Women of the World. Literally!

STS-131 Space Shuttle Discovery lit up the dawn sky this morning as she broke free from gravity’s grip to reach low Earth orbit on her way to the International Space Station. Lift off! STS-131 Space Shuttle Discovery. Photo: NASA TV Onboard Discovery, three female astronauts: NASA’s Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger and Stephanie Wilson andNaoko Yamazaki of JapanRead… Read more »

TSP Talk – Jobs Were Positive, but…

Weekly TSP Wrap-up from TSP Talk Jobs were positive, but… The holiday shortened trading week closed on a positive note on Thursday with strong gains across the board for stocks. Although there was no trading on Friday, the March employment numbers were released, and while the +162,000 was huge increase in jobs, it was actuallyRead… Read more »

Facebook Page Removed – NOW RESOLVED!

Thanks Everyone! Our Page Was Restored! Just our luck… Right in the middle of health care reform, TRICARE, the military health plan, seems to be missing a Facebook fan page! It happened April 2nd for no apparent reason. Here’s an interesting blog with a similar story. If you visit facebook.com/TRICARE, you’re re-directed to your homeRead… Read more »

Opening Up on Open Government

I had a pretty unique privilege earlier this week – and frankly, as a huge transparency advocate, I’m still a bit electrified by the experience – in getting to attend a series of briefings at the White House Conference Center by individual government agencies to collaborate with stakeholders on how best to adopt the principlesRead… Read more »

Limits of government?

Last week my wife told me that college loans will now be handled exclusively by the government. I thought, “Well, that’s it for education.” The problem is that government is set up on a bureaucratic model, which in the 1700’s was the most advanced management system designed to control the Bureaus (regions) of France. ThereRead… Read more »

Federal Eye: Eye Opener: Agencies to pay bills in a FIT fashion

Happy Monday! The Obama administration on Monday will open a new office at the Treasury Department designed to help federal agencies pay their bills more efficiently. The Treasury Department and Office of Management and Budget will merge some financial management responsibilities into the new Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT). The office’s 10 toRead… Read more »

Inherently Governmental Functions

Work Reserved for Performance by Federal Government Employees From the federal register ….Appendix A: The following is an illustrative list of functions considered to be inherently governmental.1. The direct conduct of criminal investigation. 2. The control of prosecutions and performance of adjudicatory functions (other than those relating to arbitration or other methods of alternative disputeRead… Read more »

Ahead of the Game: Blueprint for the Reform of Australian Government Administration

Hi there Govloop members. This is a lengthy post. I apologise for that. It’s been a while, but the Blueprint has finally been released. Go take a look. The Conversation On 29 March I was lucky enough to be able to attend ‘APS Reform: A Conversation’ at the Museum of Australian Democracy. This event wasRead… Read more »

Crowdsourcing: gathering information to support forest fire fightings

On the 29 of March, in Rome, an interesting workshop took place, organized by AIIC (Italian Association on Critical Infrastructures – http://www.infrastrutturecritiche.it/).The workshop was attended by experts, corporates and national research centres representatives. The aim was to share projects, thoughts, approaches and solutions on how to manage the safety and security of critical infrastructures. TheRead… Read more »