As the lame duck session of the 111th Congress comes to a close, some in the acquisition community are left to wonder what lays ahead for the acquisition reform initiatives of the Obama Administration. According to many experts, the shift in political power may not make much difference for the IT and procurement communities. IRead… Read more »
From The Acquisition Corner According to recent reporting by Federal Times on the state of federal information technology (IT) acquisition and program management, the Government is ill prepared to purchase and manage large scale IT programs due to poorly trained staff, and poor collaboration with industry. Certainly contributing factors, but the issues are much moreRead… Read more »
Social Justice: Bringing Light to Our Darkness Ron Manderscheid, PhD Executive Director, NACBHDD As our nights lengthen into fall, darkness has also descended upon our country’s dialogue on National Health Reform. Positions have hardened, and the gulf has widened among our points of view. In this period of uncertainty, it is useful to revisit theRead… Read more »
By Gadi Dechter Associate Director of Government ReformCenter for American Progress This is the second in a series of weekly dispatches from the District of Columbia’s information technology department, which is transforming into a “results-only work environment” where employees can work where they want, when they want—so long as they meet predefined goals. Washington’s 35-year-oldRead… Read more »
BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE 10-15-10 Keep health reform’s expectations in perspectiveImplementing a century’s worth of vital reforms will take time—it won’t happen overnight by Ron Manderscheid, PhD, Executive Director, NACBHDD This year has been very momentous and tumultuous. Health reforms needed for at least a century have succeeded, and implementation has just started. These reforms are desperatelyRead… Read more »
Over on Federal Computer Week, Dr. Steve Kelman has written several blog posts on The Lectern in a series of issues related to improving federal acquisitions and communications, specifically information technology projects. Although I have commented on the specific blog posts, I wanted to have a more in depth discussion here. Improving Federal IT AcquisitionsRead… Read more »
From The Acquisition Corner As reported by the Washington Post, there seems to be a culture of corruption and massive waste, fraud, and abuse according to several Inspector General reports investigating operations of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Upon reading this article and other IG reports, the waste, fraud, and abuse that seems to beRead… Read more »
In my last posting I wrote about the advantages of using the Adaptive Project Framework (APF) to deliver Gov 2.0 projects. I argued that Gov 2.0 needs new management methods to take advantage of the new technologies and deliver on the promise of open, transparent, and accountable government. But Gov 2.0 doesn’t stop at theRead… Read more »
From The Acquisition Corner As reported by Federal News Radio, The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) is pursuing several short-term initiatives to reign in the proliferation of multiple award contracts (MACs). “Progress has been made in improving some aspects of interagency acquisition,” said Jeff Zients, acting director of the Office of Management and BudgetRead… Read more »
From The Acquisition Corner With the end of the fiscal year comes the right of passage for government contracting personnel and contractors alike; the end-of year budget dump or as I like to call it, the end of fiscal year feeding frenzy. This time of year is characterized by the worst practices in federal contracting:Read… Read more »