Join us for our next NCDD Tech Tuesday, on August 26th from 1-2pm Eastern / 10-11am Pacific, with: Della Rucker, Managing Editor of EngagingCities (focusing on the intersection between internet technologies and community engagement), and Chief Instigator at Wise Economy Susan Stuart Clark, Director, Common Knowledge, NCDD board member and consultant to local governments AnRead… Read more »
The GovHack Red Carpet Awards was awesome (as you can see from the liveblog from Sunday). If you weren’t able to attend or watch the event’s livestream, the video of the awards is now live at the GovHack site, and I’ve embedded it below for your convenience. eGov AU Craig Thomler’s personal Gov 2.0 andRead… Read more »
There was a FERS open season held back in 1987-88 and 1998, allowing employees with at least five years of Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) service to voluntarily transfer to FERS during one of the two open seasons. When these individuals, called TransFERS retire, they receive both a CSRS annuity and a FERS annuity. TheseRead… Read more »
Well, not the entire Senate, yet. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) recently introduced a bill called the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) which would give federal employees a 3.3 percent pay raise in 2015. The proposed pay raise is welcomed news for Federal employees. Federal employees have endured a lot over theRead… Read more »
It seems to be the general concensus that a Last Will and Testament is an essential part of a good estate plan but Living Trusts are not as widely used nor understood. Although many may think that probate is a negative of the Last Will and Testament, a great many individuals remain comfortable with it.Read… Read more »
Bombing in Gaza. The Russians amassing troops at the Ukrainian border. U.S. Airstrikes in Iraq. The European economy rapidly slowing down. An Ebola outbreak. And U.S. stocks were up last week. It took a 186-points rally in the Dow on Friday to push the indices into positive territory, and that probably took many investors byRead… Read more »
Our friends at Healthy Democracy, an NCDD organizational member, recently made an announcement that I am personally excited about, and that we wanted to let you know about too: the Citizens’ Initiative Review Process is expanding to Colorado! As a Colorado resident myself, I couldn’t be more pleased that this innovative democratic process is comingRead… Read more »
In the late 1990s, General Motors began installing its OnStar technology in its vehicles. The service is powered by GPS and mobile phone data and allows drivers to communicate directly with assistance personnel, receive turn-by-turn navigation and conduct vehicle diagnostics. OnStar is one of the first and most well known instances of the Internet ofRead… Read more »
In the human capital, human resources and talent management worlds, we hear more and more about the importance of these fields, how significant they are and why they matter. At the same time, there is also much written and discussed about elevating HR to a more strategic role and how to make that happen. ThereRead… Read more »
This week’s topic is the “Unintended Consequences of the FAR 8.4 Rewrite.” Simply put, the rewrite removed a strategic acquisition tool, single award Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs), from customer agency procurement tool boxes when using the GSA schedule program. Here is more on the background, result and unintended consequences of the rule. In 2011 FederalRead… Read more »