General Dynamics opens space innovation center

The EDGE Innovation Network’s 13th EDGE Innovation Center, that General Dynamics C4 Systems sponsors and houses in the company’s Seabrook, Md., facility is now open.

This space innovation center will connect NASA and other government agency professionals with more than 350 EDGE Innovation Network members from both industry and academia, General Dynamics said in a release.

Amazon-CIA deal triggers plenty of questions

When it comes to traffic on our website, few stories are as hot as the CIA-Amazon $600 million cloud deal .

For our sister publication, FCW, who broke the story, the traffic probably ranks the story as one of their biggest ever.

Big leadership changes mark first half of fiscal 2013

The first six month of fiscal 2013 are nearly at an end, and what a six months it has been.

Not only have we seen a presidential election and plenty of drama around the budget, but we’ve also seen more changes in the contractor ranks than is typical.

Let’s just take a look at the leadership changes we’ve seen since Oct. 1:

IBM wins $267M pact to take Ohio to the cloud

IBM has won a 10-year, $267 million contract with the state of Ohio to modernize its computer center through the development of a private cloud environment, as well as through the use of other hardware and IBM services.

The Ohio Computing Center houses infrastructure for a number of state agencies, IBM said.

CACI wins $140M contract with new civilian client

CACI International has won a five-year, $140 million contract with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. to modernize its IT infrastructure.

This contract is known as the Information Technology Infrastructure Operations Services and Support contract.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., or PBGC, is a federal agency that protects the retirement incomes of more than 44 million American workers in more than 27,500 private-sector defined benefit plans, CACI said in a release.

About PBGC, CACI president and CEO Kenneth Asbury said, “This is a new client for us with solid future business potential, and we welcome the opportunity to expand our support in the federal civilian space while strategically advancing our presence in the enterprise IT market.”

Can you help customers see the cloud more clearly?

As the U.S. government moves to the cloud, unlocking the cloud’s true potential requires a more comprehensive analysis of the potential benefits – maximizing benefits for the organization beyond cost savings – and how those benefits can be achieved.

The cloud’s appeal to both the public and private sectors is strong – and growing. In particular, the impact of executive mandates (e.g., the “Cloud First” federal IT policy and the “Digital Government” strategy), the need to address increasing cyber threats, and pressure to cut costs are  driving government agencies to research, select and implement cloud solutions, quickly.

6 questions to drive the LPTA debate

In a procurement world where lowest price seems to carry the day, contractors might be tempted to focus on nothing but cost, to the detriment of everything else.

That might win you contracts, but what happens afterward? How do you stay competitive and profitable, and still deliver good solutions?

Should you follow the Yahoo telecommute policy?

When Marisa Mayers, Yahoo’s CEO, declared that telecommuting is ‘dead,’ and that it’s time to ‘get employees back to Yahoo’s campus’, she sparked quite the national debate amongst human resources professionals and CEOs about the values and benefits of telecommuting.

In the age of cloud computing, broadband, and bring your own device supporting the government in the Washington region, where both the federal government and support contractors deal with the daily commute and the everlasting struggle to find a work-life balance, as they come to a halt on (pick your stoppage point on Rt. 66, I-295, I-395, or I-495), Yahoo’s CEO’s words fall short of addressing the core reasons of why telecommuting is a great tool for human capital and workforce development. 

Dewberry names new principal for cloud services

Dewberry has named Ryan Hughes principal consultant of cloud services, where he will be responsible for designing and delivering cloud solutions to the company’s commercial, local, state and federal government customers.

Hughes was previously the co-founder and chief strategy officer of Skygone, which is a cloud firm focused on geospatial applications, Dewberry said in a release.

MacB names new business development exec

MacAulay-Brown has named John Gorman vice president, Maryland operations and business development, where he will be responsible for increasing the company’s presence at Fort Meade, a hub of intelligence agency customers.

He will report to Mark Chadason, senior vice president and general manager of MacB’s National Security Group, who joined the company in December 2012.