Government

Information technology vendors who sell hardware and software to the federal market are keenly aware of significant flaws in the way government agencies purchase IT. An effort to reform IT procurement has been conducted by the Obama administration for the last two years -- with some improvement. Som...

The current winter of discontent in the U.S. Congress over federal finances does not bode well for cooperation in other areas. Yet legislators push on, and among top Congressional priorities for 2013 is the enactment of legislation regarding the role of the federal government in dealing with nationa...

The new Congress is now tackling a flurry of general proposals for comprehensive immigration reform, but only one specific, narrowly focused piece of legislation has already been introduced in the Senate: a plan to vastly increase the number of non-citizens who can pursue jobs and education in the U...

Citing national security concerns, the Justice Department on Tuesday asked the FCC to put the brakes on the pending Sprint-Softbank merger. The DoJ, FBI and DHS are reviewing the buy for national security, law enforcement and public safety concerns, according to a letter Justice sent to the FCC. "We...

The USPS is hosting a pilot project with the goal of simplifying the account ID process for all federal agencies. One possible solution: allowing citizens to use their existing e-commerce accounts to access agency websites. While electronic mechanisms enable federal agencies to provide some online g...

Major programs designed to reduce costs and improve healthcare through the automation of medical records have fallen short of the potential to do either, according to a recent Rand Corp. report. The effort to convert paper health documents to electronic form got a huge boost from the Health Informat...

Dish Network has asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to pause its review of Softbank's proposed $20.1 billion acquisition of Sprint while the two companies battle over their bids to buy Clearwire. Dish contended in a filing this week that the FCC's review of Softbank's acquisition is "u...

For IT vendors in the federal market, the saga of the 2011 Budget Control Act presents some slight benefits in the very short run, even though reduced federal spending may have a longer-term impact. The BCA set the stage for a 10-year program to control the rate of federal spending and reduce the na...

The FCC plans to open up a new batch of wireless spectrum to bring faster and more reliable access to public WiFi hotspots, its chairman announced Wednesday during a talk at the 2013 CES, although it will have to overcome some obstacles. The commission seeks to free up 195 Mhz of spectrum in the 5 G...

The fast pace of mobile technology development can improve the ways we share information almost overnight, with new applications and more powerful devices rolling out on a regular basis. Federal agencies, far from settling for the status quo normally associated with government, are trying to keep up...

Microsoft announced last week it will provide its latest software, including Windows 8, to the Department of Defense in a $617 million deal that the DoD said will help streamline costs and foster inter-agency collaboration. Under the three-year deal, the Air Force, Army and Defense Information Syste...

Small businesses often find it challenging to gain access to the federal information technology market, despite efforts by government agencies to smooth the procurement process for small companies. In a move to provide more opportunity for small businesses, the federal General Services Administratio...

How much do federal agencies need to spend on data center consolidation investments now, in order to save money later? It could be quite a lot. The U.S. Department of Labor, for example, figures that $60 million or so will do the trick in meeting its data center consolidation goals. Last month, DOL ...

The U.S. government's program to consolidate federal data centers presents an opportunity for improving IT management that goes well beyond the objective of just trying to tidy up data center operations and save a little money. As a result of the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative, the num...

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday announced that it has demanded nine data brokerage companies explain how they collect and use consumer data. The nine are Acxiom, Corelogic, Datalogix, eBureau, ID Analytics, Intelius, Peekyou, Rapleaf and Recorded Future. These sites offer information on just...