Department of the Interior News 
Top News
- DoD to pursue commercial alternative to VA's VistA
- FedRAMP achieves another cloud security milestone
- OMB reworking financial systems to focus on outcomes, not inputs
- PHOTOS: Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal Finalists
- Causey: Today, everybody's a Sooner
- House GOP panel moves on deep budget cuts
- Star witness to stay mum for House hearing on IRS
- OMB director taps VanRoekel to lead management team
- Lew taps government retiree pension fund
- SBA starting new lending program for veterans
- New Apple devices cleared to join DoD IT networks
- Army prioritizes access to data in fight over intelligence IT system
- DoD upends slow approval process for mobile devices
- Senior execs' bonuses under fire at agencies
- Wednesday federal headlines - May 22, 2013
Interior, DoD to convert unused bases to energy projects
Interior estimates 13 million acres in the Western United States have high winds, lots of sunlight, or sit on top of geothermal sources.
Reorganization and Restructuring in Government presented by Deloitte
The next five to 10 years may represent a once-in-a-generation period of challenges and opportunities for the Federal government. The question isn't whether or not your organization will be affected by the shifts but whether or not your organization will be out in front of them.
Reduced budgets combined with unchanged - or more complex - missions have resulted in increasing workloads, which have sent agencies searching for ways to leverage limited resources while striving to improve mission performance. So, how can agencies reduce inefficiencies and redundancies without significantly impacting their core missions?
Improving IT security at your agency
W. Hord Tipton, executive director of The International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)2, talks about his tenure as CIO of the Department of the Interior, and what you can do to protect data at your agency.
July 17, 2012
Wildland firefighters win federal health benefits
President Barack Obama will make federal health insurance available to about 8,000 temporary wildland firefighters, a White House official said Tuesday.
Ranger's body recovered from Mount Rainier
After two weeks of delays due to weather and avalanche danger, the body of a Mount Rainier National Park ranger who fell to his death during a rescue operation was recovered Thursday by helicopter.
Suspension, debarment a 'business decision' for agencies
Agencies are using suspensions and debarments more often as a way to stop or prevent doing business with contractors who lie, cheat or just do shoddy work. David Sims, chairman of the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee and a suspension and debarment manager at the Interior Department, gives an overview of the use of suspension and debarment governmentwide.
Federal Drive interviews -- June 14
National Security Agency officials says it's a good news/bad news situation with the nation's cybersecurity. David Sims of the Interior Department said debarment and suspension are powerful tools.
IG offices thrive despite lack of permanent leadership
Ten agencies do not have Senate-confirmed inspectors generals. Four have been waiting for more than 1,000 days for a nomination or confirmation. But House lawmakers found that agencies without a permanent IG still are making a lot of progress in rooting out waste, fraud and abuse.
Interior email contract saga ends with Onix, Google winning
The agency announced it awarded Onix, the company which protested the 2010 contract, a $35 million deal to provide email-as-a-service to 92,000 employees. Under the terms of the deal, Onix must fully migrate Interior employees to the cloud by December.
Performance improvement has 'turned the corner' in government
Shelley Metzenbaum said agencies are doing a better job in setting outcome-based goals and using data to measure their progress. OPM is finalizing guidance and training to use the competence models for performance improvement positions. Treasury and DHS are setting their own path to using data to meet their mission goals.
U.S. reaches historic agreements with 41 Indian tribes
The Justice Department has reached a $1 billion settlement with 41 American Indian tribes that had brought 72 separate lawsuits against the U.S. government. Some of the disputes are more than a century old.
OMB launches PortfolioStat to reduce commodity IT spending
Agencies have to meet a series of milestones starting in June to eventually migrate two commodity IT functions to shared services or strategic sourcing contracts. VA, GSA, Interior and Patent and Trademark Office have tested the concept of managing by portfolios as well as vendor management organizations.
Senator blocks Interior's Salazar from receiving pay bump
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was on track for pay raise that would have brought his salary on par with other Cabinet secretaries, until Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) gave him a quota. Until Salazar each month approved six new deep-water permits to allow exploratory oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, Vitter would block the raise.
Obama administration two-sided on openness, expert says
Angela Canterbury, director of Public Policy at the Project on Government Oversight, said the Obama administration's efforts at transparency and openness have garnered mixed results.
Interior pursues diverse, satisfied workforce
John Burden, the Interior Department's chief diversity officer, told The Federal Drive with Tom Temin what Interior's diversity plan looks like and what he thinks is the best way to achieve the agency's goals.
OMB reports contract spending stayed flat in 2011
A new report shows agencies already cut the use of management-support contracts by 7 percent in 2011. OMB details four focus areas to continue to reduce spending on contracts for 2012.
Discretionary Budget Authority 2008-2013
A look at the discretionary budget authority for Cabinet-level agencies from 2008-2013.
Interior trying again to move email, collaboration to cloud
The department released a new RFP asking for a host of services. Interior made an award in 2010 to a Microsoft provider only to see a Google provider protest and eventually force the agency to pull back the contract.
Obama pushes for veterans jobs programs
In an effort to cut the unemployment rate among veterans, President Barack Obama is calling for a new conservation program that would put veterans to work rebuilding trails, roads and levees on public lands.
Will Interior's new mobile portal pave the way for other agencies?
With the launch of a new portal this week, Interior Department employees can now use their own mobile devices to log on to the agency's network. Mark Forman, the first E-gov administrator at the Office of Management and Budget and the co-founder of Government Transaction Services, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss what Interior's new policy could mean for other agencies.
