Government IT News For VARs — April 9, 2014
By Megan Williams, contributing writer
In this week’s news, VAR have new ways to find requests for bids, increased insight into government tech spending, and the finalization of the LGS sale.
Federal Contractors Get Three New Offerings To Help Identify, Navigate Opportunities
The GovTribe app tracks offerings from 130 different agencies and allows users to monitor current solicitations, along with officer and competitor activity. The tech company also launched a reporting tool that provides market analysis and strategy recommendations.
Open Data Law Promises More Insight Into Government Technology Spending
Congress appears ready to pass the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act. InformationWeek reports that the act is considered the most significant open-government legislation since the Freedom of Information Act in 1966. The law presents unprecedented opportunities for businesses by making government data more available for analysis by outside parties.
Sale Of LGS Innovations Officially Closed
The purchase of LGS by CoVant and Madison Dearborn Partners positions the previously foreign-owned research and advanced government networking and communications company to take advantage of markets that were inaccessible when it was owned by France-based Alcatel-Lucent. LGS services U.S. federal, state, and local governments, foreign governments, and commercial enterprises around the world.
Federal Government Agencies See Rise In Data Breaches
According to a report released Wednesday on iHealthBeat, the number of data breach incidents has more than doubled from 2009 to 2013. The number of breaches increased from 10,481 in 2009 to 25,566 in 2013. Breaches included issues around census data, patient health information, Social Security information, and taxpayer data.
Government IT Talking Points
What is an advanced persistent threat and what does it mean to IT security? This video from InformationWeek Dark Reading discusses what it means — what it’s commonly understood to mean — and what it can mean for vulnerable entities.
In Federal Times, Jane Snowdon, director and CIO of IBM US federal, gives her thoughts on the six tech trends that will be instrumental in shaping the government’s future. Cloud computing and mobile devices were listed, along with cognitive computing.
For more news and insights, visit BSMinfo’s Government IT Resource Center.