A government procurement summit – Plus the 7 Gov Stories You Need to Know

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER:

• Interns. They are the lifeblood of Washington. Every few months, a new crop descend on DC like a swarm of driven and focused locusts, hoping to make their agency just a little bit better. But at the same time, internships can be very expensive and time consuming for agencies. So how can agencies maximize internships, get the best and the brightest and still save money? Here’s a hint. Virtual.

But up front: A government procurement summit

It’s the truth — I have the best job in the world. After last week’s invigorating discussion on GovLoop’s DorobekINSIDER LIVE about government innovation, later this month, we are hosting something of a procurement summit.

Giving credit where credit is due, the idea came from Harvard Kennedy School’s Steve Kelman who recently wrong an interesting column in Federal Computer Week: Listening to some of the smartest government procurement people around.

And with all the discussion about the problems with government procurement — it is the most often cited factor for the HealthCare.gov problems — it seems like a good time to discuss the status of government procurement. It has been decades — early in the Clinton administration — since there were significant changes to government procurement. So I hope we can talk about what is working — and what isn’t. Is it time for new legislation? Do we have the right people?

• As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
• Who would you like to hear from?
• What are your biggest challenges these days?
• If you were in charge, what one thing would you change about government procurement?
• What does the government get right in government procurement?

GovLoop’s DorobekINSIDER LIVE procurement summit will take place on Wednesday, March 19 at 12n ET. Sign up here. I hope you’ll join us.

Meanwhile, if you missed any part of our discussion about government innovation:

• GovLoop’s DorobekINSIDER LIVE: From the Frontlines of Innovation

• GovLoop’s DorobekINSIDER: Okay to Make Mistakes: Leadership in Innovation

• And my take: GovLoop’s DorobekINSIDER: What I learned from government innovators

The SEVEN stories that impact your life

1. Washington Post: Obama to propose 1 percent pay hike for federal workers, troops – “President Obama will propose a 1 percent pay raise for federal employees and members of the military in the fiscal 2015 budget he announces next week.”

2. Defense News: DoD 5-Year Spending Plan $115 Billion Over Budget Caps, Ignores Sequestration – “The US Defense Department on March 4 will propose a five-year plan that boosts Pentagon spending by a total of $115 billion over sequestration spending caps, according to multiple sources who have been briefed on the plan.”

3. Washington Post: Obama budget without “chained CPI” would protect federal retirement benefits – “White House officials last week said President Obama will not propose a controversial cut to federal retirement benefits as part of his 2015 budget plan, despite offering the reduction last year.”

4. New York Times: Pentagon Plans to Shrink Army to Pre-World War II Level – “The proposal… takes into account the fiscal reality of government austerity and the political reality of a president who pledged to end two costly and exhausting land wars.”

5. GovExec: Hundreds of Presidential Management Fellows Haven’t Been Hired – “More than two-thirds of the 2013 finalists in the Presidential Management Fellows Program have not received jobs yet in the federal government, according to Office of Personnel Management.”

6. NextGov: New York Might Be First to Regulate BitCoin – New York “might be the first to develop bitcoin-specific regulation, and that could be a boon to business if firms that deal with virtual currency decide to locate where there’s more certainty on the regulatory front.”

7. FCW: Half of feds considering leaving government – “The three most common reasons cited were pay freezes, frustration with the political environment and higher salaries in the private sector.”

DorobekINSIDER water-cooler fodder… yes, we’re trying to help you make your water-cooler time better too…

• The New York Times: Columnist Thomas L. Friedman: How to Get a Job at Google: Laszlo Bock, the senior vice president of people operations for Google — i.e., the guy in charge of hiring for one of the world’s most successful companies — noted that Google had determined that “G.P.A.’s are worthless as a criteria for hiring, and test scores are worthless. … We found that they don’t predict anything.” He also noted that the “proportion of people without any college education at Google has increased over time” — now as high as 14 percent on some teams. At a time when many people are asking, “How’s my kid gonna get a job?” I thought it would be useful to visit Google and hear how Bock would answer.

  • Related: From CBSThisMorning: Google’s Eric Schmidt talks about what Google looks for in new employees – and announces a $1 million donation to solve problems through technology: Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen, Google’s ideas director, announce New Digital Age grants for groups or individuals that use technology to solve problems. Schmidt and Cohen also discuss the future of technology. Their best-selling book, “The New Digital Age: Transforming Nations, Businesses, and Our Lives,” comes out in paperback next week.

  • Schmidt: “What you need most is intellectual flexibility… We want people who can deal with future changes … I don’t know what the future holds, but I know at Google that I have the right people to figure it out.”

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• FastCompany: The Science Behind Your Ideal Work Environment: Few people get their best work done in a dull gray cubicle farm or a noisy open office. Here’s how to create the optimal work environment with the perfect temperature, lighting and noise levels.