Code for America Programmers to Work in City Governments

Four cities will each receive a team of five open source Web programmers for 11 months, as selected by Code for America, a new nonprofit that’s pairing Web geeks with city governments.

The selected cities were Boston, Seattle, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Each city paid $250,000 to participate, which included submitting applications and proposals for what they wanted from a team of fellows.

Code for America recently announced its 20 fellows for 2011, chosen from among 360 applicants. The fellows will work mostly from Code for America’s San Francisco headquarters; the programmers will spend February of next year at the actual local governments they’ll be serving.

• Boston fellows will design a Web platform enabling the city to use its educational services to engage students. The platform could enable students to get suggested readings for homework assignments, discuss their schoolwork with one another and engage in reading contests, among other possibilities, according to Code for America.
• The District of Columbia team will craft a “how to” manual designed to enable other local governments to replicate the city’s work with open data programs, like its Web app contest Apps for Democracy.
• Philadelphia wants its fellows to develop an open source mechanism for citizens to collaborate on activities related to “neighborhood services” in the local area.
• Seattle’s fellows will develop a way for communities to work with one another and public safety officials to make neighborhoods safer.
• Boulder, Colo., was Code for America’s fifth city for 2011 but dropped out because of bigger budget shortfalls than expected.

At the end of 11 months, the applications will be made public for any other local government to use or craft into something else.

Details Here

first published week of:   11/01/2010

Colorado may become the fourth US state to force online retailers like Amazon to collect state sales tax

Colorado is considering becoming the fourth state to force online retailers like Amazon to charge state sales tax.

The Senate Finance Committee backed the proposal late Thursday. The House has already approved the measure, one of 13 tax bills proposed to balance the state budget.

Colorado retailers back the bill, saying online retailers should have to collect taxes just as they do.

Details Here

first published week of:   02/08/2010

Colorado Seeks Private-Sector Support for Public Cloud Services

This fall, Michigan plans to break ground on a massive data center to provide cloud computing services to the public sector. In Utah, the Department of Technology Services (DTS) offers cloud services to cities at prices competitive to commercial companies.

But in the expanding world of cloud computing, Colorado is going a different route. There will be no 100,000-square-foot data center. The state doesn’ t want to compete with vendors. Instead, Colorado’s Statewide Internet Portal Authority (SIPA) seeks to collaborate with the private sector to provide cloud computing services to state and local governments.

Details Here

first published week of:   01/25/2010

Contract management becomes top priority for White House

Dan Gordon, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, issued a stern warning last week to a contracting community that has been too tolerant of poor performance in the past.

“Contract management is front and center—front and center—in our focus,” Gordon said Dec. 10 during a panel discussion on procurement reforms. Gordon and the Obama administration intend to root out negligent behavior in government acquisition by having agencies better manage the contracts they award.

A company will no longer get a contract and then never again hear from the agency about the work, Gordon said. Further the government won’t turn a blind eye toward schemes or well-known shady business partnerships.

“We have got to stop situations where everybody knows that there are sham arrangements going on out there, but no one pays attention. We’re paying attention,” Gordon said.

He was referring to the Small Business Administration’s decision in October to suspend GTSI Corp. for alleged fraud, which, for many people, was one of the biggest news stories of 2010.

Details Here

first published week of:   12/13/2010

Council of State Governments Creates New Online Knowledge Center

An online tool’s usefulness often depends on whether people know how to use it. With this in mind, the Council of State Governments (CSG), a regional forum and network for state governments, redesigned its unwieldy database of policy information. In May, the council opened the Knowledge Center, an online collection of more than 700 policy reports, resolutions, blog posts and magazine articles that have been narrowly categorized and tagged for easy access, rich content integration and seamless navigation.

The website uses the Drupal content management system, which allows the CSG’s content division of about 15 people to update the Knowledge Center, usually without technical assistance. As a result, the database is growing quickly — by about 50 items per month.

Details Here

first published week of:   11/08/2010

County enhances online geographic service

A new Geographic Information System (GIS) now makes it easier for residents to find places in Yavapai County.

The GIS department began upgrading the system 18 months ago, according to Kevin Blake, GIS coordinator. The software vendor no longer maintained the old system, so officials needed to add the new system as part of maintenance. County GIS program developer Ben Sainsbury programmed the new system, Blake said.

The county based its new GIS system in part on surveys of users. Testing began in May and the new system debuted in July, he said. Sainsbury also removed some of the under-used aspects of the old system.

The new system, which can be found at www.co.yavapai.az.us/GISMapping.aspx, includes new map layers including Google imagery and National Geographic TOPO maps. People should find it easier to use than the previous system, said Blake, adding that he believes the general public, as well as Realtors and appraisers, will find the system beneficial.

With the new GIS system, people can locate a parcel using an “intelligent catch-all” search box. Those who use the system can enter a parcel number, owner's name, addresses or subdivision names all in one place. Also, an autosuggestion pick list for both roads and subdivisions has been added.

Other information that can be obtained includes property address, acreage, school and fire districts and information on recent sales. Also, the GIS system will link to other county information like property tax bills and tax authority listings.


Details Here

first published week of:   08/23/2010

Volume 31

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