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The merger of EDS and Hewlett-Packard Co. expands their product and service offerings, allowing them to cater to more customers. The merged company can offer solutions that make government agencies more transparent, environment-friendly, and efficient.

Now the real work begins for the winners of Networx Universal and Networx Enterprise. The award phase of the General Services Administration's massive telecommunications services contract ended May 31, when […]

NASA HAS FAILED to keep its end of an agreement in a case in which a bid protest was dismissed in 2005, said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who wants the […]

The article examines some of the critical initiatives in information technology (IT) of the U.S. federal government agencies that can not be set aside without significant consequences. It predicts the spread of bring-your-own-device trend and how agencies will address the issues of security and privacy. The article also suggests that big data will garner even more attention in 2013, with the continued push of the PortfolioStat initiative of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The article offers tips on how agency leaders and political appointees will be able to survive and thrive in the transition from the first administration of U.S. President Barack Obama to the second administration. The author states that career managers should provide briefing to new chiefs. Maintaining continuity within the organization is recommended. The author suggests agency leaders to be prepared to any changes and challenges that may arise.

The article analyzes the U.S. government's goal of awarding 23 percent of federal contracting dollars to small, minority and disadvantaged businesses. The Small Business Administration (SBA) monitors the goal and in 2011, only the SBA and the Treasury Department have earned an A-plus on the small-business score card. The article also discusses the emphasis on score cards that overshadows larger questions about set-asides such as paying more for the services and small business being acquired.

The article focuses on Networx and the problems during its transition. The report states the U.S. General Services Administration(GSA) may have contributed to the delay as the agency awarded the contracts after 8 months. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget has also taken in stride its oversight role. Bob Woods of the Topside Consulting Group says the agencies were also left on their own to decide.

The article reports on the lead taken by the Veterans Affairs (VA) Department in improving procurement through better communication with industry in 2012. It states that VA formed an advisory group to share best practices and provide suggestions for improving its relationships with vendors, and that managers were enabled to bring in companies to talk about upcoming procurements so that they can provide early feedback. Continuing engagement in the program is reportedly important.

The article focuses on the U.S. Veterans Affairs (VA) Acquisition Academy. Taking a more holistic approach, the academy is intended to nurture the development of contracting officers and government buyers who understand the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). According to professor Steve Kelman, the academy offers a valuable approach to meeting the need of officers and is building its education models from scratch. A brief background on the development of training programs at VA is presented.

The article reports on the plan of U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for information technology (IT) reform in the federal government. The views of Trey Hodgkins, vice president of national security and procurement policy at TechAmerica regarding the government's management of IT reform are mentioned. It explains that part of the plan involves redefining the role of agency chief information officers (CIO). The need to develop IT budget models under the plan is also highlighted.

The article discusses the insourcing government procurement directive by U.S. President Barack Obama. Matthew Blum, associate administrator at the Office of Federal Procurement Policy said that insourcing is just one management tool that could address an organization. Steve Schooner from George Washington University favored insourcing and has communicated with departments and agencies regarding the issues. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials have done efforts to promote the directive.

The article discusses how the acquisition community is testing social-media tools to improve the procurement process. It presents how Acquisition 2.0 is being talked about in government in relation to the increasing pressure to make awards from the recovery act and agencies' annual budget. Mary Davie's discussion group and her Better Buy Project are mentioned. The collaboration between the acquisition workforce and contractors such as Acquisition Solutions is also noted.

The article discusses a dot-gov initiative by U.S. President Barack Obama's administration, Apps.gov. According to Vivek Kundra, federal chief information officer (CIO), Apps.gov will streamline the government's acquisition process and help reduce redundancy and costs. Experts, however, doubt the timing of this initiative and some agencies would have wanted to be briefed on Apps.gov before it went live because they do not understand how cloud computing works and are therefore hesitant to procure products and services from the web site.

The article presents recommendations from several acquisition specialists on the scheduled contracts of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), interagency contracting and small business contracts. Bill Gormley cited the benefits of the schedule programs. Robert Burton suggested to conform the existing interagency agreement with the guidance of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. Guy Timberlake emphasized the importance of the partnership between government and the business industry.

The article analyzes the vacancy of the administrator position in the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in the U.S. It states that U.S. President Barack Obama has been pursuing his reforms for contracting processes without a chief and instead placed Vivek Kundra as chief information officer and Aneesh Chopra as chief technology officer. It claims that procurement employees need a leader to protect them from the scrutiny of the Congress, inspectors general, and the Government Accountability Office. Also cited are Obama's procurement plans.

The article discusses the lessons that the team of President-elect Barack Obama can learn from the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. It states that although the business background of Bush was quickly overshadowed by the need to fight terrorism, his administration was marked by an effort to create a more businesslike approach to government. Many privacy experts are hoping that the next Congress and the incoming Obama administration will address some of the questions raised by counterterrorism. According to the article, the Bush administration learned a lesson about pay for performance. Ronald Sanders of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, says pay for performance is important in attracting the next generation of talent to the government.

The article presents on the revenue and market performance of federal information technology (IT) companies in the U.S. for fiscal year 2007. The contract of the Small Business Association set-aside programs or fulfill the goals and objectives that agencies have for small-business contracting. According to Anne Reed, president and chief executive officer of Acquisition Solutions, a decline in the vitality or number of midsize businesses in the country could have an effect on government buyers. A list of top 100 federal IT companies is presented, which include Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp.

The article focuses on the recommendation of Mark Powell, chief technology officer of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, that transition managers promote Ipv6, the next-generation Internet, by delivering a speech about it which is referred to as an elevator pitch. The task to implement the Office of Management and Budget's policy that requires agencies to install IPv6 was given to transition managers. Powell charted a course for the transition and developed bullet points for their elevator speeches.

This article examines the competitiveness of the U.S. federal procurement sector. According to Fedspending.org, the U.S. government spent $415 billion in contracting in the first three quarters of 2006, an increase of nearly $30 billion more than total contract expenditures in 2005. A 2007 report from Representative Henry Waxman of California, there was an increased awarding of federal contracts in fiscal 2000-2006 without full-and-open competition from $67.5 million to $206.9 billion. In response to Waxman's figures, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) released its own contracting statistics. OFPP claims that in 2006 the federal government competed 64 percent of its $394 billion in contracting dollars.

The article discusses how heightened sensitivity to ethics is affecting public contractors' relations with government agencies, and recommends ways on how businesses should approach government's ethics rules. Most federal rules governing ethical conduct are based on common sense, but varying interpretation of ethical officials made ethics rules inconsistent from department to department. Some federal employees might shy away from conference attended by public contractors. Industry groups are being more discreet in offering tokens to government officials acting as speakers in conference.

The article discusses the development of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) progress in modernizing its systems. The efforts started in 1989 and continued through the drives set by Charles Rossotti, IRS Commissioner from 1997 to 2002. It cites that Rossotti provided the vision for the tax system modernization drives that led to partnerships with the agency's information technology (IT) and business units and hired contractors to make two fundamental changes namely, create a secure infrastructure for Internet applications and improve service and modernize the database of its Master File Taxpayer Account System.

The article comments on the ideas about entrepreneurial government in the U.S. The idea concerning entrepreneurial government began with the administration of former President Bill Clinton. The administration based its National Performance Review on same ideas about enhancing government productivity and efficiency. On the other hand, the administration of President George W. Bush proposed pay for performance as the basis for the development of a new civil service salary system that would replace the General Schedule of fixed pay grades and 10-step pay increases within each grade.

This article examines the popularity of enterprise architecture in information technology (IT) in the U.S. in 2006. Some federal agencies beginning to see the benefits of enterprise architecture. The world of IT investments has been shown by enterprise architecture. Experts rarely enlighten others about its functions and benefits. According to Professor Matt Newman, enterprise architecture became popular as more people recognize its value for solving business problems that government and industry face. Newman recommended putting initial enterprise architecture projects on a 60- to 90-day schedule.

The article discusses how small business contracting in the U.S. could be improved through RFP-EZ, an online marketplace launched by the U.S. Presidential Innovation Fellows. The project is composed of five important components which include SOWComposer for making and saving work online, Portfolio Browser for viewing profiles of small businesses, and RFP-EZ Marketplace for creating accounts and receiving alerts about new solicitations. Hindrances to the success RFP-EZ are also mentioned. INSET: Bright ideas before RFP-EZ.

The article discusses the principle of reverse auction as a means for government agencies to save funds. It was introduced to contracting specialists by Cathy Read, director of acquisitions management of the U.S. State Department. It mentions the research done by David Wyld, professor of management at Southeastern Louisiana University, in which it concluded 8.9 billion dollar annual savings for the government, and a speedier and better way of doing business.

The article focuses on problems that might affect businesses. It mentions that insourcing is one threat being faced by small-businesses in the austerity measures being undertaken by the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama. It cites that head-hunting of employees are also being undertaken when government agencies started to do insourcing. It mentions that HUBZones also brings a problem to small-businesses as it puts them in equal footing with the programs of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The article features Michael Robertson, the associate director of government-wide policy at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) under the government of U.S. President Barack Obama. According to Robertson, his role is to support and back GSA to senior officials in President Obama's circle. His relationship with Obama dates back from 2004 when the president ran for the U.S. Senate in Illinois. His other positions at GSA are chief acquisition officer and White House liaison.

The article features the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Assisted Acquisition Services (AAS) and the National Business Center's Acquisition Services Directorate. (AQD). Both agencies are geared towards acquisition support operations for other federal agencies. The role of the AAS and the AQD is to provide support to an agency's acquisition staff in cases of increased workload or projects that need special attention. In order to increase their clients, AAS hosts events that inform agencies about acquisition services while the AQD participate in trade shows and advertise in magazines.

The article focuses on information technology policies in the U.S. in 2007. The government consolidated information technology platforms and data centers of large agencies in an effort to improve security and reduce costs. The failure of the U.S. Congress to pass a budget as scheduled in the latter part of the year prompted agencies to scale back operations. Real time, continuous monitoring of security controls has gained attention as a means for complying with the Federal Information Security Management Act.

The article looks at major issues and trends in acquisition and contracting practices of the U.S. government in 2007. Sales from the cooperative purchasing program of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) merely kept pace with those in past years. John Johnson, the Federal Acquisition Service's assistant commissioner for integrated technology, proposes to include products that agencies will need for mandatory programs. The Federal Acquisition Institute issued requirements for assessing outsourced workforce and established certification requirements for program managers and contracting officers' technical representatives.

The article presents an overview on the appropriations bills being formulated by the U.S. Congress for the rest of the federal government. It describes the differences between the House and Senate appropriations bills for a number of U.S. agencies, including the departments of Commerce, Justice, Science and other related agencies, Energy and Water, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act. It is noted that the bills generally give federal agencies more money to spend on information technology projects in 2008 than they had in 2007.