Author Archive
Ideas
How enforceable are software licenses?
COMMENTARY | An ongoing federal court case suggests the ubiquitous practice of "pass-through" licensing for software sold by resellers may not have a solid legal foundation.
Ideas
Vendor locking in the cloud
The "bring your own licenses" lift-and-shift cloud deployment model is giving way to more restrictions as software vendors look to steer existing user bases to their own cloud offerings.
Modernization
How to fund security and modernize at the same time
FedRAMP's standards go a long way toward the security goals the White House just set -- but smaller firms must be able to afford the authorization process.
Modernization
Government needs a massive investment in FedRAMP
A well-funded shared service could relieve an authorization bottleneck and bring essential cloud services to the government market.
Cybersecurity
After Solar Winds, it's time for a National Software Security Act
The time has come for Congress to regulate security in the software industry by mandating minimal best practices for software companies selling software products or services in America.
Modernization
To save billions, let's finally put government forms to work
Reimagining form-based data collection as a shared service could transform many agencies' operations.
Modernization
Iowa and the maladministration of technology
Government agencies take note: When IT is woven into essential civic missions, failed execution can threaten the entire enterprise.
Acquisition
Government needs to get serious about IT modernization
Despite bountiful evidence of wasteful IT spending, Congress has yet to get serious about retiring the nation's antiquated IT.
Modernization
How a single update to acquisition law can support cloud adoption
Government desperately needs a better way to buy cloud services. The Section 809 panel's call to create a new contract type for consumption-based solutions is a great start.
Modernization
The government needs to be more like Netflix
To truly benefit from shared services and the cloud, agencies should be building a repository of "microservice" business routines.
Modernization
It's time to fix our cloud procurement problems
Cloud presents some unique problems for contracting officers, and addressing those ambiguities would pay big dividends.
Featured eBooks
Modernization
What to make of OMB's software licensing initiative
While most of the IT community was Christmas shopping, the Obama administration unveiled a plan that could radically reshape IT acquisition.
Acquisition
A better path to fair and reasonable pricing
The Commercial Sales Practices approach sets a trap that can snare even diligent contractors. Government and industry both deserve a smarter solution.
People
Why acquisition reforms fall short
After two decades of good intentions, it's time for an enterprise strategy for IT acquisition and management.
Modernization
Time to kill 'the cloud'
The technology itself is transformative, but Michael Garland argues that the term creates problems and confusion.
Acquisition