Going green is no longer just a good idea. It’s a requirement — at least in future federal acquisitions. Earlier this week, Federal Times reported on a new federal acquisition regulation mandating that going forward, nearly all new contract activity, such as task and delivery orders will have meet energy-efficiency standards. The interim rule was [...]

President Barack Obama in a presidential memorandum issued this week took federal sustainability efforts further than ever with a new pledge requiring all vehicles purchased for the federal fleet to be alternative-fuel vehicles by 2015. Agencies are also directed to meet the required 30 percent decrease in petroleum consumption by 2020 under a previous executive [...]

Energy Department Secretary Steve Chu recently announced his department will dramatically reduce the costs of patents, slashing the price from $15,000  to $1,000. This is all in an effort by the Obama administration to encourage entrepreneurship and help the start-up process for small businesses. The program, part of President Barack Obama’s Startup America Initiative, promotes [...]

The General Services Administration is building more than a dozen virtual meeting rooms in federal buildings and hopes to have them operational later this spring, a senior GSA official said recently. Mary Davie, assistant commissioner in GSA’s Office of Integrated Technology Services, said the agency is adding 15 additional “telepresence” centers  to the agency’s stable [...]

A number of high-level Energy Department officials announced their departures from the agency this week, casting doubt on the administration’s renewable energy efforts. Undersecretary of Energy Cathy Zoi, who oversaw energy efficiency and renewable energy efforts for the department, will head west after she leaves DOE in March for a private-sector position in California. Meanwhile, [...]

Writing on the White House blog, General Services Administrator Martha Johnson said 2010 was a “historic” year for the agency and its efforts to “go green,” and she provided a glimpse of what to look for in 2011. GSA took the lead in developing sustainable buildings, Johnson said, to spearhead federal efforts to reduce government [...]

In a speech this week, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the United States risked falling behind in the race to develop clean-energy sources. The United States faces a “Sputnik moment,” in terms of clean energy, he said, referencing the launch of the Soviet satellite in 1957 that shocked American scientists and spurred the beginnings of [...]

Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra has long promoted the Office of Management and Budget’s efforts to shutter government data centers in a push to save costs and prepare the foundation for federal cloud-computing platforms. But a new partnership between OMB and the Council on Environmental Quality now means one of the top White House [...]

Workers in federal agencies who travel frequently are increasingly checking the web before hitting the road. But it’s not to confirm flights or check traffic. According to a report in Federal Times, agencies are using a new web-based tool from the General Services Administration that allows travel managers to pick the best geographical location for [...]

A majority of federal managers believe the stagnant economy and federal budget pressures will force agencies to put energy efficiencies initiatives on the back burner. Zogby International, on behalf of Schneider Electric and the Alliance to Save Energy, polled 201 federal managers with purchasing power and found 66 percent believe tight budgets will hurt green [...]