Interior Moves Ahead with $10B Cloud Contract: Earlier this week the Court of Federal Claims struck down an argument by Centurylink that the Department of Interior’s solicitation was too vague to ensure fair competition, allowing the $10B cloud services contract to move forward. The contract for cloud services and hosting was originally awarded on May 1st to 10 companies, each eligible for awards of up to $1B over 9 years. Federal Times has a recap.
Senate Appropriations Bill Fully Fund E-Gov and Citizen Services Fund: The Senate Appropriations Committee approved its mark of Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill, which contains language fully funding both the E-Gov Fund and the Citizen Services Fund. The House counterpart legislation, approve earlier this year sought to combine the two funds and reduce the total amount of funding significantly. The Senate bill keeps the funds separate and includes the White House requested level of $20M for the E-Gov Fund and nearly $35M for the Citizen Services Fund. The $20M for the E-Gov Fund is significantly more than last years appropriated level of $12M. Differences between the House and Senate will have to be ironed out as the appropriations process moves forward. Fierce Government IT has more.
GSA Launches IT Solutions Navigator: On August 6th, GSA launched an online tool designed to help agencies determine which IT acquisition vehicles best meet their needs. The tool, called IT Solutions Navigator, is designed to make purchasing IT easier, by providing users with online tools and market research to match their needs to available solutions. See more here.
Government Shutdown Corner: With Congress out of town for the August recess, most of us will have to wait to see how the how the talks progress on a deal to keep the government operating beyond September 30th. Before leaving town, House Speaker John Boehner called on Congress to pass a short term continuing resolution to keep the government open, while continuing to work to pass the remaining individual appropriations bills that the House has not yet passed. Congress returns to work on September 9th and is only in session for 9 legislative days in September. Politico reports on Boehner’s statement.
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.