OMB tells CFOs to run SAVE Award ideas by broader audience

The administration will kick off the 2012 program to find money-saving ideas in a few weeks. Agencies will get to vote on a final list of ideas in the next few months.

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White House threatens vetoes for nearly all House appropriations bills

Congress is off to a strong start passing annual appropriations bills for fiscal 2013. But the White House has taken issue with several of the bills' provisions, with President Barack Obama threatening to veto many of the bills if they come come to desk.

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White House threatens to veto spending bills over pay freeze, cuts

The White House has threatened to veto two key House spending bills because of severe spending cuts at some agencies as well as federal pay and workforce provisions. In statements of administration policy, the Office of Management and Budget said appropriations bills for both Financial Services and General Government and the Defense Department stray from previously agreed to budgetary caps

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House committees demand transparency, 'insight' into sequestration

Congress is demanding more answers about how $1.2 trillion in budget cuts set to take effect in January will be applied across the government. The House Budget Committee Wednesday unanimously approved a bill directing the Obama administration to provide Congress a report that provides specific details about how the spending cuts will affect federal agencies and programs. Meanwhile, the House Armed Services Committee formally requested that the head of the Office of Management and Budget, Jeff Zients, testify before the committee on the "mechanics and impact" of the automatic cuts.

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OSC warns agencies of email monitoring restrictions

The Office of Special Counsel is reminding agencies not to target email monitoring of employees that could have a chilling effect on whistleblowers who report waste, fraud and abuse.

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OMB: Contingency operations subject to sequestration

The Office of Management and Budget has reiterated to lawmakers that the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration will apply to wartime funding. In a June 15 letter, to Rep. Buck McKeon, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Jeff Zients wrote that the Budget Control Act allowed no "flexibility" to exempt Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), from sequestration.

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Agency officials tout progress on security clearances

Agency officials from the Defense Department and the Office of Personnel Management, along with a handful of other agencies, cited significant improvements in both timeliness and accuracy in the security-clearance program at a Senate subcommittee. The agencies agreed, however, much work remained to maintain that progress and to take on new challenges, such as reciprocity and reinvestigation.

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House committee remains mum on federal pay raises

The Financial Services and General Government spending bill seeks to cut $2 billion from the president's request. The bill says nothing about granting feds a pay raise in 2013. The House committee follows the lead of Senate appropriators, which also remained silent on the issue.

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GAO: Faulty system lists rat-infested federal buildings in excellent condition

The administration has set steep goals in slashing the number of excess federal properties and the costs associated with operating them. But the main resource for tracking federal properties is plagued by unsound data collection efforts, inconsistent standards and inaccuracies, according to a new Government Accountability Office review.

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GAO gives Congress a hand for using data to make decisions

The 34-page guideline details how lawmakers can use performance information to ensure agencies are meeting their missions.

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Agencies given how-to guide for modular, agile IT contracting

Federal Chief Information Officer Steve VanRoekel and Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Joe Jordan released the guidance that highlights possible risks or challenges, and offers checklists, templates and other tools to make the move to this smaller, more outcome based approach easier for agencies.

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Designing applications for mobile devices

Doug Brashear from Navigation Arts joins host John Gilroy to discuss design options for the mobile platform.
June 12, 2012

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OFPP, SBA trying to fix small business contracting shortcomings

Procurement chief Joe Jordan and SBA Administrator Karen Mills highlighted three long-time challenges in a new memo to senior agency officials. Agencies have until July 9 to detail steps they will take to address three areas.

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Where is the Digital Government Strategy on the Journey to the Cloud?

June 8th, 2012

OMB just released the Digital Government Strategy, calling upon Federal Agencies to identify and deploy innovative solutions to deliver high quality services to citizens and an increasingly mobile workforce - and to do so with significantly improved efficiency. To accomplish this goal, Federal organizations will need to further eliminate silos, establish a common platform for accessing and managing data and leverage device agnostic/mobile enabled applications. Interested in learning more?

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NWS could furlough 5,000 employees to cover budget shortfall

The National Weather Service says it must furlough as many as 5,000 employees for 13 days by Sept. 30, unless Congress allows the agency to move around funds within its budget.

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VanRoekel says IT reform plan 'shocked' system into change

OMB highlights successes of 25-point strategy on its 18-month anniversary. Federal CIO Steve VanRoekel said agencies saved $100 million from moving email to the cloud. There now are more than 1,000 qualified program managers in the new job series. The IT reform plan helps institute culture change from CIOs on down.
June 7, 2012(Encore presentation July 5, 2012)