Commentary

  • On March 4, the General Services Administration issued a proposed rule that would require contractors to report transactional data from orders placed against GSA’s Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract vehicles as well as GSA’s governmentwide acquisition…

    October 06, 2015
  • The Chief Human Capital Officers Act of 2002 established the role of the chief human capital officer (CHCO) in the federal government. After 13 years, it is time to take a look at the CHCO Act and see what it did and did not do.

    October 02, 2015
  • Why push the down button on the career elevator? According to a report from the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Veterans Affairs, two Washington-based senior executives used their clout to get what amounted to a demotion - one with fewer responsibilities but the same level of pay. The benefit of the demotion, according to the IG's report, was that the two career SESers got to keep their Washington pay levels while transferring to lower pressure jobs in places with more winter sports and better cheesesteaks.

    October 02, 2015
  • If Buzz Aldrin can file his expense report with NASA a week after coming back from the moon, the rest of us have no excuse to put off our paperwork, says In Depth host Francis Rose.

    October 01, 2015
  • Tyler Morris, director of product management for Iron Mountain Government Services, offers a path for agencies to consider when preparing for natural or manmade disasters.

    September 29, 2015
  • If the 2013 government shutdown taught us anything, it's that the impact was felt way beyond federal agencies and their employees, says former DHS CHCO Jeff Neal.

    September 28, 2015
  • Jeri Buchholz, former NASA CHCO and now strategic business development adviser for FMP Consulting, advises federal managers to begin preparing for a government shutdown by communicating more openly and often with their workforce.

    September 24, 2015
  • Pope Francis' visit to Washington will test not only the patience of commuters, but the teleworking system of federal agencies.

    September 23, 2015
  • Mike Sade, the president of Sade Associates and a retired federal procurement executive, makes the case for an agency’s source selection committee to learn from the mistakes the NFL made to better communicate with its customers.

    September 22, 2015
  • Not all federal job applications are answered truthfully, so it's critical that hiring managers are given the tools and support to keep the list of candidates as honest as possible, says former DHS HR executive Jeff Neal.

    September 21, 2015
  • Latest declassification project lets you see most of what two Presidents held and read from the CIA. But too much is redacted, a half-century later.

    September 17, 2015
  • Sol Cates, chief security officer for Vormetric, argues that while new policies and regulations are important, the answer to an organization’s cybersecurity problems starts with making a decision to dedicating more resources to solutions and less to filling out forms.

    September 15, 2015
  • In 1946, General Omar Bradley stated, while Administrator of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 'We are dealing with veterans, not procedures; their problems, not ours.' The VA long ago lost site of this aptly stated goal of the VA."

    September 11, 2015
  • There is a wealth of government data that could be used to make HR programs far more effective, says former DHS HR executive Jeff Neal.

    September 09, 2015