Database costs, paper-less procurement, Lockheed hires and a loss for ID management

GAO: Pentagon must improve in accounting for database costs

The Defense Department needs to do better in accounting for the costs of keeping a vast database of contracting information up to date, according to a Government Accountability Office report.

The database, known as the Synchronized Pre-deployment and Operational Tracker–Enterprise Suite, contains information on nearly 1 million contractor personnel who have worked with DOD, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The Pentagon has not updated the lifecycle cost estimate for the database since 2010 because "officials said the system has proven stable," the report states.

But stability is not the only goal, according to GAO. "Without regularly updating life-cycle costs and defining and assessing plans to provide a full accounting for the systems' costs, management will have difficulty planning program resource requirements and making decisions," the report concludes.

JPL launches 'paper-less' procurement packages

The Acquisition Division of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has digitized hundreds of thousands of documents as part of its plan to make the procurement process "paper-less," if not paper free, GCN reports. The project began as "Work Different" in October 2012, and 20 months later the Interactive Acquisition Network was rolled out.

"We chose paper-less, not paper-free because there's always going to be some amount of paper," said Martin Johnson, manager of the Acquisition Strategic Planning Office. IAN is built on three Microsoft tools that were already part of JPL: Office 2013, SharePoint 2013 and OneNote 2013. Working with the JPL Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), the division created a system that electronically manages from start to finish all procurement packages.

Lockheed fills two tech positions

Lockheed Martin Corp. has named Dana Keoki Jackson vice president and CTO, and Rodney Makoske senior vice president of corporate engineering, technology and operations.

Jackson has worked for the defense giant since 1997, most recently as a vice president charged with integrating the firm's disciplinary focuses. Makoske was most recently a vice president in charge of the firm's mission systems and training R&D strategy.

ID management leader leaving NIST

Jeremy Grant, the National Institute of Standards and Technology's senior executive adviser for identity management, is leaving government.

Federal News Radio reported that Grant, who leads the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace program, has not announced future plans, but will leave NIST in April.