability to show the data geospatially.

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Justice kills case management project; Interior tries plan B for data tool

Federal CIO Vivek Kundra announced two more actions as a result of the ongoing White House review of 26 high-priority IT projects.

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DOD's IG returns fire following scathing Senate report

Defense Department Inspector General Gordon Heddell responds to a report issued by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) that blames the IG's office for overlooking fraud and straying from its core mission.

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Fiscal year-end spending: Does 'use it or lose it' still rule?

Since 2001, the Office of Management has championed a number of ideas or programs intended to bring order to federal IT spending. But has it really made a difference?

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Mythbuster: Federal workers not overpaid, senator asserts

News stories charging that federal employees are grossly overpaid are based on "a flawed reading of statistical data," according to Sen. Ted Kaufman.

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Senators press OMB nominee on contracting reforms

Senators questioned Obama's nominee for OMB director during his confirmation hearing, getting insights on how he would run the agency.

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Panel recommends national disaster database for DOD

A panel created by Congress recommends creating a central federal/defense data depository to track disaster response efforts and nearly 40 other measures to improve how the Defense Department supports civilian authorities for disaster responses.