Is the so-called high-road contracting policy, which would favor the awarding of contracts to companies with labor-friendly policies, such as higher wages, dead in the water? If Heather Higginbottom’s remarks to a Senate panel are any indication, it’s at least floundering. Higginbottom, testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee in confirmation hearings [...]

In the wake of WikiLeaks, many observers predicted a chilling effect on information sharing. After all, the accused leaker Pfc. Bradley Manning, is alleged to have exploited the joint Defense Department and State Department computer network, originally created to give forward-deployed soldiers valuable in-field information, to pass on information from secret diplomatic cables to whistle-blower [...]

National coordinator for health IT Dr. David Blumenthal, who announced last month he would return to academia, said successful efforts over the past two years to get healthcare providers on board with electronic health records mean the initiatives will be in good hands even after he steps down. On top of that, the push for [...]

Fresh into her new role as the General Services Administration’s chief acquisition officer, Mindy Connolly sat down for a short Q&A with The Washington Business Journal to discuss the two-way street that is communication between the government and contractors. Connolly, who was previously an analyst with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and has also [...]

Chris Vein, the newly appointed deputy chief technology officer for government innovation, delivered his first public remarks since joining the White House’s tech team late last month and provided a few hints into what to look for. TechPresident reports Vein, previously CTO of San Francisco city and county, didn’t dwell much on his new duties, [...]

Richard Spires, chief information officer of the Department of Homeland Security, has been elected vice chairman of the federal CIO council, a cross-agency conclave devoted to best practices in federal IT management. U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra made the announcement at a recent Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association conference, Federal Computer Week reported. [...]

In recent House Appropriations Committee testimony, the now-canceled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle was held up as a symbol of Pentagon waste by both members of Congress as well as Navy leaders. Rep. Norman Dicks (D-Wash.) said the EFV, which, after years of development and speculation as to its fate  was finally axed by Defense Secretary Robert [...]

When President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address, called for the administration to undertake a sweeping federal reorganization, including merging and consolidating redundant programs, he characterized it as a need for the government to “think big.” But it’s clear the administration won’t be thinking big, alone. Members of Congress have indicated they [...]

With the revelation this week that the White House is expected to appoint Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to the top ambassadorial post to China, speculation has already begun swirling around who will succeed Locke as the administration’s point person on business and industry. The Hill reports that Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the Federal Communications [...]

Many federal employees carry two mobile devices: one for work and the other for personal use. For federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, who spoke recently at an AFCEA Bethesda conference, that’s one smartphone too many. He said federal IT departments would benefit by leveraging the power — and the ubiquity — of employee-owned smartphones [...]