Countdown: OMB IT project watch, fed social media use

Today’s Federal News Countdown panel includes two OMB vets: —Dan Chenok, Senior Fellow, IBM Center for the Business of Government —Tim Young, ...

Today’s Federal News Countdown panel includes two OMB vets:
Dan Chenok, Senior Fellow, IBM Center for the Business of Government
Tim Young, Senior Manager, Deloitte Consulting LLP

And their choices for the three most important Federal news stories of the week:

NUMBER THREE
Chenok: OMB takes aim at poorly performing IT projects
From Federal News Radio:

“The Obama administration is trying its hand at boosting the success rate of federal technology projects.

“After years where systemic problems such as scope creep, inadequate project management and not enough senior level attention have littered the landscape with failures from every agency – the FBI’s Virtual Case File to the Defense Department’s DIHMRS to the Veterans Affairs Department’s FLITE are some of the most well known – the Office of Management and Budget in October will give agencies possible roadmaps to success.”

Young: OPM may end hiring registers for lack of interest
From the Federal Times:

“The Office of Personnel Management said Wednesday that a component of its hiring reform initiative has received little interest from federal agencies and may be canceled.

“In the first seven months of OPM’s centralized hiring register program, agencies have only hired 71 of about 106,000 qualified job candidates, said Ted Cuneo, chief of staff for Angela Bailey, OPM’s deputy associate director for recruitment and diversity.

“Bailey and other OPM officials attended a meeting at the White House on Wednesday morning to discuss progress on hiring reform, Cuneo said, and one of the issues on the agenda was whether the registers should be canceled.

NUMBER TWO
Chenok: Commerce seeks industry comment on ways to bolster cybersecurity
From NextGov.com:

“The Commerce Department on Wednesday released a notice seeking comment from commercial and academic stakeholders on the challenges private sector organizations face in enhancing their own cybersecurity, and possible strategies, including financial incentives, to encourage best practices.

“Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced plans on Tuesday to release the notice of inquiry at the Symposium on Cybersecurity in the Commercial Space, hosted by the department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology.”

Young: Better, Not Smaller: What Americans Want From Their Federal Government
From the Center for American Progress:

Public confidence in government is at an all-time low, according to a major new survey commissioned by the Center for American Progress. And yet clear majorities of Americans of all ages want and expect more federal involvement in priority areas such as energy, poverty, and education, the poll found.

“The key lesson embedded in these seemingly paradoxical results: Americans want a federal government that is better, not smaller. CAP’s new research shows people would rather improve government performance than reduce its size. And they are extremely receptive to reform efforts that would eliminate inefficient government programs, implement performance-based policy decisions, and adopt modern management methods and information technologies.”

NUMBER ONE
Chenok: Survey tells two tales about feds’ social media use
From Federal Computer Week:

“Social media applications for government are becoming more popular, but significant numbers of federal employees and agencies are not making use of those tools, according to a new Market Connections Inc. research survey of government social media use.

“In a recent survey of 321 federal employees, 60 percent said they use social media at home or work, while 35 percent said they were not using social media; 5 percent said they do not know about social media, John Kagia, research director at Market Connections, said at a conference in McLean, Va.”

Young: OMB takes aim at poorly performing IT projects
From Federal News Radio:

“The Obama administration is trying its hand at boosting the success rate of federal technology projects.

“After years where systemic problems such as scope creep, inadequate project management and not enough senior level attention have littered the landscape with failures from every agency – the FBI’s Virtual Case File to the Defense Department’s DIHMRS to the Veterans Affairs Department’s FLITE are some of the most well known – the Office of Management and Budget in October will give agencies possible roadmaps to success.”

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