People
Letter: Outsourcing is not always better or cheaper
It is a fallacy to think if you throw in 100 cheap(er) workers who have no subject-matter expertise against a new or legacy redeployed business application, they will be remotely successful in its creation.
People
Letter: Educating agency staff better than limiting award fees
The solution is to educate the agency staff on how to write an award fee determination plan, how to develop meaningful metrics, how to set performance standards and how to do the required monitoring.
People
United States, Germany will share biometric data
Officials signed an agreement today that will let the countries search each other's criminal fingerprint databases.
People
Lawmakers push telework as overall participation drops
Security concerns and lack of a uniform tracking system are to blame for telework participation drops, OPM says.
People
OMB simplifies federal spending portal guidance
Agencies will continue to be graded on data quality and completeness.
People
Cyber Storm II gets started
Although DHS' weeklong cyber war game focuses on response, one official says the relationships formed will also benefit prevention and preparedness efforts.
People
Canada border security measures for commerce
The goal is to better align Canada's trade partnership program with the DHS' Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, which offers preferential treatment to companies that agree to expanded federal oversight of their supply chains.
People
CIO Council starts wiki on architecture guidance
The draft of the "Practical Guide to Service-Oriented Architecture" is available for government and industry to comment on.
People
CORRECTION: Census still plans to fingerprint temp workers
An FCW report that the Census Bureau had asked OPM to waive background checks for 2010 Census counters was based on incorrect information. We apologize for the confusion.
People
CREW: White House misled court about missing e-mail
The group, which has sued the Bush administration over the alleged loss of millions of e-mail messages, wants a federal court to hold officials in civil contempt for a statement they gave the court in January.
People
Records managers see value of enterprise architecture
The IRS, NRC and Interior find success in developing records management systems by tying their business cases to their enterprise architectures.
People
Army reopens online library to public
A month after the service blocked Reimer Digital Library behind the Army Knowledge Online firewall, it has changed its mind.
People
OMB finalizes new statistical policy
The directive calls for the timely release of policy-neutral information.
People
Letter: Managers use Lean Six Sigma to justify staff cuts
A reader says some organizations use the methodology to trim the workforce until there aren’t enough employees to do the work.
People
Letter: Consolidation will provide efficiency in government
I am convinced that the savings through consolidation will count in the tens of billions annually. And we will have a much more effective government, too.
People
Letter: Feds spend more time training than working
I swear that between training, conferences, meeting and their generous vacation, federal employees are present for their actual jobs about 50 percent of the year max.
People
DHS to hire Hopkins lab to test virtual fence
The Homeland Security Department plans to hire Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory conduct independent testing as it develops its software and technology system to bolster border security.
People
DHS tests northern border security
Customs and Border Protection is field testing new systems and devices, according to a new report.
People
Letter: Classified information can include just about anything
The protection of classified information is understandable. However, at one time it was determined that just too many irrelevant things were being classified for reasons that have long since become irrelevant.
People