Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) has introduced legislation in favor of directing an additional $11 billion in federal contracting awards to smaller firms, Graves’ office announced Tuesday. Through the Government Efficiency Through Small Business Contracting Act, Graves hopes to increase government agencies’ small business quota from 23 percent to 25 percent. The bill would also lift [...]

As promised, the White House is using its new Google Plus page to conduct hangouts that include President Obama and a group of Google Plus users. In one of the first hangouts Monday, President Obama admitted the U.S. has attacked Taliban and al-Qaida targets in Pakistan with unmanned drones. “For the most part, they’ve been [...]

Federal employees with a high school education and a four-year college degree receive higher compensation than similar private sector employees, according to the Congressional Budget Office. CBO released its findings Monday on differences in compensation — wages and benefits — between federal and private sector employees. The CBO said it used level of education, work [...]

The Defense Department is proposing a new rule requiring contracting officers to use an analytics tool when awarding performance-based contracts, according to Monday‘s edition of the Federal Register. The tool is a cash-flow model for evaluating alternative financing arrangements. Contracting officers would use the tool when considering performance-based payments on new fixed-price contract awards. The [...]

Contractors who provide services to the Department of Homeland Security will soon be able to submit bids electronically, Federal Times reports. Rafael Borras, DHS’ management undersecretary, said Thursday the current submission process will be reformed so companies can focus on the bid and save money on paper costs. At a DHS industry day in Washington, [...]

President Obama nominated Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John F. Kelly as commander of the U.S. Southern Command, according to a Pentagon announcement Friday. If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace U.S. Air Force Gen. Douglas M. Fraser, who has held the position since June 2009. Fraser has not announced his future plans. If confirmed, [...]

The FBI is asking technology companies for assistance in upgrading how the bureau gathers information from sources such as social media and popular news websites. According to a request for information on FedBizOpps, the FBI is looking into a “secure, lightweight web application portal” to gather information from social media websites. The application would search [...]

Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra is stepping down from his post, the White House announced Friday. A White House official told Federal News Radio that Chopra’s last day will be Feb. 8, but the official did not indicate Chopra’s future plans. FedScoop first reported Chopra’s departure and reports that some have speculated he will run [...]

The National Institute of Standards and Technologies is calling on agencies to take the lead in addressing security and privacy challenges relating to public cloud computing. NIST’s Guidelines on Security and Privacy in Public Cloud Computing do not suggest any specific service or deployment method for cloud computing, but lists several guidelines agencies should follow [...]

The Defense Department does not expect major cuts in the area of information technology, the Pentagon’s Deputy Chief Information Officer Robert Carey told Federal Times. The Pentagon currently operates with a $38.5 billion IT budget. The Pentagon is looking to trim around $40 billion from its overall budget in 2013 in order to reach its goal [...]