DorobekINSIDER: Godspeed Jeff Koch

UPDATE: I’ve added the official obituary.

I was awaiting the formal obituary, but… I’m heartbroken to report that Jeff Koch passed away over the weekend.

Koch served at the Office of Management and Budget and most recently was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management at U.S. Department of Labor.

Koch passed away suddenly on November 3 after an unexpected complication of cancer, according to friends.

I will update this post with the official obituary when it is available, which will have viewing and funeral times.

But in the meantime, friends have created a GoFundMe page for Koch’s wife, Patty Stolnacker Koch. “The friends of Patty and Jeff have organized this gofundme for Patty – – not only to show our love, caring and support to this wonderful friend and mom-to-be, but to also to help relieve some of the many expenses of raising a child,” the page says.

The official obituary:

JEFFREY WESCOTT KOCH passed away unexpectedly with his beloved wife by his side on November 3, 2018, after a courageous battle with liposarcoma. He was 55.

The son of Janice Park Koch and the late Franklin Wescott Koch, Jeff was born on May 6, 1963, in Plainfield, NJ. He graduated from Warrensburg High School in Warrensburg, Missouri in 1981 and received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1985.

He was an Eagle Scout and a passionate member of the Boy Scouts of America, serving in multiple positions including District Commissioner for Washington, DC. He was also a member of the Boy Scouts’ Tribe of Mic-O-Say organization.

In January 2017, Jeff was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management at U.S. Department of Labor. He previously held various appointed positions at the U.S. Department of Labor as well as the White House Office of Management and Budget, during which time he received a letter of commendation from President George W. Bush.

Between 1998 and 2002, Jeff served as chief of staff for his friend and fellow Eagle Scout, Rep. Pete Sessions. Prior to his time in Washington D.C., Jeff worked as an engineer at RF Monolithics, Inc. and E-Systems in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Jeff is survived by his wife of seven years, Patty Stolnacker, and his expected daughter, due in January. He is also survived by his mother, Janice Koch, of Rowlett, Texas; his sister, Jennifer Leigh Davenport, with husband Mark and children Bryce and Hannah, of Rockwall, Texas; his brother, Barry Franklin Koch, with wife Claudia and children Lara and Julie, of Ingolstadt, Germany; and his loyal friend, Lincoln. Jeff was an adored husband, son and brother, a beloved friend and confidante, and a tireless volunteer.

He was passionate about cycling, engineering, nature, and music. He made a lasting difference to every endeavor he pursued. Jeff brought his engineering acumen and sense of fun to everything he did, providing joy and lasting memories of Halloween haunted houses, Olympic festivities, and epic water slides to his Palisades neighborhood.

Memorial services will begin on Friday, November 9, 2018 with a visitation at the Everly Wheatley Funeral Home in Alexandria, Virginia from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., followed by a service on Saturday, November 10, 2018 at 3 p.m. at the Fairlington United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Virginia.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests sending memorial contributions in Jeff’s name to Cycle for Survival’s team Tour de Cure – DC: http://mskcc.convio.net/goto/JeffKoch. Please view and sign the family guestbook.

I’ve gotten funeral details from some friends:

• Friday 11/9: 5:00- 8 PM Viewing – Everly Wheatley Funeral Home, 1500 W. Braddock Rd., Alexandria VA
• Saturday 11/10: 3 PM – Funeral – Fairlington United Methodist Church, 3900 King St, Alexandria, VA 22302 Reception to follow.
• Sunday 11/11: 11 AM – Private Burial

Koch was known for his passion and his humor. But he was also known for his work. In 2008, he was recognized with Federal Computer Week’s Fed 100 award.

Jeff Koch

Office of Management and Budget

Jeff Koch, manager of the Office of Management and Budget’s Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness portfolio, didn’t try to force agencies to accept the Bush administration’s e-government plans for back-office services. Faced with resistance from agency managers and lawmakers, Koch used persuasive tactics.

He cleared roadblocks to ensure that initiatives such as E-Payroll and E-Travel could mature.

“Jeff has provided unwavering leadership for the agencies with his management of the Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness E-Government portfolio,” said Karen Evans, OMB’s administrator for e-government and information technology.

“Jeff has ensured the milestones for each of the initiatives are met, and any obstacles in the way have been cleared.”

Agencies saved $508 million in 2007 from initiatives in Koch’s portfolio.

I will update this post with the obituary once it is available.

03.19.2012 DorobekINSIDER: IT strategic plan; ACT-IAC plans for 2012; and smartphone security

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Happy Monday — I hope you had a good weekend.
And I’ve had a bunch of people ask me about the new iPad. I don’t have it… YET. Yes, it was supposed to be delivered Friday, but… we are putting on an addition at home and there was an electrical issues, so… I wasn’t home on Friday to get it. I’ll get it today and report back, of course.

On today’s program…

• Everybody is thinking mobile. And there will be a plan very soon. We’ll get a preview from the federal Deputy CIO Linda Schlosser.
• The American Council on Technology and the Industry Advisory Council have been bringing government and industry together for decades. We’ll talk to the leaders of both of those organization about what is changing in 2012.
• Do you have a password on your smartphone? We will tell you why you just may want to do that.

All that ahead…

But after the break… we’ll start with the stories that impact your life for Monday the 19 of March, 2012… your government world in 120-seconds…

DorobekINSIDER: Amazon’s cloud coup: Frank DiGiammarino

Frank DiGiammarino

Amazon’s Web Service’s government arm has scored a coup — hiring Frank DiGiammarino, who left the White House late last year.

The DorobekINSIDER has confirmed that DiGiammarino has been named Amazon Web Service‘s director of innovation and global expansion for Amazon Web Services, which is mostly known for books but has been making a big play in the cloud — and in government. And that includes some smart hires. Last year, Amazon hired Teresa Carlson, who had led Microsoft Federal.

DiGiammarino left the White House earlier this year where he served as an advisor to the Vice President for recovery implementation and director of the Recovery Implementation Office. In that job, he was responsible to ensuring the $787 billion in stimulus got out into the economy as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Here he is at 2010’s Gov 2.0 Summit talking about the stimulus spendings impact on innovation:

DiGiammarino is widely respected, previously serving as the vice president of strategic initiatives for the National Academy of Public Administration, where he helped created the innovative Collaboration Project. The Collaboration Project was developed along with Lena Trudeau, who is now at the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service’s Associate Commissioner, Office of Strategic Innovations. It was designed to be a place where government could collaborate around collaboration.

This is only the latest in some high profile people jumping into the cloud. Carlson joined Amazon Web Services last year, and Viveck Kundra, the former federal chief information officer, announced that he is joining Salesforce.com.

After the break… read DiGammarino’s full bio…

DorobekINSIDER: GovLoop issue of the week: CES, CES Government, and mobile

Welcome to the GovLoop Insights Issue of the Week with Chris Dorobek.

Each week, our goal is to where each week, our goal is to find an issue — a person — an idea — then helped define the past 7-days… and we work to find an issue that will also will have an impact on the days, weeks and months ahead. And, as always, we focus on six words: helping you do your job better.

This week, we’re going to get geeky… we’re going to embrace our inner nerd. This week was the annual gadget-a-thon known as CES — the Consumer Electronics Show out in Las Vegas. I got to attend for the first time this year — both to CES and CES Government. One of the key speakers was Steve VanRoekel, the federal chief information officer. And later on, we’ll have highlights of his speech, and talk about what it means for you.

Also later on, we’ll have our weekend reading list — the weekends are a good time to rejuvenate — but also some time to take a step back and ponder. And we’ll have some reading that may guide you as you work to think outside of the box.

But after the break, we’ll have our look at the week that was for the second week of January 2012… plus the full Week in Review…

DorobekINSIDER: Kundra names Schlosser as deputy federal CIO

Lisa Schlosser has been appointed the next deputy administrator in the Office of E-Government and Information Technology in the Office of Management and Budget. She will start in that post on July 5, sources tell the DorobekINSIDER.In that role, she effectively serves as the deputy federal CIO.

Schlosser has been at the Environmental Protection Agency since 2008, initial overseeing the Office of Information Collection and most recently as the principal deputy associate administrator for EPA’s Office of External Affairs and Environmental Education. Before that, she was the CIO at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (NOTE: This information has been updated at of 06.02.2011.)

She will replace Mike Howell, who left the OMB post late last year to become deputy program manager for the Information Sharing Environment.

Schlosser is widely respected within the CIO community and she has an impressive resume having experience across a wide variety of issues, including cyber-security. She also served as a military intelligence officer for the Army. Her efforts have also been recognized with Federal Computer Week’s 2008 Fed 100 award and the Laureate Award by the Computerworld Honors Program.

Before HUD, she was the associate CIO and chief information security officer at Transportation Department and she served as the vice-president for Business Operations and Response Services for Global Integrity and a a senior manager for Ernst & Young.

Schlosser is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves and did a tour of duty in the Middle East during the Iraq war.

Read her full bio after the break:

DorobekINSIDER: Pre-panel prep: Building a bridge between IT and acquisition

Communication is difficult — any of us who have been married have learned this lesson the hard way — and we do it over and over again. And in organizations, it can be intensely difficult.I get to moderate a panel next week that looks at the issue of communication between agency IT and acquisition organizations. And improving that relationship cover four of Federal CIO Vivek Kundra’s 25 point IT management reform plan (PDF):

Align the Acquisition Process with the Technology Cycle
13. Design and develop a cadre of specialized IT acquisition professionals
14. Identify IT acquisition best practices and adopt government-wide
15. Issue contracting guidance and templates to support modular development
16. Reduce barriers to entry for small innovative technology companies

On Tuesday, April 26, I get to moderate a fantastic panel of luminaries to talk about the issues and challenges of bringing IT and acquisition. (More information about the 1105 Government Information Group’s Federal IT Acquisition Summit here.)

The panel:

• Linda Cureton, Chief Information Officer, NASA Headquarters
• Simon Szykman, Chief Information Officer, Department of Commerce
• David Wennergren, Assistant Deputy Chief Management Officer, Department of Defense
• Roger Baker, Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology, Department of Veteran Affairs

Read our discussion points… and add your thoughts… after the break…

DorobekINSIDER: Shutdown – will is happen, and are you prepared?

Today is the day — potential shutdown day.

While there are reports that progress has been made in budget discussions, midnight is the deadline. (National Journal has a great blow-by-blow about how we actually got to this place… after six continuing resolutions.)

National Journal’s insiders are saying that there will be a government shutdown… and the Gallup poll suggests the public wants a compromise, while the Pew survey shows sharp division among the public about who is to blame for this mess…

But what about the DorobekINSIDERs? We are asking you —

 

 

and…

 

 

Some resources:

OPM has an entire shutdown page – including a FAQ – and OPM’s contingency plan.

GovLoop has a list of 10 pre-potential showdown to-do items… and one might be investing in you.

DorobekINSIDER: Two must read shutdown docs

It’s looking increasingly likely that the government will shutdown — at least for a period of time.

Today, the Office of Management and Budget posted a memo: Planning for Agency Operations During A Lapse in Government Funding. [PDF]

It says that feds will have four hours to do what they need to do before the government fully closes.

Read the full memo below:

View this document on Scribd

The other is a fascinating report out earlier this week from the Congressional Research Service: Shutdown of the Federal Government: Causes, Processes, and Effects [PDF]

Among the impact of a shutdown, according to CRS:

* Health. New patients were not accepted into clinical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical center; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ceased disease surveillance; hotline calls to NIH concerning diseases were not answered; and toxic waste clean-up work at 609 sites reportedly stopped and resulted in 2,400 Superfund workers being sent home.

• Law Enforcement and Public Safety. Delays occurred in the processing of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives applications by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; work on more than 3,500 bankruptcy cases reportedly was suspended; cancellation of the recruitment and testing of federal lawenforcement officials reportedly occurred, including the hiring of 400 border patrol agents; and delinquent child-support cases were delayed.

• Parks, Museums, and Monuments. Closure of 368 National Park Service sites (loss of 7 million visitors) reportedly occurred, with loss of tourism revenues to local communities; and closure of national museums and monuments (reportedly with an estimated loss of 2 million visitors) occurred.

• Visas and Passports. Approximately 20,000-30,000 applications by foreigners for visas reportedly went unprocessed each day; 200,000 U.S. applications for passports reportedly went unprocessed; and U.S. tourist industries and airlines reportedly sustained millions of dollars in losses.

• American Veterans. Multiple services were curtailed, ranging from health and welfare to finance and travel.

• Federal Contractors. Of $18 billion in Washington, DC, area contracts, $3.7 billion (over 20%) reportedly were affected adversely by the funding lapse; the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was unable to issue a new standard for lights and lamps that was scheduled to be effective January 1, 1996, possibly resulting in delayed product delivery and lost sales; and employees of federal contractors reportedly were furloughed without pay.

Another CRS report: Government Shutdown: Operations of the Department of Defense During a Lapse in Appropriations. [PDF]

Interesting reads as we face Friday’s deadline.

[HT to the Federation of American Scientists, which regularly makes CRS reports public.]

DorobekINSIDER: OMB’s government performance self-assessment

The Obama administration’s chief performance officer self-assessment of how the federal government is doing so far: “I believe we are off to a good start, and that we are developing the momentum required for meaningful, sustained improvements in how the government works for the American people.”

In a memo to the Senior Executive Service from Jeff Zients, OMB’s Federal Chief Performance Officer and Deputy Director for Management, titled, “The Accountable Government Initiative – an Update on Our Performance Management Agenda,” Zients lays out the administration’s management plan — and how the administration is doing so far.

Here is the memo:

View this document on Scribd

DorobekINSIDER: OFPP recertifies NIH governmentwide contract

The DorobekINSIDER has confirmed that the Office of Federal Procurement Policy has recertified the National Institute of Health Information Technology Acquisition & Assessment Center’sChief Information Officer – Solutions and Partners 3 (CIO-SP3), one of three governmentwide acquisition contracts.

There was widespread speculation that OFPP might not recertify the NIH contract — and Federal News Radio’s Jason Miller has been reporting that there has been a real focus whether there was a proliferation of multiple-award contracts. (See Federal News Radio 1500 AM’s special report — Contract Overload, which focused on the multiples of multiple-award contracts out there.)

Here is the OFPP decision:

On July 20, 2010, the OMB Director designated NIH as an executive agent for the Chief Information Officer Solutions and Partners 3 (CIOSP3) GWAC and the CIOSP3-Small Business GWAC.  Each GWAC will offer a wide range of IT services, with a particular focus on health-related IT services.

In deciding whether to grant the designation, OMB carefully evaluated a business case NIH developed to justify the need and value of its proposed GWACs.  To supplement this information, OMB conducted a significant amount of outreach with different stakeholders in the acquisition community, including agency users of NIH’s existing GWACs, agency managers of GWACs and other interagency contract vehicles, Chief Acquisition Officers and Senior Procurement Executives, trade associations, and Congressional staffers.

OMB approved the request based on several factors that promise enhanced value for the Government and our taxpayers.  NIH’s proposed GWACs will fill an important need by agencies with health-related responsibilities, including those in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  The programmatic expertise of its in-house scientists and medical experts will provide strong support for the award and management of its contracts.  The new GWAC vehicles will also provide increased opportunities for small businesses in Federal contracting, allowing agencies to tap into the talents of this community as they work to achieve best value for their missions and our citizens.