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Collaboration for the Intelligence Community? Plus the DorobekINSIDER 7 Stories

Emily Jarvis

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER:

But First: U.S. intel community focuses on integration and collaboration

Integrating intelligence will continue to be the organizing principle for the future,” according to the FY2013 Congressional Budget Justification Book for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as posted by the Federation of American Scientists’ “The takedown of Osama Bin Ladin provided a prime example of what can be accomplished when the IC [intelligence community] works together toward a single goal, but every day the benefits of integration are visible throughout the IC. While we can never eliminate all risk of unauthorized release of classified information,” it states, “structural reforms have been implemented to improve technical security capabilities and information access policies” – Secrecy News.

And worth reading: HHS Innovation Fellows blog: Zac Jiwa

INNOVATION is an overused buzzword, especially in government circles. I do not mean to be negative or to take away from all of the good work being done by the Innovation teams here in the Fed, but, if I had a dollar for every time that I heard a reference to innovation…well, you get where I am going. It’s hip and cool to be seen as innovative, to “think outside the box”, to be “disruptive” or to be a “change agent”. But what does it really mean? And who decides? And what if the obvious answer is not innovative?

The SEVEN stories that impact your life

  1. President Obama has a new woman in mind for budget director. The Hill Newspaper reports, President Obama is likely to announce Sylvia Mathews Burwell as his next budget director. Burwell is a veteran of the Clinton administration, where she served as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. She is a close associate of former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and outgoing White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew, who is Obama’s pick to be Treasury secretary.
  2. Right now the Acting Budget Director, Jeffrey Zients, is acting more like the full director. Federal Times reports, with potential successor reportedly in the wings, Zients running OMB as deputy director. He quietly lost his “acting director” title four months ago. Under the Vacancies Reform Act, which generally limits acting gigs to 210 days (or about seven months), Zients’ tenure ended in September, OMB spokeswoman Jessica Santillo said in an email.
  3. Defense News reports, the U.S. Army is warning that it may face at least $17 billion in near-term cuts if Congress doesn’t get the nation’s fiscal house in order by a self-imposed March deadline to forestall sequestration. Adding to the budgetary drama is the continuing resolution (CR) that Congress has enacted to keep the Pentagon’s spending accounts funded, but which also freezes spending at fiscal 2012 levels and doesn’t allow for new funding lines to get programs off the ground.
  4. Government Technology reports, Virginia has gone mobile in its effort to keep citizens informed about statewide emergencies and disaster planning. The Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) launched the Ready Virginia mobile app earlier this month, featuring a variety of notification and planning amenities that can be used in the event of a flood, hurricane or other catastrophe.
  5. Federal union membership is on the rise. The Washington Post reports, in May of fiscal year 2012, 1.2 million federal employees were in a bargaining unit, according to the Office of Personnel Management. That’s an increase of almost 98,000 since 2002. Federal union membership though is the only union memberships to see increases.
  6. The Professional Services Council has formed a new commission with a group of industry experts that plans to give lawmakers ideas on smart procurement strategies as agencies continue to expand their purchases of information technology services, Federal Computer Week reported. The commission will review what the PSC considers systemic barriers to efficiency and innovation in government procurement.
  7. Federal News Radio reports, one of the longest-running governmentwide acquisition contracts is about to get a refresh. It’s the Solutions for Enterprise-wide Procurement, or SEWP. NASA says a draft request for proposals for SEWP-Five will come out Feb. 8. The final solicitation will come out this summer. SEWP Five will have a ceiling of $10 billion. It will encompass two broad product categories, computers and everything else like storage, networking and video-conferencing. NASA plans to set aside some product categories for small and service disabled veteran-owned companies. SEWP-four runs through 2014.

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