Army, Air Force and DISA Expand Access to Microsoft Technologies Through Cost-Saving Modernization Agreement

Microsoft Corp. (Washington, DC) — In an effort to modernize technology infrastructure, reduce costs and foster new levels of cross-agency collaboration, the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) are expanding access to Microsoft solutions by entering into a transformative three-year Joint Enterprise Licensing Agreement for enterprise licenses and software assurance.Read… Read more »

We Need to Understand Chinese Procurement

NCMA’s December 2012 flagship publication, Contract Management, published the article Comparative Best Practices in Public Sector Contracting — How the FAR Excels in the Socioeconomic Perspective. The piece provides a brief breakdown of five major procurement regimes including the the European Union’s Procurement Directives used by the European Union and the U.S.’s Federal Acquisition Regulation.Read… Read more »

How online community management could really matter for public services

One of the key skills (or roles) that I bang on about a lot when I am delivering training to customers is community management. I talk about it a fair bit on this blog too. One of the first things I ever did online was start up and manage a community – a simple forumRead… Read more »

Five ways federal IT can increase innovation while cutting costs

Federal IT is in the midst of a huge transformation, driven by initiatives ranging from IT Reform and Federal Data Center Consolidation to CloudFirst, CyberFirst and FutureFirst. In May 2012, President Obama released a memo detailing new directions for Federal IT as part of the Digital Government Strategy. Moving to a 21st-century foundation for federalRead… Read more »

Putting the spare tyre on an Airbus

It’s a holiday cliché. The car is packed, the boot is full, the journey is under way – and then there is a flat tyre. Luggage is piled on the hard shoulder until the spare wheel is finally unearthed. It happened to me last week. Except that it was a plane not a car, andRead… Read more »

The Journal News Gun Map: Open vs. Personal Data

As many readers are likely aware, two weeks ago The Journal News, a newspaper just outside of New York city, published a map showing the addresses and names of handgun owners in Westchester and Rockland counties. The map, which was part of a story responding to the tragic shooting in nearby Newtown, Connecticut, was constructedRead… Read more »

FIRE ALERT: A slideshare and 12 things you can learn from fire comms

So, are you up to speed on how you’d handle the internal comms if two of your members of staff killed in a fire in a tower block? Or maybe you’d have it covered if there’s an explosion in a quiet street? For the most part public sector communications can be pretty difficult. But withRead… Read more »

Tech Blogs We Love

By BobGourley What makes a great tech blog? It takes great staff, an actionable vision, and timely/accurate reporting. It also takes leaders who don’t mind hard work and who are good at engaging with the community. How do you know which tech blogs have found that magic blend? The great tech blogs have a historyRead… Read more »

The Most Innovative Mayors In The U.S.

According to Newsweek Magazine the five most innovative Mayors in the U.S. are: Mitch Landrieu – (New Orleans for his education efforts)Michael Bloomberg – (New York for his public safety efforts)Rahm Emanuel – (Chicago for his open data efforts)Sly James – (Kansas City for his entreprenuer efforts)Mick Cornett – (Oklahoma City for his quality ofRead… Read more »

The 113th Congress Opens for Business

Just What is a “Congress” Anyway? Every two years, Congress reboots. Like a bright New Year’s Day, it’s fresh, and clean, and brief. The 113th Congress assembled on Thursday, January 3 – a day for family and tradition, smiles and handshakes. They’ll return to the backstabbing soon enough. For some reason, many Americans think thatRead… Read more »