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DorobekInsider: Most read items for the first week of June

The most read items on the DorobekInsider and on Federal News Radio 1500 AM’s Daily Debrief with Chris Dorobek and Amy Morris for the first week of June, 2009…

And the most read items on Federal News Radio 1500 AM’s Daily Debrief with Chris Dorobek and Amy Morris:

Written by cdorobek

July 12, 2009 at 9:19 PM

Posted in DorobekInsider, Most read items

DorobekInsider: UPDATED date for the (barely) July Federal News Radio Book Club book: Payback: Reaping the Rewards of Innovation

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Most of this is a re-post of an earlier item — but we had to change the date because of a conflict. The new date for the July meeting of the Federal News Radio Book Club is July 31 at 2p ET on 1500 AM and FederalNewsRadio.com. It is listed below, but… We will be joined by White House chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra… and the book he selected: Payback: Reaping the Rewards of Innovation by by James P. Andrew, Harold L. Sirkin, and John Butman — and James Andrew, Senior Partner & Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group’s innovation group will be joining us.

I’ve just finished the book and it is a fascinating read about how to make innovation a part of your organization. While the book is mostly written from a private sector perspective, but there are all sorts of applications for government. And I know Chopra will talk about why he believes the book applies to government.

Reminder: Friday, July 31 at 2p ET.

We have also created a Facebook page on the Federal News Radio Book Club “meeting.” We’d love to hear your thoughts and questions about the book as you read it.

Here is the previous item about the book club meeting:

Our next meeting of the Federal News Radio Book Club is what we call a “get” — we will be talking about a book selected by Aneesh Chopra, the first ever federal chief technology officer, and Chopra will be with us for the discussion.

The details:
When: Friday, July 31 at 2p ET
Where: On Federal News Radio 1500 AM’s In Depth with Francis Rose program and on FederalNewsRadio.com
The book: Payback: Reaping the Rewards of Innovation by James P. Andrew, Harold L. Sirkin, and John Butman — and James Andrew, Senior Partner & Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group’s innovation group will be joining us… so not a bad line-up: Chopra, Andrews and then Rose and Dorobek.

Just a reminder in case you have not participated in a Federal News Radio Book Club “meeting” before: It is something akin to the Oprah book club except we talk about books that help feds do their jobs better. And perhaps unlike other book clubs, our “meetings” take place on the radio — specifically on on Federal News Radio 1500 AM’s In Depth with Francis Rose and online at FederalNewsRadio.com. And we’d love to hear your thoughts about these issues. Comments will soon be available here. I have also set up a Facebook event page for the book club.

How did this come about: Well, Obama CTO Aneesh Chopra, in his interview with Federal News Radio’s Jason Miller, mentioned the book. I have posted part one of the interview below:

You can hear part two here.

As soon as I heard the interview, I sent a note to Chopra and his team… and to Andrews… both were interested… and we worked out the details and…

I started reading the book over the weekend and it is definitely a fascinating read. The book was written for the private sector, but… there is plenty in there that is applicable to government… and I know that Chopra will bring the pieces today.

I’m a third of the way through the book. I’ll post some liner notes when I’m a bit further along.

In the meantime, mark your calendar… Friday, July 17 at 2p ET for the Federal News Radio Book Club discussing Payback: Reaping the Rewards of Innovation by by James P. Andrew, Harold L. Sirkin, and John Butman.

Previous Federal News Radio Book Club “meetings”:

* The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey. Read more and find a link to the book club session here.
* What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis. Read more and find a link to the book club session here.
* Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World by Don Tapscott. Read more and find a link to the book club session here.
* Fired Up or Burned Out: How to reignite your team’s passion, creativity, and productivity by Michael Lee Stallard. Read more and hear the book club meeting here.

Written by cdorobek

July 11, 2009 at 9:05 PM

Posted in CIOs, Federal News Radio, Federal News Radio Book Club, Management, Performance, Technology, White House, books, innovation, strategy

DorobekInsider: Recovery Board responds to questions — and even posts the Recovery.gov statement of work

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The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board late Friday posted a response to all the questions about its $9.5 million award for the redesign of Recovery.gov.

The big question:

* Isn’t $9.5 million a lot of money to build a Web site?… The Recovery Board essentially says this isn’t just the creation of the Web site.

The initial outlay, $9,516,324, covers many facets: redesign and construction of a new website; installation of hardware and software infrastructure; hosting and operations for the website; more robust data storage; an enhanced content-management system; and contract labor support and other features. If the Recovery Board exercises options under the contract, the cost could total $17,948,518 over a period ending in January 2014.

The Recovery Board also posted the statement of work that was used to solicit vendors. You can see that here… or find it below… (UPDATE: Giving credit where credit is due — the statement of work was actually posted by Sunlight Labs. The Recovery Board included that link with its press release, which I guess confirms any questions there may have been that it was the actual statement of work. That being said, there are going to continue to be calls for the Recovery Board to post the contract — even in redacted form — for the redesign of the Recovery.gov Web site.)

Here is the full statement:

Contract Awarded for Construction of New Recovery.gov

Friday, July 10, 2009

WASHINGTON—In a major step toward developing a state-of-the-art Recovery.gov website, a contract was awarded this week to Smartronix, Inc., a Maryland information technology firm. The company will build the new website for the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, an independent agency that manages Recovery.gov and monitors spending under the $787 billion Recovery program.

The initial outlay, $9,516,324, covers many facets: redesign and construction of a new website; installation of hardware and software infrastructure; hosting and operations for the website; more robust data storage; an enhanced content-management system; and contract labor support and other features. If the Recovery Board exercises options under the contract, the cost could total $17,948,518 over a period ending in January 2014.

Smartronix, based in Hollywood, Maryland, describes itself on www.smartronix.com as “a global professional solutions provider specializing in NetOps, Cyber Security, Enterprise Software Solutions, Defense & Commercial Products, and Health IT.” The company won the contract over two other bidders, according to the General Services Administration, which made the award.

Smartronix is now working with three subcontractors: Synteractive Corporation, Washington, D.C.; TMP Government, based in McLean, Va., and New York-based KPMG.

“With the assistance of GSA,” said Earl E. Devaney, the Recovery Board chairman, “we proceeded in a careful fashion to find the best value for the taxpayers’ dollar.” He went on to say: “In the end, this website, above all else, must be user friendly and provide the public with the necessary information on how its money is being spent.”

Devaney explained that the Recovery Board needed also to move swiftly because recipients of Recovery funds—perhaps 200,000 or more—will begin submitting reports to the Recovery Board in October. That information will be posted almost immediately on Recovery.gov, he said.

Devaney and the 12 Inspectors General who comprise the Recovery Board described the contract as firm fixed and competitively bid for operations and maintenance, providing a full solution package to include:

Develop the next generation of Recovery.gov, which will be visually pleasing, user friendly and highly interactive.

A mapping capacity that will allow users to search for spending all the way down to their own neighborhoods.

The capacity to store and easily download massive amounts of data.

A state-of-the-art security platform that will protect the integrity and availability of the data and a back-up system in the event of a major catastrophe such as 9/11 or a large-scale power outage.

Contract support to perform a wide array of hosting, maintenance and operational services.

The pre-solicitation notice was posted on the FedBizOpps Web site on June 11, 2009. You can see that here.

Here is the statement of work that was sent to vendors on GSA’s Alliant contract:

View this document on Scribd

Written by cdorobek

July 10, 2009 at 4:39 PM

Posted in Government 2.0, Management, Policy, Stimulus and recovery, Technology, Web 2.0, information sharing, oversight, strategy, transparency

DorobekInsider: Recovery Board – and Recovery.gov vendor – get pressure on transparency

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It has been all of about one day since the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board — yes, the RAT Board — and Smartronix, the company that was just awarded a $9.5 million deal to (re)build Recovery.gov are catching a lot of heat… for lack of transparency, of all things.

The Web world has been atwitter with discussion about this — there is even an online petition started by Jim Gilliam, who created WhiteHouse2.org, NationalBuilder.com, and act.ly.

Here is an excerpt of what it says:

Smartronix is getting $9.5 million to redesign http://recovery.gov in 6 months. That’s $1.6 million a month. The contract could be worth up to $18 million over 5 years… We expect Smartronix to be transparent in how they spend money, and are calling on them to unprotect their twitter updates, and tweet regularly on where the money is going and the progress of the project.

Recovery.gov is all about transparency in spending the stimulus funds, so it’s only reasonable that the contractor building the site make that process transparent too.

On the face of it, $9.5 million seems like a lot of money to build a Web site. My sense is that this is exceedingly complex — and I keep saying over and over again, the recovery project is extremely unique — in its scope, in its size, in its speed, and in the level of transparency that the Obama administration is trying to bring to the project. Nothing like this has ever been done before — and it all needs to be done yesterday. So there is a lot of pressure coming from multiple saides.

While the Internet seems to be in virtual meltdown over the price tag — the contract could be worth more than $18 million if all of the options are exercised — there is some valuable discussion going on — and there are some steps that the Recovery Board can — and should — take.

First — the Recovery Board needs to talk about the contract, and they need to do that sooner rather then later. Nature doesn’t like a vacuum, and there is an information vacuum right now. They need to fill that void with answers. (Federal News Radio has invited them to talk about the award. I hope they will accept that offer. And, to be honest, we’ll take as much time as necessary because this is such an important issue. If you have questions you think the board should answer, post them here.)

Second — It is the Recovery Board’s job to talk about the contract, not the contractor, Smartronix. To be honest, I haven’t seen the contract nor the request for proposals, but my guess is communicating about it was not included in the specifications. And, frankly, it was the Recovery Board’s decision to use the GSA Alliant contract for this bid and to hire Smartronix. It is their project.

Third — We need to give the Recovery Board and Smarttronix some time to get all their pieces in line. This contract was just awarded. In the end, the two sides need to talk and get a game plan together so they don’t fill the information vacuum with bad information — bad information that, and let’s be honest here, we will only bludgon them with later.

I know it sounds contradictory to tell the Recovery Board to speak, and yet to take their time, but… we all know how important it is to communicate. The Recovery Board has a very difficult task — and it is important that they succeed. As you can tell, there are people who want to help. Tap into them — and the board can do that by just keeping them informed… and asking for help. Target all this energy in a more positive direction.

There are some other reasoned responses out there.

Clay Johnson of Sunlight Labs posted this on the Sunlight Labs blog:

I don’t think [the price tag is] the real problem here. The real problem is transparency. The real problem is that while many are outraged at the cost, you can’t presume that the government isn’t spending its money wisely unless you know both what Government is paying and what they’re paying for. We don’t know what they’re paying for, yet.

And Greg Elin, a open government advocate and the former chief evangelist for Sunlight Foundation, also posted this in the Sunlight Labs e-mail list:

The $9.5M is expensive, not unreasonable.
- It’s expensive to do business with government.
- Doing things on a rush adds a premium.
- People will be working round the clock, so expect overtime.
- Govt + Rush = Quadruple costs.

Other considerations:
- Design, build, test, and a launch a website in less than 3 months (Oct 10 is the key date). And don’t forget running lots of stuff by the lawyers.
- It’s a fixed-price bid so contractor over-estimates.
- Recovery Board looks like it has been following an enterprise-style, waterfall development process (much more costly than agile, iterative)
- Run at least a couple of teams on sub-projects to minimize risk.
- Recovery Board needs to coordinate information flowing in from 26 agencies, 50, states, hundreds of municipalities, and potentially tens of thousands of sub-contractors. Huge coordination overhead costs in this project.

Recovery.gov is not just a website:
- It is the first web site attached to an appropriations bill.
- It is a front-end glued onto a back-end still-being defined and of a breadth and depth of reporting that rivals the largest of government reporting projects.
- It is a website that must present data that has not yet been created.
- It needs/should be 508 compliant.
- The executive management on the Recovery Board are Inspector Generals (aka, ex-law enforcement and lawyers).

Oh, and just for reference, Twitter raised at least $20M from 2006 – 2008, a shorter period than the $18M being spent for 2009 – 2014 time frame of this project. And, like, how many features does twitter have?

On Federal News Radio 1500 AM’s Daily Debrief with Chris Dorobek and Amy Morris Thursday, we spoke with Federal News Radio’s Jason Miller about the award. And we mentioned that there is a lot of risk here. And, frankly, there is little reward if Smartronix goes above and beyond. In fact, it is a fixed price, so there is no reward.

Along those lines, one other good post from the Sunlight Labs e-mail list from Steven Clift, executive director at e-democracy.org:

Perhaps they have $2 million for a whiz bang Apps4Recovery contest? ;-)

On that note, I wonder when Federal IT contractors will resource tech community participation? It might give some bids an advantage.

And related, what are the larger Federal IT contracts that have promised open source efficiencies/benefits? For example, if I had been involved in a Recovery.gov bid I would have thrown in use of the site or software by states since that appears to be the big hole in tracking the details of stimulus spending.

Note:
http://accountablerecovery.org/
http://www.propublica.org/special/chart-tracking-states-spending-trackers

Meanwhile, it’s important to remember that the goal is stimulus — and to provide transparency and accountability into that stimulus package.

It’s interesting because the Republican National Committee already has an ad out that references the $18 million contract.

As always, I don’t care about the politics of it. The goal is to help the government work better, so… I’ll continue working to get the Recovery Board on the air to answer some of these questions.

Finally, I wonder if this issue might spur greater transparency in the task order process. TechPresident refered to the bidding for the Recovery.gov contract a “closed bidding.” That seems unfair. And that seems overly conspiritorial. They used an established process. That being said, that process needs to be changed.

There is all sorts of buisness that goes through multiple award contracts — so called MACs — including this one. These multiple award contracts include everything from the GSA schedule contracts to governmentwide acquisition contracts such as GSA’s Alliant, which the Recovery Board used for this procurement. There are all sorts of reasons one would use those contracts — one is speed. But it wasn’t “closed.” There are 59 companies on Alliant alone.

That being said, there isn’t much transparency in these multiple award contracts. In the end, vendors who win these contracts only “win” a hunting license. They then have to compete for task orders under those contracts — and there is almost no transparency in that process. The task orders are generally not posted publicly. And often, you don’t even hear about the awards. If somebody wanted to be angry about something, that seems like a good place to start.

Written by cdorobek

July 10, 2009 at 9:09 AM

Posted in Collaboration, EGov, Government 2.0, Government Groups, Industry, Management, Performance, Technology, Web 2.0, White House, oversight, procurement, strategy, transparency

DorobekInsider: Hey funny guy — Uncle Sam wants YOU! No, really…

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OK all you funny people — here is your chance: The Treasury Department’s Bureau of Public Debt has a request for quotations for humor in the workplace meetings. Yes, I’m serious!

The Contractor shall conduct two, 3-hour, Humor in the Workplace programs that will discuss the power of humor in the workplace, the close relationship between humor and stress, and why humor is one of the most important ways that we communicate in business and office life. Participants shall experience demonstrations of cartoons being created on the spot. The contractor shall have the ability to create cartoons on the spot about BPD jobs. The presenter shall refrain from using any foul language during the presentation. This is a business environment and we need the presenter to address a business audience.

Upon completion of the course, participants shall be able to:

• Understand the importance and power of humor in the workplace in a responsible manner
• How to use talents in a creative way that adds humor to everyday experiences
• Alleviate stress in home and the office
• Know how and why humor is important to communication
• Improve work-place relationships
• Prevent burn-out

Want to bid? You can find more details on FedBizOps… the text says they are due… well, Monday July 6… even though it was only posted this morning. But elsewhere on the FedBizOps announcement, it says submissions are due on July 14 at 2p ET.

I want to make a joke about it, but… this could be a great idea. We’ve reached out to the folks from the Bureau of Public Debt asking them to explain what they are looking for from this. In the meantime… Anybody want to join me with a bid?

Written by cdorobek

July 9, 2009 at 6:08 PM

Posted in Management, Workforce

DorobekInsider: A UK idea – The best way to help the postal service is to ignore the Internet

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Let me start out by noting that this is a discussion going on in Britain, but there are many organizations — including parts of the media — that I think would just like this whole Internet thing to go away. (Ah yes, this InterWeb is just a fad, right?)

Essentially, the UK Parliament’s Commons Business and Enterprise Committee has published a report suggesting that the drive toward e-government is undermining the British postal service.

Here is the report by UK’s Computing headlined E-government is not always the best option, say MPs; Commons committee questions drive to put public services online, and says face-to-face services must still have their place:

MPs have questioned the drive towards e-government and accused Whitehall departments of undermining local Post Offices by pushing online services instead of over-the-countertransactions.

A report from the all-party Commons Business and Enterprise Committee cited as examples the campaign to persuade motorists to renew vehicle excise licences on the web instead of at sub-Post Offices, and the strategy to persuade pensioners to receive payments into bank accounts instead of collecting them over the counter.

The committee’s report, most of which concerned the need to find more new business to keep local offices viable, said the public “is deeply sceptical about the extent to which it is acceptable to offer services online only, with widespread concern that certain disadvantaged groups find themselves further disadvantaged by ignorance as to how to use the internet and inability to afford a computer.”

DorobekInsider: Coming and going – A new DOT CIO (mostly confirmed), Frank Puglese, former SSA CIO Tom Hughes, Young Government Leaders

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A number of people comings & goings in the past few days…

* DOT CIO Nitin Harban

I mentioned this a few days ago — at that time unconfirmed — that there was a new CIO at the Transportation Department. While I don’t have it “officially” confirmed — DOT public affairs has yet to get back to me — I have essentially confirmed that Harban started on June 29. While the DOT CIO is a political appointee, the DOT CIO job it is not a Senate confirmed post. I’m frustrated to say that I don’t have a bio or anything — and Google doesn’t even provide much help. Nor Microsoft’s Bing for that matter. If anybody has information — a bio or anything — post it here or send it along.

* Frank P. Pugliese, the former GSA Federal Supply Service commissioner, leaves DuPont

Pugliese, who was an almost legendary leader of the General Services Administration’s then-Federal Supply Service — for you newbies, that was the organization that includes the GSA schedule contracts among other things. He retired from GSA in 2000 — read the GSA press release from that time here. Pugliese eventually ended up at DuPont as Managing Director of DuPont Government Business Development. He resigned last week.

I spoke to him earlier this week and he told me his is not retiring. He is doing some consulting.

It was one of the worst kept secrets in town that Pugliese was interested in the GSA administrator job and in our conversation this week, even 9-years after leaving GSA, he still has incredible passion for that organization.

Here is Pugliese’s DuPont bio:

Frank P. Pugliese, Jr is Managing Director of DuPont Government Business Development. He is the former commissioner for the General Services Administration (GSA) where he spent his career focused on performance and operations improvement. During his 28-year tenure with the GSA, his efforts received numerous citations for contributing to better government through deficit reduction and cost-effectiveness. In1998, he received GSA’s Distinguished Service Award, the agency’s most prestigious award, followed by the 1999 Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Executive. He retired from the GSA in 2000.

* Former SSA CIO Tom Hughes joins CSC

Again, I don’t have “official” confirmation — somebody at CSC will get back to me soon, I hope — but Thomas P. Hughes, the former CIO at the Social Security Administration, has joined CSC’s civilian group.

* Change of leadership at Young Government Leaders

Katherine Hudson Walker, who has been president of the growing Young Government Leaders organization, has announced she is stepping down and the new incoming president, Tim Sommella, will be taking the helm. (Sommella works at the Coast Guard, so pun only partially intended.)

It is with great regret that I send this email. For the past three and a half years, YGL has been my “baby” in many respects, but in looking at the priorities in my life I have another baby–my son–that needs me as well. Balancing my new son and work has been harder than expected and I find that I am no longer able to give YGL the time and attention it deserves. I am resigning my position as President of Young Government Leaders, leaving Tim Sommella at the helm of YGL until September 2009 when the newly elected board takes office. I will continue to serve YGL as an advisor and contribute as my schedule allows. Tim has done a great job this past year serving as a central point of accountability and direction for the board and I couldn’t think of anyone more capable and creative to lead YGL going forward.

I want to express my sincere thanks for your support of YGL over the years as we would not have been able to achieve our goals without your sage advice and generous contributions. I hope that you will continue to support YGL and our mission to promote civil service and help the federal government grow the next generation of leaders. Please stay in touch!

Best,

Kate

Katherine Hudson Walker
Senior Analyst, Strategic Issues
Government Accountability Office

Walker has done a great job balancing many priorities, and she still managed to grow YGL. It has been great getting to know her.

She was recently on the Women In Technology panel that I moderated recently, and Federal News Radio Program Director Lisa Wolfe wrote this wonderful intro for Walker:

Kate Hudson Walker covers a lot of ground with her career, her family and her hobby. Kate takes on the mantle of what amounts to two jobs, one with GAO, one with YGL. Kate is also a new mom to her 7 month old son Nathan. And if these two things didn’t keep her running, her hobby certainly would. Literally. Kate is a marathon runner aiming to run 26.2 miles in under 3 hours. She even has her sights set on being an Olympic athlete. She is training to compete in the Olympic Trials in the coming few years and will be testing her mettle this November at the Richmond marathon. Kate Hudson Walker, President of the Young Government Leaders and also a Government Accountability Office Senior Analyst for Strategic Issues.

I’ve added the emphasis because I still find it simply remarkable.

You can hear excerpts of that panel here.

Written by cdorobek

July 9, 2009 at 12:57 PM

Posted in CIOs, Management, NewsBytes, Technology, Transition, Whose In and Whose Out

DorobekInsider: A picture worth almost 1,000 words – Obama and the IT dashboard

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Giving credit where credit is due right up front — Aliya Sternstein over at NextGov posts a great photo of President Obama checking out the new federal IT dashboard, which was officially opened to the public last week. (More here… and the very first preview peek of the IT dashboard here… and more here…)

But this is just a great Official White House Photo by Pete Souza of President Barack Obama as he looks at the new IT Dashboard site while sitting at his secretary’s desk outside the Oval Office on Thursday, July 2, 2009.

Written by cdorobek

July 9, 2009 at 7:52 AM

Posted in CIOs, Management, Performance, Technology, White House, budget, transparency

DorobekInsider: Cyber-attack 2009 – what does it mean?

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There has been a big focus today on the cyber-attacks over the past few days. Some news outlets are reporting that the attacks may come from North Korea — something many people are already doubting given that country’s limited technology infrastructure.

I’ll be on DC’s NewsChannel 8’s Federal News Tonight at 7:30p ET talking about this. UPDATED: You can see the video of me on NewsChannel 8 tonight here.

I’ve been speaking to a number of people throughout the day about what this means. Many government cyber-security experts suggest that the timing of the attacks — starting on the Fourth of July — is probably not accidental.

The big question, actually, is whether this will spur further action by the Obama administration — for example, like naming of what we have all taken to calling the cyber-czar.

I’ll post additional resources later, but… for right now, if you’re looking for additional information…

Some resources:

* The DorobekInsider reader: Obama cyber policy review… At the end of May, the President announced the results of his 60-day top-to-bottom review of the nation’s cyber-security defenses. I have a number of resources — everything from links to the document itself to a Congressional Research Service Review. Find it all here.

* Cyber-czar candidates… We hear the appointment was to have happened July 13, but could that be stepped up given recent events? GovInfoSecurity.com is hearing the same names that I’m hearing. I hear there are three names under serious consideration:

Melissa Hathaway, who got high marks for leading the Obama cyber-security review
Fred Kramer, who served as the assistant defense secretary for international security affairs under President Clinton
Howard Schmidt, former Microsoft chief security advisor and former adviser to Bush on cyberspace security

Others mentioned include former Rep. Tom Davis — he tells Federal News Radio 1500 AM’s Max Cacas he’s not interested — among others.

* 5 Fed Cybersecurity Priorities for the Summer from GovInfoSecurity.com.. a great read…

Summertime Action: Naming a cyber czar, reforming FISMA, securing the cloud, enhancing R&D and updating the Privacy Act… read more here.

Written by cdorobek

July 8, 2009 at 5:57 PM

Posted in Technology, security

DorobekInsider: Leadership changes at Government Executive – Dunie takes the reins, Vito shifts to strategy

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Curiously timed for the pre-Fourth of July week — and a week when the DorobekInsider was out of town — the Government Executive Media Group announced that long time president and group publisher, Steve Vito, is shifting to from his operational rule to a morestrategic one. His new title, effective immediately, is executive director for strategic development.

From the release:

In this new role, Mr. Vito will work closely with Matt Dunie, who will assume the title of President, in strategic planning and business development of Government Executive Media Group.

I should note that I spoke to Steve Vito and he says he is just fine, thank you very much, and he had nothing but positive things to say about Atlantic Media, Government Executive, and the team. And he stressed that the changes are his decision.

That being said, it seems to be somewhat significant change and has many people peering into the tea leaves.

As the DorobekInsider told you earlier, Dunie joined Government Executive in April — and, as I reported even then, many people were surprised that Vito was reporting to Dunie. That has nothing to do with Dunie. Most people don’t really know him — and that is the point. Vito is well know — and very well respected — in the government market. Speaking personally, I am a huge Vito fan — and I think he has been an elegant leader in a very difficult time for media –particularly for print. And a very interesting time in the government trade press market.

Vito has led Government Executive when 1105 Media’s Federal Computer Week purchased Government Computer News. It was a merger that, in our world, was — and maybe still is — of epic proportions. Government Executive was suddenly a underdog. But in some ways, Government Executive has actually flourished. Vito gets some of the credit, but the forces of the market have also been a significant player. In the end, markets tend to like competition.

But Vito has also made some keen decisions. A key one was to reduce the focus — and dependency — on print, and, by extension, increase theorganization’s online focus. Government Executive has wisely reduced its print frequency — Government Executive magazine is now essentially a monthly — but the group hassignificantly stepped up its online coverage both on GovExec.com, but Vito also hired former FCW editor in chief Allan Holmes to create NextGov.com, to focus on government IT. (When I was at FCW, we were often frustrating that Government Executive magazine would have IT advertisers when, at the time, they didn’t even have a technology reporter.)NextGov has certainly evolved over time, and there still aren’t nearly the cross connections between the GovExec and NextGov Web sites, but NextGov is undoubetedly a player. I don’t know if it is profitable, but… it’s a player.

Another key move: Hiring Bob Brewin. A few years ago, Vito hired Brewin from FCW — from me! Brewin had been FCW’s long-time DOD reporter and was famous — perhaps infamous — for his Intercepts column. Brewin now pens NextGov’s What’s Brewin ‘don’t call it a blog’ blog. (An inside joke — Brewin is adamant that he isn’t a blogger. I keep arguing that if it reads like a blog…) Like him or dislike him — and there are many on both sides of that equation — Brewin is a joy to read and it was a great hire. And I hear he gets great traffic even despite that NextGov still doesn’t highlight him enough.

So this move leaves many people reading the tea leaves of these moves by David Bradley, the chairman of Atlantic Media Company, which owns Government Executive. Bradley, of course, is extremely influential and is widely regarded as one of the smartest publishers around. As I mentioned earlier, there had been word that Bradley had been trying to sell Government Executive. It is unclear if that is still the plan. Insiders tell me Bradley has said he isn’t looking to sell Government Executive. And, of course, if he were to sell it, are there buyers? We are still awaiting the official word onCongressional Quarterly, but, as the DorobekInsider reported earlier, we hear that final details are being worked out on the sale of Congressional Quarterly to the Economist Group. But observers believe that there the Economist Group was essentially the only real bidder… and that CQ sold for less then expected. We will probably never know the specifics, but… Many publishers — even giants like IDG, the publisher of Computerworld, CIO magazine and other publications — are still struggling right now.

There is still a notion of creating non-advertising revenue streams. 1105 Media was shrewd in its buy (PDF doc) of the Federal Employee News Digest (FEND), which is a paid newsletter for feds. And some have speculated that Dunie’s assignment is to find other ways of generating revenue that are not advertising based.

A slight aside: I was interested to see Bradley staunchly defend public policy salon type dinners, which have sponsors and therefore bring in revenue. (Hat tip: MediaBisto’s FishbowlDC)

The Dunie-Vito moves do have people talking. Most people believe this is just a turn of a page and that the chapter has yet to be written.

Below is the full release from Atlantic Media’s Government Executive Group:

Steve Vito to Focus on Strategic Development for Government Executive Media Group

Responsibilities Shift from Operational to Strategic

WASHINGTON, June 29 /PRNewswire/ — Government Executive Media Group announced today that Steve Vito, President and Group Publisher, will transition his role from an operational one to a strategic one. Mr. Vito joined Government Executive in April ‘99 and has been president and group publisher since January ‘07. Effective immediately his title will be Executive Director, Strategic Development. In this new role, Mr. Vito will work closely with Matt Dunie, who will assume the title of President, in strategic planning and business development of Government Executive Media Group.

“Our brands are stronger than at any point in our 40 year history. When I joined in 1999, our business consisted of a monthly magazine, one conference, and a relatively new web site. We reached about 60,000 federal executives. Since then, we’ve expanded and diversified dramatically. Today, we offer products across most forms of media and each month we reach about 500,000 end-users in government and the contractor community,” said Vito. In addition to Government Executive, the monthly magazine, Government Executive Media Group has two web sites, govexec.com and nextgov.com, produces over 70 live and online events annually, and started a fast growing research group, Government Business Council.

Vito continued, “With the media industry at an inflection point, now is the ideal time to pass on the operational control to a successor and focus my efforts on working with Matt and the other managers in the development of new media products.” Mr. Vito will continue to represent Government Executive Media Group at events and with industry organizations.

Matt Dunie joined Government Executive Media Group in March ‘09. He was the President of Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) from 2000 to 2007 when the company acquired ProQuest to form ProQuest-CSA. Under Matt’s leadership, CSA grew its revenues ten-fold through acquisitions and organic growth. At the time of his departure, the newly formed ProQuest grew to a 1,200 person global information services company.

“Steve has been a hero in this enterprise. It’s great that he will now concentrate on our strategy going forward. He is an exceptional talent,” said David Bradley, Chairman of Atlantic Media, the parent company of Government Executive Media Group.

“Matt brings a wealth of experience in different areas of publishing that we didn’t have. I am excited about working alongside of him in turning our strategy into reality for our group. I will remain firmly engaged here as we plan and implement the next phase of our growth,” said Vito.

About Government Executive Media Group
Government Executive Media Group, a division of Atlantic Media Company, is the premier media resource for federal managers. The magazine and related online, event and research properties cover the entire spectrum of management challenges confronting federal executives in civilian and defense agencies. Government Executive Media Group recently introduced Nextgov.com, an interactive online home for the federal IT community. For more information about Government Executive Media Group, visit www.GovernmentExecutive.com/mediakit.

Contact: Will Colston
Source: Government Executive Media Group

Written by cdorobek

July 8, 2009 at 10:21 AM

Posted in press

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