Digital Government
A thing we can agree on
I recently attended a fascinating meeting about the contracting issues that will face the new administration.
Acquisition
Let vendors profit
We should welcome higher vendor profits when the vendor has delivered excellent results.
Digital Government
Championing share-in-savings contracts
At the recent Federal 100 gala, I ran into Ken Buck of the General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service, who received an award for his work promoting the use of shareinsavings contracting for information technology systems. Not surprisingly, Ken was in a good mood. The Fed 100 accolade no doubt helped raise his spirits for what has been a tough haul.
Digital Government
Results Act here to stay
Probably the biggest enemy of constructive change in organizations is the natural human tendency to get restless and bored.
Acquisition
Making 'mandatory' work
One of the characteristic features of the old order prior to procurement reform was the frequent requirement to buy computers from mandatory sources, such as the General Services Administration.
People
'West Wing' does feds right
I don't watch much television and have always been amazed at how much more I can get done when it's turned off. However, on Wednesday nights, there is a TV show I would urge everyone in and around government to watch: 'The West Wing,' NBC's weekly drama about President Josiah Bartlett (played by Martin Sheen) and senior White House staff.
Digital Government
Going commercial
There are two flavors available for many IT systems: vanilla and rocky road.
People
Don't pounce on failures
When NASA's budget came under pressure in the 1990s as part of efforts to balance the federal budget, NASA Administrator Dan Goldin did what few in Washington do: He accepted cuts without protest, wishing to challenge his organization to take a risk and show it could produce better results at less cost. Thus was born the 'faster, better, cheaper' regime.
Acquisition
Making business sense
Deidre Lee, who will be leaving her post as administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy in June to become director of Defense procurement, has long believed that contracting professionals need to rethink the role they play in the interaction between government and vendors.
Digital Government
Truth or fiction?
What's the buzz in the postYear 2000 information technology world? Security, to judge from all the conference presentations and articles in the trade press, is clearly hot.
Digital Government
Don't change travel regs
Five senators, including all four from Virginia and Maryland, recently sent a letter opposing a proposed revision to the government's rules for reimbursing contractors for hotel and meal expenses charged to costbased contracts. The senators are right to oppose the changes.
Digital Government
What makes a revolution?
In my Jan. 10 column, I noted an article from the Financial Times expressing skepticism about whether the Internet is creating a revolutionary change in people's lives comparable, say, to how people's work lives changed during the Industrial Revolution. I invited people to email me their reactions.
Digital Government
The new way to win
An important trend is brewing in the competition for big systems design contracts, and it deserves more attention: Vendors are starting to use commitments to performance and results to win government business.
People
Being a performance manager
Recently I taught in an executive education program that the Kennedy School conducted for senior General Accounting Office managers. My topic was performance measurement, especially the kind envisioned by the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), the 1993 legislation designed to move agencies to use performance measurement to improve overall government performance.
Acquisition
Revolution or evolution?
I recently ran across an article in The Financial Times with the headline 'Revolution? What Revolution?'
Digital Government
Competition adds value to IT contracting
About a year ago, the Federal Computer Acquisition Center (FEDCAC), which is part of the General Service Administration's Federal Technology Service, recompeted a contract for information technology disaster recovery services. The center originally had awarded the contract in 1993, prior to the gro
Digital Government
Remembering just how bad the bad old days were
On a recent flight, however, my interest was piqued when I glimpsed the celluloid pocket notepad holder of the woman sitting next to me.
Digital Government
First streamlining, now the results
Ever since 1996, when some scrappy entrepreneurs at the National Institutes of Health and the Transportation Department invented the governmentwide acquisition contract, my hope was that GWACs would serve two important purposes. One was to spread the use of multipleaward task order contracting aut
Digital Government
A helping hand across the digital divide
One of the highlights of this year's government/industry confab that the Industry Advisory Council (IAC) hosts every October in Richmond, Va., was an awards ceremony of a distinctly different sort. The award winner was not a senior executive in industry or government. It was Isabel Hinojosa, who is
Almost There!
Help us tailor content specifically for you: