Jason Miller covers civilian agencies in the federal government with a focus on technology and acquisition. He is also an executive editor at Federal News Radio. Jason's reports can be heard Monday - Friday on the Federal Drive and In Depth.

Bonuses to senior execs under fire at GSA, other agencies

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and the GSA inspector general released separate, but related, reports that show GSA abused its authority to give Senior Executive Service (SES) members bonuses between 2009 and 2011. GSA official said they have since fixed these problems. McCaskill also found that on average the Labor Department, the Navy and the National Science Foundation handed out more than one bonus per SES employee.

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VA's Gould moves the needle on many of VA's toughest challenges

Scott Gould's last day as the deputy secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department is today. In four years, Gould said he believes VA is a better place and does more to help veterans. He said the claims backlog is unacceptable, but the agency is making progress.

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NOAA plowing through the growing, complex challenges CIOs face

Joe Klimavicz, NOAA's chief information officer and director of high performance computing and communication, said his agency is moving to the cloud more aggressively and addressing mobile computing.
May 16, 2013

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OMB fuels the passion, synergy between mobile, open data

The impact of the Digital Government Strategy has been hard to measure so far, but federal CIO Steve VanRoekel said the government is ready to unleash the potential of open data. New tools for how agencies should build and secure mobile devices are expected in the next few weeks.

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GAO, OMB spar over whether to measure data center cost savings

Government auditors told House Oversight and Government Affairs members that saving money from closing more than 1,000 data centers needs to be metric. OMB said optimization of core data centers is a more important measure than straight cost savings.

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DoD wants to know real costs of IT business systems

Beth McGrath, the Defense Department's deputy chief management officer, issued a memo in April creating a new integrated business framework. The goal of the framework is to tie costs to performance and strategy.

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Cyber attacks against FederalNewsRadio.com, WTOP.com part of growing trend

The company says both sites have been scrubbed of malware and vulnerabilities have been closed. The "drive-by" attack that affected the sites is a growing type of cyber hack that looks for holes in popular websites. FederalNewsRadio.com and WTOP.com are available again to users of all Internet browsers.

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Inside the Reporter's Notebook: The CIO shuffle continues; the last E-gov benefits report?

News and buzz in the acquisition and IT communities that you may have missed this week.

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Open data order, policy ushers in new norm

President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order and OMB released a new policy requiring agencies to make data machine-readable and use open standards. Agencies must develop an inventory of information and make it publicly available. Good government groups praised the changes but had some concerns around the administration's decision to apply the policy only to structured data.

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White House mandates open data, releases new tools

President Barack Obama issued a new policy and signed an Executive Order requiring data to be open, machine-readable and safeguarded.

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Do Not Pay list lacks data as implementation nears

Senate lawmakers are promising to change the laws to let agencies have easier access to the Death Master File and other key databases. Starting June 1, agencies must check the Do Not Pay list before issuing any money.

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DHS putting post-FISMA approach to cyber through a trial run

Three Department of Homeland Security components are testing how ongoing authorizations work. The Office of Management and Budget is drafting a memo to require agencies to change from approving the cybersecurity of systems every three years to a more regular oversight schedule.

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EPA, HUD search for ways to keep mid-career feds

Mid-career employees are a scarcity in government. While agencies are awash with employees at the early career stage and those with 20-plus years of federal service, there aren't enough in the middle stages, and that has federal managers worried. Agencies like EPA and HUD are taking matters into their own hands. Both are launching new efforts aimed at keeping mid-career feds from leaving government for the private sector.

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DHS seeks vendor to update agencywide identity management system

The Homeland Security Department released a draft performance work statement to vendors. The draft PWS details DHS' needs to use HSPD-12 cards for computer network and building access.

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OMB's Metzenbaum leaves behind an invigorated performance culture

Shelley Metzenbaum's last day was Friday after four years at OMB as the associate director for personnel and performance. She said agencies understand now, more than ever, that setting goals and measuring their performance against them makes a big difference in how they meet their missions.

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OPM, OMB outline plans for major rewrite of HR policies

A new memo from Acting OPM Director Elaine Kaplan details two main objectives and four focus areas for change. OPM and OMB want to eliminate 12 HR reports and consolidate four others.

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Zients out as OMB deputy director for management

Jeff Zients, the deputy director for mangagement and chief performance officer at the Office of Management and Budget, has left the agency.

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New security standard to boost agency trust, use of mobile devices

On the one-year anniversary of the Digital Government Strategy, the CIO Council and DHS are expected to issue a security baseline and reference architecture for mobile computing. The goal of the document is not to give agencies new requirements but to focus on those security standards that are mobile-centric.

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LEED green building standard clears first hurdle for governmentwide use

The Green Building Advisory Committee recommends GSA establish the LEED certification as the governmentwide standard for all federal buildings. GSA will work with Energy and DoD to come up with the final decision.

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Bill would ax FEHBP in favor of Affordable Care Act plan

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) introduced legislation to require federal employees, the president, vice president and members of Congress to use insurance under the Affordable Care Act instead of the current federal program.

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