The General Services Administration could reduce the scope of or terminate some existing contracts with the Public Building Service as a result of the government shutdown. Jennifer Smith, PBS acting deputy assistant commissioner for acquisition management, told industry partners in an Oct. 2 letter the lack of a fiscal year 2014 budget has caused aRead… Read more »
The U.S. government shutdown could interrupt some of the country’s services such as disease detection and prevention, healthcare, food safety, emergency response and compliance activities, according to a report by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. Lisa Schnirring and Robert Roos write public health and food safety agencies have warnedRead… Read more »
The city of San Mateo, California is witnessing booming growth in both its population and infrastructure development. Since the year 2008, San Mateo has experienced an 8% increase in population, and home sales have jumped a staggering 28%. Consequently, the municipal government of San Mateo is faced with the enormous task of managing and overseeingRead… Read more »
The notion of e-governance has become prominent in recent years. Agencies around the world are now implementing technology into how they function and deliver services to citizens. Their objective: to distribute information more effectively, universally, and clearly to people. While the Internet undoubtedly fostered the evolution of e-governance, a new development has emerged that canRead… Read more »
Even as the summer draws to a close, summer wildfires continue to rage throughout the United States. In Yosemite National Park, a 371 square mile fire has destroyed homes and wildlife. The fire is 80% contained, but a great deal of work still remains to rebuild and help those affected. The government has already spentRead… Read more »
EPA leapt into the social media world in July 2007 with our first blog post. Ever since, we’ve been working to expand our options. That’s been greatly helped by the terms of service that GSA has negotiated on behalf of all federal agencies (most agreements contain clauses we can’t accept as federal agencies for variousRead… Read more »
Written by Stacia Aylward and Stephanie Spence Diamond The Zelos team recently had the immense pleasure of collaborating with Steve Ressler, Founder and President of GovLoop, in executing his vision to engage participants in an energetic way at the 2013 Next Generation of Government Summit. Steve said something like, “let’s have something in the hallwayRead… Read more »
Customer service is a core function of government, yet 60 percent of government executives describe citizens’ attitudes toward government as “frustrated,” according to a recent Government Business Council survey. One way to improve the reputation of your organization is to empower frontline employees so they can provide better customer service. Excellent customer service is aRead… Read more »
I often hear about different tactics to improve customer service, some are good ideas and some not as good. This isn’t to say every idea isn’t worth exploring but rather, successful customer service comes from one core thought: Customer service starts with understanding the customer. So we asked, and we listened carefully. We understand thatRead… Read more »
For government managers faced with restrained budgets, hiring freezes, and new mandates, the pressure to do more with existing resources has gained widespread traction. “Wrong” is a bit of an overstatement, but for one government leader, the notion of “doing more with less” misses a central point. Last week, Rafael Borras, Under Secretary for ManagementRead… Read more »