Jamal Mazrui — Deputy Director, FCC’s accessibility and innovation initiative

The FCC is inviting commercial and government web site and mobile app developers to convene for a special workshop next week. But this won’t be just any code-a- thon. It has an important extra purpose. According to FCC, “The event will encourage the use of accessibility APIs (application programming interfaces), as well as publicly available data sets, in order to build accessible apps for mobile phones and websites.”

Joe Petrillo — Procurement Attorney, Patrillo and Powell

A federal court has decided that Defense agencies aren’t using the 8(a) law correctly when buying training and simulation. 8(a) refers to a section of the Small Business Act. It lets the government set aside a portion of contracting dollars for small and disadvantaged businesses. The case has been alive since 1995. The decision could affect contracting officers’ flexibility to award sole source, set-aside contracts.

Rob Levinson — Analyst, Bloomberg Government

They’re not law yet, but the 2013 Defense Authorization bills give a lot of clues to what’s ahead for the Defense Department next year. Bloomberg analyst Rob Levinson takes a few minutes out of his schedule at the Republican National Convention in Tampa with some thoughts on next year’s DoD.

Dr. Neal Young — Chief of Hematology Branch, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH

When Princeton University football player Jordan Culbreath was diagnosed with aplastic anemia in 2009, there was only one place to go: the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute at NIH. The once-fatal illness now carries an 80 percent survival rate, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Neal A. Young, who heads the Hematology Branch. Culbreath was completely cured of the illness and returned to football field during his senior year. It’s achievements like these that have made Dr. Young a finalist for a Service to America Medal.

Meet the rest of the 2012 Service to America Medal finalists.

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