Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

See the following -

GAO Faults Oversight Of IT Investments

Nicole Blake Johnson | Federal Times | January 22, 2013

Many of the government’s information technology investments lack proper oversight and transparency and end up over budget or behind schedule, according to David Powner of the Government Accountability Office. Read More »

Government Has Dropped The Ball On IT Reform, Lawmaker Says

Joseph Marks | Nextgov | July 10, 2013

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., lashed out at government technology leaders on Wednesday for being slow to adopt cost-saving reforms laid out early in the Obama administration and for failing to adequately report their progress. Read More »

House Oversight Chairman Calls IT Budget Request Misleading

Joseph Marks | Nextgov | April 11, 2013

The chairman of the House committee that oversees most government information technology spending on Thursday criticized the $82 billion IT request included in President Obama’s fiscal 2014 budget proposal, saying the figure is likely misleading. Read More »

House Seeks Details on VA's Health Record Push

Adam Mazmanian | FCW | April 30, 2014

House Republicans are seeking clarity and detail from the Department of Veterans Affairs on plans to improve the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture electronic health record system and make it interoperable with a Department of Defense effort that is still in the planning stages.

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Ignore Those Rumors: The White House Doesn’t Oppose IT Reform, Lawmaker Says

Joseph Marks | Nextgov | August 16, 2013

The perception among federal technology watchers that U.S. Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel and other officials from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget oppose a plan to overhaul government IT spending is off the mark, a co-sponsor of that bill says. Read More »

Inside Obama's Stealth Startup

Jon Gertner | Fast Company | June 15, 2015

The new hub of Washington’s tech insurgency is something known as the U.S. Digital Service, which is headquartered in a stately brick townhouse half a block from the White House. USDS -employees tend to congregate with their laptops at a long table at the back half of the parlor floor. If there’s no room, they retreat downstairs to a low-ceilinged basement, sprawling on cushioned chairs. Apart from an air-hockey table, there aren’t many physical reminders of West Coast startup culture—a lot of the new techies are issued BlackBerrys, which seems to cause them near-physical pain...

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Interior to Rebid Cloud Contract After Yearlong Legal Squabble

Joseph Marks | NextGov | January 11, 2012

The department withdrew the original award in exchange for a federal judge's agreement to also dismiss a yearlong legal challenge by Google, which said Interior unfairly structured the contract in such a way that essentially guaranteed Microsoft would win.

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Investing in people keeps the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on mission.

Tony Bingham and Pat Galagan | ASTD | November 8, 2012

As deputy secretary of VA since 2009, W. Scott Gould has shown himself to be a true champion of human capital. He has fought for and won training budgets that support more than 60 learning and development initiatives to help VA employees deliver on their mission of service—and show measurable results. We talked with Gould at VA headquarters in Washington, D.C. Read More »

Is The White House Trying To Blow Up An Open Data Bill?

Andrea Peterson | Washington Post | January 29, 2014

The case for open data is pretty straightforward: Citizens deserve access to the information created with their tax dollars. Publishing that data in a format that's easy to search, sort and download could unleash a wave of innovation. If the private sector had access to government data it could find new ways to leverage it -- creating new services for consumers and new jobs. Right now, we're a long way from that ideal. Read More »

Issa Proposes Legislation To Reboot Federal IT

Joseph Marks | Nextgov | September 20, 2012

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is floating proposed legislation that would drastically reform the way federal technology is purchased, including by granting agency chief information officers authority over their information technology budgets. Read More »

IT Projects May Not Be Getting Enough Oversight

Joseph Marks | Nextgov | November 16, 2012

The White House should do a better job of tracking whether agencies’ major technology projects are at risk of going off the rails and agencies should perform more oversight on their operations and maintenance spending, according to two recent watchdog reports. Read More »

IT Reform Should Focus More On The Outcomes Than Tactics, Vanroekel Says

Rebecca Carroll | Nextgov.com | May 8, 2014

With information technology evolving faster than laws governing federal contracting, legislation to reform how government buys and builds IT should focus more on results than on specific methods of achieving them, the federal chief information officer told lawmakers Thursday.

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Lawmakers Grill Federal CIO On Data Center Figures

Wyatt Kash | InformationWeek Government | July 26, 2013

Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel, speaking before a House subcommittee Thursday, defended the Office of Management and Budget's sudden acknowledgement that the number of federal data centers now totaled more than 7,000, more than twice the number that had been reported as recently as May. Read More »

Marina Martin: Building A New Digital Service At VA

Adam Mazmanian | FCW | December 19, 2014

As chief technology officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs for the past year and a half, Marina Martin has been streamlining VA's disparate online customer relationships into a service that is focused on veterans...

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Mikey Dickerson: No Paper Pushing At US Digital Service

Jack Moore | Nextgov.com | September 15, 2014

Mikey Dickerson has already bucked Washington convention with his rumpled shirts and notable lack of neckwear.  Now, the head of the U.S. Digital Service, a newly formed White House office responsible for improving government technology projects, is putting the federal IT community on notice: Don’t expect any paper pushing from his office...

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