Yearly Archives: 2013

A Call for Research into Key Challenges Facing Government

This article was first posted by Dan Chenok at the IBM Center for the Business of Government blog. Last week, The IBM Center for The Business of Government released our most recent “Call for Research Proposals” – a guide to what key challenges faced by government will benefit from Center-sponsored reports in the next severalRead… Read more »

Five characteristics of an open source city

How can you apply the concepts of open source to a living, breathing city? An open source city is a blend of open culture, open government policies, and economic development. I derived these characteristics based on my experiences and while writing my book, The foundation for an open source city. Characteristics such as collaboration, participation,Read… Read more »

Centennial Colorado Utilizes Private Contractors For Many City Services

Centennial Colorado (a suburb of Denver) is a city of 100,00 people that was formed in 2001.Centennial has a policy of contracting with outside providers for all public services, unless there is a demonstrable, quantifiable advantage to providing services in-house. By contracting out services Centennial has approximately 51 full-time equivalent employees. The number of employeesRead… Read more »

Nonprofit Organizations: Myths and Facts

“Nonprofit” Does Not Mean “No Money” Recent news reports claimed that the IRS targeted extra scrutiny to conservative groups applying for nonprofit tax exemptions. It was much ado about nothing. But it’s time to clarify nonprofits’ legal status and their social roles in our culture. The Internal Revenue Service’s regulation of nonprofit organizations was aRead… Read more »

Who’s on the “Tour of Duty” of Government Innovation?

Answer: Badass Innovators. On Monday, the White House published the list of the second round of Presidential Innovation Fellows. The 43 fellows include multitalented engineers, entrepreneurs, computer scientists and designers, all tasked with developing solutions to improve lives, save tax dollars and create jobs. These “badass innovators,” as described by federal CTO, Todd Park, willRead… Read more »

DISA Kicks Off $450M Commercial Cloud Purchase

The Defense Information Systems Agency has released a draft request for proposals to acquire commercial cloud computing services through 2017 for up to $450 million. DISA is seeking to purchase commercial infrastructure-as-a-service tools and associated support services under the Commercial Cloud Services Provider program, the draft RFP released Monday says. Service lines covered under theRead… Read more »

Do you think that Public Private Partnerships can help the Postal Service overcome its current financial situation?

The U.S. Postal Service is in the middle of a difficult transition to position itself as a 21st century communications provider. The Postal Service sees new opportunities, but its current cash shortage makes it difficult to invest in modernizing aging facilities and vehicles, or developing new products to serve changing communications and delivery needs. Public-privateRead… Read more »

Was the IRS Doomed From the Start? – Plus the DorobekINSIDER’s 7 Stories

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER: Social media has revolutionized government’s interactions with its citizens. A new survey by NASCIO found 100% of state chief information officers said social media is apart of their business operations. 83% said they use Facebook. 81% use Twitter. 83% use Youtube. 80% of CIOs say social media is either essential orRead… Read more »

Creating an Evidence-Based Government

Policymakers are fixated on short-term budget austerity measures such as furloughs, pay freezes, and conference and travel spending. However, there is a small, but growing effort to take a longer, more strategic look at how to manage austerity by finding what works and targeting dollars there instead of to programs that cannot demonstrate effectiveness. ThisRead… Read more »