Cloud/Gov News

SIIA Alert: Government Shutdown Looming � How Government Contractors Should Prepare

Fri, 20 Sep 2013 17:01

With Congress and the President seemingly at loggerheads over federal spending, there is an increasing possibility that the federal government will shut down on October 1 when the funding for the current fiscal year expires.�� While we�ve been down this road before, each of the last 3 years for example, prudent business planning suggests that government contractors should be preparing themselves in the event there is a shut down.

What�s the status?� Congress has failed to enact any of the 12 annual appropriations bills for FY 2014 and the current fiscal year funding is set to expire at midnight on October 1, meaning funding for the entire federal government is at stake.� On September 20, 2013 the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government through December 15.� Also included in this legislation was language defunding the so-called Obamacare health care plan.� The Democrat-controlled Senate is expected to strip the language defunding Obamacare and send the bill back to the House.� This sets up a potential gridlock situation and it is unclear if either side is willing to budge.

Why does this matter?� As a government contractor you need to be prepared in the event of a shutdown, since funding for many if not all of your current contracts may be affected.� Your employees are reading the news and they know the potential and they want to know their leadership is making contingency plans.

What should you do?� OMB has sent a memo to government agencies telling them to prepare for a shutdown and prudent business planning suggests you need to be ready too.� Here�s a quick checklist of things you should be doing and thinking about related to a potential shutdown:

Be Proactive:� Don�t sit back and let the rumors swirl, take charge of the situation within your company.
Communicate:� Communicate honestly, early and often with your employees about what you know and what you expect will happen if the government shuts down.� Make sure your company speaks with �one voice.� This will keep misinformation (i.e. rumors of furloughs and layoffs) to a minimum.
Understand Your Contracts:� Review your current contracts to understand which will be affected in the event of a shutdown and which will continue.� Projects funded by revolving funds for example won�t be affected.
Gather Intelligence:� Gather as much intelligence as possible by talking to industry partners and trade associations and having your engagement managers talk to their contracting officers and COTRs, i.e. the client.
Set Up a War Room: �Set up a formal process inside your company to monitor developments related to the potential shutdown, a �war room� if you will.� Be ready to kick it into high gear if a shutdown occurs.

Let�s all keep our fingers crossed and hope that Congress and the President are able to work out an agreement that keeps the government open and operating beyond October 1, while preparing yourselves for a potential shutdown through effective communication with your employees and smart business planning. Contact me at mhettinger@siia.net or (202) 789-4456 with any questions.

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.

SIIA Welcomes Progress on Federal IT Acquisition Reform; Expresses Lingering Concerns

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 19:20

SIIA today welcomed the advancement of federal IT acquisition reform. Earlier today, the House of Representatives passed an amendment (Amendment #166) authored by Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee adding the language of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) to the FY 2014 National Defense Authorization Act.� With this action the proposed reform has taken another step forward, but SIIA continues to have concerns with a number of provisions in the bill.

Federal IT acquisition reform is long overdue, and we appreciate the work of Chairman Issa, Rep. Connolly and their respective staffs to recognize the critical need for reform move it forward. FITARA puts in place needed changes in IT acquisition, including increasing the authority of federal CIOs, promoting data center optimization, and recognizing the importance of a highly trained IT acquisition workforce.

SIIA has worked closely with Chairman Issa and other members of the Committee to revise the legislation since its March mark-up, while the Committee has moved forward with many of the changes, including those that preserve the important role of Value Added Resellers (VAR) in the federal market, the organization �remains concerned about the net effect of the changes to the language around the use of open source software and the language that would alter the application of FISMA by, in essence, codifying the FedRAMP program.

While SIIA is pleased to see FITARA move forward and remains supportive of its overall objectives, we still have concerns with a number of specific provisions. We have expressed our concerns to the committee and look forward to continuing to work with Chairman Issa and interested members in the U.S. Senate to resolve these lingering issues, and ensure that the bill has the intended positive impact on the federal IT marketplace.

Data Driven Innovation Case Study: Pearson-Enabling the Digital Ocean to Improve Student Outcomes

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:36

Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) benefits all sectors of our economy, increases efficiency, saves money and resources, and improves quality of life. From safety and security, to the environment and infrastructure, to health and education, the opportunities for DDI to improve our lives are boundless. In SIIA�s whitepaper, Data-Driven Innovation A Guide for Policymakers: Understanding and Enabling the Economic and Social Value of Data, we explored the ways our member companies are leveraging data to provide cutting edge solutions. Here�s one case study, from Pearson:

Today, we�re in the digital ocean. We can gather information about students� daily learning activities and interactions with content as they happen in computer-based instruction. The increase of technology-based learning in schools enables us to have all students doing meaningful activity on digital devices. Computers now allow us to capture all kinds of data about what students do as they interact with learning material, seamlessly recorded as they go about their daily learning activity. These interactions can produce an �ocean� of data that, if used correctly, can give us a completely different view of how students progress in acquiring knowledge, skills, and attributes.

This ability to capture data from everyday student learning activity should fundamentally change how we think about assessment.

Invisible assessments allow us to gather information much more frequently without interrupting the flow of instruction, hence the term �invisible.� This lets us provide teachers, students, and parents with feedback about progress immediately and in time to make adjustments to teaching and learning. It also eliminates the common complaint about the heavy time requirements of traditional assessment.

By capturing many, many observations of a student�s learning activity over time, we are able to build models of student learning and proficiency without the pressure of performance on a single test.

David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.