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On this week's Women of Washington radio show, Stephenie Foster discusses how women can work on parity in the political realm.
Time is ticking on the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. The typical summer rush is about to start: You have a chance over the next several months to nail down some new business and lay the groundwork for next year. Larry Allen is President of Allen Federal Business Partners and author of the Week Ahead newsletter. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he said lots of buying decisions will come soon.
The Office of Management and Budget requires federal agencies include more data in its 2016 budget requests for this fall. OMB wants benchmarks and timelines of financial investments so it can organize its cross-agency priority goals. Beth McGrath is director of Deloitte's Federal Practice. She's also former deputy chief management officer at the Defense Department. In a Federal News Radio op-ed and on In Depth with Francis Rose, McGrath said agencies should be making even more business decisions based on data.
The Department of Homeland Security answers to ninety-two Congressional committees and another twenty-seven outside organizations. The Annenberg Public Policy Center says that's a total of one hundred nineteen different oversight groups. Bob Tobias is Director of Key Executive Leadership Programs at American University. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he said the complicated web of leadership might be a big reason why Congress has never passed an authorization bill for agency.
Larry Zelvin is stepping down as the director of DHS's National Cyber and Communications Integration Center (NCIC) next month after almost 30 years of government service.
Agencies should be archiving all business communication to avoid mayhem such as at the IRS. While the agency shifts blame from e-mail to instant messenger, Nancy Flynn, founder of ePolicy, told Federal News Radio that agencies need to better manage the many communication options.
The Department of Commerce will hire its first-ever chief data officer, Secretary Penny Pritzker said recently. Pritzker also is establishing a data advisory council and introducing a "developer portal," which she said will help advance the agency's open data initiatives.
The Office of Management and Budget will collect spending and budget information from agencies to ramp up personnel security. This management priority accompanied other requests in a memo released Friday, which also included agency's benchmarking and providing customer service data.
Now is not the time to play 'small ball.' As budgets shrink, agencies should be bold as they look to improve mission effectiveness and modernize operations, says Beth McGrath, former deputy chief management officer at the Pentagon.
Keith Trippie, a former DHS IT executive, offers a unique approach to funding technology programs that borrows partly from the intelligence community and partly the start-up culture on the West coast.
Defenders of the General Schedule are hard to find, if you can find them at all. All the stakeholders agree the GS setup doesn't work for the federal government in the 21st century. On In Depth with Francis Rose, Federal News Radio Senior Correspondent Mike Causey said even the names of the slots on the schedule don't really work right any more.
Federal agencies that want cheap web design and app developer contracts face a potentially large roadblock called the the Federal Acquisition Regulation. One reason is a part of the FAR that can limit how numerous (and how cheap) an agency's IT options are. Steve Kelman is professor of public management at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He said those requirements are scaring smaller companies away from competing for those types of IT contracts on In Depth with Francis Rose.
The fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 is in full swing. Last year's fourth quarter saw federal agencies hand out $125 billion in new contract obligations, according to Guy Timberlake. He's chief visionary and chief executive officer of the American Small Business Coalition. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he said federal contractors can find plenty of ways to take advantage of the fiscal year-end spending spree -- as long as they take a simple approach.
Congress has put the onus on federal contractors to make sure they are not including counterfeit or obsolete parts in equipment they sell to the government. The law was passed in 2012. Only now has the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council come out with a proposed rule. It requires contractors to report counterfeits, suspected counterfeits, and anything they suspect of being non conforming. The proposed rule covers primes, sub contractors, and subs to subs, all down the line. Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president and counsel to the Professional Services Council, joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss what contractors think of the new rule.