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Recovery Act
Using Czars and Commissions to Govern
Friday, March 20th, 2009 - 11:05
Happy first day of Spring!
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412 recommendations
Fast Action on Stimulus Implementation
Thursday, March 12th, 2009 - 16:40
The Obama Administration recognizes the importance of the Recovery Act and doing a credible job in its implementation. The initial emphasis was on accountability to ensure the monies were not ill-spent.
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476 recommendations
Obama Agenda Re-Cap
Monday, March 9th, 2009 - 12:46
A friend called me last week asking if President Obama had yet developed his “management agenda.” I said, “no,” that it may be too early, but in any case there were a number of other initiatives underway. Almost as if in response, President Obama used his weekly radio address
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327 recommendations
Obama Priority: Contract Reform
Thursday, March 5th, 2009 - 19:45
President Obama made a number of campaign commitments regarding the federal government’s contracting system, including more competition, more fixed-price contracts, and reducing government’s dependence on contractors.
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561 recommendations
Progress on Obama Transparency Efforts
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 - 15:18
President Obama signed a directive in his first full day in office committing his Administration to “creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government.” He directed the Chief Technology Officer to, within 120 days, create recommendations for an Open Government Directive.
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476 recommendations
RAT Board Chair Named
Monday, February 23rd, 2009 - 9:59
The Stimulus Bill is big on accountability and action on this front seems to be moving quickly, maybe even quicker than action on implementation of the bill itself!
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Dwight E. Thomas
I would like to assist the RAT board based on my experience and expertise in the area of contracting oversight. I am a former Senior DoD Acquisition official who had authority for a major Presidential program and was also a former Regional Director of a DoD contracting organization which provided oversight for all government contracts in the SW U. S. Please advise where I can send my resume/bio/credentials.
Dwight E. Thomas
COL, USA (Ret)
Cell (571) 242-4982 dethomas75@yahoo.com
Former Assistant to the Secretary of the Army (Clinton Administration)
Former Director and Deputy Director of Contracting for the President's Ballistic Missile Defense System
Former Regional Director for the Defense Contract Management Agency, Dallas, Texas
John Kamensky
Mr. Thomas -- The White House Personnel Office has a link for job applications. An appointment, though, for a military or civilian retiree may mean a pension offset! Here's the link: https://app2.whitehouse.gov/ppo/
name
Keep looking I have just read your site aand quite frankly I have a large frog in my throat,
John Kamensky
Don't swallow! :)
499 recommendations
Avoiding a Parallel Government
Friday, February 20th, 2009 - 16:36
The Stimulus Bill contains an enormous number of reporting requirements.
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Norman M. Macdonald
The gate keepers of the IT Community will be a real problem. The have to learn faith and respect rather than command and control. The information must be generated at ground level.The old tool of cascading mailing lists is still in use plus tools like wikki's, Skype and interactive web sites.This whole package should be looked upon as a large step to collaborative governance.
Anne Laurent
John--So glad to see this. I have been talking about the "parallel government" since this guidance came out. It's going to be a fascinating ride. It seems unlikley to avoid such a thing however. Already one senses a division between agencies and people involved with recovery and recovery dollars and those in the "old government." This seems to be true within OMB and within agencies. The real interesting moment will be when the 2010 budget comes out with guidance very similar to the stimulus guidance. Then what?
It also appears that Vivek Kundra plans to triage a huge number of legacy computer systems that now deliver program information. My bet is that most of them end up being terminated with only a few being modernized. That, or he has a massive data warehousing/business intelligence plan!
John Milligan
I assume they "parallel govt" will still have to comply with the Federal Records Act and all the other records/document/IT related regs from OMB A-130 thru to e-Gov. As long as they can effectively capture the record (from whatever source) and maintain it for as long as it is needed and mandated by law, then I say fine. Go for it. But do not short-shrift those regulations and maintainin an authentic record in all this even all the Web 2.0 and 3.0 stuff. If you do not do that up front, then forget about true responsibility/accountability/transparency that is above all so vitally needed. I just hope our eyes are not bigger than our stomachs on this point.
John Kamensky
John -- Many of the provisions in the final bill are actuallly stricter than current law, and there is more oversight involved. For example, all funds (not just funds above $25,000) have to be reported; all contracts must be competed (last year, only about half were competed) unless an exception is given and then the explanation must be posted on Recovery.gov; and all contracts must be firm-fixed price, not time-and-material -- again, unless an exception is given and then the rationale must be posted on Recovery.gov.
649 recommendations