The Energy Department's Office of Environmental Management (EM) faced scrutiny in a hearing Thursday that questioned EM's contract management. DOE has been on the GAO's High Risk List for contract management since 1990.
The idea behind cyber threat intelligence is to understand more about the attack and the attacker than ever before by matching up patterns, anomalies and other characteristics of the bad guys. Energy, DoD, Commerce and DHS are all analyzing cyber attack data to develop this more complete picture.
In 2006, the service aimed to cut its fuel use by 10 percent. By 2012, it had reduced consumption by 12 percent.
The Department of Energy announced that 235 people will be laid off, and more than 2,500 will be furloughed for several weeks, as a result of automatic federal budget cuts.
Bob Osborn, the National Nuclear Security Administration's chief information officer, is leaving the government after more than 36 years of service.
OMB and NIST are seeking help from industry and academia on how to integrate cloud computing and the large amount of information that is created from mobile computing. The goal is not just to know what data agencies have, but the value the data brings. With all this focus on cloud and big data integration, could agencies be on the hook for a new "big data" strategy?
The General Services Administration issued two requests for information earlier this month to redevelop the FBI headquarters building and the area of Washington known as Federal Triangle South. Acting Administrator Dan Tangherlini said he's willing to entertain any and all ideas for saving the government money, making the buildings more efficient and helping to transform the neighborhoods.
Bob Brese, the agency's CIO, said cloud service and security operations center will help make the move to smartphones and tablet computers easier. December 20, 2012 (Encore presentation January 31, 2013)
Dr. A. Hunter Fanney talks about a house the NIST Engineering Lab is using to study green technologies. Dr. Cheryl Martin discusses the Energy Department's recent round of grants to foster new technology. Financial Planner Arthur Stein discusses the impact of FERS over the last 25 years. Pete Kasperowicz of The Hill newspapers reviews upcoming legislation on Capitol Hill.
Lawrence Korb of the Center for American Progress says sequestration may not be such a bad thing. Buddy Bland talk about upgrades to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's supercomputer. Mark Russo of the FDA talks about food shortages caused by Hurricane Sandy.
After superstorm Sandy, the government is putting all hands on deck response to the storm, providing on-the-ground assistance, federal funding and coordinating rescue and clean-up efforts.
An inspector general report found that while the Energy Department "moved swiftly" to reduce travel spending by its employees following a White House directive, it omitted a sizable chunk of its workforce from those efforts: contractors. The IG recommended the agency take steps to reduce contractors' foreign travel spending. Because contractors greatly outnumber federal employees at DoE and make up the lion's share of foreign travel, they should be included in cost-reduction efforts, the IG said.
The General Services Administration is considering redeveloping an area that includes the Energy Department complex, FAA buildings, GSA offices and the old Cotton Annex.
The federal government as a whole has consistently missed its goal to award 23 percent of its contract dollars to small businesses. But the government also has examples of agencies bucking that trend. In part two of our special report, The Small Business Dilemma, Federal News Radio speaks with several agencies' about how they're succeeding in the small business contracting arena.
Agencies are missing out on billions of dollars in savings by not using strategic-sourcing contracts, particularly when buying services, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. The report finds the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs and Energy spent less than 5 percent of their combined acquisition budgets through strategic sourcing and saved less than $2 billion.