VA terminates $36M cloud deal: The Department of Veterans Affairs decided this week to terminate a $36 million cloud email deal with HP, citing material changes in the agency’s requirements. The original plan was to move some 600,000 VA employees to Microsoft’s government community cloud for email and calendar services. Although the contract was signed in November, 2012 no actual users – only test users – made it into the cloud despite the agency having the capability to do it. VA declined to provide any specifics as to what the requirements changes were and didn’t give any indication of what the next steps will be. According to this FCW report the now terminated deal cost VA about $150,000 plus whatever the termination settlement costs are. Stay tuned.
E-Gov Fund continues to face funding pressure: The Electronic Government Find seems to be under attack just about every year as appropriators look either to cut funding, merge it with other like-minded government entities or some combination of the two. This year the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government has proposed merging the E-Gov Fund with the Citizen Services Fund to create an Information and Engagement Fund and has proposed a total of approximately $40 million for the combined effort, nearly $15 million below the Obama Administration’s request and $6.5 million below last year’s enacted level (if funded separately). Expect continued discussion about this proposal as the bill moves through the process. Last year, where a similar proposal was made, good government groups and others stepped up lobbying efforts and were successful in having the two funds appropriated separately. Federal News Radio has a good recap.
Lawmakers introduce legislation calling for a Government Transformation Commission: Lawmakers in both the House and Senate introduced legislation this week calling for the establishment of a seven-member Government Transformation Commission to make recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of federal programs. Of the seven members, each appointed to three-year terms, four would be appointed by Congress and three be the President, with two of the President’s nominees serving as Co-Chairs. The House bill (HR 2675) was introduced by Rep. Cheri Bustos of Illinois and the Senate bill (S. 1297) by Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois. No word yet on whether or not the committees of jurisdiction have plans to move the bills through the legislative process. See the House bill here.
Deltek acquires Acumen: In industry news, Deltek announced this week that it has acquired Acumen, a leading innovative provider of project management solutions and services for project-oriented businesses. According to the press release, the addition of Acumen will allow Deltek to offer the “the world’s deepest project management for companies across a wide variety of verticals.” See the full release here.
Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG) at SIIA. Follow his PSIG tweets at @SIIAPSIG. Sign up for the Public Sector Innovation Roundup email newsletter for weekly updates.