Yearly Archives: 2011

More good news: State social services budget and IT projections

Deltek Sr. Analyst Chris Cotner reports. With shaky financials negatively impacting state coffers, the debate on public social services provision is as hot as ever. One of the main drivers behind the discussion is the massive baby-boomer generation entering retirement. Since the recession, an additional qualifier has been the increased number of unemployment and underemploymentRead… Read more »

Connecting the dots: Open source, government, and economic development

Originally published on opensource.com. In part one of our interview with David Diaz, president and CEO of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, we explored how open source is applied to economic development, how his organization works with local government, and the programs Downtown Raleigh Alliance has implemented. Now, David tells us how influential open source isRead… Read more »

Why governments need a strategy for enterprise mobility now

Government agencies not only experience the budget squeeze, they feel mobility demands becoming ever more sophisticated increasing pressure from two sides: Their ecosystem increasingly uses mobile devices and demands for respective accommodation by the government, and, mobile devices and the productivity-enhancing apps that run on them become broadly affordable, a development sometimes dubbed as theRead… Read more »

Clouds v cartels

Interesting article by the erstwhile US government CIO Vivek Kundra, in the New York Times: AS the global economy struggles through a slow and painful recovery, governments around the world are wasting billions of dollars on unnecessary information technology. This problem has worsened in recent years because of what I call the “I.T. cartel.” ThisRead… Read more »

News of the Week

Here is a brief list of some of the interesting sustainability news articles from this week: Taking ‘Green Scissors’ to Gov’t Spending Could Save US $380B Carbon Capture Facility Breaks Ground in Illinois Western Grid 2050: Will it Be Clean or Dirty? U.S. Solar Company Bankruptcies a Boon for China And you’ll find more headlinesRead… Read more »

Criteria for Judging New Jobs Creation Initiatives

The Obama Administration is offering new job creation proposals. The success or failure of these initiatives depends on accurate problem definition. One major obstacle is stagnant consumer spending. In a previous post we remarked: Research on private consumption, going back 100 years, more or less emphasizes that individuals balance present and future satisfaction when theyRead… Read more »

No more free ride for Chicago seniors

September 1 marked the end of Chicago’s controversial seniors-ride-free program, and the transition was a little bumpy. Starting Thursday, most seniors were required to use new reduced-fare permits on the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, and Pace Suburban Bus. The Regional Transportation Authority (IL) also mailed more than 80,000 Ciricuit Ride Free cards to low-income seniorsRead… Read more »

Weekly Round-up – September 02, 2011

Gadi Ben-Yehuda Mobile, Apps, and Embedable Maps Bryan Yurcan reports that financial institutions are turning to social media to communicate with their customers during disasters, while Neal Ungerleider reports that the Navy is turning more and more to Google+ for its communications needs. FEMA, meanwhile, has released an app for use in preparation for andRead… Read more »

SCA Update: Labor Finalizes Mandatory Hiring Rule

Follow-On Contractors Must Hire Eligible Incumbent’s Employees In the latest chapter in the political tug-of-war over hiring displaced workers, the Dept. of Labor has published a final rule requiring follow-on contractors to give the right of first refusal to incumbent contractor’s employees on SCA-covered contracts. After 42, 3-columned pages of discussion and explanation, the LaborRead… Read more »