Welcome to the Monday morning news kick off post from the FedPulse blog. Monday mornings are as certain as the sun rising and setting.  Each week, we dust ourselves off from the weekend and tackle the opportunities and challenges that lay ahead.  The best way to embrace these challenges is to arm yourself with all the actionable news you need to be the most effective government or contractor professional possible.  Happy Monday! What’s New About Evidence-Based Budgeting? Michael Hardy of FCW provides some key insights into the OMB’s push for more evidence-based budgeting.  Be sure to check out our recent post about ...

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) just issued a memo calling for all federal agencies to submit evidence-based budgets that will prove program performance. According to the memo, “Agencies should demonstrate the use of evidence throughout their Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 budget submissions. Budget submissions also should include a separate section on agencies’ most innovative uses of evidence and evaluation.  Many potential strategies have little immediate cost, and the Budget is more likely to fund requests that demonstrate a commitment to developing and using evidence. The Budget also will allocate limited resources for initiatives to expand the use of evidence.” Clearly ...

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube are a few of the many sites that employees are logging into every day, often causing anxiety among IT departments and management. Market Connections, a market research firm focused on B2G, recently did a study that noted government workers primarily use Facebook, followed by YouTube and LinkedIn. About half of the respondents in the study said they have access to social networking sites at work but 12 percent were unsure if access was allowed. Why the uncertainty? Most of the organizations we talk to are still determining their social media usage policies. Their initial reaction to these ...

Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs about 123,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. Lockheed Martin is also a highly communications-focused organization when it comes to building overall brand awareness.  Mary Phillips, Sr. Manager, Communications,  in the Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions (IS&GS) division, supports these efforts by developing and executing strategic marketing programs to advance technology thought leadership for IS&GS. Mary is also a user of Market Connections’ Federal Media & Marketing Study (FMMS) online tool, which follows ...

Welcome to the weekly news kick off post from the FedPulse blog. With the long holiday weekend behind us, it is time to re-enter the working world.  And what better way to get acclimated to your professional life than by arming yourself with all the actionable news you need to be the smartest and most efficient government or contractor professional possible.  Happy Tuesday! 2013 Contractor Outlook Event:  Featuring The National Survey of Federal Government Contractors The Government Marketing Forum and Market Connections present the 2013 Contractor Outlook Event taking place on June 21st at the Marriott Tysons Corner. This event will showcase ...

A new report from AOL Government shows how federal managers see significant potential for mobile technologies to improve productivity and save taxpayer dollars.  However, respondents to the study expressed concerns that current investments are inadequate to achieve much of that potential. AOL Government released the findings this morning, based on a survey, conducted by Market Connections, of 300 federal managers involved with agency mobile technology strategy, policy, purchasing, design, deployment initiatives, or support. One key stat from the research stood out for us: (49%) of federal managers surveyed said “government employees like themselves” could redeploy at least 7 hours per week toward more ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has an extremely important mission. The agency is responsible for providing care and services to the men and women that have served the nation by putting their lives on the line for its freedom and safety. With millions of active duty, reserve and retired soldiers across all branches of the military today, it’s quite obvious that the job of the VA is not only important, but also daunting. The VA has been criticized in the past for operating slowly, or making veterans wait for the medical care or services that they need. However, with such a ...

If you’re being forced to adapt rapidly in response to growing pressures for increased accountability and transparency, how do you deliver bold transformation to your organization’s operations and performance while continuing to satisfy your mission and constituents? Leading government market research firm Market Connections, Inc. will present a change management roadmap to help you face the pressure to deliver increased efficiency, reduced cost and greater program success, even with reduced resources, in a webinar taking place on May 31st at 1 p.m. Who should attend: Government executives, decision makers, program managers Key Takeaways: 1. The four stages of the change management roadmap, with a focus ...

Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post from the FedPulse blog. We hope you’ve had a restful weekend and are ready to be the smartest and most efficient government or contractor professional possible.  Here’s all the actionable news you need to achieve these goals.  Happy Monday! Department of Energy Offers Online Training to Employees in 3D Virtual Buildings Energy Department employees are being trained on how to make office buildings more energy efficient in virtual “3D” environments with virtual rooms outfitted with virtual energy users such as toasters and refrigerators. GSA Seeks Efficiencies as ‘Government Savings Agent’ Dan Tangherlini, who was named ...

L-3 Communications’ STRATIS division has successfully served the Department of Defense, federal civilian government agencies and state and local governments with a broad range of IT services and solutions for over 30 years. According to Jeremy Williams, Vice President of Quality Management at L-3 STRATIS, the division has been conducting customer satisfaction surveys for five years. It originated as a business development function, but has since become a critical management tool, he explained. “Each time we conduct a survey, Market Connections helps us evolve the focus and the questions to measure not just satisfaction, but also loyalty,” he said. Combining of Qualitative ...