In a live White House webcast today, federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra and federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra discussed the new Open Government Directive released by the Office of Management and Budget. The directive institutionalizes a model of open, participatory and collaborative government, the officials said, by making “high-value” data and other information [...]
In recent days, CivSource has been covering a story that touches over 15 million people in America. Media outlets from across the country have reported the troubles facing their state’s unemployment benefits computer systems. Massachusetts, Ohio, North Carolina and California represent a portion of those states struggling to update computer code that would give their [...]
Updated to include additional media reports and reader comments regarding states’ continued lag in updating computers to handle a Congressional extension on assistance benefits. Congressional extensions on assistance benefits are causing problems with state computer systems, nationwide. Antiquated software and confusing federal legislation underlies bigger administrative issues, as federal and state agencies deal with a [...]
Defense contracting giant Lockheed Martin announced its entry to the smart grid market yesterday, citing partnerships with multiple industry-leading utility companies. Though the company has been making inroads to help upgrade the nation’s electric grid for some time, announcements from the last few weeks have solidified their intentions to make a play for the nearly [...]
According to a report from New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, the state could save $765 million through shared services between counties, cities, school districts, fire districts and other forms of local government. Comptroller DiNapoli said that consolidation of back-office functions through information technology holds the most promise.
Chicago’s Operation Virtual Shield is a system of over 1,500 police cameras and thousands of others installed by the private sector in businesses, schools, housing projects, subways and elsewhere. As highlighted in a recent Wall Street Journal article, one way the cameras work is in conjunction with the Chicago Police Department’s 911 call center system. [...]
The multi-million dollar overhaul of Colorado’s benefits management system has started showing returns, Governor Bill Ritter announced last week. The “self-service” website, called Colorado.gov/benefits, is part of the Program Eligibility and Application Kit (PEAK), and it promises to be the first of many improvements for the Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS).
Coming out of last week’s Web 2.0 Expo in New York City, the industry buzz was focused on the usual – cloud computing, social networking, and what to do with the latest Google innovation. But one catchy hook caught the ears of a few reporters: dot-gov is the new dot-com. One project announced during the [...]
The New York State Senate launched a new website this month, designed to allow citizens to find, share and comment on all legislation being considered by the Senate. The robust search engine behind Open Legislation, its comment capabilities, and its open-source framework is part of a broader effort to make government more open, transparent and [...]
Accenture announced yesterday the launch of a technology platform meant to help public sector agencies manage a wide array of services. According to Accenture, the Public Service Platform will utilize open-source and commercial components to allow governments to quickly integrate the solution at low cost.
