NASA, Oracle earned top spots among 2016 notebook stories

Federal News Radio is highlighting the top Reporter’s Notebook stories of 2016 based on reader’s interest and overall story impact.

It’s always fascinating to look back on the year that was to see what stories rose to the top and which ones, at the same time, stood out in my memory.

Below are my top 10 notebook items for 2016. They are in order of popularity based on web traffic, but I also chose the stories that I thought were most provocative and captured the goals of the notebook — to be a place where topics receive analysis and discussion in a way that maybe a regular everyday news story wouldn’t.

For each item, I offer some commentary on the story and its impact on the federal community.

  • 1) NASA’s ‘act of desperation’ demonstrates continued cyber deficiencies — This story was the fourth in a series investigating the space agency’s ongoing cyber challenges, particularly under its contract with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services. It stood out because Renee Wynn, NASA’s chief information officer, actually took a stand against HPES by not signing off on the contract’s authority to operate (ATO) after repeated unsuccessful attempts to fix outdated or missing software patches.
  • 2) Oracle to leave GSA schedule: A signal of broader change? — This was one of the biggest surprise stories of the year, both for the decision by Oracle and for the popularity of the story. This story shows the power of social media — in this case, LinkedIn — in spreading news across the community.
  • 3) Details emerge about new security clearance organization, processes — The lack of information around the new security clearance organization drove the popularity of this story. The details of the National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB) were few and far between until the Office of Personnel Management sent this letter to Sen. John Tester (D-Mont.).

  • 4) OMB to ban most new contracts for mobile devices, services — The rise of smartphones and tablet computers across the government over the last decade made this move by the Office of Management and Budget logical. But what drove the popularity of the story was the decision to ban new contracts and the expansion of the category management initiative to IT device where agencies, for the most part, did what they want for the past 15 years.
  • 6) Agile contracting craze is taking government by storm — This was one of my favorite stories of the year because it recognized a trend and for the response I got. One federal CIO asked me if I was just trying to be provocative or did I really think all the agile contracts popping up were a bad thing? The truth is too much of any one thing is bad — chocolate cake, carrots and agile contracts. My point then and today is the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and/or the General Services Administration need to step in and limit the real potential of the wide proliferation of agile contracts so agencies and vendors all make the same mistakes they did with multiple award contracts for IT services.
  • 7) Halvorsen ‘firing for effect’ in calling for the end of CAC — The Common Access Card (CAC) is such a part of the Defense Department landscape that any news around it is important to our listeners and readers. So when DoD CIO Terry Halvorsen initially mentioned replacing the CAC with a new approach, it was no surprise the story did well.
  • 8) Who are the CIOs that soon will need new jobs? — This was another one of my favorite stories because it highlighted in real terms the transition that is on the way, and the impact it will have a few levels down. It also meant that some really valuable members of the federal community were going to leave and potentially slowing down key initiatives.
  • 9) VA doesn’t waste time in implementing Supreme Court decision — This story surprised me that it made the top 10 for several reasons. One, it’s an acquisition story and those, let’s face it, are more like broccoli for our readers than cookies — i.e. pay and benefits stories. Second, it focused only on small businesses. But for whatever reason, the combination of the Supreme Court and Veterans Affairs Department made it both interesting and impactful.
  • 10) Why $39,000 shows why the IT modernization effort matters so much — This story was all about timing. Federal CIO Tony Scott had been talking about IT modernization for the better part of the year, and earlier in the summer dropped the news that a huge multi-billion dollar bill was coming due for agencies because of legacy hardware. So when IDC Government released this research, the analysis came together nicely.

Read all of our year-in-review coverage here.

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