Week in Review
What generation gap?
Federal Computer Week hosted the Rising Star Awards dinner last week at the J.W. Marriott in Washington, D.C., and the place was buzzing with excitement.
The 53 award winners were clearly delighted to be honored. They know they do good work. They have the confidence that comes naturally to people who are both smart and driven. But until now they had no reason to expect any sort of public recognition. Usually their job is to make their bosses look good and applaud when their bosses’ bosses win Federal 100 awards. Such is the way of Washington.
But those ways might be changing. Plenty of bosses attended last week's dinner, and they looked pleased to see their employees receive the Rising Star awards.
The common refrain at the reception was, “It's about time.” It's about time this community had a forum to recognize the labors of the younger generation, which, of course, represents the next generation of community leaders. It’s about time to cultivate the commitment to public service that has taken root there and give it space to grow.
No one was talking about a generation gap. True, twenty- and thirtysomething workers have different expectations and different ways of approaching problems. But if they come ready to learn from their co-workers and if their co-workers are willing to learn from them, the gap closes and everybody moves ahead.
That was the buzz at the Rising Star Awards dinner. Let’s hope it lasts.
Editor's note: FCW invites award winners and their dinner companions to send their digital photographs of the event to photos@fcw.com. We will post them online in the coming days.
Other noteworthy news
The Customs and Border Protection agency at the Homeland Security Department,
which is looking for inside access to Microsoft's ongoing and future developments,
said it plans to award a noncompetitive contract to Microsoft
Consulting Services.... Lt. Gen. Steve Boutelle, the Army's chief information
officer, said the service's instant messaging policy allows users access to
Bantu, a secure messaging program, only through its Army
Knowledge Online portal.... FedBid
won a five-year contract to provide online reverse auction services for DHS...
Office of Procurement Operations, primarily for buying information technology
and other equipment.... Eight manufacturers have registered more than 200 products
that meet a voluntary manufacturing standard for eco-friendly
computer products since the standard's release in July.... Program managers
must know how to safeguard personal information so the government can maintain
the public's trust, said Mark Hardy, president of National Security Corp., a
speaker at FCW Events' Program Management
Summit in Washington, D.C.... As few as 9 percent of U.S. physicians use
full-fledged electronic health record systems
for outpatient care, according to a new study by researchers under contract
to the Department of Health and Human Services.... A consortium led by Unisys
will build and manage an online repository of open-source
software for the European Union.... Scott
Hastings, CIO for DHS' U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology
program, retired after a 23-year federal career.... The Department of Veterans
Affairs... Office of the General Counsel awarded a contract to Identity Force
for identity theft protection services
for more than 5,700 people, 660 of whom are veterans, after the department reported
that a backup data tape was missing.... Accenture announced the completion of
the first phase of the Army's financial
management system, known as the General Fund Enterprise Business System,
at Fort Jackson, S.C.... NASA should use social networking applications to cultivate
support among younger Americans for its space
exploration program, according to a report from George Mason University
researchers.... IT will play a major role in helping the Internal
Revenue Service close a $345 billion gap between taxes owed and taxes collected,
according to a new Treasury Department report.
A roundup of the week's news, complete with links to the original stories,
can be found on FCW.com Download's Week in Review.