General Services Administration
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When NASA scientists were stymied last year in trying to devise a formula for predicting solar flares, they took an unusual approach: They posted their problem online, and offered a prize to anyone who could solve it. One requirement: the person with the winning solution would have to fork over exclusive rights to the idea - in exchange for a $30,000 prize. 579 people considered the challenge, while only five submitted entries. The winner was a retired radio frequency engineer from New Hampshire who offered an algorithm that may be a first step in helping NASA predict when solar particles might endanger astronauts or spacecraft. Top officials within the General Services Administration and the Office of Management and Budget have called the contest the beginning of a huge movement. Now, the website challenge-dot-gov allows agencies to post challenges, create blogs and discussions, and reward winners with an array of incentives.
September 03, 2010 -
GSA has issued per diem rates for lodging for next year. Most hotels in major cities saw a decrease, including $15 for Washington, $71 in New York City and $45 in Chicago. GSA did not change the rates for meals and other incidentals.
September 03, 2010 -
OMB finds that most website and call center operations are separate and don\'t work well together. Some agencies are following the private sector\'s lead by offering multiple channels to serve citizens. CMS and GSA both use online tools to answer questions more quickly and reliably.
September 02, 2010 -
GSA will unveil the Challenge.gov platform in the next few months where all agency competitions will be posted. Some agencies already are asking experts and employees for help. NASA will run 34 competitions before the end of December.
September 01, 2010 -
The technology giant said it did nothing wrong, but settles the allegations it overcharged the government for software and technology products and gave kickbacks to systems integrators. HP\'s decision to settle is another in a growing list of major federal contractors who are paying fines.
August 30, 2010 -
While GSA feds think about how to make federal buildings greener, they\'re going to be doing it from outside their own offices.
August 30, 2010 -
Agency is taking lessons learned from the past seven years to make the new system more like commercial travel booking sites. Vendors have until Oct. 6 to submit bids on this 15-year contract. GSA said 23 agencies have implemented one of three standard online travel systems to a savings of more than $200 million.
August 27, 2010 -
The GSA released a request for proposals for a new suite of online travel services for all civilian agencies.
August 26, 2010 -
GSA Administrator Martha Johnson has filled one of her key leadership vacancies naming Alison Doone to be the agency’s chief financial officer. Doone currently is the IRS CFO. She fills the vacancy that was created…
August 25, 2010 -
Increasingly, federal workers are turning to a simple new Web application that makes short work of extremely long website addresses. The General Services Administration created the app at little cost by working with the Drupal programming community. The Library of Congress is one of the satisfied users who have found that the Web link shortener has helped drive traffic to one of its most popular items.
August 25, 2010 -
Agencies and vendors soon will be able to submit cloud-based products and services to be certified and accredited once and be available for use by all of government. Version 2 of the FedRAMP security controls should be ready in the next few weeks. Cloud working group still must address several questions about the approval process.
August 25, 2010 -
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This week, host Jason Miller talks with Diane Herdt about GSA\'s initiative to use technology to improve the energy efficiencies of the buildings the government owns. Aug. 26, 2010
August 24, 2010 -
This week, host Larry Allen talks with Steve Kempf of GSA\'s FAS. Aug. 24, 2010
August 24, 2010 -
Most agencies do not have an accurate inventory of how many devices they are paying for or how much those devices are being used. Officials estimate the government could save as much as $200 million a year by improving the management and optimization of contracts for wireless devices. The administration plans to revive the wireless communications strategic sourcing initiative.
August 20, 2010