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- Contractors with security clearances lack path to report problems
- Proposed commission would give teeth to cost-saving ideas but some lawmakers skeptical
- Feds outside the Beltway react to furloughs
- Contracting executives guilty of 8(a) program fraud
- EPA CIO Jackson returning to private sector
- Navy strikes enterprise licensing deal with Oracle
- 29-year-old NASA engineer going where no one has gone before
- USPS reaches energy reduction goal ahead of schedule
- NOAA meteorologist helps save lives one storm at a time
- ICE Director John Morton stepping down
- NASA picks 8 new astronauts, 4 of them women
- House passes sweeping $638 billion defense bill
- NIH tops list of best companies for baby boomers
- Latest postal reform proposal OKs 5-day delivery
- IRS official contradicts claims about reviews
- House presses VA for more details after cyber attacks
- DoD maintains BRAC fight, despite opposition
White House wants to root out copycat programs - starting with STEM
The Obama administration's proposed fiscal 2014 budget called for consolidating or eliminating 116 of the government's 226 STEM initiatives and centralizing the coordination of STEM programs under just three agencies: the Education Department, the National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution. The administration's STEM proposal is one of the government's first visible steps in reversing some of the duplication that riddles the federal landscape and which some lawmakers have seized on as examples of government waste.
White House to mandate machine-readable open data
The guidance is two months late, but OMB is expected to issue it in early 2013. Todd Park, the federal CTO, said the White House also is updating the Data.gov platform and expanding the approach to healthcare data to other sectors.
OPM: Agencies can use flexible work schedule for science, engineering activities
The Office of Personnel Management wants agencies to use workplace flexibility to encourage federal workers to pursue activities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — or STEM.
Federal CTO plans new networking tool to spur innovation
The Innovation Networking Project will supplement traditional, face-to-face, networking with the goal of connecting federal visionaries, Todd Park said. He hopes the end result will remove stovepipes that have prevented big thinkers from finding each other.
Obama assigns new responsibilities for keeping government connected in case of emergency
In an executive order issued Friday, President Barack Obama laid out an all-hands-on-deck approach to developing policies for preserving government communications in the event of a national disaster or emergency. The order creates the Executive Committee on National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications — or NS/EP communications — to be staffed with high-ranking officials from eight agencies and departments
OSTP helping agencies take open gov to '2.0 level'
Chris Vein, the deputy chief technology officer for government innovation at OSTP, gives an update on how agencies have done in the past few years in carrying out their open government and transparency plans.
White House touts success of agency 'challenges'
Increasingly, agencies are using a tool at their disposal. Instead of issuing RFP's, they're issuing challenges. And according to a new report from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, agencies that have jumped on the challenge bandwagon have begun to "reap the rewards of well-designed prizes integrated into a broader innovation strategy."
White House, agencies commit $200M to solving 'big data' quandary
Federal technology leaders unveiled an initiative to develop better ways of harnessing the rapidly growing volume of increasingly complicated data sets, known as big data. The push is led by a joint solicitation — from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health — to develop the core technologies for reigning in big data. All told, six federal departments and agencies will take part in the program — committing more than $200 million in research-and-development investments.
Obama appoints Todd Park to federal CTO role
The White House announced today President Barack Obama will appoint Todd Park to serve as the next federal chief technology officer. Park most recently served at the CTO of the Health and Human Services Department and fills the slot vacated by Aneesh Chopra, who stepped down last month after three years in the position.
OSTP wants ideas on sharing data
The Office of Science and Technology Policy is turning to industry and academia for ideas on how to make sure publicly funded research data is available to the public. Under the America Competes Act, unclassified federally funded research has to be accessible to the public. OSTP wants ideas on how to make sure the data can be preserved, that it's interoperable and accessible, and that it can be reused and re purposed effectively. OSTP will develop recommendations for agency data policy and report them to Congress.
White House: No evidence of extraterrestrials
In response to a petition, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy official says U.S. government has no evidence of extraterrestrials.
OSTP wants help in making scientific data accessible
Under the America Competes Act, an interagency working group issued a RFI asking for input across 13 areas on how to ensure federally-funded research data is available for the long-term.
Wolf: Answers needed in OSTP China meeting
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) wants answers from Attorney General Eric Holder.
Cool Jobs: The Global Lawyer
Peter Roudik is the director of the 20-person staff of the Global Legal Research Center at the Library of Congress. The center serves all three branches of the government when they have inquiries about international laws.
NIST's cyber education plan open for comments
Ernest McDuffie, who oversees NIST's National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education program, joined the Federal Drive to discuss the initiative and the next steps for the program.
White House launches 4-pillar smart grid plan
The Obama administration released its policy framework for modernizing the nation's electric grid Monday. As has been the case in national strategies on other topics the White House has released recently, the administration wants the federal government to emphasize its role as a facilitator and standards author rather than a regulator.
OMB freezes new .gov websites
Federal CIO Vivek Kundra will develop policy and guidance to improve how agencies manage their websites.
How contests can help agencies do more with less
Incentives, contests, and challenges are being used by the federal government to help solve a multitude of problems. Robynn Sturm, Assistant to the Deputy Director in the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, discusses why this method is so successful.
February 1, 2011
OSTP loses another deputy CTO
Beth Noveck returns to New York Law School after spending two years at deputy chief technology officer for open government. She focused on the White House's transparency initiative.
Congress gives NIST a clear set of priorities
The America Competes Reauthorization Act authorizes the agency's programs and sets a path toward the future. President Obama signed the bill into law Tuesday. Several other science and technology agencies receive marching orders from lawmakers.
