Why You Should Implement a Content + Document Management System at your Organization

 Why You Should Implement a Content + Document Management System at your Organization

Does your firm rely on the development of proposals and responses to Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and Requests for Information (RFIs) to get ahead? If so, the effective management of documents and content should be considered. Implementing a comprehensive Document and Content Management System (CMS) across your entire organization offers multifaceted

advantages, addressing critical aspects of information handling, collaboration, and 

compliance.

Document Storage — A centralized repository serves as a cornerstone for efficient document management. Storing a myriad of documents, ranging from proposals to contracts, in a secure and easily accessible location ensures that the organization can manage and retrieve critical information effortlessly.

For example, consider the scenario where a government contractor is simultaneously working on multiple projects with various teams. A unified document storage system eliminates the need for scattered and siloed storage solutions, fostering a more organized and streamlined approach to document management.

Access Control — In the context of government contracting, where confidentiality and data security are paramount, controlling access to sensitive documents is critical. A robust CMS allows organizations to implement role-based access control, ensuring that only authorized personnel have access to specific documents.

Imagine a scenario where a proposal contains sensitive pricing information or proprietary methodologies. With access control mechanisms in place, the organization can restrict access to this information to only those individuals directly involved in the proposal development, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access.

Audit Trails — Transparent and accountable processes are essential, especially in government contracting, where compliance with regulations and adherence to established procedures are non-negotiable. An effective CMS provides detailed audit trails, documenting every change made to documents. Are you considering ISO or CMMI certification? Audits will be crucial. 

As another example, consider a situation where a proposal undergoes multiple revisions. The ability to trace and review each modification ensures transparency and accountability, crucial for compliance with regulatory requirements and internal governance standards.

Workflow Automation— In the realm of proposal development, workflows often involve multiple stages, requiring collaboration across different teams and departments. Workflow automation within a CMS streamlines these processes, reducing manual effort and enhancing overall efficiency.

For instance, envision a scenario where a proposal undergoes sequential reviews by subject matter experts, legal teams, and project managers. With workflow automation, the CMS can automatically route the document through the necessary stages, notifying relevant stakeholders at each step, thereby expediting the review process.

Collaboration and Integration — Effective collaboration is the backbone of successful proposal development. A CMS facilitates seamless collaboration by providing a centralized platform for team members to work on documents collectively. Integration capabilities with other tools and platforms further enhance collaboration by eliminating data silos.

Consider a government contractor collaborating with external consultants and internal teams on a complex proposal. With a CMS, all contributors can access and edit the document in real-time, fostering a collaborative environment that accelerates the proposal development lifecycle.

Disaster Recovery — The significance of disaster recovery in safeguarding critical documents cannot be overstated. Unforeseen events, ranging from hardware failures to natural disasters, can pose a threat to valuable information. A CMS ensures robust backup and recovery capabilities, minimizing the risk of data loss.

Imagine a scenario where a government contractor's office experiences a sudden data server failure. Without proper backup mechanisms, crucial proposal documents and historical information could be lost. A CMS with disaster recovery capabilities mitigates such risks, ensuring business continuity.

Workflow and Process Automation — Automation of routine tasks and processes is a key driver of operational efficiency. In the context of government contracting, where repetitive tasks are inherent in the proposal development lifecycle, a CMS that supports business process automation becomes indispensable.

Consider the process of document approval within a government contractor's organization. A CMS with business process automation can streamline the approval workflow, automatically routing documents for approval based on predefined rules, thereby reducing delays and bottlenecks.

Conclusion:

At Bluedog, we seethe implementation of a robust Document and Content Management System organization-wide as not just a technological enhancement —but a strategic imperative. From enhancing document security and compliance to fostering collaboration and streamlining workflows, the benefits are multifaceted. Our clients, government contractors, stand to gain a competitive edge by embracing a CMS that aligns with the unique challenges and requirements of their industry, ultimately contributing to more efficient and successful proposal development and overall business operations.

What Makes a Good Government Marketing Consultant?

What should a small-to-medium sized enterprise (SME) look for, in a government marketing consultant?

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🕵🏽‍♂️Government Contracting Expertise – A qualified marketing and operations consultant for a small business entering government contracting should possess a deep understanding of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and the intricate processes involved in government procurement. This includes familiarity with set-aside programs tailored for small businesses, such as the 8(a) Business Development Program, HUBZone, and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB). The consultant should bring a wealth of experience in navigating the complexities of government contracting, ensuring that the SME can leverage available opportunities and comply with regulatory requirements.

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📊 Market Research and Analysis – An effective consultant must excel in market research to identify and assess viable government contracting opportunities for the SME. This involves a keen understanding of agency needs, upcoming contracts, and a thorough analysis of the competitive landscape – proficiency in conducting competitive analyses, enabling the SME to position itself strategically in the market and increase its chances of securing valuable government contracts.

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📗Proposal Development and Management – The consultant should possess strong writing skills to articulate the SME's capabilities, value proposition, and solutions that meet government requirements. Moreover, expertise in bid management is essential, encompassing the entire bid process from pre-solicitation to post-submission activities. This includes developing win themes, assembling proposal teams, and ensuring the timely and accurate submission of bids.

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⚔️Compliance and Risk Management - A proficient consultant should have a comprehensive understanding of compliance requirements associated with government contracts. This includes expertise in navigating cybersecurity, accounting, and reporting standards. Additionally, the consultant should be skilled in identifying and mitigating risks that may arise during the execution of government contracts, ensuring the SME operates in accordance with all regulations and standards.

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🛠Operational Efficiency and Scalability - The consultant should be adept at evaluating and enhancing internal processes to improve operational efficiency. This involves process improvement skills to streamline operations, implement effective project management tools, and optimize workflows. Furthermore, the consultant should possess a strategic mindset for scalability planning, guiding the SME in preparing for growth and ensuring that operational capacities align with the increasing volume and complexity of government contracts. By focusing on these critical skills, SMEs can position themselves for success in government contracting with the guidance of a knowledgeable and experienced consultant.

With www.Bluedog.net, you can be assured of talent, expertise, and alacrity.

Systematic Analysis of Opportunities is Vital to P-win's for Higher Proposal Win Ratios

Recognizing that not every identified Request for Proposal (RFP) is the right opportunity, the paper advocates for a systematic evaluation before committing valuable resources. The pre-bid-decision gap analysis, coupled with a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis, emerges as a potent hybrid approach. This method empowers businesses to assess internal and external factors influencing their ability to secure government contracts, fostering realistic expectations and strategic planning.

Bluedog outlines the crucial role of the gap analysis in the broader opportunity assessment process, emphasizing its integration into the RFP response cycle. By identifying gaps early on, businesses can enhance efficiency, optimize resource allocation, and minimize unnecessary work or rework. Ultimately, the pre-bid decision gap analysis emerges as a key driver of success, enabling businesses to navigate the complexities of government contracting with foresight and strategic acumen.

Get a PDF of the white paper here.

Consulting is About Adding Value - So Do Yourself a Favor and Ease Your Own Pain Points with On-Demand Expertise

Since the late 1980s, “consultant” might be considered a dirty word in the business world. But in actuality, there are plenty of solid reasons to hire a consultant for your next project. With today’s uncertain market conditions, any organization should seek to improve efficiencies and explore new opportunities. For a commercial concern, that means looking for a competitive edge, increasing revenues — and positioning the company to stand out.

A primary benefit consultants can provide is temporary expertise, on demand, as it were. Retaining a consultant on a per project basis limits the financial and operational risks. Of course, if you as the client find value in a consultant’s outputs, you can continue to use their services on a repeat basis. If a project is not brining value to your organization, you need to reconsider. 

But how do you measure this value? Tangible value is usually easy to measure: it often is realized as cost reduction, or an increase in income. Intrinsic value, however, is more complicated. How do you appreciate the impact of a culture and diversity project, or process improvement, or system optimization? Using social sciences methods, many have succeeded in measuring intangibles such as client satisfaction or employee performance. When the benefits of a project correspond to the desired outcome, we can easily say the effort is successful. 

For strategic change, consider why a consultant should be considered a valued member of your team, long-term. Long term success requires careful strategizing: with a plan, you may succeed. Without a plan, you won’t succeed.

Finding and selecting the best consultant suited to specific needs is half the battle in the successful completion of a project. Consider when it make sense to hire outside consultant:

When executives or other decision makers do not have enough expertise or experience in solving certain complex issues.

When many stakeholders are involved and the risk of failure is high, having an outside perspective and coordination can alleviate concern and mitigate risk.

When staff are not trained on solving specific problems, or don’t have available bandwidth to work on special projects outside their routine work.

Often, organizational knowledge is limited to specific  products and service. Consultants bring value in that they often have solved large numbers of problems in different industries. An experienced consultant relieves an organization of many hassles. As a professional, consultants can get to root causes and find avenues of success in the most optimal time. Importantly, this can be at a much lower cost as compared to hiring a full time employee to do the same job. 

Every organization can benefit from improving their performance. And at some point, we all encounter problems outside of existing expertise. An external advisor with specialized expertise can get an organize past a sticking point, find efficiencies in work processes, and open doors to new opportunities.

Lithuanians Advised to Ditch Chinese Mobiles over Embedded Censorship

Chinese mobile phones are compromised, and should be disposed of promptly, according to this report from SlashDot... Lithuanian cyber experts...

Flagship phones sold in Europe by China's smartphone giant Xiaomi have a built-in ability to detect and censor terms such as "Free Tibet", "Long live Taiwan independence" or "democracy movement", Lithuania's state-run cybersecurity body said on Tuesday. The capability in Xiaomi's Mi 10T 5G phone software had been turned off for the "European Union region", but can be turned on remotely at any time, the Defence Ministry's National Cyber Security Centre said in the report. "Our recommendation is to not buy new Chinese phones, and to get rid of those already purchased as fast as reasonably possible," Defence Deputy Minister Margiris Abukevicius told reporters in introducing the report...

Read more here... 

Seditionists Had Unfettered Access to Congressional IT Systems

After Wednesday's invasion by protesters, America's Capitol building is now grappling with "the process of securing the offices and digital systems after hundreds of people had unprecedented access to them," 

Rioters could have bugged congressional offices, exfiltrated data from unlocked computers, or installed malware on exposed devices. In the rush to evacuate the Capitol, some computers were left unlocked and remained accessible by the time rioters arrived. And at least some equipment was stolen; Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon said in a video late Wednesday that intruders took one of his office's laptops off a conference table...

Former Senate sergeant at arms Frank Larkin, who retired as Senate sergeant at arms in 2018, adds that cybersecurity is the next priority after physical security. In spite of this, the mob Wednesday had ample opportunities to steal information or gain device access if they wanted to. And while the Senate and House each build off of their own shared IT framework, ultimately each of the 435 representatives and 100 senators runs their own office with their own systems. This is a boon to security in the sense that it creates segmentation and decentralization; getting access to Nancy Pelosi's emails doesn't help you access the communications of other representatives. But this also means that there aren't necessarily standardized authentication and monitoring schemes in place. Larkin emphasizes that there is a baseline of monitoring that IT staffers will be able to use to audit and assess whether there was suspicious activity on congressional devices. But he concedes that representatives and senators have varying levels of cybersecurity competence and hygiene.

It's also true that potentially exposed data at the Capitol on Wednesday would not have been classified, given that the mob had access only to unclassified networks. But congressional staffers are not subject to Freedom of Information Act obligations and are often much more candid in their communications than other government officials. Security and intelligence experts also emphasize that troves of unclassified information can still reveal sensitive or even classified information when combined... Kelvin Coleman, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance, who formerly worked in the Department of Homeland Security and National Security Council... adds, though, that for now the most important thing congressional IT staffers can do is account for which devices were stolen and begin a mass effort to reset passwords, add multifactor authentication to any accounts that don't already have it, wipe and reimage hard drives when practical, and comb monitoring logs for signs of access or exfiltration.

There is more information at Wired.

NSA Surveillance Was Unconstitutional

The National Security Agency program that swept up details on billions of Americans' phone calls was illegal and possibly unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled:

However, the unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the role the so-called telephone metadata program played in a criminal terror-fundraising case against four Somali immigrants was so minor that it did not undermine their convictions. 

The long-awaited decision is a victory for prosecutors, but some language in the court's opinion could be viewed as a rebuke of sorts to officials who defended the snooping by pointing to the case involving Basaaly Moalin and three other men found guilty by a San Diego jury in 2013 on charges of fundraising for Al-Shabaab. Judge Marsha Berzon's opinion, which contains a half-dozen references to the role of former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden in disclosing the NSA metadata program, concludes that the "bulk collection" of such data violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. 

The call-tracking effort began without court authorization under President George W. Bush following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A similar program was approved by the secretive FISA Court beginning in 2006 and renewed numerous times, but the 9th Circuit panel said those rulings were legally flawed.

Read more... 

Oppose Censoring the Internet

 The government wants to control access to the Internet. This is a very bad idea, opposed to all the principles it was founded on. 

https://gizmodo.com/trump-wants-to-build-a-wall-around-the-internet-how-wo-1844691997

Want to Stop a Pandemic? Start with Flying

For an excellent analysis of aviation's response to the ongoing Wuhan Novel Coronavirus problem, we read at Lexology:

A large number of international airlines have suspended their flights to mainland China. Those airlines which are still flying have allowed cabin crew to wear face masks, and crew layover time has been reduced or ended altogether. Some airlines have also modified their in-flight services, for instance by no longer providing pillows or blankets, suspending duty-free sales, and changing the nature of meal service.
Based on experience from previous epidemics, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has produced an Emergency Response Plan for use by airlines in the event of a public health emergency. Although a number of airlines do have an emergency response plan to deal with public health emergencies, the template Emergency Response Plan has been issued by IATA for those airlines that do not. It details the roles and responsibilities of the emergency response team, along with specific checklists to be adopted.
In relation to suspected communicable disease generally, IATA has also issued various best practice guidelines for airline employees and agents. These cover, for example:

• Cabin crew: setting out how to identify passengers with a suspected communicable disease, and the actions to take once such a person is identified. These include informing the Captain, who is required to report the suspected case to air traffic control under international regulations. Similar guidance for cabin crew has been issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Protection, which has also issued recent recommendations for dealing with the 2019-nCov virus.
• Cleaning crew: setting out the procedures to follow to clean and disinfect an arriving aircraft with a suspected case of communicable disease.
• Cargo and baggage handlers: drawing on previous experience with SARS, avian flu and Ebola, this guideline notes that there is no evidence that these infections could be transmitted by cargo or baggage handling. Although it recommends proper hand hygiene, no specific measures are advised.
• Guidance has also been issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), who issued a Safety Information Bulletin on 27 January 2020. EASA recommended that airlines provide information to crew members as to how to identify and manage a case of acute respiratory infection on board an aircraft. It also recommended that airlines performing passenger flights to or from affected countries should be equipped with protection kits for crew members assisting with potentially infectious cases. In addition, the Bulletin calls upon airlines and airport operators to collaborate as much as possible with public health authorities, in order to provide support in tracing passengers in the event of flights where 2019-nCov infection has been confirmed.

As far as airports are concerned, the responsibility for managing the risk of communicable diseases at airports rests with both national and local public health authorities and the relevant airport operator. 

As of Feb 6, 2020, the WSJ is writing: "World Health Authorities Warn Virus Hasn’t Peaked After China’s Deadliest Day - Death toll in country now stands at 636, with more than 31,000 cases."

How do I write better proposals?

Not long ago, I was asked by a client what my "secret sauce" for writing great proposals is. I thought about it, and realized there is no secret! Writing clearly is the first step. The second is applying tried-and-true techniques picked up from being a magazine journalist, a technical author, and, yes, even a poet.

After more than 20 years in the business, I have found that if I'm writing regularly about technology, management, and other topics, it makes sense to get hands-on. As a technologist and management consultant, I am able to incorporate my expertise into technical responses. Here is a snapshot of my approach to making a technical response stand out:  

I build an accurate "fact bank," a series of statements describing the company and its past performances. Before I start filling in the bullets from the "pink" version of the technical response, I go through source material for the company and write down 5-10 sentences that precisely describe the successes of the firm, how the team works, major features of our solution, and how those features translate into important benefits. During on-going review, Workbench notifies the client, so that they review the "fact bank" and make any necessary corrections, additions, or deletions. After they do that, I incorporate their edits. Now I have the body of pre-approved content I use to construct the technical response, and I know what I'm writing is factually accurate. The clients is able to review drafts, stored in the document management tab in Workbench, knowing a draft addresses the PWS/SOW in a compelling way that's on the mark.

When I'm chasing content on subjects I am not personally expert in, I do three things:

• I do basic research into the topic. For example, when addressing a requirement to assess IOT vulnerabilities, I found a library of white papers from IBM that provided the meat-and-potatoes of a technical model. IBM's approach, available under Creative Commons license, is a sensible one that knowledgable staff can implement.
• I interview subject matter experts (SMEs) within the organization. When I was tasked with writing a response for Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) to design and implement a processing center, I could write authoritatively about the IT systems requirements. But for the architectural aspects, I contacted the teaming partner, a building design firm in Texas, to interview one of their senior architects on an optimized design approach. I incorporated that information into the overall winning response.
• Finally, I ask the client for PowerPoints from their engineering team. Having been one, I know engineers in particular tend to be visually oriented, and it benefits the response to have visuals to accompany technical copy. The "meat" of an idea can be extracted from the visual -- then I write a clear, descriptive caption for it. Translating ideas from a visual into text helps everyone understand technical concepts.

On the subject of capturing information from SMEs, I often conduct interviews over the phone. But occasionally I get SMEs who prefer to express themselves other than verbally. In those cases, I offer to email them questions so they can email me their replies. Often those people with technical aptitude may not speak English as a first language, but can compose emails well enough. If responses are unclear, I rewrite them in plain English and then reply back with my rewrite for review. Usually the SME makes a few minor edits, and after that, I can move forward incorporating into the larger technical response.

Not rocket science, and perhaps Mr Herger, my 11th grade English teacher at Good Counsel, might recommend a few more tips. But this is a good start on drafting technical proposals that stand out.

Digital Crypto Currency from... the US Central Bank?!

Over at SlashDot, we read:

America's lawmakers and Federal Reserve officials "are so concerned about Facebook's plans to launch a new digital currency," reports Politico's financial services reporter, "that they're contemplating a novel response -- having the central bank create a competitor."
Momentum is building for an idea that was once considered outlandish -- a U.S. government-run virtual currency that would replace physical cash, a dramatic move that could discourage major companies like Facebook from creating their own digital coins. Facebook's proposed currency, Libra, has forced the Fed to consider the issue because of a fear that private companies could establish their own currencies and take control over the global payments system. Some Fed officials share the concern about a new balkanized currency system outside government control that Facebook has threatened to unleash. "Libra bust this way out into the open," said Karen Petrou, a managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics who advises executives on coming policy shifts. 

But it's not just Facebook. The matter is also taking on urgency as other countries consider creating their own digital currencies -- another potential challenge to the primacy of the U.S. dollar. The head of the Bank of England has floated the idea that central banks could create a network of digital currencies to replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency... The Bank for International Settlements, which represents the world's central banks, said early this year that most were conducting research into central bank digital currencies and many were progressing from conceptual work into experimentation and proofs-of-concept...

The details of a possible [U.S.] Fed-developed digital currency are still vague. But advocates and experts say such an instrument could give consumers a new way to make payments without having to rely on banks and without incurring fees when they transfer money. The digital currency would likely take some inspiration from the technology that underpins other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The discussions are informal at this point. Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have written to the central bank asking officials to consider how they might approach a digital currency, and some Fed officials have begun to acknowledge the government might someday play a role. "It is inevitable," Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker said at a recent conference, according to Reuters. "I think it is better for us to start getting our hands around it."

Read more here and here...

Small Businesses Need to Know about GSA Professional Services Schedule PSS 99

The Professional Services Schedule is the second largest GSA Schedule after IT70.  It is the combination of 30 unique professional services many of which have few similarities to each other.  Therefore, the reality is the Professional Services Schedule or 00CORP in many ways is the combination of many niche services to form one large inter working grouping.
 
The purpose of combining all these services into one schedule was to reduce the administrative burden for firms that need access to more than one of these unique niches.  We learned that most small businesses utilize on average 3.78 niches or SINs and most large businesses utilize 4.88 SINs.  Consolidation makes sense for ease of access and simplicity of award.

Professional services tend to have high sales volumes even though many of the firms in this grouping are niche players and often smaller than the average federal contractor.  The average small business that holds the Professional Services Schedule conducts over $1MM per year in federal sales.

On PSS, all GSA contracts under $10,000 will be direct no bid awards. (Small Business only)
All contracts under $250,000 will be GSA Small Business Elite Direct Awards. (Small Business only). GSA will break out over $900 million in GSA Prime Vendor Contracts for re-distribution to GSA Small Business Schedule Holders in 2020.

In FY2017, GSA saved taxpayers over 10% of the dollar amount spent through the GSA. This increased efficiency and reduction of administrative burned resulted in $6.8B in savings. GSA enables 15,000 small businesses $1MM plus per year in direct federal contract awards. This means 37% of every dollar spent through the GSA schedule system are with small business —  the highest utilization of small business throughout the federal government.

Read more at: https://gsa.federalschedules.com/industries/gsa-professional-services-schedule-pss/

The GSA PSS Contract only covers the categories detailed below. Certain IT, HR, and energy related services can be offered through PSS, but only to complement the core service offerings.

• Mission Oriented Business Integrated Services (MOBIS) (formerly Schedule 874)
• Professional Engineering Services (PES) (formerly Schedule 871)
• Financial and Business Solutions (FABS) (formerly Schedule 520)
• Advertising and Integrated Marketing (AIMS) (formerly Schedule 541)
• Logistics Worldwide (LOGWORLD) (formerly Schedule 874 V)
• Environmental Services (formerly Schedule 899)
• Language Services (formerly Schedule 738 II)

Services including IT, HR, energy, travel, security, and healthcare staffing can be offered under different GSA Schedules.

US Department of Defense JEDI cloud contract under fire from Oracle

From The Register:

Ahead of its first day in a U.S. federal claims court in Washington DC, Oracle has outlined its position against the Pentagon's award of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract to Amazon Web Services. Big Red's lengthy filing questions the basis of Uncle Sam's procurement procedure as well as Amazon's hiring of senior Department of Defense staff involved in that procurement process. Oracle's first day in court is set for 10 July. The JEDI deal could be worth up to $10 billion over 10 years. The Department of Defense handed the contract to AWS after deciding that only Amazon and Microsoft could meet the minimum security standards required in time. 

Oracle's filing said that U.S. "warfighters and taxpayers have a vested interest in obtaining the best services through lawful, competitive means... Instead, DoD (with AWS's help) has delivered a conflict-ridden mess in which hundreds of contractors expressed an interest in JEDI, over 60 responded to requests for information, yet only the two largest global cloud providers can clear the qualification gates." The company said giving JEDI, with its "near constant technology refresh requirements", to just one company was in breach of procurement rules. It accused the DoD of gaming the metrics used in the process to restrict competition for the contract. Oracle also accused Amazon of breaking the rules by hiring two senior DoD staff, Deap Ubhi and Anthony DeMartino, who were involved in the JEDI procurement process. Ubhi is described as "lead PM." A third name is redacted in the publicly released filing.

From SlashDot: “It's as dystopian as it sounds," opines The Verge:

Chinese schools are now tracking the exact location of their students using chip-equipped "smart uniforms" in order to encourage better attendance rates, according to a report from state-run newspaper The Global Times. Each uniform has two chips in the shoulders which are used to track when and where the students enter or exit the school, with an added dose of facial recognition software at the entrances to make sure that the right student is wearing the right outfit (so you can't just have your friend, say, wear an extra shirt while you go off and play hooky). Try to leave during school hours? An alarm will go off.... 

There are additional features, too, according to a report from The Epoch Times: the chips can apparently detect when a student has fallen asleep in class, and allow students to make payments (using additional facial or fingerprint recognition to confirm the purchase). The uniforms are being used in 10 schools in China's Guizhou Province region, and apparently have been in use for some time -- according to Lin Zongwu, principal of No. 11 School of Renhuai, over 800 students in his school have been wearing the smart uniforms since 2016.

Over at Slashdot, we read:

A forum thread on QRZ.com indicates that the shortwave time broadcasts by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) from stations WWV (Colorado) and WWVH (Hawaii) may be slashed in budget year 2019. [One of the proposed reductions includes "$6.3 million supporting fundamental measurement dissemination, including the shutdown of NIST radio stations in Colorado and Hawaii."]

While the WWV broadcasts may seem like an anachronism to some Slashdotters, they remain a crucial component in many unexpected services, from over-the-air broadcasters and traffic signals, to medical devices, wall clocks, and wrist watches. The signals serve as standard beacons for radio propagation, and as a frequency reference for alignment of a broad range of communications equipment. It's easy to imagine that not even the NIST knows every service and device that could be impacted by this decision.

From Gizmodo:

An investigation carried out by Federal Communication Commission's own inspector general officially refutes controversial claims that a cyberattack was responsible for disrupting the FCC's comment system in May 2017, at the height of the agency's efforts to kill off net neutrality. The investigation also uncovered that FCC officials had provided congressional lawmakers with misleading information regarding conversations between an FCC employee and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's cybercrime task force. A report from the inspector general's office (OIG) released Tuesday afternoon states that the comment system's downtime was likely caused by a combination of "system design issues" and a massive surge in traffic caused when Last Week Tonight host John Oliver directed millions of TV viewers to flood the FCC's website with pro-net neutrality comments.

Investigators were unable to "substantiate the allegations of multiple DDoS attacks" alleged by then-FCC Chief Information Officer David Bray, the report says. "At best, the published reports were the result of a rush to judgment and the failure to conduct analyses needed to identify the true cause of the disruption to system availability." [Here's an excerpt from the report:] "While we identified a small amount of anomalous activity and could not entirely rule out the possibility of individual DoS attempts during the period from May 7 through May 9, 2017, we do not believe this activity resulted in any measurable degradation of system availability given the minuscule scale of the anomalous activity relative to the contemporaneous voluminous viral traffic."

From Slashdot: Oracle has filed a protest regarding plans to award the Pentagon's huge cloud contract to a single vendor. Rebecca Hill writes:

The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, which has a massive scope, covering different levels of secrecy and classification across all branches of the military, will run for a maximum of 10 years and is worth a potential $10 billion. In spite of this pressure from vendors and the tech lobby -- as well as concerns from Congress -- the US Department of Defense (DoD) refused to budge, and launched a request for proposals (RFP) at the end of last month. Oracle is less than impressed with the Pentagon's failure to back down, and this week filed a bid protest to congressional watchdog the Government Accountability Office asking for the RFP to be amended.

In the protest, the database goliath sets out its arguments against a single vendor award -- broadly that it could damage innovation, competition, and security. Reading between the lines, it doesn't want either of Amazon or Microsoft or Google to get the whole pie to itself, and thus endanger Oracle's cosiness with Uncle Sam. Summing up its position in a statement to The Register, Oracle said that JEDI "virtually assures DoD will be locked into legacy cloud for a decade or more" at a time when cloud technology is changing at an unprecedented pace.

Read more at The Register

Cloud Computing Moving Front and Center of Federal IT Strategy

For federal agencies, cloud computing is now a lynchpin strategy. But the options are varied: public, private and hybrid cloud deployments. A variety of factors impact the decision to include the Cloud in IT strategy:
-- Compliance with Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) for cloud providers
-- Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) requirements for security
-- Security options for the various cloud models (public, private or hybrid) and provider
-- Designing a cloud migration

Both OSS and cloud computing individually offer potential benefits for federal agencies to improve their efficiency, agility, and innovation, by enabling them to be more responsive to new or changing requirements in their missions and business operations.

One example cited is: "...in May 2011, the US Department of Veterans Affair (VA) CIO stated to avoid costs, and to find a way to involve the private sector in modernizing Veterans Integrated System Technology Architecture (VistA; electronic medical records system), the VA turned to open source. In response, the VA launched the Open Source Electronic Health Record Alliance (OSEHRA) in August 2012 "as a central governing body of a new open source Electronic Health Record (EHR) community".

The approach to move data and applications to the cloud can vary. With critical IT assets in play, the importance of carefully selecting a plan and determining the most appropriate cloud service type and provider, is crucial. Results vary, but with the right support, organizations reap performance, reliability and cost savings from a successful deployment.

Read more here...

Why Our Government Hates Drones

Over at Wired, read why the government hates drones:

...why the government freaked out when a $400 remote-controlled quadcopter landed on the White House grounds last week, you need to look four miles away, to a small briefing room in Arlington, Virginia. There, just 10 days earlier, officials from the US military, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FAA gathered for a DHS “summit” on a danger that had been consuming them privately for years: the potential use of hobbyist drones as weapons of terror or assassination.

The conference was open to civilians, but explicitly closed to the press. One attendee described it as an eye-opener. The officials played videos of low-cost drones firing semi-automatic weapons, revealed that Syrian rebels are importing consumer-grade drones to launch attacks, and flashed photos from an exercise that pitted $5,000 worth of drones against a convoy of armored vehicles

Read more at Wired

Almost a Flying Car

In Nevada, a prototype flying drone taxi made by a Chinese company is getting closer to testing. As we read at The Consumerist, EHang is working with the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development to enable the firm to develop a testing program for its autonomous aerial taxi. Ehang's autonomous helicopter may soon shuttle a passenger anywhere, no pilot required. Well, within the 20-minute, 60mph range.

Watch a Naval version video here...

The Verge:

Ehang, a Chinese drone company, announced a new product at CES it's calling the Ehang 184, an all electric quadcopter scaled up from a drone so that it's large enough to carry a passenger. Ehang calls it an autonomous aerial vehicle, I prefer personal pilotless helicopter, but if you need to explain what it is to anyone, just say it's a driverless car for the sky.