3D Christmas challenge, a GSA cloud deal and 'improper gratuities'

White House launches 3D printing challenge

The Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Smithsonian are pairing up for a holiday ornament contest -- but it might not be what you expect.

The winner of the Christmas ornament 3D printing challenge will get their design 3D printed and featured at the Smithsonian's 3D data platform, 3d.si.edu.

"With the democratization of tools and technologies like 3D printing, individuals have more opportunities to take their ideas and turn them into reality," Stephanie Santoso, OSTP senior advisor for Making, said in a blog post announcing the contest.

"Once a technology that was incredibly expensive and used primarily for industrial applications, 3D printers are now available for about the cost of a laptop, and in some cases even less," Santoso said.

This will be the first time the White House will be decorated with 3D printed ornaments; submissions are due Nov. 10.

GSA taps Booz Allen for cloud

The General Services Administration chose Booz Allen Hamilton to provide cloud service broker solutions to support its Federal Acquisition Service Integrated Award Environment. Under terms of the five-year, $64.5 million contract, Booz Allen said in an Oct. 30 statement that it will design, develop, implement and operate a single, common services platform to provide future IAE core applications with hosting, search, database and data store, reports, visualization, identity and access management and application programming interface management.

'Improper gratuities' lead to CEO resignation

The chief executive of Intelligent Decisions, an Ashburn, Va.-based IT contractor, has resigned after the Justice Department found that the firm had paid "improper gratuities" a Defense Department procurement official.

The violations took place five years ago and the firm has yet to disclose who in its ranks made the payments. The Washington Business Journal first reported the news.