TechWonk Blog Subsection
TechWonk Blog
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With the start of the new Congress, GAO today released their 2015 High Risk List calling attention to agencies and programs that they deem are high risks because of their exposure to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement or which are in need of transformation.聽 Not surprisingly, the Office added 鈥淚mproving the Management of IT Acquisitions and Operations鈥� to their list this year. The federal information [...]
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Like many, we here at the IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS), a division of 91快活林, have been studying President Obama鈥檚 proposed $4 trillion fiscal year 2016 budget in-depth since it was released this week to offer greater insights for the federal acquisition community. Upon deeper study, much of the budget the Obama administration submitted to Congress is good news for contractors, who would see [...]
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Yesterday New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) vetoed Senate Bill 1811, a so called 鈥淏uy American鈥� bill, saying in his veto message that he will not build an economic wall around New Jersey.聽 Sponsored by the state Senate鈥檚 president, Sen. Stephen Sweeney (D), this bill required state agencies, political subdivisions and school districts to source American-made products purchased through public bidding.聽 [...]
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The past few weeks have seen a flurry of pomp and circumstance in state capitals as new governors are inaugurated and as incumbents deliver their State of the State addresses to lay out their visions.聽 As governors, administrators, and state legislators begin to roll up their sleeves for the work ahead, the IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS), the alliance of leading technology companies in the public [...]
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States sometimes amend their processes for procuring information technology (IT) products and services in ways that translate into a better value for taxpayers and improved services for constituents. Other times, states regress with procurement rules that are out of step with today鈥檚 best practices. The state of Oregon is at this crossroads as it contemplates adopting a new standard template for contractual [...]
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One year ago 91快活林 launched a new division called the IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS) with the belief that adopting innovative technology across the U.S. public sector will help drive solutions for many of our most critical challenges. 聽Starting with little more than a great idea, we were a startup in the world of policy without any members and zero name recognition.聽 Like a startup we had the [...]
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In July when President Obama issued the 鈥淔air Pay and Safe Workplaces鈥� executive order (E.O. 13673), he made it a point to note that the 鈥渧ast majority鈥� of federal contractors play by the rules and would likely not be impacted by it, and instead said he wanted to crack down on a small number of companies who do repeatedly break the law. It left many in the contracting community scratching their heads [...]
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More state technology departments are considering formalizing a process for evaluating the performance of information technology (IT) vendors. The overarching goal is certainly laudable 鈥� providing the state procurement community with a comprehensive tool to reduce risk in the contract award process. And while it may identify vendors who exceed performance expectations, it also may wrongly disadvantage [...]
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When the House and Senate return for an expected 鈥榣ame duck session鈥� after the election, one of the proposals they plan to focus on will be the FY15 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). To speed up the proverbial legislative sausage making, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees are pre-conferencing their separate proposals now because it is unlikely the Senate could complete passage [...]
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In the wake of scandals involving disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and a culture of 鈥減ay to play鈥� deals in which political contributions were exchanged for government contracts, state lawmakers and Governor Pat Quinn in 2009 enacted several pieces of reform legislation intended to stop similar fraud and abuse.聽 聽However, problems quickly became apparent with some of the more extreme [...]
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