White House launches BusinessUSA.gov
February 17th, 2012 | Commerce Information Technology Small Business Administration White House | Posted by Nicole Johnson
The administration on Friday launched a new beta website called BusinessUSA.gov to simplify online interaction between businesses and the government.
BusinessUSA.gov matches “businesses with the services relevant to them, regardless of where the information is located or which agency’s website, call center, or office they go to for help,” federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel said in a blog post Friday.
The website is currently in a beta version but will evolve to incorporate user feedback.
Business owners can browse the site and customize their search results to receive information about topics of interest, such as federal contracting, grants, or opportunities that meet their specific needs. For example, if a veteran- or minority-owned business is interested in loans or exporting, the website provides information about those topics.
President Obama first announced plans to launch BusinessUSA.gov in January and also said he would ask Congress for authority to merge agencies that handle business and trade functions into a single department. Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Mark Warner, D-Va., plan to sponsor a bill that would give the president “fast track” authority to consolidate government agencies, pending Congress’ approval.
“We shouldn’t be an inhibitor through the complexity that we present people,” VanRoekel said.
Tags: BusinessUSA.gov
More opposition to adding U.S. Trade Representative to new department
January 26th, 2012 | Commerce OMB | Posted by Sean Reilly
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office is a relatively small operation, with just 220 or so employees, according to the most recent statistics. But it’s looming very large in the debate over President Obama’s proposed consolidation of agencies dealing with business and trade policy.
Key lawmakers objected almost as soon as Obama announced Jan. 13 that he wanted the Trade Representative’s office in that new department. Now, dozens of business groups are also voicing “immediate concerns” about eliminating USTR as a stand-alone agency in the Executive Office of the President. In a joint letter this week to Obama, they said the agency plays “an invaluable role in coordinating the many different entities within the U.S. government that have specialized trade functions.” Not to mention that its position within the executive office lends the agency “enormous credibility,” they added.
“Subsuming USTR into a broader trade and business government department will severely harm that credibility and USTR’s ability to play its unique coordinating role within the U.S. government.”
The diverse coalition of more than 80 signers included the National Association of Manufacturers, TechAmerica, the American Chemistry Council and the Motion Picture Association of America. The letter was posted online by Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
In an emailed response, Office of Management and Budget spokeswoman Moira Mack touted the virtues of synergy. The proposed consolidation would allow USTR “to retain its nimbleness, and also draw on expertise currently spread across the government . . . ,” she said. “By combining and augmenting the analytic and enforcement capabilities currently housed at [the Commerce Department] and USTR, we will be better able to enforce trade laws, combat unfair tariff and non-tariff barriers, and crack down on practices that unjustly harm U.S. companies.”
Besides USTR and a large chunk of Commerce, the new agency would encompass the Small Business Administration, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corp., the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and parts of several other agencies.
Tags: American Chemistry Council, Moira Mack, Motion Picture Association of America, National Association of Manufacturers, Office of Management and Budget, TechAmerica, U.S. Trade Representative
Three massive government projects that could be killed by budget cuts
January 5th, 2012 | Commerce General Services Administration Justice | Posted by Andy Medici
2011 was not the best year for federal construction projects (i.e. the worst?) across the country. Accounts were slashed, budgets cut and accounts slashed – I count that one twice – in an effort to cut government spending. So what may be left by the wayside as we move into 2012?
3: Justice Department: The Los Angeles Courthouse
This $399 million, 650,000-square-foot project is supposed to house the overflow of federal justices in the Los Angeles Area. While the money for this project has already been appropriated, members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on public buildings have asked the General Services Administration to block the project.
The Civilian Property Realignment Act which is working its way through Congress – would require GSA to sell the land on which plans to build the Los Angeles courthouse.
2: Department of Commerce: Herbert Hoover Building
Remaining Tab: $453 million
When the Herbert Clark Hoover building (it was named later) was finished in 1932 it was pretty awesome. It’s an eight acre, steel-framed 1.8 million square foot structure. It has six internal courtyards for ventilation, Indiana limestone with granite accents and 24 fluted Doric columns flanking the center section. But then again things like treated bronze doors don’t provide federal employees with contemporary IT infrastructure, modern office space or increased security.
Which is pretty important, I’ve been told.
So in 2008 the General Services Administration began an eight-phase renovation (yes, eight) to renovate the interior and exterior of the building. The total cost is estimated to be about $750 million and will be finished around 2021, and GSA has allocated about $256 million so far for the project. After the recession gave GSA a bargaining boost (saving $40 million in costs) the agency is left with a hole of about $453 million to fill.
For those of you following along at home, $453 million is enough money to purchase 453 million items from your local dollar menu (not counting taxes).
Its final budget for non-courthouse renovations: $260 million. That sounds like a lot until you realize that’s for the thousands of buildings GSA owns across the country and not just the Hoover-plex.
1. The DHS headquarters consolidation at St. Elizabeths
Remaining tab: $3.6 billion (and climbing).
Originally designed as the best way to house more than 14,000 federal employees at the Department of Homeland Security, the project would encompass more than 50 buildings over more than 4 million square feet and 168 acres. It was a chance to give the Coast Guard a brand new headquarters and bring all of its headquarters operation workers into one location.
When finished, the campus would serve as the operational headquarters of the entire agency.
But now the same project will cost at least $3.96 billion and take until the end of fiscal 2021 to complete – delaying the relocation of more than 10,000 federal workers by up to five years, according to agency estimates.
And that’s if Congress fully funds the project starting in fiscal year 2013.
Newsflash: the Senate accomplishes something
October 21st, 2011 | Commerce OMB | Posted by Sean Reilly
Contrary to what recent experience might suggest, the Senate can occasionally get something done.
Witness yesterday’s approval of two Obama administration picks whose nominations had been dangling for months. Around noon, the Senate confirmed Heather Higginbottom on a 64-36 vote to become deputy director at the Office of Management and Budget. Later that evening, lawmakers also signed off 74-26 on the nomination of John Bryson to be the next Commerce Secretary.
Both nominations had been stalled by Republican objections. Higginbottom, who had been policy director for the 2008 Obama presidential campaign, more recently served as the number two person at the White House Domestic Policy Council. While OMB Director Jack Lew had praised her as “an outstanding addition” to his team, some GOP lawmakers questioned her qualifications. Bryson, a former energy company CEO, overcame opposition sparked by his role in co-founding the Natural Resources Defense Council, a prominent environmental organization.
Higginbottom was sworn in Thursday night, OMB spokeswoman Moira Mack said in an email today. “We’re very pleased that the Senate has finally confirmed Heather at such a critical time for America’s fiscal challenges,” Mack said. “Her responsibilities will include playing a key role in the development of the 2013 budget proposal.”
Bryson “will be a key member of my economic team, working with the business community to promote job creation, foster growth, and help open up new markets around the world for American-made goods,” Obama said in a statement.
[Updated at 4:50 p.m. to reflect Mack comment.]]
Tags: heather Higginbottom, John Bryson
Go West, young man
May 10th, 2011 | Commerce | Posted by Stephen Losey
Here’s something for the stats geeks out there: The Census Bureau yesterday officially named Plato, Mo., as the mean center of the U.S. population. What exactly does that mean, you ask? Well, if the United States was a flat, weightless plate (and assuming all 308 million citizens weighed the same), Plato would be the point at which the US would balance perfectly.
Technically it’s a spot 2.9 miles east of Plato, population 109. (And if you really want to be a stickler about it, it’s at 37.517534 degrees north latitude, 92.173096 degrees west longitude.) The center shifted 23.4 miles westward over the last decade, and since 1790 has moved 873 miles from its original spot in Chestertown, Md. The Census Bureau posted a nifty interactive map, which we’ve embedded below, showing how the population center has shifted over the last 220 years. It’s particularly interesting to see how its path feinted north after the Civil War, but by the mid-20th century was definitely trending southward.
The Census Bureau and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also unveiled a commemorative “geodetic control mark” planted near the official center, which will serve as a reference point for mapmaking and charting infrastructure.
Tags: 2010 Census, Census Bureau, population
Survey: Many agencies still sluggish on FOIA changes despite White House push
March 13th, 2011 | Commerce Defense Education Energy HHS Justice | Posted by Sean Reilly
Two years after President Obama pledged a new dawning of governmental sunshine, barely half of 90 federal agencies say they’ve made concrete changes in their handling of Freedom of Information Act requests, according to survey findings released Sunday.
While 49 agencies reported changes to their FOIA processes, the remainder either said they had no information or did not respond to the Knight Open Government Survey.
In a similar round-up last year, only 13 agencies reported changes, so this year’s numbers reflect a large uptick. Still, “at this rate, the president’s first term in office will be over by the time federal agencies do what he asked them to do on his first day in office,” said Eric Newton, a senior adviser at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which paid for the study.
The results were released by the National Security Archive, a private research organization based at George Washington University that helped carry out the survey. The findings could offer grist for a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on FOIA scheduled for this Thursday.
For the survey, researchers filed FOIA requests asking agencies for copies of changes in their FOIA regulations, manuals, training materials or processing guidance resulting from a 2009 memo from Obama favoring disclosure or from follow-up instructions issued last year.
While several large agencies—including the Defense, Interior and Health and Human Services departments—reported changes, other heavyweights did not. Among them were the Commerce, Energy, State and Education departments. And, oh yes, the Justice Department, the lead agency for carrying out FOIA policy.
Tags: Eric Newton, Freedom of Information Act, George Washington University, Knight Open Government Survey, National Security Archive
Government responses to shutdown questions UPDATE
February 23rd, 2011 | Commerce Energy White House | Posted by Nicole Johnson
The Energy, Commerce and Defense departments seem to be on the same page, at least when it comes to handling media inquires about a possible government shutdown.
As a matter of course, here is what the Defense Department sent over:
As a matter of course, the Department of Defense plans for contingencies. In fact, since 1980, all agencies have had to have a plan in case of a government shutdown, and these plans are updated routinely. We will do everything we have to do to continue to support the deployed troops. The Department must also continue many other operations necessary for the safety of human life and protection of property. These types of activities will be “exempt” from cessation. All other activities would need to be shut down in an orderly and deliberate fashion.
Federal Times received similiar responses from other agencies…
Here is a response from the Energy Department (Emphasis added).
As a matter of course, our agency plans for contingencies, but this is besides the point since, as the bipartisan congressional leadership has said on a number of occasions and as the President has made clear, no one anticipates or wants a government shutdown. The Department is working with both sides on Capitol Hill to fund the government and keep its vital services and functions operating.
Here is the response from the Commerce Department:
As a matter of course, the Commerce Department plans for contingencies. In fact, since 1980, all agencies have had to have a plan in case of a government shutdown, and these plans are updated routinely. All of this is beside the point since, as the bipartisan congressional leadership has said on a number of occasions and as the President has made clear, no one anticipates or wants a government shutdown. The administration will work with both sides on Capitol Hill to fund the government and keep its vital services and functions operating.
Tags: government shutdown
Government responses to shutdown questions eerily similar
February 22nd, 2011 | Agencies Agency Management Commerce Energy Uncategorized White House | Posted by Andy Medici
The staff over here at Federal Times are getting a sense of deja vu from agency responses to our questions about a possible government shutdown.
Here is a response from the Energy Department (Emphasis added).
As a matter of course, our agency plans for contingencies, but this is besides the point since, as the bipartisan congressional leadership has said on a number of occasions and as the President has made clear, no one anticipates or wants a government shutdown. The Department is working with both sides on Capitol Hill to fund the government and keep its vital services and functions operating.
Here is the response from the Commerce Department:
As a matter of course, the Commerce Department plans for contingencies. In fact, since 1980, all agencies have had to have a plan in case of a government shutdown, and these plans are updated routinely. All of this is beside the point since, as the bipartisan congressional leadership has said on a number of occasions and as the President has made clear, no one anticipates or wants a government shutdown. The administration will work with both sides on Capitol Hill to fund the government and keep its vital services and functions operating.
Somehow I doubt that these two public affairs people at these two agencies came up with the exact same phrasing and punctuation.
I will post questions to each of these agencies and will update if I get a response.
“ACORN pimp” filmmaker targets Census
June 1st, 2010 | Commerce | Posted by Stephen Losey
O'Keefe's mug shot
Conservative activist James O’Keefe, who became notorious last year after dressing up as a 70′s-style pimp and releasing videos he claimed showed the community organizing group ACORN was aiding and abetting prostitution, has set his sights on the U.S. Census Bureau.
O’Keefe posted a hidden camera video today on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government blog purporting to show a Census Bureau supervisor instructing temporary workers to fudge their time sheets. O’Keefe, who worked for two days receiving training to be a temporary Census taker, then apparently told a few superiors that he was being paid for four hours of work he didn’t do, but his concerns were met with a resounding, “Meh.”
But just like how a rock band’s second album is usually a pale imitation of its smash debut, the Census video lacks the spark of the original ACORN video. Instead of shots of a sexy girl in a miniskirt and images of O’Keefe in a Superfly pimp costume, we get drab Census workers in a Dunkin’ Donuts and gray government buildings. And instead of apparently scandalous talk of prostitution and money laundering, we get lessons on stretching a half-hour lunch break to a full hour.
In a statement sent to FedLine, the Census Bureau called the video “selectively edited,” but said it would investigate the possible timesheet falsification and take appropriate action. But Census couldn’t resist calling O’Keefe an “admitted criminal” — he pleaded guilty May 26 to misdemeanor charges of unlawfully entering the offices of Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. The agency said O’Keefe quit after his background check showing the pending charges came back, but before they could fire him.
Tags: ACORN, Census Bureau, hidden camera, James O'Keefe
Limbo FAIL: Census worker snaps off parking gate arm
May 27th, 2010 | Commerce | Posted by Stephen Losey
How low can you go? Seriously, how low?
Omaha police on May 2 cited a Census specialist for a “failed attempt at public limbo,” which may be the five saddest words I’ve ever read. News station KETV reports that 26-year-old Elliott Bottorf was taking a stroll when he saw a parking gate arm. So he did what comes naturally: try to limbo under it.
Unfortunately, Bottorf’s balance wasn’t quite up to snuff and he couldn’t make it. As he fell, he grabbed the $397 arm and it snapped off. He was technically cited for criminal mischief, and not for crimes against the future Olympic sport of limbo.
We kid because we love. At least Bottorf wasn’t like some other Census workers who have been accused of assaulting a police officer, or lying to hide being a sex offender, or drug possession. Mr. Bottorf, for brightening up our Thursday, you earn a coveted Sad Trombone:
Tags: Census, FAIL, limbo, Sad Trombone