NARA to move email to Google Apps for Government: This week, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) announced that it had awarded a $7.2 million contract to Unisys to transition more than 4,500 users to Google Apps for Government for email and collaboration. NARA said the move to cloud will help the agency perform its record management duties of safeguarding and preserving government records while giving its employees secure and efficient access to email and data as well as cut operational costs and improve the system’s uptime and availability. NARA is the latest in a string of agencies to implement cloud based email solutions. Other agencies that recently made a similar move to cloud email include: DOE, EPA, NOAA, and GSA as cloud based email is quickly becoming the norm in the federal space. Federal News Radio has the full report.
House Small Business Committee Questions GSA Move on Schedules: House Small Business Committee Chairman, Sam Graves of Missouri sent a letter earlier this week to GSA expressing his concern that the recent move by the agency to restructure the multiple award schedule to a Demand Based Model (DBM) would have a negative impact on small business viability in the federal marketplace and would not help the agency operate more efficiently or effectively. According to GSA the DBM strategy would allow it to shift resources to the areas of highest customer demand or pull resources away from areas where demand has declined. A lot of questions remain. FCW has a story on the debate.
OMB Data Shows DOD Making Progress on Data Center Consolidation: A recent OMB report shows that the Department of Defense is making significant progress in shuttering underused data centers, keeping them in line with OMB guidance under the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI). To date, DOD has shut down 114 of its approximately 1500 data centers, with more closures expected over the next few years. Predictions on savings to be achieved from the overall FDCCI effort, which aims to close more than 1200 federal data centers, range from $2.4 billion to upwards of $5 billion. Data.gov has the latest numbers
House of Representatives Settles on New Committee Chairs: The House leadership appointed committee chairs for the 113th Congress this week and there are a number of changes affecting the technology industry. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) will lead the House Judiciary Committee next Congress, while current Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) will move over and Chair the Committee on Science, Space and Technology. On the Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) will take over the gavel of the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee, a key subcommittee for the tech industry. The Hill has the wrap up.
Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG) at SIIA. Follow his PSIG tweets at @SIIAPSIG.