Commerce Department

  • The Commerce Department is partly responsible for the explosion of data from the government. The Census Bureau alone conducts about 80 different surveys a year. NOAA produces 29 terabytes of data a day. So the department is focusing on accessibility and education about its data to rescue public and private sector users from drowning in its data. Mark Doms, undersecretary for economic affairs at the Commerce Department, tells Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller about current and future plans to better manage its information.

    November 11, 2014
  • The National Academy of Public Administration has elected a new class of fellows to report to Congress on some of the most complex management and policy issues in government. Ellen Herbst is the chief financial officer and assistant secretary for administration at the Commerce Department. She's also one of the newly elected NAPA fellows. Herbst joined Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to explain how she can contribute to the academy's work.

    November 10, 2014
  • Rumors have been circulating over the last few months about a possible reconsideration of the identity management technologies agencies are implementing under Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12).

    November 03, 2014
  • Jay Williams, assistant secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, will talk about what the U.S. Economic Development Administration is doing to create jobs and generate private investment in the nation's economically distressed communities. October 31, 2014

    October 31, 2014
  • Simon Szykman is joining Attain as its chief technology officer of the federal services division.

    October 24, 2014
  • Some of the Commerce Department's prime data will be easier for other agencies and the public to find, thanks to a collaboration with New York University. Their Governance Laboratory lists seven key areas for the agency to improve to make its data more valuable. Mark Doms is Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he explained how the partnership got started, how it will work, and who wins.

    October 20, 2014
  • You might be a dog on the Internet, but nobody can tell for sure. Confidence in who people say they are online is vital to a cyber secure future for government and industry. People at the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace have been working on this problem within the Commerce Department for a couple of years now. Jeremy Grant is senior executive advisor for Identity Management at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss some recent progress.

    October 20, 2014
  • Jay Williams, assistant secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, will talk about what the U.S. Economic Development Administration is doing to create jobs and generate private investment in the nation's economically distressed communities. September 12, 2014

    September 12, 2014
  • The Patent and Trademark Office's challenges demonstrate the need for the government to modernize its rules defining what it means to perform work. Experts say PTO's challenges are part of the growing pains of telework.

    August 13, 2014
  • A Senate bill would abolish the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), an agency that serves as a repository for government-funded scientific, technical, engineering and business-related information. But Jeff Neal says there is more to consider than just how the Internet has changed the storage and retrieval of information.

    August 11, 2014
  • Among advocates of telework within the federal government, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is often seen as the gold standard. But over a period of about four years, one group of PTO employees -- mostly teleworkers -- literally got paid for doing nothing. And it wasn't a secret. Managers within the Patent Trial and Appeal Board even devised a special pay code for time when employees were on the clock but weren't working: "Other Time." Those findings are part of a new report from the Commerce Department Inspector General's office. Todd Zinzer is the Commerce IG; on In Depth with guest host Jared Serbu, he explained how widespread this problem was.

    August 05, 2014
  • In this edition of Inside the Reporter's Notebook, Executive Editor Jason Miller shares news and buzz about the IT and acquisition communities.

    July 25, 2014
  • Secretary Penny Pritzker has big plans for all the data coming out of the Commerce Department's agencies. To lead this new open data strategy Commerce officials have created a new position. They're currently taking applications for a chief data officer. Bruce Andrews is acting deputy secretary of Commerce. He joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to explain what they're trying to accomplish.

    July 23, 2014
  • 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.

    July 22, 2014