Weekly Round-up: November 18, 2011

Gadi Ben-Yehuda

• Location, location, location.  A lot of people moving to GovLoop--more than 50K at last count! One of those people, Lovisa Williams, asked how GovLoopers (especially federal government employees) were using Google+.  Ines Mergle, writing at Gov in the Lab, shared an infographic that helps answer that question.
• Beyond "Go Slow to Go Fast." Lauren Drell of Mashable writes about four cities' experiences with various technologies that are helping alleviate traffic woes.  Related: Did you know that IBM developed a "commuter pain index"?
• Citizen-centric  Web Design. In an article that could also be filed under the "spend money to save money" rubric, the City of St. Cloud, MN, has just spent $60K to overhaul their Web site, adding a host of citizen-engagement features and tools.  In a small irony, the article contains the following passage: 

“The biggest aspect of the new website will be connection and engagement,” [Mayor David] Kleis said. . . .He says residents will have a chance to submit suggestions about the website after it launches. [emphasis added]

Dan Chenok

• CIOs to Face Resistance in Expanding Role?
• Procurement rules limiting move to the cloud.
• OMB tells agencies to increase use of suspension and debarment in contracting.

John Kamensky

• List of Performance Improvement Officers.  The Obama Administration directed agencies in April to designate Performance Improvement Officers in response to the new statutory provisions of the GPRA Modernization Act. OMB has now publicly released that list.
• About the President’s Management Advisory Board.  OMB’s Jeff Zients created an advisory council of private sector executives to offer best practices that government might adopt.  The Board’s September meeting focused on recommendations related to SES appraisals and development, and IT vendor and portfolio management.
• Oops? Perry’s Uproot & Overhaul Plan.  Presidential candidate Rick Perry released his “Uproot & Overhaul Government” plan.  The Dallas Morning News provides a useful summary and perspective on his plan to “fix three broken branches of government,” such as “a full audit of the government,” term limits for Supreme Court justices and eliminating various agencies.
• GAO Report on OMB’s Acquisition Savings Initiative. A classic GAO report title :  “Federal Contracting:  OMB’s Acquisition Savings Initiative Had Results, But Improvements Needed.”  While contract spending went down by $15 billion between FY 2009 and 2010, GAO wasn’t sure OMB could take credit. Sigh.

The Business of Government Radio Show: Conversations with Authors Series: Dr. David Wyld, Dr. Vicki Grant, Prof. Sukumar Ganapati

The Business of Government Hour features a conversation about management with a government executive who is changing the way government does business. The executives discuss their careers and the management challenges facing their organizations.

The show airs fives times a week on two radio stations in the DC Metro Area.

Exploring ideas to improve government effectiveness. We profile three recent Center reports with authors Dr. David Wyld on Cloud Computing in Government, Dr. Vicki Grant on Process Improvement in Social Service Delivery, and Prof. Sukumar Ganapati on the use of GIS in engaging citizens.

Broadcast Schedule: Saturday, November 19 at 9:00 a.m  & Friday, November 26 at 2:00 p.m on  CBS Radio 1580AM on   For those outside of the Washington, D.C. area, you can listen to our live webstream on CBS Radio 1580AM. Monday, November 21, at 11 a.m., Wednesday, November 23, at Noon, and Thursday, November 24, at Noon on Federal News Radio 1500AM WFED

If you can't wait, though, you can listen to it or download our interview with Beth and all our interviews at businessofgovernment.org and by searching our audio archives.