Weekly Round-Up: September 30 - October 3, 2014

John Kamensky Next Steps on Implementing the DATA Act. Over the past week, there were a series of events around the implementation of the DATA Act. Jason Miller, Federal News Radio, says a joint Treasury-OMB townhall focused on the usability of the new data to be collected, by creating a clear map and navigation of the soon-to-be revamped (again) USASpending.gov website. Adam Mazmanian, Federal Computer Week, notes “OMB is leading the charge to develop data definition standards, one of the biggest challenges of the implementation process. It involves creating consistent data definitions, formats and taxonomies, where possible.” In a NextGov article, Treasury executive Christina Ho says federal spending has to be put into a broader context for it to be explained and useful to the public. She says Treasury is developing a model showing federal spending as a process – and not just posting a series of expenditures by program, grant, or contract – that goes beyond the requirements of the DATA Act. And Jake Williams, FedScoop, who attended the Data Transparency Coalition’s Data Transparency 2014 conference, interviewed David Mader, OMB’s controller in charge of DATA Act implementation – who told him: “Back in the late winter, I was contemplating coming back into government service, ”and “One of the motivations for coming to OMB was the ability to be engaged in this initiative.” Tech Foresight from DOD. The Defense Department’s James Kadtke and Linton Wells II have co-authored an intriguing new book, available for free download: Policy Challenges of Accelerating Technological Change: Security Policy and Strategy Implications of Parallel Scientific Revolutions Centralize vs. Decentralize IT? Gerry Gingrich, at the iCollege at the National Defense University, addresses in a Federal Times piece the question of whether IT should be centralized or decentralized in an agency. She observes: “. . . if our IT systems should mirror our organizations, and our organizations should be designed with requisite variety, then so should our IT systems.” Mission Support Office Collaboration – Before or After a Crisis? Former federal CFOs and chief human capital officers co-authored a piece in Federal Times that encourages collaboration before a budget crisis occurs, and not wait until afterwards. GAO Report on Use of Performance Information. Charlie Clark, Government Executive, reports that a new Government Accountability Office report found: “More than four years after the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act became law, most agencies have shown little progress in using performance data for managing daily operations.” Why Do Large IT Projects Fail? In an article in Federal Computer Week, David Elfanbaum explores several major studies on why large IT projects tend to fail. He observes: “Multiple studies show that project size is the most significant predictor of project failure. Typical multiyear projects that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to create have statistically almost no chance of being fielded in accordance with the initial proposal.” Michael Keegan Robert Work: DoD’s Pacific Pivot to Move Forward Regardless of Budget. Bob Work, deputy defense secretary, said Tuesday the Pentagon will continue its military rebalance toward Asia regardless of the department’s current level of budget, DoD News reported Wednesday. Cheryl Pellerin writes Work estimates that 60 percent of combined U.S. Navy and Air Force troops will be based in Asia Pacific by 2020. He added the Marine Corps has been distributing four air-ground task forces across the region, according to Pellerin’s report. Review finds Military Health System has no systemic problems. After a four-month Pentagon review of the military health care system, there's good news and bad news. The study didn't find any glaring problems, but it also concluded that a system that military officials like to think of as "excellent" actually isn't much better or worse than private sector health care. NSF launches new financial system as fiscal year begins. The National Science Foundation will officially go live with a new financial management system on Oct. 14. It did a soft launch Oct. 1 of a nearly three-year process to move off of a 30-year-old system. Martha Rubenstein, NSF's Chief Financial Officer, said moving to a new system and maintaining NSF's clean financial audit has been among her top priorities over the last few years. Energy reverses course on plan to hire exec at center of VA procurement fraud. The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management planned to bring on Susan Taylor, the Veterans Health Administration's deputy chief procurement officer, but now has changed its mind. Taylor is accused by the VA inspector general of committing procurement fraud, lying to investigators and having a conflict of interest by promoting FedBid. The Business of Government Radio Show: Conversation with Authors Series with Profs. Jack Gansler and Bill Lucyshyn on Eight Actions to Improve Defense Acquisition In an era of fiscal austerity, DoD must continue to maintain operations and modernize forces in order to support national security. What acquisition challenges are facing the U.S. Department of Defense? What actions can be taken to improve defense acquisition and the Defense Industrial Base? Join host Michael Keegan as he explore these questions and more with Profs. Jack Gansler and Bill Lucyshyn, authors of the IBM Center report, Eight Actions to Improve Defense Acquisition. That's next week on The Business of Government Hour. Broadcast Schedule: The show airs Monday at 11 a.m., and Wednesday at noon, on Federal News Radio 1500AM WFED If you can't wait, though, you can listen to (or download) this week's program and all our previous interviews at businessofgovernment.org and by searching our audio archives.