Digital Government

State of turmoil

Well, hard times call for hard measures—and there seems to be an unending stream of them coming out of Washington.

Modernization

White House prepares interactive State of the Union speech

The White House invites people to watch the State of the Union speech in a live video feed at WhiteHouse.gov and to get enhanced features such as charts, graphs and other visual aids.

Cybersecurity

White House doesn't shine in cybersecurity grading

The Obama administration has received less-than-stellar marks in a recent report card on its cybersecurity policies, earning grades in the B to D range.

People

President wants to put rulemaking and compliance activities online

President Barack Obama tells agencies to modernize and make more transparent their regulatory oversight and enforcement processes.

Digital Government

Survey to gauge workforce's IT capabilities

Federal IT employees are being asked to participate in a voluntary survey to assess the government IT workforce's current and future needs.

Modernization

Interior's CIO gets more power

The Interior Department is taking steps to transform its delivery of IT services and the agency’s CIO has been given new oversight responsibility to lead that effort.

Digital Government

How can agencies retain young feds?

As the administration establishes clearer pathways for recent graduates to join the federal workforce, how can agencies ensure they retain these young feds beyond a couple of years?

People

Hurdles on the path to IT management reform

The Obama administration's plans to reform IT management are likely to run into some daunting -- but familiar -- difficulties.

People

IT oversight bill fails, despite White House interest

As the Obama administration moves to reform the government’s management of IT spending, one piece of bipartisan legislation with similar aims failed to pass in the 111th Congress.

Digital Government

Higginbottom picked as deputy director at OMB

More executive changes: Heather Higginbottom to be named deputy director at OMB, and GSA's Teresa Nasif moves to head senior executive service initiatives.

People

Deputy CTO leaving White House

Beth Noveck has been director of the White House Open Government Initiative and will return to academia.

Digital Government

Is an unhappy employee likely to spill your secrets?

In the wake of the WikiLeaks incident, national security officials are asking agencies if they've thought about employee mental health and job satisfaction as indicators of trustworthiness.

Acquisition

Officials urge vendor-neutral IT purchases

Officials have reminded agency purchasers about value-neutral IT purchases after a federal judge ruled that the Interior Department decided to buy software from Microsoft while other capable companies were interested in the work.

Digital Government

JFK Library to start largest converted digital archive

Listeners will be able to hear President John F. Kennedy's speeches in his own voice in online podcasts that will go live this month as part of the Kennedy presidential digital archive.

People

Hiring reforms beginning to spread through agencies

In a memo to chief human capital officers, OPM Director John Berry detailed last month’s executive order on the consolidation of student and recent graduate programs into a new Pathways Programs framework.

Digital Government

Feds have mixed view of security, survey finds

A recent survey found federal executives generally take good security precautions on the job, even when working remotely, but have a mixture of opinions on the need to strengthen measures for remote workers.

People

Agency performance reform becomes law

President Barack Obama has signed into law a bipartisan bill intended to streamline federal agency performance by strengthening coordination governmentwide and reducing duplicative agency programs.

Cybersecurity

OMB says post-WikiLeaks assessments due Jan. 28

White House and national security officials want federal agencies to complete their post-WikiLeaks assessments of how they are handling classified information by Jan. 28.

People

Pay freeze won't stop all increases

The two year federal employee pay freeze won't affect several kinds of pay increases, the Office of Personnel Management says.

People

Fed employee pay freeze becomes law

A new law funds the government through March and freezes civilian federal employees' pay for the next two fiscal years.