FEDERAL
SECTOR REPORT
May 2000
(c) P2C2 Group,
Inc.
PERSONAL UPDATE ON
LIFE AT EOP
CHANGE OF PLANS
Last
December 3rd, I
completed my Y2K work at the Executive Office of the President and
entered into a 500-hour strategic development engagement with an
Institute of the University of the District of Columbia. But EOP called
me back to serve as acting program manager for the White House Web Site
and an intranet development project. I completed that 3-month
task (when the federal manager returned from extended leave), and I am
now drafting procurement documents, working with federal personnel to
draft IT policies, and supporting the planning process for the
presidential transition that will occur this next winter. So I have
been at EOP on weekdays and fulfilling my duties for UDC during
evenings and weekends. Thus,
time for a free newsletter has been zip.
Quick
Takes
Over
the past few
months, EOP has reoriented its information technology service
procurements toward Performance Based Service Contracting (PBSC), a
trend that is shared by many federal agencies. Rather than traditional
Requests for Proposals, I am drafting Performance Work Statements (PWS)
and Statements of Objectives (SOO). The focus is on results, along with
incentives for performance and penalties for nonperformance. For
software
applications, we're attempting to focus on Commercial Off-The-Shelf
(COTS)
solutions as much as possible--and using competition among suppliers on
the GSA schedule when appropriate.
Topics
for draft
policies have encompassed configuration management, intranet access and
content, software management (anti-piracy), and
computer security. The general game plan is for me to collaborate with
the government specialists in these areas and translate requirements
into policy language that is agreeable to managers, lawyers, users, and
specialists.
One
of the more
fascinating areas of work has been the IT planning activities for the
presidential transition. The framework includes the Presidential
Records Act, the Presidential Transition Act, and a great deal of legal
precedent. Transition is a major drill: For the outgoing
administration, all presidential records must be identified and
transferred to the National Archives and Records
Administration--responsible for the
presidential libraries. For the incoming administration, there is
everything
from having enterprise systems ready and changing the web site to
providing
a large inflow of appointees with network user accounts and PCs.
At
UDC, I am helping
to plan a professional development system, a professional registry, and
a trainer certification process for child care and education workers.
The D.C. Government is supporting the system as a means of upgrading
both workers and the quality of services.
