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.

VA CTO Peter Levin to leave agency

Peter Levin, the Veterans Affairs chief technology officer, is leaving the agency. He follows Roger Baker, the agency's CIO and assistant secretary in the Office of Information and Technology, who resigned last week.

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Work time spent on union activities at a 7-year high for feds

OPM issued its fiscal 2011 Official Time report. The data shows employees, on average, spent 2.82 hours on union-related work during official hours. The cost of official time also increased by almost 12 percent.

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VA CIO Baker to resign

Roger Baker, VA's assistant secretary in the Office of Information and Technology, helped improve the agency's management of IT projects, implement mobile devices and continued to address cybersecurity.

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DHS, DoD among agencies making slow, steady progress to get off High Risk list

GAO adds two new areas to the list, NOAA's satellite programs and the federal government's financial risk because of climate change. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro said nearly every initiative on the list made progress in fixing their problems over the last two years.

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New data analytics tool gives Postal Service IG head start on cases

Bryan Jones, the director of the Counter Measures and Performance Evaluation (CAPE) team in the U.S. Postal Service's Office of the Inspector General, said the development of a dashboard to help investigators visualize data more easily helped overcome initial resistance to these kinds of tools.
February 14, 2013

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IRS program, interagency contracting finally removed from High-Risk list

A total of 30 programs, once again, are considered troubled, including two new areas. But, the Government Accountability Office removed the IRS' Business Systems Modernization program after 18 years on the list, and interagency contracting after 8 years.

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Employee unions march on Capitol Hill to stop sequestration

AFGE, AFSCME rally against the potential cuts from sequestration as part of their week-long legislative conference. Union members are meeting with lawmakers to ensure they understand the broader impact cuts due to sequestration would have on the nation and the economy.

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White House issues cyber order, giving NIST, DHS lead roles

Senior administration officials say the Executive Order is not a replacement for comprehensive cybersecurity legislation, but the start of a new conversation for how best to protect the nation's critical infrastructure. NIST released an RFI Tuesday as part of its effort to create a voluntary, flexible framework. And DHS will expand the number of companies the government shares classified and unclassified cyber threat information with through the Defense Industrial Base pilot.

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Obama calls on Congress to stop sequestration, pass cyber bill

President Obama used his State of the Union speech Tuesday night to reiterate common management themes that have been part of the administration's push over the last four years.

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Inside the Reporter's Notebook: 2014 IT budget passback is much ado about nothing

News and buzz from the last two weeks includes a new legislative proposal from Rep. Darrell Issa on suspension and debarment and round two of the Presidential Innovation Fellows program.

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Agencies slowly knocking down cybersecurity barriers to going mobile

Through the Digital Government Strategy, several initiatives are underway to address IT security concerns. DHS created a security baseline architecture and is testing it through five use cases. GSA created a new secure online content platform for agencies to move websites and applications into a mobile environment.

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Postal Service's IG's office proclaims 2013 as year of mobile

Gary Barlet, the OIG's chief information officer, is taking a three-pronged approach to helping employees access data from anywhere, at anytime. The steps include virtualization, a BYOD strategy and cloud services.
February 7, 2013

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USPS employees to see less overtime, more buyouts under 5-day delivery plan

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said the service can no longer afford to delivery first class mail six-days a week. He said cutting back by one day a week would save about $2 billion a year. USPS still would have a $14 billion deficit and needs help from Congress to address other fiscal challenges.

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Agencies turn to HRStat to make better sense of workforce data

The Office of Personnel Management is doubling the number of departments to 16, taking part in data-driven reviews. The goal is to take the mounds of information available about an agency's workforce and spot trends to help plan for the future.

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OMB offers first major rewrite of grant-making, oversight processes

New proposed guidance from the Office of Management and Budget would streamline and consolidate grant regulations for every agency. Comments on the recommendations are due May 2.

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GSA's strategy for OASIS leaving vendors discontented

At an industry sponsored event, GSA tried to clarify its plans for the multi-billion dollar governmentwide contract, which will let agencies buy complex services from one place. Questions about how OASIS fits with the administration's strategic sourcing initiative and the expectation for price standardization were among the biggest areas of concern from companies.

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OMB lays out 11 goals to give Section 508 some punch

Steven VanRoekel, the federal chief information officer, and Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Joe Jordan issued a memo detailing a new strategic plan after a recent Justice Department compliance survey found mixed results. This is the fourth memo since 2005 from the Office of Management and Budget trying to get agencies to meet the law's requirements. David Capozzi, executive director of the Access Board, said new 508 regulations could be to OMB for approval this spring.

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NASA CIO Cureton to retire in April

Linda Cureton has decided to leave government service after 30 years, including the last four as the space agency's chief information officer.

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FAA's deputy CIO Cooper to leave government

Steve Cooper will head back to the private sector to his former management consulting business.

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Inside the Reporter's Notebook: Web analytics tool, reaction to FAS commissioner and FedRAMP

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

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