Acquisition

FEMA official: Local businesses must understand federal procurement

Those businesses' ability to understand federal contracting in an emergency such as Hurricane Katrina is crucial, FEMA's acquisitions director said.

Modernization

A few minutes with Pritesh Gandhi

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People

Real ID regulations moving slowly, two governors say

State executives also oppose using DHS grant money for the driver's license program.

People

HSPD-12 checks prompt lawsuit

Workers at NASA lab reject HSPD-12 background checks as too intrusive.

Digital Government

Agencies urged to use EA to safeguard data

Mike Castagna, the Commerce Department’s chief information security officer, preaches about the close relationship that should exist between an agency’s enterprise architecture and its information assets.

People

Technology Administration head resigns as agency nears end

The Bush administration is replacing Commerce-based agency with a departmentwide council.

People

Coast Guard to test TWIC waters

The agency is looking to buy 300 card readers to test aboard at ports and aboard ships before broader deployment.

Modernization

FBI CIO: Culture inhibits info sharing

Zalmai Azmi said the intelligence community isn't used to the concept of sharing information and therefore worries about security and leaks.

People

Border states to test hybrid IDs

But experts say the ID tests won’t resolve problems in creating national standards.

People

28 NASA scientists sue over HSPD-12 checks

They filed a class-action lawsuit against the directive, which they say violates their privacy rights.

People

NASA needs boomer expertise

Brain drain could mean a serious setback for the agency’s next trip to the moon.

People

EPA CIO wants better search capabilities

The growing number of agency documents that are converted into digital formats and dumped online is the source of the problem, Molly O'Neill said.

People

GAO: NASA needs a plan for management modernization

The space agency must show how all its systems will work together before it can begin integrating them, GAO said.

People

Congress takes aim at US-VISIT

DHS must fix security holes; funding may be cut.

People

TSA could lose FAR exemption

Lawmakers want TSA to follow the same procurement rules that everyone else does.

People

NASA makes most of IT in workforce planning

The space agency wins praise from GAO for its use of technology in managing staff for current and future missions.

People

DHS convenes classes online

Employees explore educational possibilities available to them through a new Web portal.

People

Online talent tools assist HR in shaping fed workforce

More managers are using the tools to decide when they need to train existing employees, hire new employees or employ contractors to fill gaps.

People

House tries to defund pay system

DOD has brought 113,000 civilian workers under the new pay-for-performance rules.

People

NIST director resigns

William Jeffrey will become the director of the Science and Technology Division at the Institute for Defense Analysis.