Miscellaneous

Learning Registry Plugfest 2

A few weeks ago, the second Learning Registry Plugfest took place at the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. Over the course of two days the community gathered together, worked across organizations (and technologies) and surfaced some critically important questions and ideas the will drive the next wave of development for theRead… Read more »

Christmas Vacuum

Well, I didn’t have a Christmas tree this year. Not even a fake one. But I did have a vacuum cleaner. A big red vacuum cleaner. With presents. It was just perfect. Of course, what does this have to do with procurement? Well, have you ever thought what it takes to manufacture an actual vacuumRead… Read more »

Don’t Worry; Trust the Government – Why Citizen Engagement is Difficult

It’s a rather obvious observation that the modern world is complex and confusing. There is a lot that have major influences on our lives but we don’t know much about. Things like climate change, global poverty, Mideast peace, etc. When we feel ignorant about a subject that affects us personally, we do research to learnRead… Read more »

Perry sues, Solyndra news, Lerner profile, and more political law links

GOOD MORNING. I hope you’re enjoying some time off until next year. Wondering what’s going on in political law news? Here are this morning’s political law links. SUPER PAC MAILBAG. Here. “The Strong America Now Super PAC is sending direct mail pieces to Iowans this week in support of Newt Gingrich while attacking Mitt RomneyRead… Read more »

How Does a Small Business Get on an IDIQ?

Some of the trends that have been written about in 2012, and beyond, is the government relying more and more on issuing task orders via IDIQ vehicles, as opposed to full and open competition and the normal acquisition process. Although many courses and consultants discuss winning these task orders, little information is available on actuallyRead… Read more »

Top 5 Women in Federal Gov’t of 2011

5. Elizabeth Warren – Former Chairman of the Congressional Oversight Panel; Former US Special Advisor to the President on Consumer Financial Protection; 2012 US Senate Democratic Candidate in Massachusetts After establishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Harvard Law Professor returned to Massachusetts to run for the United States Senate. Pundits were unsure how theRead… Read more »

Washington DC Area Hadoop Users Group (HUG)

If you are working on Big Data projects in or around the federal space a resource you will want to engage with (if you have not already) is the Washington DC Area Hadoop Users Group (Hadoop-DC). This is a group of user-practitioners and enthusiasts who meet to exchange lessons learned, discuss emerging technologies and networkRead… Read more »