What did the shutdown mean for your TSP – Plus Your Weekend Reads!

The 16 day government shutdown had many federal employees wondering what was happening in the Thrift Savings Plan. Would their accounts be affected? Could and should they take out hardship withdrawals to get through the month? Kim Weaver is the Director of External Affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. The Board runs theRead… Read more »

Virtual Conferences in Government: 6 Tips and 4 Benefits

In the midst of sequestration cuts and strained budgets, virtual events are emerging as a creative solution for delivering professional training in government at a low cost. Planning and organizing these virtual events and training, however, is a new experience for many agency professionals. Hoping to glean some tips on how to make the transitionRead… Read more »

USPS Is Still Far From Stable – Plus the DorobekINSIDER’s 7 Stories

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER: The U.S. Department of Labor Statistics reports the number of “open” jobs — positions that employers advertise but have not found “qualified” applicants for — has doubled from 1,900,000 jobs in June 2009 to 3,900,000 vacant positions in June 2013. Most of those positions fall in the IT category. One solutionRead… Read more »

Mind Meld – How industry and government can think together

The U.S. Department of Labor Statistics reports the number of “open” jobs — positions that employers advertise but have not found “qualified” applicants for — has doubled from 1,900,000 jobs in June 2009 to 3,900,000 vacant positions in June 2013. Most of those positions fall in the IT category. “Government and Industry need to workRead… Read more »

New Insights on Healthcare.gov – Plus the DorobekINSIDER’s 7 Stories

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER: Picking the right mentor for you is a little like scrolling through potential matches on a dating site. You look at their background, interest and thoughts on the future, then take a chance and hope for a good match. But there are ways to make the mentor-matching process a bit easier.Read… Read more »

Getting the right match – Mentorship made simple

Picking the right mentor for you is a little like scrolling through potential matches on a dating site. You look at their background, interest and thoughts on the future, then take a chance and hope for a good match. But there are ways to make the mentor-matching process a bit easier. Tom Fox is theRead… Read more »

People to People: Google’s Vision for a Free and Open Global Community

The People to People program was founded during the Cold War with the philosophy that the best way to promote peace was to engender personal connections between individuals from different countries. Today, Google is using the same philosophy to end human rights abuse. Instead of personal connections between citizens, Google is uniting people in differentRead… Read more »

Healthcare.gov: A Procurement or Program Problem?

The pundits all seem to be asking, “What went wrong with the rollout of healthcare.gov?” But there is a bigger more substantial question for government. Why does government struggle with large procurements? That is the questions that Raj Sharma asked in his piece in the Public Spend Forum: Healthcare.gov, A Procurement Problem or a ProgramRead… Read more »

6 Ways to Keep Your Data Secure

Government agencies are collecting more data than ever before. With the increasing amount of data that agencies store, manage and collect, agencies must create robust strategies to protect data from being compromised. Recently, I spoke with John Barrett, Senior Manager Systems Engineering for Public Sector, Symantec on how agencies can minimize insider threats and keepRead… Read more »