May 5, 2011

Why 0.99999… = 1, proof, and limits

If you took calculus, believe it or not, you have the tools to prove that 0.9999… = 1 .  Think back to the concept of a “limit.”  OK, I really don’t expect you to remember it, so please be patient as…
July 26, 2006

New contracts for government services?

GovExec reported yesterday on a recommendation that GSA create a new type of contract for services acquisitions, arguing that existing contracts are geared more towards buying goods. This will create a whole lot of change in government IT contracting, if it goes ahead,…
September 30, 2005

Small businesses struggle to win business after Hurricane Katrina

With the need for emergency efforts and immediate response, small businesses fall short of providing their services in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, even though they want to be able to offer assistance and be part of the recovery. Why? …
May 29, 2009

NGP Meeting — June 9th — be there!

The agenda for the NGP’s June 9th meeting has been announced. Register at , and join us at 1.30pm at the Department of Education at 550 12th Street SW, Washington, DC, or via webcast at https://www.tcg.com.acrobat.com/thengp. GAO Study of Grants.gov…
July 30, 2008

P.L. 106–107 reauthorization in progress

Cornelia Chebinou of the NGP just posted about Senators Voinovich and Lieberman’s proposed reauthorization of the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act. The NGP is accepting comments on the proposed legislation to submit to Congress. I wonder what prompted this sudden…
February 23, 2010

2010 Excellence.Gov Awards registration now open

The Excellence.Gov Awards recognize the very best in government IT programs every year, and registration for this year’s awards luncheon is now open at the ACT/IAC web site. The event will be held on April 29, starting at 11.30am. (Disclosure:…
October 13, 2006

The value of government (and government IT)

Over on the GCN blogs, Tom Temin posted an article titled “Is YouTube more valuable than say Grants gov?” in which he reports on SAP America’s funding of a study to quantify the value of government. I don’t know why he mentioned…
November 26, 2008

Next NGMA Meeting — January 14th

Just a note for your calendars: The next NGMA Training Luncheon is on January 14th. The speaker is to-be-announced but an interesting chat accompanied by great food (Maggiano’s, 5333 Wisconsin Ave NW) is hard to turn down. And you can also…
March 20, 2012

Upgrading to MySQL 5.5 on Ubuntu 10.10

I was recently asked to upgrade the MySQL install on a Ubuntu 10.10 system.  Normally these kinds of upgrades are simple affairs using built in tools like apt or yum, but in this case I was trying to go from MySQL 5.1…
September 25, 2019

Who says Shared Services are Only for Back Office Functions?

by Dave Cassidy, Vice President The consensus answer is: almost everyone. The problem is that almost everyone is wrong. By eliminating duplicative work and saving taxpayer’s money, federal shared services can have a huge impact on modernizing IT in the federal government.…