Pay Freeze Paused? Plus the DorobekINSIDER 7 Stories

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER:

• Big Data is a word that’s being thrown around a lot recently. It’s a new term for an old problem; having too much data. Not an overly complicated issue to grasp, albeit the solution to the problem is a much more complicated one. With the federal Big Data market being estimated at $4.9 billion, government agencies need to begin looking toward a resolution. Click here for the full recap.
• Mobility is one of the major cornerstones of the Digital Government Strategy. And a new poll shows that 22% of people own at least one tablet device. So clearly the move to mobile is here and here to stay. But how does it work in government? Four CIOs weigh in.

The SEVEN stories that impact your life

1. The bill to freeze federal pay for another year has been postponed. Government Executive reports, the delay will allow some time for federal employee advocates to continue their crusade against the measure. The chamber scheduled a vote on H.R. 273 for Wednesday, but has decided to postpone its consideration, and instead move on legislation that would withhold congressional pay if lawmakers fail to pass a budget in the next few months.
2. No solution in sight for Congress on sequestration. The Washington Post reports, the House GOP’s bill would prevent a debt-ceiling stand-off in February. But even if everything goes according to plan, the agreement won’t do anything to stop the automatic, across-the-board cuts from taking effect on March 1, which both parties insist they want to avoid.
3. Meanwhile the House has begun working on a budget. Politico reports, Speaker John Boehner said Chairman Ryan is going to be working with all of us to draft a budget by the April 15 deadline. With the right reforms in place, Paul’s goal is to advance a budget that balances within a decade. I applaud that goal, and share it. Boehner hopes the budget will help ease conservative Republicans into signing a 3 month debt deail.
4. The CIO council has made some updates to the Clinger-Cohen Core Competencies. FedScoop reports, The document is used as the foundation for information technology curriculum development throughout the federal government as well as the development and implementation of IT workforce policy initiatives. The updates were added for IT governance, IT program management leadership, vendor management, cybersecurity/information assurance strategies and plans, social media, cloud computing, open government, information collection, and information accessibility.
5. The government has invited hackers to come help make it a safer place.CNET reports, the White House says “National Day of Civic Hacking” will be on June 1 and 2 and is inviting those with tech know-how to use their coding skills to improve communities across the country.”
6. Secretary Clinton took blame for the attacks in Benghazi during her testimony before the Senate. But NPR reports, Republicans were not happy with her answer. NPR reports, Republicans focused on the dispute over the Obama administration’s account of the Benghazi attack. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, and other officials initially referred to protests in Benghazi that spiraled out of control, rather than calling it a terrorist attack. The Obama administration now acknowledges there were no protests in Benghazi. But Republicans continued to press Clinton on the administration’s handling of case.
7. On GovLoop, you saw the Inauguration yesterday. Now check out our hour long program on how to survive it. DorobekINSIDER Live: Transition Survival Guide.

The DorobekINSIDER water-cooler fodder

• NYTimes oped: Thomas Friedman: Collaborate vs. Collaborate: That one word seems to have two different meanings on the two coasts. The other day, I was interviewing Alan S. Cohen, an expert on networks who has been involved in several successful start-ups. At one point, Cohen began talking about the importance of “collaboration” both within and between firms in Silicon Valley. Then he stopped and said it’s interesting that in Silicon Valley “collaboration” is defined as something you do with another colleague or company to achieve greatness — something to be praised — as in: “They collaborated on that beautiful piece of software.” But in Congress “collaboration” means something very different today. It’s the second definition — collaboration is an act of treason — something you do when you cross over and vote with the other party. In Silicon Valley, great “collaborators” are prized; in Washington, they are hanged. Said Cohen, who was vice president at Nicira, a networking start-up that recently sold for $1.26 billion: “In Washington, when they say ‘collaborator’ they mean ‘traitor’; here they mean ‘colleague.’
• Google blog: Fireside Hangouts: Join VP Biden in a discussion re gun violence