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ARTICLES Locality adjustments fail to erase salary gap, critics say GAO: DHS should complete integration of cyber operations Presidential transition could put a damper on federal IT spending Army overhauls modernization program IG praises IRS modernization, with some exceptions TECH INSIDER What’s being discussed in the federal IT community The Origin of the CIO Who Could Be Obama’s Tech Czar? WEB HEADLINES Today’s IT news from around the Web
Don’t miss Excellence in Government on July 15th – Register Now and SAVE 25%! This premier professional development conference for federal managers will address Program and Personal Leadership: Keys to Success. Visit http://excelgov.com for full program details and use Promo Code EIGNL4 when you register via our online application. ARTICLES Locality adjustments fail to erase salary gap, critics say BY ALYSSA ROSENBERG, AROSENBERG@GOVEXEC.COM, GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE Locality and nonforeign area payments are not closing the pay gap between the public and private sectors, and could threaten recruiting and retention of the next generation of federal employees, workforce advocates told lawmakers at a Thursday hearing. Comment on this article in The Forum.”We can keep the people at the end of their career because they may have some retirement restrictions, and we can get people at the beginning of their careers,” said Kathrene Hansen, executive director of the Los Angeles Federal Executive Board. “When you’re in your 20s, it’s OK to share an apartment. But when they’re a journeyman, they can make an effective contribution, and they start thinking about getting married and having a family, they look around and say, ‘I can’t do this’ and flee to a lower-cost city.” Representatives from employee groups and the Office of Personnel Management suggested a variety of improvements to salary adjustments, which included basing payments on cost of living by county rather than prevailing local wages; fully enforcing locality pay provisions; offering housing subsidies to employees in areas with unusually high real estate costs; and expanding locality pay to areas covered by nonforeign area cost-of-living adjustments. Full story: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080627_7965.php?zone=ngtoday RETURN TO TOP GAO: DHS should complete integration of cyber operations BY JILL R. AITORO, JAITORO@GOVEXEC.COM The Homeland Security Department has failed to follow two of three recommendations issued by a special task force last year to integrate operations to improve response to disruptions of voice and data networks during emergencies, according to a report issued on Thursday by the Government Accountability Office. Comment on this article in The Forum.In September 2007, a task force created by DHS recommended merging the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, which analyzes cyber threats and disseminates warning information, with the National Coordination Center and the National Coordination Center Watch. NCC is the point of contact for the private sector on issues affecting the availability of the nation’s communications infrastructure, and NCC Watch coordinates with NCC members during a major disruption in telecommunications to restore service. ?You want common operating procedures without overlapping or duplicative roles,? said David Powner, GAO?s director of IT management issues. ?There are roles and responsibilities that will be kept separate, but everything needs to be tied to efficient and effective response.? Full story: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080627_7287.php?zone=ngtoday RETURN TO TOP Brought to you by the Excellence in Government Conference Presidential transition could put a damper on federal IT spending BY GAUTHAM NAGESH, GNAGESH@GOVEXEC.COM With a new president who will have limited influence over the federal budget until fiscal 2011 and uncertainty over the economy, spending on federal information technology projects will be constrained in fiscal 2009, according to an industry report. Comment on this article in The Forum.Due to the timing of the budget cycle, the new administration will have little flexibility with the fiscal 2010 budget, according to a study from INPUT, a Reston, Va.-based market research firm. The deadline for the president to submit a budget request to Congress is just two weeks after the inauguration in January. Growth in IT spending will average 4 percent per year over the next five years, the report said, with smaller increases in the first two years until the budget process shakes out. Full story: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080626_4500.php?zone=ngtoday RETURN TO TOP Army overhauls modernization program BY BOB BREWIN, BBREWIN@GOVEXEC.COM Under pressure from Congress and civilian leaders at the Pentagon, the Army announced on Thursday that it will make key changes to its $160 billion Future Combat Systems program. Comment on this article in The Forum.The Army has decided to shift initial fielding of components in the program from heavy armored units to lighter infantry brigades, and does not anticipate any overall cost growth, top service officials said at a Pentagon press briefing. Lt. Gen Michael A. Vane, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, said the decision to field FCS gear to infantry units reflected combat experience in Iraq and a revised plan to make the infantry soldier ?the centerpiece of our activity today and the program we are building tomorrow.? Full story: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080626_3839.php?zone=ngtoday RETURN TO TOP IG praises IRS modernization, with some exceptions BY JILL R. AITORO, JAITORO@GOVEXEC.COM The Internal Revenue Service continues to make progress in the modernization of its business systems, but budget shortfalls and inconsistent project management oversight could derail the program, according to an annual assessment by the Treasury Department?s inspector general for tax administration. Comment on this article in The Forum.The IRS launched its Business Systems Modernization program in 1999 to replace within 15 years its aging computer systems. Delays in the program and cost overruns led the agency in 2005 to take over as the project?s primary systems integrator, replacing Computer Sciences Corp. The IRS created a strategy to use legacy systems where it can deploy modernized systems on an incremental basis. The modernization program has improved since the IRS took over, the inspector general reported. The agency deployed new releases for the Customer Account Data Engine, its tax processing system. Between March and August 2007, the IRS processed about 11 million individual tax returns through CADE and sent out $11.6 billion in refunds. The agency also modernized e-File and deployed the first release of the Account Management Services system, which supports an instant address change application in CADE and enables the agency to notify taxpayers more quickly if their returns have mathematical errors. Full story: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080626_1117.php?zone=ngtoday RETURN TO TOP
TECH INSIDER What’s being discussed in the federal IT community The Origin of the CIO BY ALLAN HOLMES \| 6/27/08 \| 5:36 P.M. ET ComputerWorld posted a fun column on the origins of some of the more common technology words, including blog, wiki, byte and router. One entry is for chief information officer. Its origin, however, seems hard to believe. ComputerWorld reports: Read More: http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2008/06/computerworld_posted_a_fun_col.php RETURN TO TOP Who Could Be Obama’s Tech Czar? BY ALLAN HOLMES \| 6/26/08 \| 3:53 P.M. ET The Washingtonian.com yesterday posted an article asking readers to suggest who could fill the position as federal chief technology officer. Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama said he would appoint a CTO to coordinate the federal government’s technology infrastructure and to promote transparency into policymaking. The article reports such technology luminaries as Vint Cerf, known as the father of the Internet; Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer; and Amazon.com founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos. Putting aside whether any of these or other top tech executives would leave their day jobs in charge of some of the most powerful technology companies in the world (it’s hard to picture these barons of the tech industry in a government position), it raises the question of what skill sets are needed for such a position. Would someone coming from a high-profile private-sector job have the necessary knowledge and skill to manage through the bureaucracy? Would they become too frustrated with the rules and culture of resistance? Or would someone with government know-how (and some private-sector ingenuity) get more accomplished? Or, on the flip side, would they not be willing to take bold steps, if bold steps are needed? Read More: http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2008/06/who_could_be_obamas_tech_czar.php RETURN TO TOP
Announcing NextGov IT Security Sign up now at NextGov.com. It’s FREE! WEB HEADLINES Today’s IT news from around the Web Headlines from around the Web for Friday, June 27, 2008 Compiled by Melanie BenderTask force calls for acquisition improvements at DHS Washington Technology The Homeland Security Department is falling short in managing its technology acquisitions and needs to strengthen its efforts in that area, according to a new report prepared by a Homeland Security Advisory Council task force. . Indian Affairs Web site reconnected Government Computer News After years of litigation requiring its Internet links be disconnected, the Bureau of Indian Affairs is back on the World Wide Web. Judge James Robertson, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit, granted a motion last month to vacate the December 2001 consent order that required several of the Interior Department?s operating agencies to remove their Internet connections. . Senate eliminates emergency census funding Federal Computer Week The Census Bureau might not get an additional $210 million as a result of a recent Senate vote. The Senate voted 77-21 June 26 to remove the emergency spending designation from the funding, essentially dropping it from the fiscal 2008 Supplemental Appropriations Act. . FBI Data-Mining Slashed After G-Men Dis Congress Wired Blog Network Earlier today, a House appropriators voted to pull $11 million to expand a controversial FBI data-mining project, after the Bureau repeatedly stiff-armed Congressmen and their gumshoes in the Government Accountability Office. “By refusing to answer even the most basic questions about this program, the Department of Justice has given us little choice.In fact, we?re only doing what they told us to do,” said Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., in a statement. . Lexington government having computer trouble The Lexington Herald-Leader Two days after the city’s main server crashed ? severing network, e-mail and Internet access for most city employees ? the computer system was still not fully up and running Thursday. City employees now have limited access to e-mails, but they can’t access the Internet or files stored on the mainframe. Feds: We are ready for IPv6 D-Day NetworkWorld On June 30, federal government officials expect to declare an early victory on the Internet Version Protocol 6 front. But they admit that meeting the much-heralded deadline for IPv6 compatibility is just the opening salvo of a long-term battle to get their networks ready for the Internet of the future. Cisco, IBM, Intel, Juniper and Microsoft fight cyber terror together NetworkWorld Five major network hardware, software and services vendors are banding together to improve IT security by promoting faster responses to threats. The Industry Consortium for Advancement of Security on the Internet is a nonprofit organization created by Cisco, IBM, Intel, Juniper and Microsoft to address what it calls multi-product security threats. Senate delays vote on surveillance bill until July ComputerWorld The Senate has delayed a vote on a controversial surveillance bill that would allow a National Security Agency spying program to continue and would likely result in the dismissal of dozens of lawsuits against telecom carriers that participated in the program. A Company Computer and Questions About E-Mail Privacy The New York Times A lawsuit filed in federal court in Connecticut by Scott Sidell, who ran the finance company Structured Settlement Investments, involves an unsettled area of the law, where changes in technology create tension between expectations of personal privacy and companies? rights to monitor the equipment they provide to employees. The case?s unusual combination of facts, which are in dispute, paves the way for a decision that could help set a precedent for dealing with personal e-mail at work. RETURN TO TOP Renew Your FREE Subscription to Government Executive Today! It only takes 2 minutes to ensure continued delivery of Government Executive – the federal government’s business magazine. Visit here to renew online.
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