Spending Archives

The smartphone's rise in overseas markets is a "key development" that the State Department is watching over the next year, an adviser said Tuesday, signaling the agency's interest in using mobile technology to advance foreign policy goals.

The deployment of 3G and 4G mobile networks will enable more people to connect to the Internet at the same time and "up the stakes politically," said Ben Scott, Policy Advisor for Innovation at the Office of the Secretary of State. Mobile broadband penetration in the Middle East and Africa has lagged behind basic cellphone use. How international networks grow over the next 12 to 18 months will be monitored closely, said Scott. With that expansion, "there is going to be a whole lot more money on the table for pushing policies for attracting investment," he said.

Scott spoke at a panel discussion on the flow of Internet information hosted by Media Access Project, a Washington-based public interest law firm. His statement is the latest indication of State's push to leverage mobile technology to influence the political message in unsettled regions.

Using smartphones, activists can access Twitter and transmit photographs to the Internet. "Anyone with a smartphone can become a citizen reporter," he said.

State is also looking to use mobile channels to spread messages to stabilize regions. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, will fund programs that can "develop SMS messaging and other cell phone initiatives" for "countering extremist voices," it indicated in a grant document in November 2011.

It was reported last year that the State Department and Pentagon had spent at least $50 million on building an independent cellphone network inside Afghanistan. The network, created with towers on military bases, was set up to keep the Internet up even if official services were disabled.

State also has quietly supported the development of a phone app in which protesters can trigger a "panic button" that will delete all their contacts and transmit alerts to activists.

In just over the last three years, State would have spent about $70 million to promote free access to the Internet.

"The Internet is politically agnostic. It allows people to realize their desires whatever they may be," said Scott, "To me, that's the bedrock of Internet freedom -- and why it poses both vulnerabilities and opportunities for every government in the world, including ours."

The Defense Department organization charged with cyber combat is reinforcing military networks by moving much of DoD's computing to a space many civilian agencies view as insecure - the cloud. Cloud computing is the practice of storing and accessing applications in a shared online environment, instead of on in-house servers.

U.S. Cyber Command chief Gen. Keith Alexander told lawmakers on Wednesday the following:

"The idea is to reduce vulnerabilities inherent in the current architecture and to exploit the advantages of cloud computing and thin-client networks, moving the programs and the data that users need away from the thousands of desktops we now use--up to a centralized configuration that will give us wider availability of applications and data combined with tighter control over accesses and vulnerabilities and more timely mitigation of the latter."

The White House has been pressing agencies to outsource information technology services to the Web as a way of phasing out the federal government's more than 2,000 expensive, energy-sucking data centers. But many federal managers are fearful of losing their data in the cloud. What happens in the event of an online outage or if the communal, off-site servers storing their programs are hacked?

Alexander's explanation as to why the cloud will offer Defense good defense:

"This architecture would seem at first glance to be vulnerable to insider threats -- indeed, no system that human beings use can be made immune to abuse -- but we are convinced the controls and tools that will be built into the cloud will ensure that people cannot see any data beyond what they need for their jobs and will be swiftly identified if they make unauthorized attempts to access data."

White House officials on Wednesday circulated a memo, obtained by Nextgov, that encourages procurement officers to communicate with contractors before finalizing solicitations, in an effort to dispel misperceptions about conflicts of interest.

The idea is that companies know the costs and features of current technology better than the government so potential bidders should be consulted early in the process of drawing up system requirements for contracts.

"Although industry may have had their best technical representatives engaged with the program manager, the contracting officer should communicate to vendors as much information as possible about the government's needs as early as possible," states a copy of the guidance, signed by Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Daniel Gordon. "As a result of early communication, the contracting officer may learn some things that suggest that an approach somewhat different than planned may cause increased competition, more small business participation, lower prices, or even a better definition of the government's technical requirements."

Fears of contract protests or signing unauthorized deals have prevented some acquisition officers from talking to vendors, according to the memo. At the same time, industry may stay away -- out of concern that stepping over boundaries may bar them from future government business.

The document requires agencies by June 30 to develop plans for communicating with contractors. After the plans are reviewed by the White House, they must be made publicly available within a month.

Wednesday's memo takes pains to stress that nothing within the guidelines should be interpreted to "alter, or authorize violations of, applicable ethics rules, procurement integrity requirements, or other statutes or regulations that govern communication and information sharing."

After discussions with company representatives and agency staff, the White House identified the 10 most frequently-mentioned misconceptions about contractor-government fraternization:

1. "We can't meet one-on-one with a potential offeror." Fact: Government officials can generally meet one-on-one with potential offerors as long as no vendor receives preferential treatment.
2. "Since communication with contractors is like communication with registered lobbyists, and since contact with lobbyists must be disclosed, additional communication with contractors will involve a substantial additional disclosure burden, so we should avoid these meetings." Fact: Disclosure is required only in certain circumstances, such as for meetings with registered lobbyists. Many contractors do not fall into this category, and even when disclosure is required, it is normally a minimal burden that should not prevent a useful meeting from taking place.
3. "A protest is something to be avoided at all costs -- even if it means the government limits conversations with industry." Fact: Restricting communication won't prevent a protest, and limiting communication might actually increase the chance of a protest, in addition to depriving the government of potentially useful information.
4. "Conducting discussions or negotiations after receipt of proposals will add too much time to the schedule." Fact: Whether discussions should be conducted is a key decision for contracting officers to make. Avoiding discussions solely because of schedule concerns may be counter-productive, and may cause delays and other problems during contract performance.
5. "If the government meets with vendors, that may cause them to submit an unsolicited proposal and that will delay the procurement process." Fact: Submission of an unsolicited proposal should not affect the schedule. Generally, the unsolicited proposal process is separate from the process for a known agency requirement that can be acquired using competitive methods.
6. "When the government awards a task or delivery order using the Federal Supply Schedules, debriefing the offerors isn't required so it shouldn't be done." Fact: Providing feedback is important, both for offerors and the government, so agencies should generally provide feedback whenever possible.
7. "Industry days and similar events attended by multiple vendors are of low value to industry and the government because industry won't provide useful information in front of competitors, and the government doesn't release new information." Fact: Well-organized industry days, as well as pre-solicitation and pre-proposal conferences, are valuable opportunities for the government and for potential vendors -- both prime contractors and subcontractors, many of whom are small businesses.
8. "The program manager already talked to industry to develop the technical requirements, so the contracting officer doesn't need to do anything else before issuing the RFP." Fact: The technical requirements are only part of the acquisition; getting feedback on terms and conditions, pricing structure, performance metrics, evaluation criteria, and contract administration matters will improve the award and implementation process.
9. "Giving industry only a few days to respond to an RFP is OK since the government has been talking to industry about this procurement for over a year." Fact: Providing only short response times may result in the government receiving fewer proposals and the ones received may not be as well-developed -- which can lead to a flawed contract. This approach signals that the government isn't really interested in competition.
10. "Getting broad participation by many different vendors is too difficult; we're better off dealing with the established companies we know." Fact: The government loses when we limit ourselves to the companies we already work with. Instead, we need to look for opportunities to increase competition and ensure that all vendors, including small businesses, get fair consideration.

Ford Motor Company said Thursday it will become the first automaker to build and demonstrate vehicle prototypes that communicate with other vehicles. Using short-range communication, a technology similar to WiFi, vehicles will exchange information about possible hazards, such as imminent crash situations.

At the Washington Auto Show, Ford also said it will double its investment in intelligent vehicle technologies in 2011, although the automaker did not provide any figures for that investment.

How this technology might eventually play out in the federal fleet is unclear. On Monday, the Transportation Department launched a challenge to find ways for using wireless connectivity to improve road safety.

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, intelligent vehicles potentially could prevent more than 4 million police-reported light vehicle crashes annually, or about 81 percent of all such crashes involving unimpaired drivers.

Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner, who has probed contractor waste at the department since its inception, announced on Thursday that he will step down March 1.

Prior to his July 2005 Senate confirmation as IG, Skinner -- a four-decade veteran of the federal government -- had held the position of deputy IG at DHS since its March 2003 creation.

"After serving more than 42 years in the federal government, under nine presidents, I believe the time has come for me to give my full time attention to my family and personal endeavors," Skinner wrote to President Obama in a Jan. 13 letter of resignation. "Because of [the IG office staff's] commitment, professionalism and hard work, the OIG has been extremely successful in working with the department to promote the efficacy of its programs and operations, and to combat fraud, waste, and abuse within its ranks. Looking back over the past 9 years since the tragic events on September 11, 2001, we, as a nation, are now beginning to witness the positive effects of the creation of the department of Homeland Security."

It's not surprising that a department quickly cobbled together from 22 existing agencies would endure a fair degree of mismanagement. Most recently, in a report released Jan. 3, Skinner found that DHS had not tried to recover about $643 million in overpayments to 160,000 people who claimed they were victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Last summer, he revealed that department officials funding a new financial management system worth potentially $1 billion did not have suitable plans, cost estimates or staffing projection for the undertaking.

Skinner started his career at the Agriculture Department in 1969, and later moved on to managerial positions in the investigative arms of the departments of Justice, Commerce and State, as well as the Arms Controls and Disarmament Agency. He was honored with the President's Meritorious Executive Rank Award for serving FEMA, where he worked as acting IG, deputy IG and assistant IG for audits.

White House officials on Friday sent agency chief information officers and senior procurement executives a memo directing them to weigh open source options when buying technology.

Open source refers to technology based on nonproprietary parts, which allow third-party developers to improve and modify the product without having to pay the technology's maker. Advocates have said a move toward open source in the government could save taxpayer dollars and bolster security.

For example, in planning software purchases, "agencies should analyze alternatives that include proprietary, open source and mixed source technologies," states the policy, co-signed by Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, Dan Gordon --- Office of Federal Procurement Policy administrator, and Victoria Espinel, U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.

The guidance reminds agencies that, according to existing policies, buying decisions should "be free of preconceived preferences based on how the technology is developed, licensed or distributed."

Agency officials "should follow technology neutral principles and practices," which include selecting suitable technology on a case-by-case basis by considering factors such as performance, cost, security, compatibility, ability to share or re-use and availability of quality support, the one-page document states.

Hewlett Packard has nabbed a 10-year NASA megadeal potentially worth $2.5 billion to manage employees' personal computers and peripheral technology, space agency officials announced on Monday.

The job entails providing, securing and servicing most staff computers, agency software, mobile technology services, printers and other supporting infrastructure. Herndon, Va.-based HP Enterprise Services, formerly EDS, will be responsible for outsourcing some of the tasks to other commercial vendors under the contract known as "ACES," for Agency Consolidated End-user Services.

The fixed-price pact covers four base years of work, with two three-year option periods. Program managers will be based at NASA's shared services center in Mississippi.

ACES is part of a larger NASA effort, the IT Infrastructure Integration Program, intended to save money by consolidating procurements and centralizing information technology services. The new HP deal will replace an older long-term contract currently held by Lockheed Martin Corp. called the Outsourced Desktop Initiative (ODIN).

In February, Lockheed, one of the most established NASA business partners, announced the space agency had awarded the company a $230 contract extension for ODIN that ends in Oct. 2011.

The Mississippi facility where ACES will be managed -- operated by NASA, Computer Sciences Corp. and the states of Mississippi and Louisiana -- supports operations at all 10 NASA space centers.

Video game consoles are now more than just for fun. An Air Force supercomputer, built from off-the-shelf components, includes 1,716 PlayStation 3 game consoles.

The machine, known as the Condor Cluster, is estimated to be one of the greenest computers in the world. And if that wasn't enough, it also is the 35th or 36th fastest computer in the world, said Mark Barnell, director of high performance computing and the Condor Cluster project at the Air Force Research Laboratory, reported Government Computer News.

One of the main reasons to use PS3 processors was cost. Condor cost about $2 million to build, compared to $50 million to $80 million for a similar supercomputer, the Air Force said in a news release.

The computer also can read 20 pages of information per second, which makes it about 50,000 times faster than the average laptop, CNET reported.

Initial tasks for the machine, located in Rome, N.Y., include neuromorphic artificial intelligence research, in which programmers will teach the computer to read symbols, letters, words and sentences so it can fill in human gaps and correct human errors, CNET reported.

White House officials on Thursday morning released a 25-point implementation plan to execute one of the biggest information technology contracting overhauls since the 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act.

The problem the plan aims to tackle: Productivity gains in the private sector have outpaced government performance even though federal agencies spent about $600 billion during the past decade on technology to boost efficiency. The Obama administration's policy roadmap aims to dismantle the old way of installing new technology - which has been to design overly-ambitious systems that fall years behind in development - and create new procedures for quickly and cheaply upgrading machinery.

Here are some of the standouts on the to-do list:

• Reshape or terminate at least one-third of underperforming projects in the government's $80 billion IT portfolio within the next 18 months.
• Shift to a "cloud first" policy, where agencies consider moving to Web-based software and hardware before spending money on new systems. Each agency will identify three must-move services within three months, shift one of those services to the cloud within 12 months and then transition the remaining two within 18 months.
• Within 12 months, establish a tech fellows program modeled after the Presidential Management Fellows program to recruit graduate students with in-demand talents into IT program management.
• By mid-June, launch a website where industry and agency contracting officials can collaborate prior to the issuance of requests for proposals.

Because Transportation Security Administration officials didn't provide port authorities with test results on biometric card readers, the authorities bought the costly equipment without knowing whether it worked, according to the Government Accountability Office.

TSA currently is gauging the ability of various biometric card readers to scan so-called Transportation Worker Identification Credentials for controlling access to secure areas aboard vessels and at maritime facilities. Port authorities, truckers, longshoremen and other personnel were required to carry TWICs for ID purposes after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Due to poor planning, TSA didn't have time to rigorously test the access control technology before rolling it out at pilot ports in 2008 and 2009, according to federal auditors. TSA has since obtained the findings of the durability testing, but has not shared that information with port employees, GAO officials told lawmakers in an Oct. 22 letter released on Monday.

"According to representatives of four of the seven pilot participants we met with, not sharing the results of reader testing has limited their ability to acquire the equipment that meets the environmental and durability needs of their port facilities and vessels and has resulted in their expending important port security funds without any assurance that their investment will be fruitful," wrote Stephen L. Caldwell, GAO director of homeland security and justice issues.

The Homeland Security Department had made $23.6 million available for pilot participants through grants, according to a 2009 GAO report. Between 2002 and 2009, the government spent $111.5 million on the TWIC program.