Digital Government

Majority leader's aide uses Quora for ideas on social media

The start-up website Quora is making inroads in government, with a recent question posted by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

Modernization

Study: One-fourth of federal websites surveyed rank high in transparency

Federal websites that do well on transparency also score high in customer satisfaction and participation, according to the ForeSee market research service.

People

Engaging the public in federal rulemaking, Gov 2.0-style

Getting more people involved in federal rulemaking is not easy, but the Regulation Room website is seeing some interesting results.

Digital Government

Top CBP procurement execs show lighter side at Industry Day

Many of the top IT and procurement officials at Customs and Border Protection were on hand to share information and a few candid remarks at Tuesday's Industry Day.

Cybersecurity

Converting contract IT workers to employees saved $27M, official says

Converting IT contracting jobs into federal jobs is said to have provided $27 million in savings for the enterprise IT division at Customs and Border Protection.

Cybersecurity

AFCEA Homeland Security conference starts today

AFCEA sponsors one of the largest homeland security conferences in the country, which begins today in Washington.

Digital Government

FDA wants 33 percent budget increase

The Food and Drug Administration wants a $4.3 billion budget that has new spending on IT, food safety programs, generic drugs, vaccines and regulatory science.

Modernization

Archives budget would drop 10 percent

The National Archives and Records Administration would get $423 million under the president's budget proposal, a 10 percent cut.

People

8 agencies face big IT cuts

Federal CIO Vivek Kundra reveals the agencies that would see the sharpest IT cutbacks in fiscal 2012 under the administration's IT management reform plan.

Digital Government

VA asks for 11 percent more but IT budget doesn't change

The Veterans Affairs Department is requesting a 10.6 percent increase overall and a flat budget for its IT programs.

People

Open government initiatives might not work, CRS suggests

A new report from the Congressional Research Service recommends that Congress evaluate whether the White House's transparency agenda is effective and how much it is costing.

Digital Government

Justice seeks 2 percent budget increase, some IT cuts

The Justice Department requests increases for financial investigations and counterterrorism while reducing some IT programs.

Cybersecurity

Homeland Security requests flat budget

Some of DHS' 22 agencies are projected to see double-digit increases, while others are slated for substantial cuts.

Digital Government

White House's bad e-mail luck

The White House e-mail system was a hot topic recently after the system experienced an outage and then was named as a possible source of cyberattacks in the United Kingdom.

People

EPA wants ideas on e-rulemaking experiment

The Environmental Protection Agency has nearly completed an e-rulemaking experiment it's conducting at the Regulations.gov Exchange website.

Cybersecurity

FEMA loses 7 years' worth of major official reports

The Federal Emergency Management Agency lost its entire database of post-disaster reports for 2003 to 2010 due to a computer server failure, according to a new audit.

Digital Government

State Department shows off digital skills on Twitter

The State Department is having a busy week on Twitter and at its headquarters for an open-source technology conference.

Acquisition

Budget constraints could help IT

While there is more cost-cutting ahead for federal budgets and contracting, federal IT services are likely to be an oasis, says a new report.

People

HHS tests exchanging personal medical data over Internet

The Health and Human Services Department has begun testing direct, secure exchange of personal medical data over the Internet.

Digital Government

VA's blog grapples with possible suicide notes

The VA Vantage Point blog has seen a recent pattern of distressing comments that could be suicide notes posted by veterans.