Yearly Archives: 2012

How do you manage a department that might not be around in a year?

The clock is ticking on the Recovery, Accountability and Transparency Board’s run. The group’s who’s got the worst acronym in government, the RAT board, is tasked with tracking the recovery-related funds. It’s a very visible job. But there’s a another catch, the watchdog agency might close in year. Kathleen Tighe just took over as theRead… Read more »

One True Expert

David Weinberger is one of my heroes. He was one of the four who wrote The Cluetrain Manifesto, which laid out the “why” of social media. He has a hot blog The Journal of Heuristic Organizations (JOHO), and he has a new book, Too Big To Know, one of several recent books defining how information,Read… Read more »

Use the FAR to stop Iran from getting the bomb

Slogging my way through the DAU online COR training has generated a question. If we translated all Federal Acquisition Regulations into Farzi and secretly insinuated them into Iranian government policy, wouldn’t that completely halt their ability to procure anything, let alone a nuke, in under 50 years?

The end of the RAT Board, Information Overload and Undercover CEO — all that and more!

The end of the RAT Board, Information Overload and Undercover CEO, all that and more! by GovLoop Insights Here is what we have for you today… There is a new chief watchdog at the Recovery, Accountability and Transparency Board. It’s a visible job. She takes over from Earl Devaney. And she has a tough taskRead… Read more »

Q and Art: Folk Art

This post is part of an ongoing series on Eye Level: “Q and Art” and is the successor to our series “The Best of Ask Joan of Art.” Begun in 1993, Ask Joan of Art was the longest-running arts-based electronic reference service in the country. We retired the service late last year but want toRead… Read more »

Putting “Commercial” Back in Commercial Item Contracting

As GSA works to establish the “Next Generation” of the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program, it is a wonderful opportunity to reinvigorate commercial best practices in the federal market place. As its best, the MAS program provides access to millions of commercial services and products to customer agencies. It is the largest, most successful commercialRead… Read more »

Daily Dose: Small donors make up the base of Santorum, Paul, Gingrich fundraising efforts

Are you excited about the candidacy of Rick Santorum? Ron Paul? Newt Gingrich? Looking at the percentage of small donors who have contributed to their campaigns, many voters are. What about Mitt Romney? According to fundraising numbers, not likely. Though Romney has by far the most funds raised at $63.2 million, he has the smallestRead… Read more »

Wikis: Better Internal Communication During Crisis

You’ve worked all day. At 6 p.m., a crisis within your agency or city now demands your all-night attention. For communication professionals handling media requests, the difficulty of maintaining message continuity is a common dilemma. When a colleague finally rescues you after an all-nighter, you then face the task of communicating about communication. What mediaRead… Read more »