Today’s guests on the Federal News Countdown:

– Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president and counsel, Professional Services Council
– Bob Suda, president and senior consultant, Suda and Associates

Alan Chvotkin’s stories
#3 White House testing approach called for in draft cyber order
From Federal News Radio:

The White House is trying to prove the theory behind its draft cyber executive order. The Obama administration is using two pilot programs to show how cyber information sharing with the private sector could work. The latest test case is with the owners and operators of the electricity critical infrastructure. Michael Daniel, the White House’s cyber coordinator, said the Energy and Homeland Security departments are working with companies in the electricity sector to come up with a baseline set of cybersecurity standards.

#2 White House to government contractors: Stop human trafficking
From GovExec:

President Obama has issued an executive order to increase oversight that prevents human trafficking resulting from government contracts, the White House announced Tuesday. The policy will seek to strengthen existing laws against government contracts going to companies involved in human trafficking by requiring contractors to provide more information about their foreign employees. It requires a compliance plan from any contractor or subcontractor whose foreign services exceed $500,000.

#1 Senate conservatives may block sequester solution
From Politico:

Not everyone in Washington is so desperate to avoid sequestration. A handful of Senate conservatives have been gaming out ways to block a deal, if they consider it a bad one – even if it means letting billions in across-the-board cuts go through, according to GOP sources on Capitol Hill. The issue: Republican budget hard-liners fear that the White House, congressional Democrats and their own party leaders will try to replace or forestall the cuts with budget gimmickry or new taxes. They worry that “fake” cuts – savings that would have happened anyway or other accounting tricks – will become increasingly popular, even for moderate Republicans, as the zero hour approaches for the Defense Department.

Bob Suda’s stories
#3 What would you do if you were in charge of RFP-EZ?
From GovLoop:

Project RFP-EZ is one of five initiatives that are part of the Obama administration’s Digital Government Initiative. The initiatives are led by Presidential Innovation Fellows — these are small teams that were being called in for a six-month stint to provide outside the box thinking to vexing problems. And the initiatives range from MyGov, which is tasked to reimagining the relationship between the federal government and its citizens through by essentially creating an online portal for the government.

#2 The long-awaited ‘retirement tsunami’ has begun
From Federal Computer Week:

Remember the expected mass exodus of retiring government employees that was going to leave the government without its most knowledgeable, experienced hands? It’s here.Recent data from FedScope shows that retirements have spiked recently, with a 45 percent increase governmentwide in the last quarter of 2011 compared to the same quarter of 2010.

#1 The mobile revolution could transform the next-generation federal workforce
From Federal Computer Week:

It was one of the most popular — and endearing — YouTube videos of 2011: a baby trying to use a magazine the same way as an iPad. But to Jeri Buchholz, assistant administrator for human capital management at NASA, the video captured a glimpse of the future workforce, a tech-savvy generation never bound by office space or rigid work schedules.

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