Behind the Curtain at TCG

TCG’s NITRC Team Launches Cloud-based Science Research Platform on Amazon Web Services Marketplace

TCG announced today that the Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse Computational Environment (NITRC-CE) is now available on the Amazon Web Services Marketplace. NITRC-CE offers neuroscience researchers the convenience, speed, and savings of cloud-based computing against public and private neuroinformatics data sets. 

TCG’s NITRC team developed NITRC-CE to support neuroscientists wishing to pay only for the computational power needed to do their research, and scale the computational resources needed to the size of the research challenge at hand. Using the computational power of the Amazon cloud, NITRC-CE helps minimize the digital divide between researchers at institutions with high performance compute services and those with more modest resources and budgets. Click here to read the full news release.

Telework Exchange Announces Spring 2013 Town Hall Meeting

The Telework Exchange--a public-private partnership focused on eliminating telework gridlock--has announced that its Spring 2013 Town Hall Meeting will be held Tueday, April 30, 2013 at the D.C. Convention Center.

The spring program will feature a new workshop-style format. Attendees will be able to participate in targeted sessions focusing on telework, workforce management, IT, and policy, and hear more than 50 government and industry leaders discuss best practices in telework and mobility.

The Fall 2012 Town Hall Meeting was attended by more than 900 attendees representing 150 Federal agencies, including program and IT directors/managers, CIOs, CHCOs, and telework managing officers.

Registration is complimentary to government employees (industry rates apply) and Town Hall Meeting attendees are eligible to receive continuing professional education credits. For more information and to register, click here.

TCG’s Tchad Moore Named NITAAC Contract Communications CAG Co-chair

TCG business development executive Tchad Moore has been selected as co-chair of the Communications Community Action Group (CAG) for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Technology Assessment and Acquisition Center (NITAAC). NITAAC operates several government-wide acquisition contracts, including CIO-SP3 Unrestricted, CIO-SP3 Small Business (CIO-SP3 SB), and ECS3. TCG is a prime on CIO-SP3 SB.

The Communications CAG is one of four internal committees that provide input to NITAAC as it aims to support agencies’ IT acquisitions across the government. The Communications CAG’s objective is to improve NITAAC’s education, communications, and outreach with Federal agencies, and to ensure open communications among NITAAC officials, customers, and contract holders. Click here to read the full press release.

Finalists Announced for the 2012 SAVE Awards--Cast Your Vote Today!

OMB and the White House have announced the four finalists for this year's Securing Americans Value and Efficiency (SAVE) awards. Award nominations, which promote ideas to improve government efficiency and save taxpayers' money, are submitted by Federal employees. Anyone can vote for the award winner. To cast your vote, click here. Award voting closes at noon on Friday, December 21, 2012.

TCG also has a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) that is similar to the SAVE Awards: we aim to save U.S. taxpayers one billion dollars by 2016! Click here to see some of the ways that TCG has already helped the government save more than $265M.

TCG’s Angelo Ramilo Honored at HDI Annual Awards Luncheon

TCG’s Angelo Ramilo was honored as a finalist for the HDI Capital Area Analyst of the Year Award at the 2012 HDI Capital Area Annual Awards Luncheon. Mr. Ramilo and the other award nominees were feted at the ceremony, which was held on Friday, December 7, 2012 at Maggiano’s Little Italy in McLean, VA. This annual award recognizes support analysts that exemplify the best of the best in the industry and who demonstrate knowledge and understanding of industry standards and commitment to excellence in customer service, while consistently exceeding performance objectives. Click here to read the full news release.

TCG Honored at GovStar Awards Gala

TCG was recenly recognized as a finalist in the Small Business Star Performer category by SmartCEO magazine at this year’s 2012 GovStar Awards ceremony. The GovStar Small Business Star Performer category honors government contractors that have experienced significant growth over the last several years. To read the full press release about the event, click here. The video below profiles all nominees, including TCG.  

Can responding to data calls be any more difficult?

The AABPA has just announced that registration is open for their next free webcast, "MAX Collect: Can responding to Data Calls be any more difficult?", from 1pm-2pm on October 31st. You can register for this event right here. MAX Collect is a tool that helps agencies conduct data collection exercises. (Disclosure: TCG is sponsoring this webcast.)

You Are What You Measure: Accountability

When the $275 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act went into effect, Congress required that states receiving the money set up websites that would detail how the money was being spent. There was talk of thousands of "citizen IGs" monitoring that the transactions would be honest and aboveboard.

Well, it turns out that those citizen IGs never materialized, and yet the ARRA had remarkably little waste, fraud, and abuse. The IBM Center for the Business of Government, which does a bang-up job analyzing government activities across the board, studied the websites in six states where the spending was detailed (all states did it, the group chose just six as representatives). 

The report concluded that because the states had to think about what they were reporting, they developed a better understanding of what was going on in their own states -- and thus a better understanding of how ARRA was helping. Which once again proves that if you measure it, you do it better. 

The IBM report, Recovery Act Transparency: Learning from the Experience of States, is available free, as are the IBM center's other in-depth and probing reports.  

TCG's Lisa Alferieff Profiled in Federal Computer Week

Federal Computer Week has posted a profile of TCG Chief Operating Officer Lisa Alferieff in recognition of her being named a recipient of FCW’s 2012 Rising Star award.

The Rising Star award program recognizes top public and private sector employees who have made an early and substantive mark in the government information technology community. This is the fourth year in a row that a TCG employee has been honored as a Rising Star. Ms. Alferieff was one of 12 individuals from over 75 nominees selected for this prestigious honor. Click here to read the full press release.

SBA says TCG is A-OK!

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has commended TCG for its outstanding contributions and service to the nation, and presented the company with its Administrator’s Award for Excellence.

TCG was nominated for the 2012 Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year Award for SBA Region III for its work on the Treasury Budget Formulation and Execution Manager (BFEM) program. With the help of TCG, BFEM has transformed 13 agencies’ paper-based budgeting processes into a purely electronic workflow that is saving taxpayer dollars while improving the accuracy, agility, and quality of budget submissions. Click here to read the full press release.