On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER:
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Open source is a concept that is spurring new forms of collaboration. But is government in fact one big open source project itself? Insights’s from GitHub’s Government Evangelist Ben Balter.
The SEVEN stories that impact your life:
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Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has announced that the government’s borrowing ability will max out by mid October and that as a result, a new debt ceiling will have to be negotiated in Congress. The Government Executive reports that congressmen have already begun to prepare proposals for these upcoming negotiations. -
OPM is strongly encouraging government agencies to allow their employees to telework tomorrow to limit the increased amount of traffic in downtown DC. The high amount of traffic will be due to the festivities associated with the 50th anniversary of the 1963 civil rights march and the delivery of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech. Federal News Radio advises employees that choose to travel to work tomorrow to expect delays during both their morning and evening commutes.
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Union leaders representing civilian defense workers caution Pentagon officials against replacing civilian employees with more expensive military and contract personnel. They argue that such actions will result in higher employment costs for the Defense Department and thereby increase the need to layoff more civilian employees. The Federal Times notes that such statements are in reaction to the announcement that the DOD will have to layoff more than 6,000 civilian employees in 2014 to meet required sequestration cuts.
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In addition to addressing allegations regarding its mishandling of applications for tax-exempt status, the IRS is embroiled in multiple lawsuits regarding the transparency of the organization. The Government Executive notes as an example the current lawsuit being filed by Tax Analysts, a nonprofit trade publisher in Virginia, that is attempting to expedite the IRS’ response to its May Freedom of Information Act request. In this request, Tax Analysts asks for the materials used since 2009 to train personnel in the IRS tax exempt organizations office in Cincinnati, which is the office at the center of the investigation regarding the political targeting of nonprofits by the IRS.
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The U.S. Air Force has added eight companies to a contract for networking equipment and biometric hardware valued at $6.9 billion. Reuters reports that the decision to add these additional companies came after some of them filed a protest with the GAO concerning their having lost out on the initial contract decision this past April. Instead of reopening the competition or amending the terms of the bid, Air Force officials decided to simply add more companies to the contract. -
President Obama bestowed the nation’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, on Army Staff Sgt. Ty Carter yesterday for his service in the war in Afghanistan. Federal News Radio reports that Carter is commemorated for having saved an injured comrade, for participating in a day-long firefight to defend a U.S. outpost, and for contributing to the provision of ammunition and aid to his fellow soldiers. After the ceremony, Carter shared with reporters the significance of this event for both him and his family and boldly spoke out about his struggle with PTSD.
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The IT services contractor, USFalcon, has dropped its protest of the final solicitation for GSA’s OASIS program contract. Federal News Radio reports that USFalcon’s actions will save taxpayer dollars and government resources in that the GAO will no longer have to review the protest. However, USFalcon was not the only company protesting the OASIS contract. A pre-award protest filed by Aljucar, Anvil-Incus and Company continues with a decision being due by the end of next month. In the meantime, companies have until September 17 to submit final bids for the project.
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- The Atlantic: US Makes Way More Requests for Facebook user data than other countries
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