Category Archives: Event News Articles

Event News Articles on GovEvents Blog includes editorials directly pertaining to Government & Military Event News.

Supporting Veterans In Their Second Act

Posted on by

Each year approximately 200,000 servicemembers transition to the civilian world. For many, this means finding a new career path and unfortunately, this search can prove to be incredibly difficult. The unemployment rate among veterans tends to be higher than the general population. Two major challenges drive this statistic: First is the complexity of translating military work experience into civilian terms. Second is the difficulty for many active-duty military to complete traditional education, certification, and licensing programs in a timely manner. Continue reading →

Job Fairs to Become Two Ring Events With Online and In-Person Options

Posted on by

Job Fairs exist to provide both job seekers and employers a convenient place to get access to a large number of what they are looking for -- jobs or qualified people. During the pandemic this process became even more convenient and scaled to provide more access to people and companies as these events moved online.

Like every organization, Job Fair organizers had to make a quick shift in March 2020 to move their events online. From canceling physical venues to choosing an online platform, these organizations were able to get up and running in a matter of weeks. Virtual Job Fairs generally allow visitors to click on a company's "booth" and read through material on their work, benefits, and open opportunities. Conversations typically begin with a text chat and can be elevated into a video chat with just a click for more in depth discussions.

Continue reading →

Planning Toward FY 2022 – A Peek at the Federal Budget

Posted on by

The Biden Administration recently issued its request for 2022 spending. This practice is really more of a policy effort than actual budgeting, but serves to illustrate administration priorities to inform agencies as to what is likely to get approved in the final budget. The 2022 budget request has a number of IT-specific priorities, starting with the funding of the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) at another $500 million for fiscal 2022. This would be in addition to the $1 billion that was invested as part of the American Rescue Plan Act--money that helped support the ongoing effort to digitize government services and operations.

The $58.4 billion in IT spending includes marked increases in the IT budgets of the Treasury Department, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Homeland Security. NASA and the Department of Commerce had small reductions to its IT budgets.

Continue reading →

Coordination is Key to CDO Success

Posted on by

Chief Data Officers (CDOs) are one of the newer positions in government, but their role is quickly becoming one of the most critical. A CDO is charged with overseeing data-related functions, including data management, ensuring data quality, and creating data strategy. For government agencies, this requires close coordination with the Federal Data Strategy and the DoD Data Strategy.

Both of these documents define the specific roles and responsibilities of data officers and provide a framework for working with and securing data. Of course, each agency has unique requirements and missions, leaving the CDO to work out how to apply this guidance and standards to their organization.

Agencies are meeting these guidelines and integrating CDOs in different ways. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced a department-level CDO office to better integrate data into its operations and those of other agencies. The need for this level of coordination was underscored as DHS launched a department-wide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs health centers. DHS needed to identify, contact and manage responses from workers, which meant collecting and reconciling many different datasets from across the department.

Continue reading →

Agility. Enabled by Agile.

Posted on by

Agility has been a key attribute for success over the past year and a half. Everyone had to quickly adapt in their personal and professional lives to do things in new ways to keep business and society running. Even the great bureaucracy of government found itself pivoting and quickly changing "how it's always been done" to meet the needs of the day. This should not end with the return to what feels like pre-pandemic normal. In the form of Agile methodology, Agility will play a huge role in the government's ability to continue the fast-forwarded digital push as a result of the pandemic.

Just as government pushed agencies to try Cloud with the "Cloud First" initiative, some are suggesting the same approach for Agile. An "Agile-First" evolution would have a huge impact on IT modernization efforts, accelerating the move from legacy processes and technology to a modern digital approach. The response to COVID-19 showed that the government can move quickly in changing how they do work (across all areas of government). An Agile-first "mandate" could institutionalize that speed and make it the rule rather than the exception.

Continue reading →