HP buys EDS for $13.9 billion; DRS to be acquired, Harris too?
Source: INPUT B2G Exchange Blog
It has been a busy past few days for M&A announcements and rumors, with the biggest announcement today: HP buys EDS.
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The Growing Acquisition Workforce
Source: INPUT B2G Exchange Blog
This week, the Office of Management and Budget released the Annual Report on the Federal Acquisition Workforce (FY2007) announcing a 7% increase in acquisition related employees (1,826 individuals) over the last six years. This report is provided to assist public-sector managers in anticipating human capital related trends and issues. The reality is, in the short term, the acquisition workforce is growing. When we apply this information to the shift in acquisition methodology, questions arise regarding U.S citizen's "bang for the buck."
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| “Over the last five years the technology community has been a 20% decrease in open-market competitions with procurement methodology shifted to increased use of task order vehicles. With a larger workforce today coupled with a more streamlined procurement process, are these vehicles offering the tax payers a more efficient use of the citizen dollar to set-up, administer and use?” -Megan Gamse, Sr. Manager, Federal Opportunity Products |
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DISA at DISney
Source: INPUT B2G Exchange Blog
Despite DISA CIO John Garing entering the 2008 DISA Partnership Conference wearing iridescent Mickey Mouse ears, the conference has been all business describing DISA's new focus on quick and efficient activities which provide incremental and influential capabilities to the warfighter, which includes new perspectives on acquisition.
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| “DISA is attempting to combine the mindset of companies like Google and Amazon into a new, smart sourcing/capacity-on-demand atmosphere. Furthermore, many DISA officials have implied that the acronym "RFP" now equals a long, expensive and out-of-date process. Instead, senior leadership's goal is to utilize applicable existing services and contracts to provide the quick solutions. This was evident in Mr. Garing's response to an audience question regarding the impact of innovation vs. the idea of managed services. Garing highlighted achieving "capability" command and managed services while moving away from RFPs to improve flexibility.” -Jeremy Potter, Senior Analyst, Federal Homeland Security Opportunities |
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21st Century Recruiting 101
Source: INPUT B2G Exchange Blog
This week the Council for Excellence in Government, Young Government Leaders, Partnership for Public Service, and American University's Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation co-sponsored an event called FedPitch 2008 as part of Public Service Recognition Week. At this event, 16 finalists pitched ideas for attracting the Gen Y generation to public service. The winning idea: create a website that will help them determine which federal jobs fit their education and experience.
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| “What is compelling about this event is that it shines a very bright spotlight on just how far behind the private sector the government lags. These strategies are all great ideas that can be used as effective tools for addressing government's workforce challenges, but they seem to be Basic Recruiting and Retention 101 within industry. The fact that these ideas floated to the top as innovative for government underlines just how much work needs to be done.” -Deniece Peterson, Senior Analyst, Industry Analysis |
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Partnered Services a better path to service re-use and SaaS adoption?
Source: INPUT B2G Exchange Blog
Federal IT watchers have been decrying the lack of system re-use and standardization for years. Meanwhile, Software-as-a-Service vendors are having difficulty getting agencies to take advantage of the benefits of multi-tenancy. Perhaps a new model, where SaaS is introduced inside agency firewalls and delivered to multiple
government customers, could provide a breakthrough in both areas.
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| “What I call “Partnered Services,” where a SaaS vendor introduces their offerings as a managed service within the government environment, may overcome some of the common resistance points to SaaS adoption. By working with their government customers and other vendors, the proliferation of services could create market dynamics that will increase standardization, re-use, and the cost savings that have been so elusive. DISA’s NCES is a great example.” -Richard Colven, Vice President, Industry Analysis |
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