Author Archives: FCW

Agencies Back in Planning Mode

Posted on by

Originally posted on FCW by Adam Mazmanian

Agency CIOs are back at the drawing board, confidently planning long-term modernization and improvements with a two-year budget deal in place.

While the IT spending portion of President Barack Obama's 2015 budget request was the ostensible topic at the annual Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Agency breakfast on March 26, it was the deal in Congress for an end to the sequestration regime that introduced new predictability to feds and contractors.

"Last year I was joking about COBOL as a service," said Cheryl Cook, CIO of the Department of Agriculture. "We're doing better this year than last year. I don't think anyone is feeling smug."

Continue reading →

Telework Week Totals More Than 160,000 Participants

Posted on by

 

Originally posted on FCW by Frank Konkel

More than 163,000 people - the vast majority of them federal employees - teleworked at least one day during Mobile Work Exchange's fourth annual Telework Work, easily surpassing last year's then-record participation of 136,000.

For the second straight year, Telework Week, held March 3-7, received an influx of federal teleworkers following a late winter storm, but its continued popularity signals the growing influence of the mobile employee in the federal workplace, according to Mobile Work Exchange Cindy Auten.

As evidence, she referenced Telework Week's first official year, which drew 39,000 pledges, and it's unofficial, more humble beginnings that saw just a few thousand teleworkers in government.

Continue reading →

Army Looks to Virtual Training, Shared Intell Amid Budget Cuts

Posted on by
Originally posted on FCW by Amber Corrin

Amid stagnant budgets and declining force size, Army leaders routinely stress the need to maintain readiness. Finite funding has placed a greater emphasis on simulation, virtual environments and shared platforms for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in helping prepare soldiers for the next war.

The Army is planning to collapse at least three virtual programs into a single environment that encompasses integrated, across-the-board training, according to Army officials speaking last week at the AUSA Aviation symposium in Arlington, Va.

"For us to be able to execute realistic training, good training, we have to be able to bring that operational environment" into the virtual world and live gaming, said Brig. Gen. Michael Lundy, deputy commanding general at the Army Combined Arms Center. "As we look to the future, we are going to transition ... into the future holistic training environment, live synthetic. We want to get away from having multiple environments, virtual gaming and instruction, and go to one synthetic environment, get to a lower overhead and integrate the full operations process... according to the common operating picture."

Continue reading →

Sequestration, shutdown take a bite out of contractor revenue

Posted on by
Originally posted by Frank Kankel on FCW

WHAT: A study titled "Sequestration and Government Shutdown Negatively Impacting Majority of Government Contractors" by MarketConnections Inc. and Lohfeld Consulting Group, released Dec. 17.

WHY: Federal contractors took major financial hits from sequestration and the 16-day partial government shutdown in October. According to the study, nearly 31 percent of contractors reported revenue declines of more than 10 percent in 2013, with another 30 percent reporting declines of less than 10 percent. Sixteen percent of contractors surveyed - a mix of 220 large, medium and small businesses - flat-lined revenue, while 15 percent managed moderate to significant growth.

Continue reading →

GSA ponders offering new contract to cut conference costs

Posted on by

Originally posted by Matthew Weigelt on FCW

Editor's note: This story was modified to correct the planned location of GSA Expo 2013, which GSA decided to cancel.

The General Services Administration may create a new Multiple Award Schedule program to aid agencies in managing meetings and conference events in light of budget constraints, administration memos and congressional legislative efforts to keep a close eye on spending.

GSA's idea--the Meetings Management Program (MMP)--would offer a disciplined, enterprise-wide approach to managing conferences and events, including the activities, processes, suppliers and data regarding the meetings. The program would aim to save money, mitigate risk and improve meetings overall. The scope of the services, or level of complexity an agency orders, would be based on each agency's own requirements.

Continue reading →