Government at all levels is looking for ways to connect with citizens. More and more, state and local governments are turning to mobile game apps as a way of sharing data or walking constituents through processes. Todd Marks, president of Mindgrub of Baltimore, runs a game and mobile application development company he says is getting a stream of requests from government.

A $23 billion contract to maintain and secure nuclear weapons may be up for grabs again. That’s because the Government Accountability Office has sustained a protest against the initial award. It says the National Nuclear Security Administration failed to reasonably evaluate all the bidders.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development plans to close dozens of field offices. Ten percent of staff or about 900 people could be affected. When officials made the announcement last month, it came as a surprise to most employees. That includes Eddie Eitches, president of the American Federation of Government Employees council that represents most HUD workers. Since then, Eitches has been meeting with agency officials when they aren’t all on furlough.

Related Story: HUD reorg plan violates furlough agreement, union says

President Barack Obama has nominated Katherine Archuleta to be the next director of the Office of Personnel Management. Archuleta has plenty of political experience. She was national political director for the president’s re-election campaign. And she served as chief of staff in two federal departments during the Clinton years. But is she up to the challenge of being the government’s HR chief?

Consolidation is a byword of federal management these days. Agencies are consolidating offices, systems, even missions in a few cases, but especially, data centers. The Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative has been going on for nearly three years. But its goal line has been extended because agencies aren’t consolidating or closing fast enough.