Navy Yard Tragedy May Prompt Increased Physical Security and Big Data Investments

by Lloyd McCoy Jr., Senior Analyst Look out for increased investments in technologies related to physical security and background checks in the wake of the mass shooting at the Navy Yard. That is, once the government reopens for business. Law enforcement officials are confident the perpetrator, Aaron Alexis, a federal contractor, gained entry to theRead… Read more »

New Data on How to Reach Government Customers

by Allan Rubin, Vice President, Marketing As today’s government shutdown clearly illustrates, it’s hard to get anything done when two parties are so far apart in their beliefs. Could the same communication breakdown be occurring between government marketers and our prospective customers? At some point (hopefully soon), they’ll be back at their desks browsing theRead… Read more »

Hiring Social Media Experts: Guidance for (Rookie) Buyers

Summary: Most people would agree that hiring social media experts – whether you’re looking for a consultant or to fill an in-house role – is a dicey proposition, especially for buyers who aren’t very digitally sophisticated themselves. This post provides general guidance for organizations looking to hire consultants, contractors, and/or employees to lead and helpRead… Read more »

Coping with the Shutdown: Federal Data

The Federal Government has shut down operations. It’s not the first such event (there were three in 1977 alone), though it does have certain unique characteristics. Leaving the politics aside for the moment, what’s a civic hacker or data journalist to do when most of the government web and FTP presence is unreachable as well?Read… Read more »

Tune in to Federal Drive at 7:15 AM

Tune in to The Federal Drive tomorrow between 7:15 and 7:30 AM. I’ll be speaking about how the shutdown is impacting federal employees. http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=31&sid=2451300

Top Five Government Contracts of 2013

From the Air Force to Health and Human services, 2013 proved to be an exciting expensive year for government contracts. These large federal contracts run into the billions, so smaller businesses or companies will have a more difficult time competing. However, for any contractor of any size, it is interesting to see what the governmentRead… Read more »

NASA Wants Private Sector R&D Partnerships for Space Missions

NASA is looking for partners in the commercial sector that can help the space agency research and develop technology to support its long-range missions. Mayur Ahuja, deputy director of engineering at Jacobs Engineering Group, will speak on behalf of NASA at an upcoming two-day forum to discuss the agency’s future projects, trade show organizer UBMRead… Read more »