Behind the Curtain at TCG

Excellence.Gov Awards nominations now close 12/8/2006!

We've extended the nomination deadline for those folks still recovering from turkey-induced stupor! Go to the Excellence.Gov Awards web site and download the form to get started.

NIH R01 Grant Applications Go Electronic

Big news from NIH as they officially announce the switch to all-electronic submissions through Grants.gov. Training will be held on December 5th, and there are some interesting notes in the press release:

The transition to electronic submission is complex. It requires that two systems with their own registration and validation processes work together — Grants.gov, the federal government’s single on-line portal to find and apply for federal funding, and eRA Commons, the system that allows applicants to interact electronically with NIH. The transition also involves the simultaneous shift from the long-used PHS 398 application form to a new trans-agency standard form, and fundamentally changes the process by which investigators and grant applicant institutions manage their grant submissions.

NIH expects that the R01 transition will set new application submission records both at Grants.gov and within the NIH eRA Commons. NIH recently made performance and capacity improvements in its systems and helpdesks and is positioned to handle the expected increased load. In addition, NIH has developed contingency plans to ensure that any issues that do arise can be addressed quickly and that applicants are not penalized for system problems.

This will undoubtedly be a big test for Grants.gov, and will strain that system like never before. I think they're ready for it, and certainly NIH seems to be well-prepared to handle this significant change in their business process. Stay tuned!

Excellence.Gov Awards - nominations close 12/4/06

Just a quick reminder to nominate your projects for a 2007 Excellence.Gov Award! Nominations close on December 4 (that's this Friday) so time is getting short. These awards highlight the very best government IT projects, culminating in an annual award ceremony and an award-winner panel discussion that are some of IAC's most popular events. Nomination information is available on the ACT/IAC web site, at http://www.actgov.org/ExcellenceGovAwards.

The theme for this year’s Excellence.Gov Awards is “Leveraging Technology to Enhance Collaboration,” focusing on how government organizations use innovative technologies to achieve their objectives and work together more effectively. Some examples might include collaboration for:
• Improved citizen impact
• Enhanced business operations
• Protecting the homeland
• Shared mission delivery
• Implementing Line of Business initiatives

So get nominating -- and tell your friends to do the same!

E-gov initiatives to create momentum under new House leadership?

Following up from my post yesterday about the impact of changes in House and Senate committee leaderships, I see that GovExec has some additional comments from various government IT types, including this:

... interagency transfers of funds to work on the Office of Management and Budget's e-government initiatives might flow more freely under Democrats, some observers predicted.

A high-level government source who supports the Bush administration's e-government efforts said on the condition of anonymity that under the Republican-led Congress, appropriators have been hostile toward attempts to improve government services through technology.

Demands from the House Appropriations Committee for the Office of Management and Budget to justify e-government spending through cost savings could be eased under Democrats, who have been historically friendlier to government initiatives, according to the source.

"The conversation is going to be less about saving money than about providing services to the citizens," the source said. "Places where we have had struggles justifying something that doesn't return money to the Treasury will be eased."

If Congress does indeed pave the way for e-government initiatives to move ahead, initiatives like the GMLOB are going to do exactly what I hope they might achieve: create unstoppable momentum.

DOT and SBA jump to green!

OMB released the latest scorecard today and there's some dramatic change - DOT and SBA have both jumped from a red status under E-Government to green! You can see all the past scores on the Results.gov Web site. A "green" status indicates that the departments are meeting their expectations. HHS, NASA, and SSA, meanwhile, have dropped down to red from yellow.

Federal IT's fortunes unclear under new Senate and House leadership

Washington Technology offers great insight on how Tuesday's election results may impact federal IT spending. The summary is:

• In the Senate, Joe Lieberman will likely continue his support of e-government initiatives, in his new role as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
• If Henry Waxman takes over from Tom Davis as chairman of the Government Reform Committee in the House, he may be more inclined to focus on policy than technology, and push for greater oversight of technology initiatives.

• Only time will tell, of course, but I think Waxman's representation of California can only be a good thing for federal IT prospects, just as Davis's representation of Virginia (our local technology center) has been.

OMB says "Turn off duplicative systems...or else"

Jason Miller posted an enlightening article, reporting on Karen Evans' intention to have agencies turn off duplicative systems. In past years, funding for IT that duplicated functionality in government-wide systems (e.g. Grants.gov's find and apply) was cut. Now, though, OMB is asking agencies to actively identify their unique requirements and justify continued investment in them. This is a more proactive approach to eliminating duplicative costs, embedded as it is in budgeting mechanisms. While it presents challenges for government IT administrators, and has potential to create a large amount of overhead in cost justification and the like, it is of course absolutely the right way to proceed.

Chopping down the forests of errant systems and investments will take funding and effort -- just like weeding an unkempt back yard -- and it's a necessary measure to keep and improve our government's operations.

OMB: Initiatives will outlast Bush

GovExec published an interesting article last week about the permanence of initiatives such as the Lines of Business (grants management being one of them). Many agencies are asking themselves whether to pay a lot of attention to these initiatives, in light of the possibility that they may be axed by an incoming administration. OMB believes that these initiatives are here to stay because "we're on the side of right," as Robert Shea, the chap who leads implementation of the Performance And Rating Tool (PART) put it.

My fear is that "right" often plays no part in politically-charged policy-making. Parochialism is rife throughout the government -- agencies protecting their territories from each other and OMB oversight -- and persuading Congress to force its eradication is a multi-year, up-at-dawn fight.

While I'm not persuaded of the inevitability that initiatives like the GMLOB will continue, I'm optimistic that most of them shall because of the momentum that each has already built. Parochialism is a tough object to move but fundamental organizational transformation and change are even tougher to slow down, once they're begun in earnest. GMLOB, FMLOB, HRLOB, PART, and others are already moving relatively quickly, and with two years left of the current administration I can't see them slowing anytime soon.

Altum acquires Easygrants from defunct Arlington Group

I see that our friends at Altum have acquired Arlington Group's Easygrants software! This is a great development for Easygrant users because support was non-existent as a consequence of Arlington Group shutting up shop. Altum's a great company and their founder, Ken Fang, is a huge proponent of grants management IT, so it's pleasing to see them pick up a good product like Easygrants.