CTO's Blog

DC Technology Office Welcomes Student Robotics Competition

2009-01-06T20:13:00.001-05:00

Today the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) announced OCTO’s inaugural partnership in the regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition for high-school students.

FIRST, founded in 1989, designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. In the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), teams of students and their mentors build robots designed to solve a defined problem. Each team has six weeks to build its robot from a standard kit of parts. Then the teams test their robots in challenge matches that measure the effectiveness of each robot, the power of collaboration, and the determination of students.

This year, for the first time, the District of Columbia is hosting the regional FRC competition, scheduled for February 26-28 at the Washington Convention Center. OCTO employees will serve as volunteer mentors to the District teams. District Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vivek Kundra will sit on the regional judges’ panel and has enlisted local business and community partners to support the regional competition. Winners of the regional competition will compete in the international FIRST Championship on April 16-18 in Atlanta, Georgia.

This year’s competition launched on Saturday, January 3 via an international satellite broadcast on the NASA channel. DC regional competitors and mentors viewed the kickoff from McKinley Technology High School in the District.

“Forty years ago, NASA fueled a generation’s imagination with the success of Apollo 11,” noted FIRST founder Dean Kamen in the kickoff broadcast. “Just as NASA scientists landed a man on the moon and returned him safely to earth in 1969, so too will these young people go on to explore new frontiers and develop breakthrough technologies that will change the world.”

The District will field 15 teams for the 2009 FRC, one from Friendship Public Charter Schools, one from the University of the District of Columbia’s Saturday Academy and 13 from the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS).

The DCPS teams include 200 students divided among five veteran teams that have entered at least one FRC before and eight rookie teams participating for the first time. The five veteran teams are Ballou Senior High School, Bell Multicultural High School, Roosevelt Senior High School, McKinley Technology High School and Francis L. Cardozo Senior High School. The eight rookie teams are School Without Walls High School, Calvin Coolidge Senior High School, Phelps Senior High School, Eastern Senior High School, Wilson Senior High School, Dunbar Pre-Engineering High School, Luke C. Moore Academy High School and Anacostia Senior High School.

District Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra welcomed the District teams to the January 3 kickoff broadcast at McKinley Tech. To cheers from the crowd, he congratulated McKinley Tech for helping lead a far-reaching “technology transformation” in the District’s public schools. Kundra recalled how a similar high school science competition sparked his lifelong fascination with science and math and set him on the path to an exciting technology career. “This competition will help you gain the skills you need to prosper in the global economy. It can really be a life-changing experience, leading to an exciting career in technology,” he said. “The science competition I entered in high school opened up the wonderful world of science, math and technology for me, as I know this competition will for you.”

To learn more about FIRST, visit http://www.usfirst.org/.

District of Columbia Opens New Window on Procurements

2009-01-06T20:07:00.002-05:00

Today the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) announced the launch of two new sites that open major government procurement transactions to public view for the first time in District history. Now anyone can watch procurements unfold, step by step from start to finish.

The new procurement transparency portals represent another step in OCTO’s Digital Public Square initiative. The Digital Public Square brings citizens together and helps them hold government accountable through data catalogs, data feeds, mapping applications, transparency websites, social media tools and more. Anyone can discover and participate in the Digital Public Square by visiting dps.dc.gov.

One of the new procurement transparency sites is contracts.dc.gov. There visitors can see and participate in major current procurements conducted by OCTO and other District agencies. For example:

The Smart Access and Attendance Solution (SAAS) site provides information on OCTO’s procurement of a turnkey state-of-the-art system that will become the main access, security, and attendance solution for the public schools and eventually, other DC government agencies;
The Evidence Warehouse site tells visitors about the District’s procurement for a state-of-the-art Evidence Control and Storage Facility for the police department;
The Information Technology Staff Augmentation (ITSA) site is a comprehensive source of information about OCTO’s innovative master contract for information technology staff augmentation.

Each of the sites reveals every major step in the procurement from beginning to end, including the Request for Proposal (RFP) and other documents, questions and answers, and videos of pre-bidding conferences, public announcements, and other live events.

In addition, OCTO has created a new data site that offers complete information on OCTO’s procurements of contract staff. The new site, http://data.octo.dc.gov, reveals details of every IT staff engagement, including position, hourly rate, start date, and subcontracting vendor. A map on the site shows virtual “pins” for every award at the business address of each subcontracting vendor. Site visitors can see at a glance which vendors have been most successful in competing for OCTO contract staff business.

“We are driving transparency by practicing government in the public square,” said District Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra. “With our new procurement sites, we’re opening a window on District procurement and inviting the public to examine and comment on the ways we spend taxpayer dollars.”

Enable Participatory Democracy by Providing 250+ Data Feeds to the Public

2008-12-27T22:48:00.000-05:00

Building the Digital Public Square

2008-12-27T19:40:00.005-05:00

In ancient Athens—the model for the democracy envisioned by the framers of our Constitution--citizens met, face to face, in the agora—the public square--to conduct business, debate civic issues, and drive the decisions of government. Gone are the days of daily meetings at the agora. Today, citizens know government as red tape, long lines, and cold, distant bureaucracies. The reins of government have slipped from “we the people” to inaccessible government officials.

The District of Columbia, however, is at the forefront of a new era of governance, one in which technological advances now allow people from around the world unfettered access to their government. Through these advances, constituents can hold their government accountable from the privacy of their own homes. The District of Columbia is bringing people closer to government through collaborative technologies like wikis, data feeds, videos and dashboards. We’re throwing open DC’s warehouse of public data so that everyone—constituents, policymakers, and businesses—can meet in a new digital public square.

The District maintains vast stores of data on every aspect of government operations, from government contracts to crime statistics to economic development. We have organized this data into convenient catalogs and live data feeds and made them available to the general public at http://data.octo.dc.gov/. Visitors to the site can find information on crime incidents by date, time of day, ward, block, or method; details on construction projects by location, type of construction, budget, completion date or status; data on registered vacant properties by ward, address, owner or tax assessment; or information on businesses, such as the locations of District establishments that hold liquor licenses. Mapping technology also allows users to view data geographically with a single click. Using an ordinary Web browser, anyone in the world can access this information.

When we first opened the doors to government data, people were quick to respond. Individuals and organizations are not only viewing our government data, but are actually improving upon our work by analyzing and repurposing the information in useful ways. One innovative DC resident took it upon herself to gather publicly-available government data on service requests, crimes, and building and public space permits to create a Web-based informational clearinghouse site that informs southeastern DC residents about local real estate development and the quality of government services. The Knight Foundation, a non-governmental organization, transformed District data into an online community news forum at EveryBlock.com. Here, visitors can plug in their zip code and find and exchange information about everything of interest in their neighborhoods—local businesses and reviews, real estate listings, crimes, road construction, city service requests, community meetings, and more. A private entrepreneur has assembled law enforcement data from the District and across the country into an online database, called “CrimeReports.” Visitors can get crime data and maps by address, zip, code, and type of crime and sign up for personalized crime alerts.

These are truly grassroots ventures. The democratization of government data has revealed an enormous appetite for civic participation. We are ushering in a new age of participatory democracy, one in which citizens are in the driver’s seat when they interact with government. Accessibility has never been greater, and this is just the beginning. In the last year, we published over 200 data feeds. During the coming year, we expect to double that.

Today, building the digital public square is not just appealing, it is imperative for every government, whether municipal, state, or national. We live in the information age. Nearly 1.5 billion people have access to the Internet—and they are using it in every way. There is a worldwide digital market for goods and services. For example, Amazon.com, founded just over a decade ago, now handles about 56 million transactions a year, and Ebay, founded at about the same time, now has over 275 million registered users. There are a growing number of global social and artistic networks. Facebook alone, founded just four years ago, now has over 60 million active users, and YouTube, a year younger, hosted 3 billion video views in a single month this year. We responded to these new communications trends by expanding DC Government’s presence onto Facebook and posting job listings and bid solicitations on YouTube under the “DC Government” channel. Leveraging consumer technology in this way allows us to reach wider audiences at no cost to taxpayers.

Until now, government has largely been absent in the trend towards worldwide exchange of information and services. Starting here in the District, we hope to demonstrate that government, too, can and must step fully into the digital arena. That is why the digital public square is now at the heart of our efforts to make government services more effective, accessible, and transparent. By ensuring that every citizen has a front row seat in the digital public square, we’ll continue to return government into the hands of “we, the people.”

Please visit the DC digital public square at http://dps.dc.gov/.

Enable Participatory Democracy by Launching Apps for Democracy Contest

2008-11-13T08:01:00.001-05:00

Mayor Fenty Announces Winners of Applications for Democracy Contest

2008-11-13T08:00:00.017-05:00

Today District of Columbia Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vivek Kundra announced the winners of the District’s “Applications for Democracy” technology contest. The contest launched on October 14, 2008, invited software developers to compete for the best new applications to make DC government data more accessible and useful for the public.

“My administration is committed to making government more accessible and more transparent, and through this contest we’ve gotten help from the most talented developers,” said Mayor Fenty. “I’m delighted with the responses. With these innovative applications, we can put government literally in the hands of the people.”

The competition, open to the general public, asked developers to create mashup applications (a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool) for the District's data using popular consumer technologies like the iPhone, Facebook, Google Maps and others. Contest entries were required to use open source programming. Entries were judged by an appointed jury based on criteria including usefulness to citizens, usefulness to government and originality.

The District collects and maintains vast stores of data on every aspect of government operations, from government contracts to crime statistics to economic development and much more. The District has already organized and published this data in a real-time data catalog with more than 200 data feeds at http://data.octo.dc.gov/. Applications for Democracy solicited the best and most cost-effective ways to package and present this data for easy viewing, analysis, and repurposing by the public.

“While the immediate goal of the Applications for Democracy contest is to develop innovative software to present District data, its long-term goals are broader,” said District CTO Vivek Kundra. “By making government data easy for everyone to access and use, the District hopes to foster citizen participation in government, drive private-sector technology innovation and growth, and build a new model for government-private sector collaboration that can help all governments address the technology challenges of today and tomorrow.”

The contest attracted more than 25 innovative applications, all licensed as open source and freely available to government and the public. Gold and Silver contest winners include:

Gold Prize Winners:

Application: DC Historic Tours—a slick Google Maps mashup that combines custom walking tour creation with Flickr photo feeds and Wikipedia entries. Users can click through to create a custom map, save it and reference it later when they’re ready to tour the city.

o Agency—Boalt Interactive

Application: iLive.at—presents users with information tailored to that exact location, cleanly organized into categories. The “Errands” category indicates how far the nearest shopping center, post office and convenience store are, among other things. “Crime” tabulates recently reported offenses in the area, and “The People” displays colorful pie charts giving demographic information. Users can also click on a category and the relevant items will be plotted on a map of their neighborhood.

o Independent Developers: Travis Hurant, Tim Koelkebeck and Brian Sobel.

Silver Prize Winners (6):

Application: Park It—an application that allows you to check a specific area in The District for parking information. Allows users to check parking information before leaving the house and to see which streets are available for parking. Users can also check which meters cost money and which are free. Park It DC will even help users find out if they’re parking in a residential parking permit zone!

o Independent Developer: Shaun Farrell

Application: Where’s My Money, DC?—a forum based Facebook application that encourages users to discuss procurements made by the DC government.

o Independent Developer: Keith Bradner

Application: DC Crime Finder—Determines the user’s location and will return specific instances of various crimes based on a one-, two- or three-mile radius.

o Independent Developer: Mark Headd

Application: Stumble Safely—an online application that helps users find the best bars and a safe path to stumble home on.

o Agency: Development Seed

Application: Point About—a realtime, location-aware DC alerting tool for the iPhone, which includes crime reports, building permits and more.

o Agency: Point About

Application: We the People—a peer-led community reference website that allows users to edit based on Washington, DC public data. We the People empowers everyone to make DC a more responsive community where all voices are heard and everyone can make a difference. Like Wikipedia, users can link any expression to its definition or another page.

o Agency: Chrys Tarvin

Bronze winners and honorable mentions are listed at appsfordemocracy.org. Votes are also being accepted for the People’s Choice Award.

A full list of submissions can be viewed at appsfordemocracy.org.

Maryland Tech Council Honors CTO Vivek Kundra for Outstanding Technology Leadership

2008-11-12T08:00:00.009-05:00

Today District of Columbia Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced that District Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vivek Kundra has been honored as the IT Executive of the Year by the Tech Council of Maryland (TCM).

TCM represents the advanced technology and biotechnology communities of Maryland, the nation’s second-largest technology hub. Its Government Sector IT Executive of the Year award honors government leaders whose achievements and vision have raised the bar on quality and innovation throughout the IT industry. Mr. Kundra competed for this year’s award in a field of outstanding technology leaders, such as CIO’s from the US Department of the Army, the National Institutes of Health and the Government Services Agency.

Mr. Kundra won the TCM award for his pioneering work in digital democracy—advancing government accessibility and transparency through technology. Mr. Kundra has thrown open the government’s vast data storehouse to the public at http://data.octo.dc.gov/with over 200 data feeds in real time. Now citizens can track contract awards, crime incidents, vacant properties, construction projects—and much more. Last month, Mr. Kundra launched a contest for the best applications that repurpose the data to make it even more useful to government and the general public, which resulted in 47 applications created by citizens, NGO’s and the private sector.

In honoring Mr. Kundra, TCM observed: “Under Mr. Kundra’s leadership, thousands of District residents now have access to government information and services…Mr. Kundra has made the District the model for interactive citizen engagement through live data feeds and datasets.”

“My administration has worked hard to attract top talent to government, and we’re committed to making government services more accessible and more transparent,” said Mayor Fenty. “Through his dedicated effort and innovative approach, Vivek Kundra has advanced both of these goals a great deal in a short time. He’s a tremendous asset to my administration and the nation’s capital.”

“I’m humbled to receive this award and to be chosen from such an outstanding field of candidates,” said Mr. Kundra. “The award recognizes the technology revolution we launched in the nation’s capital that led to a transparent, accountable and participatory government.”

Create Secure Computing Environment by Shifting to an Offensive IT Security Posture

2008-11-01T10:41:00.000-04:00

Shift Technology Investments to the Field by Providing Mobile Technology to Police Officers

2008-10-21T09:01:00.003-04:00

District of Columbia Arms Public Safety Officers With New Technology

2008-10-21T09:00:00.007-04:00

Today District of Columbia Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, District Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vivek Kundra, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Cathy L. Lanier, Fire Department Chief Dennis Rubin, and Office of Unified Communications (OUC) Director Janice Quintana announced the deployment of 1,006 mobile data computers to fire, emergency medical, and police officers in the field.

“Our public safety officers work hard to keep District residents safe,” said Mayor Fenty. “We’re always pursuing new methods to make their work more efficient and keep them in the field helping people, not in the office shuffling paper."

MPD
The deployment represents the latest step in MPD’s ongoing campaign to incorporate technology into its operation and to improve public safety. Law enforcement personnel are now equipped for the first time with mobile technology that will allow them to automatically generate electronic reports. This electronic reporting function will greatly improve the timeliness and accuracy of data.

Recently, MPD deployed 812 units mounted in police cruisers and assigned to specialized units. With the new laptops, police officers can perform real-time inquiries on wanted persons, drivers, stolen property, weapons and vehicles.

In the future, MPD and the District will issue hand-held personal digital assistants (PDAs) providing the same functions as the mobile laptops to officers on foot patrol, Segways, bicycles and motorcycles.

“This technology makes us more efficient. Our officers are able to spend more time patrolling our neighborhoods and communities,” said Chief Lanier.

OUC
OUC, which is responsible for 911 and 311 operations, is also responsible for the District’s radio division. The radio division provides system maintenance and support for the 9,000 radios across 18 agencies with primary users being MPD and the Fire Department. OUC will also provide system maintenance and support for the mobile data computers initiative. “Our goal is to ensure that the first responders for Fire, EMS and MPD have the latest and most reliable communication technology so they can respond quickly and safely to those in an emergency,” said OUC Director, Janice Quintana.

“Our new technology investments give us a common operating view of public safety in the District,” said CTO Kundra. “By arming our front line officers with technology, we’re ensuring that they have the information they need to protect residents anytime, anywhere.”

Fire Department
The District has deployed the remaining 194 mobile data computers to the Fire Department’s trucks and ambulances. With their new vehicle-mounted laptops, firefighters and ambulance will receive not only dispatch orders, but also maps from the District’s GIS system to direct them to the exact locations identified in 911 calls. In addition, the computers in command vehicles utilize GIS technology to map the location of fire hydrants, along with the most current data from the Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) about which hydrants are working PDAs, complete with maps, help firefighters and WASA crews manage the hydrant inspections.

In the future, the Fire Department computers will be equipped with additional software, including patient care data and floor maps of the locations of fire emergencies.

“When fire strikes or someone has a heart attack, there’s not a minute to spare,” said Fire Chief Rubin. “This technology brings even more resources to bear for our first responders, who help people every day in our city.”

District of Columbia Launches Open Innovation Challenge

2008-10-15T09:00:00.007-04:00

Today the District of Columbia Chief Technology Office of the Officer (OCTO) announced “Apps for Democracy,” an initiative to develop new software applications to make the DC government’s data more accessible and useful for the general public and the government. Register for the contest at http://apps08.eventbrite.com/.

The District collects and maintains vast stores of data on every aspect of government operations, from government contracts to crime statistics to economic development and much more. The District has already organized and published this data in a real-time data catalog at http://data.octo.dc.gov/. The new initiative will solicit the best and most cost-effective ways to package and present this data for easy viewing, analysis, and repurposing by the public.

Technology developers are invited to compete in creating applications for popular consumer technologies like iPhones, Facebook, Map Mashups and others. Developers must use open source programming.

The contest is open to the general public and will run for a month from October 14 through November 14, 2008. The District will host a kick-off on October 16 and will conduct five open “Innovation Labs” each weekend to help contestants find collaborators. The contest will conclude on November 13 with an awards ceremony to unveil the winning applications. Additional contest details and guidelines for entries can be found at http://www.appsfordemocracy.org/.

The contest will serve as a catalyst to visualize the District’s data so it will be useful to the citizens of DC, improving their quality of life; foster innovation in the DC technology community resulting in startup formation and growth; solve the technology challenges of OCTO through more cost effective open collaboration; and work towards a new model for government/private sector cross collaboration that can be utilized repeatedly to solve our challenges and serve as an example for other governments.

“The Apps for Democracy contest is part of our drive toward digital democracy in the nation’s capital,” said District CTO Vivek Kundra. “Especially in these difficult economic times, it’s crucial to the government’s mission to find more efficient and impactful methods for delivering an even higher level of service for a fraction of the cost. We are ushering in a new age of participatory democracy, one in which technology is developed by the people for the people.”

District of Columbia Opens Virtual Permit Center in Ward 5

2008-10-14T09:00:00.004-04:00

Today District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty, Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) Director Linda Argo, and District Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vivek Kundra announced the opening of the District’s first neighborhood online service center in Ward 5.

The new Virtual Permit Center offers a popular District online service, DCRA’s “Postcard Permit” for home improvements. The Center is located at a site that is a Mecca for home improvement professionals and do-it-yourselfers—the District’s The Home Depot store at 901 Rhode Island Ave NE. The Home Depot is highly Metro-accessible, right next to the Rhode Island Ave Metro station on the Red Line.

For the first time, District residents and licensed contractors planning home improvement projects can get both the materials they need, and the required permits, all in one trip. Permit applicants can also take advantage of Home Depot’s extended, seven-day-a-week service hours: 6 am-10 pm Monday-Saturday and 8 am-7 pm Sunday.

“We are always looking for ways to make District services more accessible and convenient for our residents,” said Mayor Fenty. Now residents can combine their permit application with their visit to Home Depot and skip the trip to DCRA.”

The Virtual Permit Center is easy to find in the front of The Home Depot store. There are two self-service kiosks each equipped with computers linked to the District’s Postcard Permit system. The online process for Postcard Permits at The Home Depot Virtual Permitting Center is exactly the same as from any other computer: The permit applicant submits the information required for the particular type of permit requested (e.g., plumbing, electrical, structural), pays the associated fee with a credit card, and prints out a paper permit for his or her records. The applicant can call the DCRA Permits Customer Service Center at (202) 442-4589 at any time for assistance in completing the process.

The new Virtual Permit Center is the latest in a series of enhancements to streamline and modernize DCRA’s building permitting process. Last year, DCRA unveiled a completely overhauled and innovative new permit center at 941 North Capitol Street, NE, Room 2300, offering customers a more efficient and pleasant environment, as well as accessibility for permit applicants with disabilities.

“We know how busy people are—and how much they’re paying for gas these days,” said DCRA Director Argo. “With the Virtual Permit Center, we aim to minimize time, expense, and hassle for every District resident who’s doing a home improvement project.”

The District’s central technology agency, the Office of the Technology Officer (OCTO), collaborated with DCRA and Home Depot to establish the new Virtual Permit Center.

“We thank our partners at The Home Depot for collaborating with us to bring District government services to our customers where it’s most convenient for them,” said CTO Kundra. “The Virtual Permit Center is one of many steps we’re taking to enable our customers to deal with government on their own time and their own terms.”

Help Government Work Better, Faster by Switching to Cloud Services

2008-10-10T22:46:00.000-04:00

Build Applications Faster, Cheaper by Leveraging Cloud Computing

2008-10-10T08:01:00.000-04:00

Transforming Government with “Cloud Computing”

2008-10-10T08:00:00.000-04:00

No one would be surprised to hear that the District of Columbia government gets our electricity from wall outlets and our drinking water from the tap. What might open some eyes is our use of “cloud computing,” an exciting new approach to provide email and manage our procurement much like we use these other utilities.

"Cloud computing" provides an innovative way for technology consumers—including governments—to obtain technology resources and services simply and cost-effectively. Cloud computing is to technology what the electrical grid is to the delivery of electricity or the public water-supply system is to the delivery of water. Once, every household, or every little town, had its own generator; every farm or village once had its own well. Households or villages had to maintain their generators and wells and protect them from weather, theft, and other harm. Today, consumers obtain electricity by simply plugging an appliance into a wall outlet and get clean water by simply turning on the tap—because large public utilities like the power company or the water and sewer company can meet these needs. In the same way, we can meet technology needs by reaching into the "cloud". In the cloud are companies like Google that maintain extensive technology resources, leveraging economies of scale to offer these resources to customers at a reasonable price.

With cloud computing, government technologists can obtain services from the cloud instead of maintaining their own hardware, software, and facilities and staff to house and operate them. Take email, for example. The District's email system serves 38,000 people. Previously, providing this basic technology service required us to purchase and maintain hundreds of servers, software to run on them, data centers to house the servers, security staff to protect the data centers, electricity to power them, and staff to operate and manage all this hardware, software, and real estate. In addition to incurring tremendous cost, we always had to worry about strains on the capacity of our email system, and we were effectively in many other businesses besides technology—like power, real estate, and security. With cloud computing, we can now obtain virtually unlimited email capacity at a much lower cost. Our technologists can get out of the real estate, power, and security businesses and instead focus on deploying technology solutions to meet our government service needs—like improving community policing, human services, education, and "back office" government operations.

This new strategy has already helped the District inaugurate a new era of transparency in one of the most time-consuming aspects of government operations—procurement. Using technology tools obtained via cloud computing, we have created government wiki sites to publish Requests for Proposals, solicit feedback, and share updates with vendors and the public for major procurements such as a new Evidence Warehouse for the police department and staff augmentation for our technology agency. We have harnessed YouTube to broadcast bidder conferences and other information to vendors and the public. Our cloud computing tools have also helped us launch procurements faster by enabling government employees to collaborate in creating procurement documents online.

The result is not just faster procurements, but more effective and more equitable ones. All interested parties get the same information at the same time, and a much broader range of potential vendors can participate than ever before. With more vendors participating, we extend procurement opportunities to more businesses, and government saves money through broader competition.

In the background, cloud computing is transforming everyday work life for District employees by arming them with more flexible, convenient tools for doing their jobs. Our cloud computing tools now allow employees to connect to District systems from anywhere they have an Internet connection, and to use the consumer technology they know and like—cell phones, iPods, PDAs, YouTube, Facebook, and more.

Ultimately, cloud computing will help us create the mobile, "anytime, anywhere" workforce. Government employees like police officers, human services caseworkers, building inspectors, and teachers can spend more time—as they should—keeping people safe, caring for citizens in need, teaching our children, and keeping buildings up to code--and still have all the benefits of government technology resources. As a result, customers from tenants to students will have much more immediate access to District employees and can make their needs known and voices heard more powerfully and effectively than in the past. Workers who need to telecommute or adopt flexible schedules will be able to do so even more easily without losing access to technology tools or compromising their effectiveness. Our ability to offer more innovative, flexible, customer-friendly technology will also help us meet the challenge of recruiting new employees.

Last but certainly not least, cloud computing allows us to make smarter use of taxpayer dollars. Overall, the fees we'll pay for cloud computing services will be less than our costs of buying, maintaining, housing, and operating hardware and software. In addition, our specific uses of cloud computing offer many opportunities for savings. To cite one simple example, with our new procurement wiki sites, we can upload videos of bidder conferences to YouTube quickly at no cost—whereas in the past, producing and posting a single video cost the government thousands of dollars. Multiply this savings by thousands of procurements each year, and the savings mount up fast.

Cloud computing offers enormous opportunities to shift our government resources from maintaining basic technology support to creating innovative technology solutions that improve government services. Cloud computing sits at the heart of our efforts to make government services more effective, accessible, and transparent. By deploying this powerful new tool, we'll continue to transform the District government for the benefit of customers and employees alike.

Create a Paperless Government by Digitizing 25 Million Documents

2008-09-30T10:55:00.000-04:00

Mayor Fenty Announces Three National Awards for the Office of the Chief Technology Officer

2008-09-29T09:00:00.022-04:00

NASCIO honors bring OCTO award count to 10 in 2008
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced today the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) has honored the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) with three national information technology (IT) awards. The new honors bring the District’s total IT awards to 10 in 2008.

NASCIO named OCTO the winner of its Recognition Award in the IT Project and Portfolio Management Category, an award for state initiatives that develop governance processes, policies and systems for the efficient management of IT investments from concept, funding, implementation and operation to retirement.

The award-winning project was the “stock market model” developed by Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vivek Kundra for managing the District’s IT investments. Kundra’s innovative idea was to manage IT projects as a portfolio of stocks, with each project as a company, its team as the management, its schedule and financial status captured in market reports and customer satisfaction as the market reaction. By applying these stock-market practices to government technology, Kundra was able to identify problem projects early and either switch managers or kill the projects, freeing resources for more promising initiatives. Earlier this year Kundra was honored for his ground-breaking stock market model by both the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, which recognized Kundra among outstanding IT innovators, and by InfoWorld Magazine, which named Kundra among the nation’s top 25 CTOs.

NASCIO also awarded OCTO its Recognition Award in the Government to Business Category. This award recognizes innovative applications that reduce business costs for regulatory compliance, help companies establish and grow a business, or improve day-to-day government-to-business interactions.

OCTO’s winning project was its Certified Business Enterprise (CBE) online Resource Center. District CBEs are businesses certified by the District’s Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD) to participate in the District's contracting program. The program directs spending to District-based businesses to create local jobs, strengthen the local economy, and increase the District’s tax base. To maximize participation and benefits from the program, DSLBD needed a user-friendly, comprehensive online certification and contract compliance application. OCTO developed the application in consultation with DSLBD, the District’s Office of Contracts and Procurement (OCP) and the Office of the City Administrator (OCA). The result was a application that:

Allows qualified business owners to submit online applications for CBE certification;

Enables DSLBD to process the applications via the District’s Intranet;

Provides a transparent and efficient process to verify agency compliance with CBE participation requirements;

Tracks prime contractor payments to subcontractors to verify compliance with CBE participation plans; and

Provides outreach tools to inform the CBE community about upcoming business opportunities, training classes and DSLBD/District business events.

The site has enhanced agency and prime contractor compliance with District CBE requirements, it has dramatically increased the accuracy of DSLBD data and it has improved the efficiency of certification processing and compliance tracking.

The third NASCIO award OCTO won was the Recognition Award in the Government to Citizens category for governmental applications that provide innovative and/or more efficient services to citizens. OCTO won the award with its CapStat “Building A City That Works” website. The site supports CapStat, a cross-agency accountability program launched by District Mayor Fenty. The Mayor and City Administrator hold regular meetings with agency directors to review agency performance data, assign action items, and hold the managers accountable.

The CapStat website is central to the program. CapStat meetings are recorded by video and broadcast on the site. The site offers performance data from CapStat sessions as well as agency performance reports. It is updated after each session to provide links to full-length session videos, resulting action items, and a revised schedule of upcoming topics. The site offers data catalogs and live feeds on a wide variety of District performance measures, such as violent crimes, service requests, permits, and many more. An interactive map illustrates the reports and shows, for example, where each crime occurred or which buildings received permits. By providing the detailed data District leaders need to assess agency performance and hold managers accountable, and by creating a vehicle for the District to share all of this data with the public, the CapStat website has played a vital role in delivering on Mayor Fenty’s commitment to transparency and accountability in District government.

“For my administration, improving services for citizens and ensuring accountability and transparency in government are paramount goals,” said Mayor Fenty. “These important awards from NASCIO, along with many other recognitions OCTO has received in the past two years, testify to the key role technology plays in meeting our objectives for the District.”

“I’m honored by these awards that reflect the evaluation of our peers around the country,” said District CTO Kundra. “We have assembled some of the smartest and hardest working people at OCTO so the District can lead the nation in innovation and service delivery.”

Bring Your Resume! 50 Tech Openings at Mayor Fenty’s Job Fair

2008-09-17T09:00:00.003-04:00

The District’s Chief Technology Officer, Vivek Kundra, will recruit and hire qualified candidates for District technology jobs at Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s 2008 Citywide Job Fair on September 23.

The Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) leads technology for the District of Columbia Government. Whether it’s creating technology solutions for our public schools, fitting police cruisers with 21st century tools, or using GIS to help rebuild city neighborhoods, OCTO is helping government serve citizens smarter, faster, and better, through technology.

“At OCTO, we have career opportunities in cutting-edge technology,” said Kundra. “We’re leveraging the power of technology to improve service delivery, drive innovation, and bridge the digital divide to build a world-class city.”

Kundra and his leadership team will be on hand at the Washington Convention Center from 10 am to 4 pm to interview candidates and make provisional offers for software developers, network engineers, IT security specialists, messaging and storage engineers, and project managers to work on core and emerging technologies.

“We want to expand our team of talented, innovative thinkers,” added Kundra. ”We’ll be hiring on the spot—so candidates should bring their resumes and be prepared to interview with me and my staff.”

More than 150 exhibitors are expected to participate in the Mayor’s Citywide Job Fair, including both District government agencies and private companies. Applicants can visit the Citywide Job Fair Information Center to learn more about the exhibitors.

Find Current Job Opportunities With OCTO

Streamline Procurement by Innovating IT Staff Augmentation

2008-08-19T09:02:00.001-04:00

Grow District's Tech Economy by Transforming Staffing Procurement

2008-08-19T09:01:00.001-04:00

District of Columbia Signs New Best-Practice Technology Staff Contract

2008-08-19T09:00:00.011-04:00

The District of Columbia’s Office of Contracting and Procurement (OCP) and Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) today announced the execution of a new information technology (IT) staff augmentation contract that promises to transform the District’s IT staff augmentation (ITSA) process. The new contract will inaugurate an innovative method of procuring IT contract staff resources and save the District millions of dollars annually on technology spending.

OCP and OCTO developed the new ITSA structure after a six-month study of IT staff procurement in the District and other states. The study found the District’s process too costly and time consuming, and found 80 percent of vendors were dissatisfied based on lack of transparency, lack of opportunity, and slow payment. The study also found that at least 18 other states have solved similar problems through a new structure in which one or more prime contractors provide capped rates for IT staff positions and subcontract with other vendors to fill them. This best-practice structure formed the basis for the District’s ITSA Request for Proposal (RFP).

The new contract requires that 95 percent of the total spend go to District Certified Business Enterprises (CBEs). The new process also widens opportunity and transparency for all businesses by enabling all vendors to see all IT staff procurement opportunities--online and in real time--including, the winning bidder, the rates, and the program manager who selected the bidder.

The new ITSA contract will deliver major cost savings and other benefits for the District and its IT staffing vendors. These benefits include:

An estimated $10 million in annual savings on IT staff costs alone;

Increasing the speed of IT staff procurement from the FY 2007 average of 37 business days to a projected average of 10 business days;

Freeing 60 percent of OCP’s technology procurement staff time and 16,000 hours annually in OCTO program manager time for more mission-critical initiatives;

Improving the transparency of the IT staff procurement process; and

Substantially increasing CBE participation in IT staffing contracts from 71 percent in FY 2007 to the 95 percent required under the contract.

Because the new ITSA contract represents a significant change in current ways of doing business, OCP and OCTO worked with the District Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD) and the District of Columbia Council to explain the new structure to stakeholders, and incorporate their views, well before contract execution. OCP, OCTO, and DSLBD held a two-hour pre-proposal conference for the business community on May 6, 2008 and included recommendations from attendees in the RFP. OCTO created a website, http://itsa.dc.gov/, dedicated to providing information about the proposed contract for vendors and the general public. Councilmember Carol Schwartz, Chair of the Committee on Workforce Development and Government Operations, held a five-hour hearing on August 7 and requested modifications in the contract based on the hearing. OCP and OCTO fulfilled all the requested modifications, and the contract parties executed them following DC Council approval of the contract.

The contract modifications:

Reduce the contract cap from $150 million per year to $75 million per year;

Clarify the relationship between the prime contractor and the CBE subcontractors;

Require the prime contractor to create a dispute resolution and appeal process;

Ensure that each subcontracting vendor is in good standing as to tax status;

Require each subcontracting vendor to adopt the terms of the First Source Act; and

Require OCP and OCTO to report to the Mayor and the DC Council semiannually on the usage of the contract by the District government.

This contract kicks off a new era of greater openness and broader opportunity in the District’s procurement of IT staff,” said District of Columbia Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. “I commend OCP and OCTO for their hard work. I thank the Council, and especially Councilmember Schwartz, for their leadership in making this excellent idea a reality.”

With this new contract, the District joins the ranks of states around the nation that are reforming procurement in the public interest,” added District Chief Procurement Officer David Gragan. “The new ITSA structure provides government efficiency, cost savings, and fairness.”

"We are always looking for ways to use technology to increase transparency and efficiency in government operations,” said District Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra. “With this new vehicle, we’ll bring highly qualified staff on board much faster and at lower rates. And finally technologists can focus on technology without having to continuously interrupt their work to conduct recurring and predictable procurement actions.”

To learn more about DC Government technology initiatives and resources, visit http://www.octo.dc.gov/. To learn more about DC Government procurement opportunities, visit http://www.ocp.dc.gov/.

District of Columbia Launches New Intranet

2008-07-24T09:00:00.008-04:00

The District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) today announced the release of a new Intranet portal that will provide District employees a broad array of new tools and transform the ways they communicate and work together.

The new portal will open to a home page that presents both Mayoral news and up-to-date news releases from all District agencies. For the first time, employees will have instant access to all the breaking news that affects their jobs and their lives as residents of the District metropolitan area—everything from health advisories from the Department of Health to road work announcements from the Department of Transportation to tips on summer fun from the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Also available right from the homepage will be a brand-new video training center. The portal will now provide video of virtually every training class conducted in the District government—from management training required for MSS employees to Continuing Legal Education to computer classes. Now employees will be able to complete training requirements—and take all the elective job enrichment courses they want—on their own schedules. No longer will they have to miss critical classes because of meetings, illness or vacation.

The home page will also link to a fast and multi-faceted search capability. For example, employees will be able to search for any other District official and get a handy information page complete with agency, title, contact information and even a picture of the individual and a map to his or her office. Employees will also be able to search for any address or point of interest in the District and get a picture of the building along with a detailed map of its location.

Employees will also be able to use the new portal to obtain and provide information about themselves, their agencies, and important issues affecting the District government. The portal offers a "DCpedia" that is modeled on Wikipedia and uses the same technology. Like Wikipedia, DCpedia is a free, open-content online encyclopedia created through the collaborative effort of the user community—in this case, the more than 39,000 employees of the District government. Any user of the new Intranet can post information to DCpedia, and anyone can edit it. The system contains an automatic check against misleading information—each entry identifies the time, date, and individual submitting it.

Equally exciting is a new common platform for document review and editing. With this new feature, employees in different units, agencies, even buildings, will be able to collaborate on documents like contracts, MOUs, legislation, regulations, press releases and more, without the need for long meetings or extended email chains.

The new home page will be a gateway to a wide variety of other resources. It will connect directly to all agency Intranet websites and to frequently used information sources like the District Personnel Manual. The home page will also link to critical citywide applications like HR, the PASS procurement system, the citywide email system and more.

"With our new Intranet portal, we’re aiming to make work life in the District richer, more efficient, and also more exciting," said District of Columbia City Administrator Dan Tangherlini. "We’re creating a virtual community and an open market of ideas and resources to empower employees so that they can deliver better informed and higher quality service to our customers."

In building the new portal, OCTO used flexible, low-cost open-source technology to make the portal functionally versatile and reduce expenditures. The choice of open-source technology drove the total cost of the portal down from an original estimate of $10 million to a final total of only $500,000.

“The new Intranet is just one example of OCTO’s ongoing efforts to deploy the most cost-effective and innovative technologies to enhance all areas of District operations,” said District Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra. “We are leveraging the successes of consumer technology to create opportunities for collaboration and to impact productivity District-wide.”

Learn more about DC government technology initiatives and resources.

Vivek Kundra on Government Technology TV–Procurement 2.0

2008-07-21T09:00:00.002-04:00

Vivek Kundra, chief technology officer for Washington D.C., describes how Web 2.0 tools are improving procurement for the city government.

District of Columbia Releases Comprehensive Collection of 3D Buildings

2008-07-15T09:00:00.002-04:00

The District of Columbia's Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) today announced the release of one of the largest collections of three-dimensional (3D) building maps posted on Google Earth to date.

The 3D building data, developed by OCTO's Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program, covers the whole District of Columbia. The data represents a total of more than 84,000 3D buildings. In addition, the data includes corresponding two-dimensional footprints that provide height information for each individual building.

The data includes rooftop details that differentiate each building from those around it. The District is known primarily as a horizontal city because of its strictly enforced height limit, but it is also a city of spires, penthouses and domes. Now all of these dramatic roof details are visible in 3D.

For several years the District has published 3D images of the city’s downtown and major commercial centers, but the new release expands to encompass the entire 69 square miles of the District. Economic development was a primary driver behind the expansion. The District chose to model the whole city to fulfill Mayor Fenty’s commitment to bring planning and development to every ward and neighborhood, not just downtown. For the first time, developers, architects, and planners will have all the data necessary to assess possible new structures throughout the city. Additionally, the public will have unprecedented access to this data, and can now be more effectively engaged in development and planning.

To ensure that the District's new 3D building data is as widely available and easily accessible as possible, the data will be hosted on Google Earth^TM , the free mapping program available via download from Google.

In addition to the new 3D data released via Google Earth, the District has for years provided a wealth of geospatial data to the public via the Internet. Among the 200 geospatial data sets available on the District’s GIS site are wards, trails, parks, museums, building permits, fire hydrants and zoning maps, as well as service- or incident-based maps like abandoned vehicles and crime locations. Visit dcgis.dc.gov to see the District’s entire geospatial repository of maps and databases.

“Our new 3D maps are just one part of the rich technology resources that the District offers to the general public,” said District Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra. “From GIS data to brand-new PCs in every classroom to our web portal with about 200 online services, we’re leveraging technology to bring the best and most convenient services to residents, businesses, and visitors of the District of Columbia.”

To learn more about DC government technology initiatives and resources, visit octo.dc.gov or google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/07/cities-in-3d-program-in-action.html.

Google Earth is a registered trademark of Google Inc.

Drive Government Performance by Creating the "Stock Market Model"

2008-07-01T08:03:00.000-04:00

Managing Government Technology Like Your Investments

2008-07-01T07:41:00.002-04:00

When Mayor Adrian Fenty appointed me to his Cabinet as Chief Technology Officer for the District of Columbia, I asked a simple question: Why can I find the real-time stock price and performance of any publically traded company with a few keystrokes, but I can’t get solid information on the performance of technology projects in the government?

My answer was to create a “Wall Street” model to manage the $950-million-plus District technology portfolio as a portfolio of stocks. Each project is a “company,” its team is company management, its schedule and financial status are captured in market reports, and customer satisfaction is the market reaction. The model allows us to balance riskier strategic IT investments with more conservative ones and rebalance the portfolio whenever necessary. The model also fosters government transparency and accountability--we deliver accurate, real-time performance data to government officials and citizens using web reports, podcasts, and YouTube videos.

I built a team of five Portfolio Managers to run the Wall Street model according to three core principles:

Apply the Efficiency of the Stock Market to IT Governance
In an environment of shrinking budgets, rising energy costs, and growing citizen expectations of government, evaluating the performance and promise of IT projects continuously and accurately is critical. With the Wall Street model, we can make fast and sound decisions to “buy,” “hold,” or “sell” an IT project—i.e., invest more financial resources or change management to improve performance, maintain the current resource level, or cancel a failing initiative.

Capture Quantitative and Qualitative Data
The IT stock model incorporates both quantitative and qualitative analysis to provide a holistic picture of the investment. Quantitatively, the Portfolio Managers analyze vital project statistics including schedule, spend against budget, and return on investment. Qualitatively, the Portfolio Managers evaluate the management team, customer satisfaction, and current project-related events to ensure a deep, integrated understanding of the project’s drivers and results.

Treat Taxpayers like Investors
We define the Portfolio Managers’ roles as guardians of taxpayer funds. Ultimately, these managers must ensure that all District agencies spend taxpayer dollars wisely and well on technology investments.

Here are a few cases where we turned “Dogs” into “Stars” by rebalancing our IT investment portfolio:
District Intranet: The District planned to invest $4 million to develop a government-wide Intranet—but with outdated technology. I withdrew the $4 million and switched the technology to free, flexible open-source software. The only cost was $10,000 for a server. The result: a cost reduction of 97.5%.

Report card system: The District planned to build a costly new complete automated report card system for the DC Public Schools. But the holistic stock market evaluation revealed that secondary schools already had automated report cards. So I switched to a much smaller $160,000 investment to install a primary school report card system and integrate it with the existing secondary school software.

DC-Net: DC-Net is a state-of-the-art fiber-optic DC government network that delivers high-bandwidth, high-reliability voice and data services to District agencies. A year ago, the project was a perfect example of excellent technology badly managed. Every month it ran a deficit, it had not added new customers at the planned rate, and costly contract staff sat idle. I changed the management, dismissed the contract staff, and re-invested the funds in a smaller group of less costly, more focused District employees. The result: a consistent monthly surplus since June 2007, renewed customer growth from 15,800 phone numbers as of June 1, 2007 to 21,580 phone numbers as of June 5, 2008 (37% in a year), and high customer satisfaction.

The genius of the American stock market is to put capital to the most efficient use, continuously redirecting funds from low-performing companies to high performers. Our IT stock market model infuses the same efficiency in government, assuring citizens the highest and best use of the tax dollars they entrust to us.

District of Columbia Expands “DC One Card” ID to Summer Youth Program

2008-06-16T09:00:00.005-04:00

The District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), in collaboration with the Department of Employment Services (DOES), today announced the expansion of the “DC One Card” to participants in the DC Summer Youth Employment Program. The new picture ID is a consolidated credential designed to provide access to many DC government facilities and programs in a single card.Today, the DC One Card grants borrowing privileges at DC libraries and provides access to recreation centers throughout the city. Eventually the DC One Card will also become a student ID and an access card for DC Government buildings and programs.“We want to make it easy for our summer youth to get to their jobs, and we want to give them more than just a job—a complete summer experience in the District,” said DOES Director Summer Spencer. “Now our summer youth can travel to and access their jobs, and they can enjoy all the resources of our parks, recreation centers, and libraries—with just one handy card.”

This fall the District will issue DC One Cards as IDs for students in DC Public Schools.

“Soon students and adults of all ages will have easier access to all DC government services,” said Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra. “We are leveraging technology to help District youth make a smooth transition into the workforce.”

To learn more about the One Card and other DC Government technology initiatives, visit www.octo.dc.gov.

For the over 18,000 participants in the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), the new card will include a bonus—immediate WMATA SmarTrip® capability to help them travel to and from their summer jobs. The new DC One Card provides SYEP participants SmarTrip® functionality without the standard $5 fee. In addition, the SYEP participants will be able to load the $10 already deposited in their SYEP debit cards onto the DC One Card for use on Metro, even before they receive their first paychecks.

District of Columbia CTO Recognized Among Nation's Best

2008-06-05T09:00:00.003-04:00

Today District of Columbia Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced that District Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vivek Kundra has been honored with two major national information technology (IT) awards.

IDG's InfoWorld named Kundra among the nation's top CTOs with its "CTO 25 for 2008" award. Each year the technology publisher honors 25 senior IT leaders from government, nonprofits, and private industry who apply creativity, tech savvy, and management skills to drive excellent results in their organizations. In addition, the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium recognized Kundra among outstanding IT innovators who use leadership skills, business-technology acumen, and out-of the-box thinking to address ever-increasing challenges facing their organizations.

Mayor Fenty appointed Kundra CTO for the District effective May 7, 2007. Kundra joined the District government after a technology career spanning government, private industry, and academia. As District CTO, Kundra leads the District's central technology organization, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO). Its mission is leveraging the power of technology to improve service delivery, drive innovation, and bridge the digital divide to build a world-class city.

The accomplishment that won recognition for Kundra from both InfoWorld and MIT Sloan was the introduction of a new model to manage technology investments in the District. Kundra's idea was to manage IT as a portfolio of stocks, with each project as a company, its team as the management, its schedule and financial status captured in market reports, and customer satisfaction as the market reaction. By applying these stock-market practices to government technology, Kundra was able to identify problem projects early and either switch managers or kill the projects, freeing resources for more promising initiatives.

"My administration has worked hard to attract top talent to government," said Mayor Fenty. "Vivek Kundra is one of the most dedicated,innovative, and people-savvy executives I've ever encountered-within government or outside it. Even with my administration's commitment to flat budget growth, he's been able to produce consistently outstanding results. He's a tremendous asset to my administration and the whole city."

"I'm humbled to receive this recognition," said Kundra. "The real driver of the work that won this award is the challenge and inspiration I get from serving the District of Columbia."

The InfoWorld CTO 25 and MIT Sloan awards are not the only national technology honors that Kundra and his organization, OCTO, have won this year. OCTO won two Public Technology Institute's 2007-2008 Technology Solutions Awards for local governments that use technology to enhance service delivery, lower operating costs, and open new revenue opportunities.

To learn more about DC Government technology initiatives, visit http://octo.dc.gov/

Build the 21st Century Classroom by Building a Modern Network Infrastructure

2008-05-07T09:08:00.001-04:00

Build The 21st Century Classroom by Streamlining eRate Federal Reimbursement

2008-05-07T09:01:00.000-04:00

Mayor Fenty Announces More Than $20 Million in Federal Dollars for DCPS

2008-05-07T09:00:00.005-04:00

Today, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced the District’s award of more than $20 million dollars for key technology investments in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) from the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service Fund (USF), more commonly known as “E-Rate.” The Mayor made the announcement at Washington DC’s First Annual Education and Technology Summit, which was coordinated and led by a public-private partnership between the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) and the Center for Digital Government.
Approximately $6.3 million will go toward outstanding debt, dating back to 2003 (this check was paid directly to Verizon for services rendered) and $13.8 million will be used to fund current IT initiatives, including installing wireless access points, internal cabling, conduit repairs, switch and router maintenance, and network interface cards at DC public schools.

The announcement comes at a time when the Fenty administration has achieved a number of IT accomplishments, including the deployment and installation of more than 6,300 new PCs for DCPS teachers and administrators, completing an agreement to receive 250 laptops for DCPS from the US Department of Justice, and supporting work by a District-based telecommunications carrier, Allied Telecom, to connect over 90 schools to a high-speed broadband network. OCTO also digitized 4.6 million DCPS personnel files in 54 days and created an IT Investment Board comprised of key District government business and technology owners to ensure proper and efficient usage of DCPS IT dollars. This E-Rate reimbursement coupled with more than $14 million being approved for spending by SLD, will total more than $20 million for DCPS technology investments.

“This announcement symbolizes an incredibly important step for the District and our schools,” Mayor Fenty said. “We hope that securing these critical funds will be another catalyst toward our ultimate goal to transform not only the school system but the District’s ability to leverage resources, like E-Rate, with greater effectiveness on behalf of our residents, businesses and visitors.”

Mayor Fenty used the Education and Technology Summit as backdrop for this announcement to highlight the Summit’s objective of bringing together some of the best thinkers and practitioners in the fields of education and technology to discuss an increasingly important nexus that aligns directly with the mission of the USF.

“For far too many years, DCPS was not able to effectively use the full array of resources at its disposal to maximize important infrastructure investments in the schools,” CTO Kundra said. “Because of poor management and lack of prioritization, DCPS has left millions on the table. However, we are now seeing a new day under the Mayor’s leadership where accountability and attention to details as rudimentary as meeting filing deadlines can mean the difference between the schools receiving millions in technology investment dollars for infrastructure upgrades and development or receiving nothing.”

“DCPS is committed to providing the District’s students and their families with the best path to educational success,” DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee said. “This E-Rate funding announcement and Education and Technology Summit are prime examples of the innovative and positive direction that the Mayor’s transformation agenda is taking the District.”

SLD is an independent not-for-profit corporation established to administer universal service for qualified schools & libraries. The Schools and Libraries Universal Service support mechanism was established as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 with the express purpose of providing affordable access to telecommunications services for all eligible schools and libraries, particularly those in rural and economically disadvantaged areas. It is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and is one of four support programs funded through a Universal Service fee charged to companies that provide interstate and/or international telecommunications services.

The Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) is the central information technology and telecommunications agency in the District of Columbia Government. OCTO’s Education and Technology Summit coordinating partner the Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government that provides public- and private-sector leaders with decision support, knowledge and opportunities to help them succeed in 21st century government.

Statement From Mayor Adrian Fenty and CTO Vivek Kundra

2008-04-24T09:00:00.004-04:00

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UEWNLGEHc0&eurl=http://octo.dc.gov/octo/cwp/view,a,1301,q,640349.asp&feature=player_embedded]

Build the 21st Century Classroom by Introducing Online Textbooks in High Tech Campuses

2008-04-23T09:08:00.000-04:00

Mayor Fenty, Chancellor Rhee, and CTO Kundra Invite You to Attend Washington, DC Technology and Education Summit May 7

2008-04-23T09:00:00.002-04:00

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, Chancellor Michelle Rhee, and DC Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra invite you to participate as a delegate in The First Annual Washington, DC Technology and Education Summit.

This first-of-its-kind conference for DC public schools is "A Global Exchange Designed to Transform Public Education." The conference agenda will offer local and international strategies for transforming public education.

The event will feature Mary Cullinane, Director of Innovation and Business Development from Microsoft. She will provide leadership insight into her work in building the School of the Future in Philadelphia, PA.

The Summit is complimentary for all public sector educators, and includes:

VIP Reception

EXPO Area

Informational Sessions

WHERE:

The Renaissance M Street Hotel

1143 New Hampshire Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20037

(202) 775-0800

WHEN:

May 6, 2008 - Opening Reception
6:30 to 8 pm

May 7, 2008 - Conference
9 am to 3 pm

Register online now! Select from the following link to register for the conference:

Washington, DC Technology & Education Summit Online Registration

For questions or to RSVP, please contact:

Katy Farrar
Registration Coordinator
(800) 940-6039 ext. 1306
kfarrar@centerdigitaled.com

Save Taxpayer Dollars by Negotiating Reduced Cellular Rates

2008-04-15T10:51:00.000-04:00

District of Columbia Launches First-Ever "One Card" ID

2008-04-10T09:00:00.002-04:00

The District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), in collaboration with the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and DC Public Libraries (DCPL), today announced the launch of the DC government “One Card.” The new picture ID is a consolidated credential designed to give adults and children access to all the DC government facilities and programs they need to use.

Today, the One Card grants borrowing privileges at DC libraries and provides access to recreation centers throughout the city. Eventually the One Card will also become a student ID and an access card for all DC government buildings and programs.

“We all know the frustration of fishing in our wallets and purses for a multitude of cards,” said DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. “We want our customers to enjoy and benefit from our libraries, our recreation centers, our programs—and of course, our schools--as much as possible. Now the doors to everything will open with just one card.”

Beginning in June, participants in the Summer Youth program will receive One Cards. Later in the year, students in DC public schools will get One Cards to serve as student IDs. Eventually, One Cards will include Metro access capabilities as well.

The One Card will be much easier to replace than library cards and other DC government ID cards, because the cardholder can go to any District facility for a replacement. The citywide consolidation of cards will also yield long-term cost savings for government operations.

“Soon students and adults of all ages will have easier access to every District service—from signing out a library book to signing up for summer sports,” said Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra. “This is what technology is all about--giving people better, simpler tools to connect to services they need.”

To learn more about the One Card and other DC government technology initiatives, visit http://octo.dc.gov/.

Regional Wireless Broadband Network (RWBN)

2008-04-04T03:42:00.003-04:00

The District of Columbia is home to the first wireless broadband network dedicated to public safety use. Against a national backdrop of interoperability problems, scarcity of spectrum resources, and the real threat of terrorist attack, the new Regional Wireless Broadband Network (RWBN) is a model for public safety communications.

The Challenge of Interoperability

The Challenge of Interoperability Interoperability is the ability of different government agencies or public safety officials to communicate within and across departmental and jurisdictional boundaries. It remains a top concern for first responders, especially in this era of terrorist attacks, natural disasters, school violence, domestic crime, and hazardous material incidents. This issue transcends the need to communicate verbally, and includes the ability to gather and share data quickly at the scene of the emergency. The need to share data among all responders at an incident continues to be recognized by public safety as a key factor in determining the success of any coordinated response.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently recognized the NCR as having one of the best voice interoperability arrangements in the country; however, the NCR, like many other regions, has not ensured interoperability of data communications. Understanding the criticality and the need to have interoperability with all forms of communications, the National Capital Region (NCR) created the National Capital Region Interoperability Program (NCRIP) to address data interoperability in the
NCR. The program provides a holistic, interoperability solution consisting of interconnection of government institutional fiber networks (NCRnet), a Regional Wireless Broadband Network (RWBN), and a Data Exchange Hub (DEH) that NCR government agencies and organizations across the region can use to share critical data and information during an emergency and during day-to-day operations.

In November 2007 the FCC issued a Special Temporary Authority (STA) to the District of Columbia, at the center of the National Capital Region, facilitating the first wireless broadband implementation in the nation specifically for Public Safety. This STA authorized the operation of the first section of the RWBN finally making public safety grade wireless broadband services a reality for first responders within the Nation’s Capital.

The Challenge of Spectrum

The Challenge of Spectrum Sufficient radio frequency spectrum is the foundation for unfettered and high-quality reliable public safety communications systems. Unfortunately, for many years, public safety agencies across the nation have faced a severe shortage of spectrum, even for narrowband land mobile radio voice services.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has recently issued a landmark Report and Order establishing the rules governing wireless licenses in the 700 MHz band, which has propagation characteristics that make it ideal for wide area public safety systems. These rules, the culmination of over ten years of work, specify that 10 MHz of the 24 MHz of spectrum already set aside for public safety must be used for broadband data communications and delineate an ambitious program to promote a nationwide public safety network.

Integral to this Report and Order, the Commission has established a single nationwide Public Safety Broadband Licensee (PSBL) for the 10 MHz (5 MHz paired) of public safety data spectrum rather than rely on the Regional Planning Committees which retain their traditional role of
managing and coordinating the utilization of the narrowband portion of the spectrum.

This is a critical milestone for local, state, regional and federal first responders to gain access to the same interoperable broadband communications capabilities and technologies as the commercial world. The nationwide broadband network will provide first responders with remote access to video, high-resolution chemical and biological sensor data, and other critical data.

On Demand, In Real Time, When Needed, and As Authorized Interoperable Communications

The District of Columbia has deployed the nation’s first public-safety regional wireless broadband network including the capacity to transmit video, data and voice communications for use by emergency units, first responders and other public safety and local government personnel. The program is funded in part by a Department of Homeland Security Urban Area Security Initiatives grant and began in 2005.

This new 700 MHz network is a high-speed, seamless, interoperable, public safety grade, and secure wireless data network. It is designed to supplement the Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems that public safety agencies in the District use today and replace the commercial services used by most today for wireless data. Using 1xEVDO Revision A, the same technology deployed commercially by carriers like Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, the RWBN is able to provide the same capabilities currently available from commercial services but with more reliability, flexibility, dedication and control, as required for public safety usage. In contrast to some commercial networks, the RWBN imposes no profit-driven restrictions or limitations on the applications that may operate on the network, such as streaming audio and video. Currently, the RWBN offers only PC Cards as end-user devices, but in the near future, when manufacturers begin to produce devices for the 700 MHz commercial market, the network expects to offer additional form factors such as Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) Modems, Embedded Modems for ruggedized computing devices, and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).

The threat of attacks on our country and region is real, but this solution also delivers capabilities that can save lives and properties every day. Broadband tools for remote surveillance, helicopter video transmission, mug shots to the field, chemical and biological weapons detection, bomb squad support, and other mobile uses are critical to preventing and responding swiftly and effectively both to the rare attack as well as the more frequent emergency incidents that are part of maintaining law and order on a daily basis. The RWBN and similar broadband The nationwide broadband network will provide first responders with remote access to video, high-resolution chemical and biological sensor data, and other critical data.

The RWBN and similar broadbandwireless networks are resources vital to enhance first responder communications, promote effective sharing of incident information and facilitate incident command and control to manage and mitigate the effects of the next attack, natural disaster or daily incident. The RWBN is paving the way for the next-generation public safety communications platform that will not only provide enormous capabilities and benefits to National Capital Region’s
first responder community, but also create a blueprint and a test bed for future public safety deployments in the rest of the country.

District Technology Chief Testifies on FY 2009 Budget

2008-04-02T09:00:00.002-04:00

District of Columbia Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra today testified before the District Council on the FY 2009 budget of the District’s technology agency, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO). Mr. Kundra took office as District CTO on May 7, 2007.

Appearing before the Committee on Workforce Development and Government Operations, chaired by Councilmember Carol Schwartz (R-At Large), Mr. Kundra described OCTO’s budget practice improvements and outlined major agency initiatives planned for FY 2009.

Mr. Kundra described steps OCTO has taken to increase transparency and accountability in its budget. For example, he said, OCTO has created new operating accounts to distinguish operating from capital services and has separated some previously combined accounts to increase management accountability.

Mr. Kundra identified a series of key OCTO initiatives for FY 09. For example, OCTO will:

Upgrade the DC STARS student information system so teachers, administrators, and eventually parents can track each student’s progress from the start of school to graduation;

Deploy the "One Card" picture ID to provide 53,000 students a single card for entry to schools, libraries, and recreation centers—with Metro access to help them get there;

Implement instructional applications such as Read 180, Accelerated Math, PLATO, and Leapfrog to help boost reading and math performance for students at all levels;

Upgrade the WINSNAP nutrition system to ensure that DCPS has the data needed to recoup millions of dollars in National School Lunch Program reimbursement;

Equip the mobile workforce so workers like police, fire/EMS, and building inspectors can spend more time serving customers in the field and less time in the office doing paperwork;

Continue optimizing the pooling of wireless minutes District-wide to cut cellphone costs;

Continue providing all District agencies with accessible, reliable IT utilities like email, Internet access, telecommunications, PDAs, and data processing; and

Wage a “War on Paper” by digitizing millions of paper records, adding new modules to the District’s citywide procurement, HR, and payroll systems, and finding innovative new alternatives to paper processes.

Summarizing the FY 09 budget, Mr. Kundra said, “With the firm foundation it provides, we can carry out our citywide technology mission and help create a greener city and deliver more effective, more efficient government services for the District of Columbia.”

DC Deploys Enterprise Payroll System

2008-03-28T09:00:00.001-04:00

The District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), in collaboration with the DC Office of Pay and Retirement Services (OPRS) and the DC Department of Human Resources (DCHR), today announced the successful deployment of a new automated payroll system that simplifies, streamlines and improves payroll processes and records for 27,000 DC government employees in 81 agencies.

The new payroll system is linked to the District’s human resources (HR) system, creating a fully integrated online HR and pay process. For the first time, updates to HR records automatically flow through to the payroll system. The new system provides District employees a simpler, easier to understand pay stub and reduces the risk of identity theft by replacing Social Security numbers with employee ID numbers. For the first time, employees with multiple jobs will get one paycheck, rather than two, as well as consolidated tax withholding. The new system will facilitate grant compliance by permitting the District to track and allocate labor costs by grant. Overall, the system will dramatically increase accuracy in District pay processes and records, with an expected 90 percent reduction in payroll corrections and supplemental checks.

“This new integrated system will help the city save money, improve productivity and increase accountability,” said DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. “This is part of a government-wide effort to automate cumbersome paper-based processes to simplify government and create a greener DC.”

The new system has passed two major tests since rollout last fall. On October 15, 2007, it processed its first payroll run for 22,000 employees with only 94 problem tickets—an extraordinarily low rate for a system implementation of this size. On January 29, 2008, the new system produced W-2 information for nearly 27,000 employees in plenty of time for tax filing. This information was merged with the W-2 information from the DC Public Schools payroll system for a total of 39,000 W-2s issued by OPRS.

“The Payroll implementation is just one step in our ongoing efforts to modernize and automate core functions throughout the DC government,” said DC Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra. “This administration has declared a ‘War on Paper,’ and OCTO is on the front lines. We are leading a citywide transformation of government operations in order to serve District residents faster and more efficiently.”

Upcoming implementations will enhance the District’s integrated HR Payroll system to automate time entry and allow employees to view their pay records online. “With almost 20 pay periods, and W-2s, behind us--all with minimal problems--we can count our new Payroll system a success,” said Johnetta Bond, director of OPRS. “Our pay processes are more efficient, our records are more accurate, and our employees are better served.”

Enhancing dc.gov

2008-02-16T12:51:00.002-05:00

Since May 2007, the DC Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) has added 15 new applications and 18 new websites to dc.gov. These additions make the District's web portal more content-rich and user-friendly. DC.gov offers residents and visitors online government services, live data feeds, and important District news and information.

For more information visit http://www.dc.gov/

District Technology Chief Testifies On Agency Performance

2008-02-15T08:00:00.008-05:00

District of Columbia Signs Contract Providing Significant Cost Savings on Telecom Services

2008-02-02T08:00:00.010-05:00

The District of Columbia Government (District) has signed a three-year contract with Verizon Business under which the company will provide local telecommunications voice, data and voice mail services at more than 200 District offices.

Over 20,000 District employees including police, fire and administrative personnel will receive those services. The new agreement, announced today, continues a long history of serving the evolving communications needs of the District through Verizon and its legacy companies.

“This three-year discount contract represents a new and improved business partnership for the District and Verizon,” said Vivek Kundra, Chief Technology Officer for the District of Columbia. “The Mayor, the Attorney General, Councilmembers Schwartz, Gray, and the entire Council all played critical roles in taking it to final approval. I want to thank everyone involved in this important effort on behalf of the taxpayers and employees of the District.”

According to the District Office of Planning data, at the end of 2006, DCG serves 581,530 residents, and had 26,951 “full-time equivalent” employees in the nation’s capital.

Alex Coleman, senior vice president for Verizon Business’ government and education organization, said: “Our more than 100 years of serving the District of Columbia gives us a unique perspective on its current and future needs. We look forward to working with the District as it begins to implement advanced Internet protocol services that will help improve the experience for customers in the years to come.’’

This innovative contract makes it easier for the District to both buy smarter and to save money. The agreement is projected to save between $6 million and $12 million on basic services and will allow the District to address most of the products and services that it buys from Verizon.

Kundra said: “The contract will help the District contain costs for landline and data services while taking advantage of emerging technologies. Negotiators on both sides worked hard and in good faith to draft the contract.”

The Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) identifies and implements technologies that systematically support the business process needs and requirements of District agencies. OCTO also develops and enforces policies and standards for information technology throughout the District government. OCTO’s overall mission is to leverage technology investments to increase efficiency, transparency, and accountability throughout the District.

OCTO Delivers Computers to Every DCPS Classroom

2008-01-31T08:00:00.001-05:00

This month, fulfilling a pledge made by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s administration in November 2007, the District’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Vivek Kundra, announced completion of a project to provide personal computers (PCs) to all District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) classrooms.

This $4 million initiative was aimed at equipping every classroom teacher and administrator with a secure and reliable desktop computer. The District’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), under the direction of CTO Kundra, negotiated a discounted price of $628 per PC to purchase the computers. OCTO’s IT ServUs PC support program then deployed teams of technicians to crisscross the city, installing the PCs and linking them to the District’s 35,000-user email and Internet access network, as well as OCTO’s round-the-clock IT ServUs PC Helpdesk.

The OCTO PC project revived and fast-tracked a project planned but never executed by the former DCPS administration before Mayor Fenty’s schools takeover last year. In September 2007 DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee and CTO Kundra signed an agreement for OCTO to take over DCPS information technology functions. The former DCPS administration had planned the PC project to take a year, but Mayor Fenty, Chancellor Rhee, and CTO Kundra determined that the need for PCs in the classrooms was urgent, and the project should be completed in just eight weeks. Using OCTO’s Geographic Information Systems technology to chart the most efficient routes around the city, OCTO’s IT ServUs team beat the eight-week timetable by one week, starting the project on November 26, 2007 and completing the installations on January 8, 2008.

“This project lays the foundation for using technology to improve public education in the District,” said CTO Kundra. “We must use the Internet and other technology resources to empower our teachers to make learning more exciting and help our students prepare to compete in the global economy.”

The OCTO teams installed a total of about 5900 PCs, about 70% for teachers in DCPS classrooms, 25% for administrative personnel, and 5% for use by custodians, cafeteria workers, and long-term DCPS volunteers. About 500 PCs remaining from OCTO’s bulk purchase will be reserved for various uses, including the District’s four new high tech campuses, additional cafeteria use, and spares for later replacements as needed.

The PCs will serve as classroom teaching tools and will also provide teachers with a variety of resources that few DCPS teachers had before. Now teachers can access a central database of student records and create and maintain grade and attendance records electronically. They can also access the District’s email system and use it to share ideas and information with their colleagues, principals, administrative personnel, and parents. Teachers can now use the Internet to identify and download teaching tools and resources for their students.

“This initiative is critical to driving student achievement forward in the District. Our schools have gone too long without having access to the technology they need to compete,” Chancellor Rhee said. “Among other benefits, I look forward to increasing central office capacity to communicate with all of our teachers and students.”

Before the OCTO project, some teachers and administrators had PCs—but an OCTO analysis found them riddled with viruses, and some teachers said they had been waiting months for simple PC problems to be fixed. The new DCPS PCs are equipped with powerful anti-virus protection. When problems surface, teachers can call the IT ServUs Helpdesk, get a ticket number for tracking, and have the problem resolved within a few minutes, or at most a few hours.

“Customer service is the heart of our program,” said OCTO IT ServUs Director Aki Damme. “Nothing is more gratifying than knowing we can help thousands of teachers teach more effectively and give students all over the District a more vibrant, up-to-date environment for learning.”

Improving Health and Human Services

2008-01-15T16:12:00.002-05:00

The DC Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) has
revamped its health and human services application to enable
more efficient, effective, and proactive collaboration among
District health and human services agencies. The enhancements
will allow agency workers to conduct screening interviews and
perform detailed assessments of a family or individual to determine
potential eligibility for various District assistance programs,
such as Medicaid, DC Health Care Alliance, Medicare Buy-in,
Food Stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF),
and Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening (AKA Project WISH).

For more infromation visit http://ssc.rrc.dc.gov/ssc/site

Evidence Warehouse Wiki

2007-12-11T13:13:00.007-05:00

Today the DC Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) launched a wiki site to assist OCP and MPD in identifying and notifying interested and qualified parties who have the expertise and capability to provide an Evidence Control and Storage Facility on a fast track basis. Detailed requirements and instructions will be provided through a formal solicitation which will be released in January 2008.

A Pre-Solicitation Conference will be held on Friday, January 4, 2008 at a location to be announced and will consist of a briefing, followed by an open question and answer session. At the conference, the Office of Contracting and Procurement (OCP) and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) will provide an overview of current issues, uses, capability, needs and constraints.

For more information visit http://evidencewarehouse.ocp.dc.gov/.

Streamline Procurement by Leveraging New Media

2007-12-11T11:44:00.000-05:00

Fenty Administration Unveils Plan to Provide Computers to Every DCPS Classroom

2007-11-20T08:00:00.002-05:00

Today, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, Chancellor Michelle Rhee and the District’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vivek Kundra announced plans to provide 6356 computers to District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) by the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO).

According to Mayor Fenty, “These computers will empower our educators and administrators with the technological tools they need to focus efforts on the District’s greatest resource—our children. After decades of mismanaged program funds and little to no technological progress, this effort is the first step toward upgrading the school system’s technology to fit the demands of modern day users.”

This $4 million initiative includes a price of $628 per computer and will also consist of infrastructure improvements such as network cables, power strips and access points. The objective of the initiative is to provide every classroom teacher and administrator with a secure and reliable desktop computer throughout the school system.

These additional Dell desktop PCs will help facilitate the creation of a digital infrastructure for the future of DCPS. The computers will serve as both a teaching tool in the classroom and a resource for teachers. Teachers will be able to access a central database of student records, access educational tools and share best practices and enter grades and attendance records.

This initiative will provide our teachers with instructional tools beyond textbooks and give administrators the infrastructure they need to be effective leaders, engaging our students with new ideas and new opportunities for learning,” said Rhee.

The program is part of OCTO’s overall mission for technology adoption in the District’s public schools. The office’s goal is to use technology as an enabler, allowing teachers to tap into the power of technology to improve the quality of our children’s education.

Today, we are laying the foundation for our teachers to use technology to improve public education. We must use the Internet and other computer applications to help our students compete in the global economy and to enable our teachers to do what they do best, teach and mentor the future leaders of our country,” said Kundra.

The official computer deployment will begin November 26. Anacostia and other schools East of the River will be among the first schools to receive new computers. By February 1, 2008, every classroom will be equipped with a PC and a student computer lab.

McKinley Tech Internship Program

2007-11-03T12:11:00.001-04:00

The DC Office of the Chief technology Officer (OCTO) has established an internship program with McKinley Tech and identified four additional schools (Amidon and Whittier Elementary Schools, Jefferson Middle School, and Coolidge High School) to become High-Tech campuses to create a pipeline of homegrown technology talent in the District.

Elements of this program will include inviting technology practitioners to visit the campus, providing internships at OCTO for DCPS students and helping students acquire IT certifications. The expected outcome is a program model that demonstrates success in encouraging student involvement in technology-related activities and studies.

Also, OCTO GIS will also relocate to Jefferson Middle School. In association with that move, ciriculum will be developed over the 2008-2009 school year.

Vivek Kundra Confirmed as DC Chief Technology Officer

2007-10-02T09:00:00.004-04:00

(Washington, DC) Today, the District of Columbia Council voted unanimously to confirm Vivek Kundra as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the District with oversight of an agency of over 600 staff charged with managing information technology and telecommunications for the entire DC government. CTO Kundra issued the following statement in appreciation of the DC Council’s decision:

“I am truly honored by the Council’s unanimous vote for my confirmation to this important post. I want to thank Mayor Fenty for my appointment to his cabinet and for his deep commitment to utilizing innovative solutions to respond to the District’s most complex issues.

“I will use this opportunity to support DC government in its implementation of technology to increase access to services for the residents, businesses and visitors of this great city, particularly by supporting the District’s efforts to improve the quality of education for our children.

“I want to thank Chairman Gray, Councilmember Schwartz and all of the members of the Council for expressing their confidence in me with this vote. I look forward to working with them in our efforts to enhance government services in meeting the needs of the public.

“As CTO, I am pleased to extend congratulations to the other District agency directors who were confirmed today. It is an honor to work collaboratively with the Mayor, his appointees and the Council to address the many challenges that face our community and to build a world-class city by leveraging the power of technology.”

4.6 Million DCPS HR Records Digitized in 54 Days

2007-09-30T14:06:00.003-04:00

In 54 days, OCTO digitized 4.6 million neglected District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) human resource records, allowing the District to avoid a CAFR audit. Prior to the start of production, the DCPS file room was managed by one full time staff person and over the past 10 years documents bundled by rubber bands or paper clips were transferred to the file room with a brief cover sheet or post-it note. When DCPS staff requested certain documents, they would have to sift through millions of loose pages. After the project, DCPS HR reported a 25% increase of productivity.

OCTO will continue to transform DCPS HR filing by automating all personnel documents and eliminating the need for a manual or paper file room. We will also provide online benefits administration and payroll processing by allowing employees to sign up for and change their benefits, enter their own time, view their earnings, and print their own W-2's. Subsequent efforts will automate performance management compensation history and allow for online job application/resume processing.

Mayor Fenty Announces Partnership With Google™

2007-09-26T09:00:00.007-04:00

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra announced today that the District Government is partnering with Google Inc. to make it easier for residents to access information on government programs and services. The Mayor announced that the city's website--dc.gov--is now powered by Google's search technology, making it faster and easier for residents to find the information they need. The partnership will also make available public information that was previously not accessible through Google.com and other search engines.

"DC is committed to 21st-century technology," said Mayor Fenty. “This will provide our residents with quick and intuitive access to DC Government’s online resources. “We’re excited to be partnering with Google to make it possible."

“Information technology is essential to the Mayor’s vision of positioning the District as a technology leader and innovator on a global scale,” said Kundra. “Google's search technology makes it faster and easier to accurately find the information that residents, businesses and visitors need."

The search function at dc.gov is now powered by Google. Using the Google Search Appliance™ hardware and software, the website harnesses Google's search algorithms to index publicly available information and deliver relevant search results.

As part of this partnership, the District has also begun to implement a new technology known as the Sitemap protocol, which provides web search engines like Google the ability to index public databases. As a result, District residents can now more easily find public records such as contracts and procurements by the District Government.

"The best citizens are the most informed ones. Google is very pleased to partner with the District of Columbia to make it easier to discover and access public information and government services," said Vinton G. Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google. "Google is dedicated to organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible and useful. We feel very aligned with the District of Columbia in pursuit of this goal."

You can learn more at google.com/publicsector/index.html. Visit dc.gov to use the new search feature powered by Google.

DC OCTO Master Address Repository Wins Digital Government Achievement Award

2007-09-21T09:00:00.007-04:00

Today the District of Columbia Government’s groundbreaking Master Address Repository (MAR) project will be acknowledged as a national Digital Government Achievement award winner at the Center for Digital Government’s 11th Anniversary Awards Gala in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Digital Government Achievement Award is a national program that recognizes outstanding agency and department websites and applications that enhance information interactions, transactions and/or services. The award categories include government-to-government, government-to-business, government-to-citizen, and government internal.

The District’s MAR project, created by the DC Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), won in the government-to-government category. The MAR is a comprehensive database of addresses, web services, and web pages for use by DC agencies and the public.

Addresses are the most common and important location key in government, and as a densely developed urban area, the District has a “many-to-many” relationship between addresses and properties. OCTO developed the MAR to promote property and address interaction and use regardless of the complexity of relationship between the two.

The MAR’s basic capabilities include address validation (confirming that an address exists in the District with correct spelling and formatting), geocoding addresses (locating addresses to specific structures rather than prorated along a street), and finding intersections. Its applications are many and varied: Today, the MAR is used by the general public and by over 15 District agencies to improve the speed and accuracy of numerous government services, and the MAR database gets approximately 2200 hits per hour. For example:

* 911 emergency dispatchers can find locations they couldn’t locate before.

* Parents can now use the MAR with the DC Public School Boundary Information System to find out which schools their children will attend—instead of calling the school system’s office and waiting for staff to manually research the information.

* Homeland Security managers use the MAR to verify and map locations during emergency planning events.

* Budget analysts geocode taxpayer addresses and then compare tax returns with land use trends to help predict future tax revenues.

* Firefighters geocode all their calls against the MAR, then use the data to measure their own performance.

* Social workers in various programs are able to identify common clients using their MAR-assigned address identifier and then collaborate in delivering services.

“The MAR is a perfect example of how we can use innovative technology to enhance the whole spectrum of government services,” said District Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra. “We’re proud to win this award and especially pleased that so many agencies are using the MAR to improve their services.”

The MAR cost the District about $400,000 to develop, and requires only one full-time and one part-time OCTO staff member to maintain. “The MAR is also a perfect example of how technology can leverage government dollars,” adds Kundra. “The return on our investment is almost unlimited.”

OCTO Introduces TechStat

2007-09-11T10:55:00.005-04:00

Today OCTO introduced the "TechStat" program to find more effective, efficient solutions to improve government service delivery, lower the cost of operations and drive innovation. TechStat sessions provide a deep dive into a functional area within the government, leveraging best-practice research to understand how we can improve current operations and coordinate with other internal functions to better serve OCTO and the District. It originated with the CTO’s desire to review the efficiency and value of technology spend across the District. The program is modeled after the DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s CapStat program.

For one hour, the Chief Technology Officer convenes all responsible parties for improving performance on an issue, examines data, explores ways to improve services, and makes commitments for follow-up actions. The sessions include lively discussions on critical business issues, technology innovation, and strategic execution. TechStat allows directors to ensure their programs’ performance indicators are accurate and meaningful.

Telecom Transformation and Cost-savings

2007-08-30T11:43:00.002-04:00

Today the Mayor held a CapStat session on the state of telecommunications in the District. The DC Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) was cited for restructuring its fiber optic telecommunications network (DC-Net) and making the program solvent, enabling continued growth without additional capital investment. Since May 2007, DC-Net has added 5100 telephone lines, 183 data circuits, and connected 51 schools citywide.

OCTO also pooled minutes across cell-phone carriers to simplify administration and gain cost savings. The plan will allow the District to share unused minutes within agencies and across the District.

Bring Your Resume! Interview for 40 Tech Openings at Mayor Fenty’s Job Fair

2007-08-08T09:00:00.006-04:00

The District’s Chief Technology Officer, Vivek Kundra, will recruit and hire qualified candidates for District technology jobs at Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s 2007 Citywide Job Fair on August 22.

Watch the Public Service Announcement*.

The Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) leads technology for the District of Columbia Government. Whether it’s creating technology solutions for our public schools, fitting police cruisers with 21st century tools, or using GIS to help rebuild city neighborhoods, OCTO is helping government serve citizens smarter, faster, and better, through technology.

At OCTO we have career opportunities in cutting-edge technology,” said Kundra. “We’re leveraging the power of technology to improve service delivery, drive innovation, and bridge the digital divide to build a world-class city.”

Kundra and his leadership team will be on hand at the Washington Convention Center from 10 am to 4 pm to interview candidates and make provisional offers for jobs in IT security, web development, quality assurance, and more.

We want to expand our team of talented, innovative thinkers,” added Kundra. ”We’ll be hiring on the spot—so candidates should bring their resumes and be prepared to interview with me and my staff.”

More than 150 exhibitors are expected to participate in the Mayor’s Citywide Job Fair, including both District government agencies and private companies. Applicants can visit the Citywide Job Fair Information Center to learn more about the exhibitors.

OCTO’s GIS Helps FEMS Official Win Merit Award

2007-07-11T09:00:00.002-04:00

Using mapping data from OCTO’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program, Lt. Erik Johnson of the DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services (FEMS) delivered exceptional analysis that helped FEMS improve response times for the District’s fire and ambulance service.

The District’s new Fire Chief, Dennis L. Rubin, presented Lt. Johnson the Bronze Bar for Merit at the 2007 Annual FEMS Awards Banquet.

Lt. Johnson’s work analyzed response times geographically with DC GIS and FEMS data. The analysis has enabled FEMS to identify the most effective locations for deploying paramedic engines and improve overall FEMS response times on critical medical calls.

Mayor’s Education Reform Website Launched

2007-06-12T09:00:00.001-04:00

Today, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), in collaboration with the Deputy Mayor for Education, launched the Mayor’s Education Reform Center website. The Education Reform Center is one resource Mayor Adrian Fenty’s administration has produced as part of its commitment to leverage information technology to enhance the city’s public education system. The launch was timed to coincide with the Mayor’s official takeover of the DC Public School system.

The Reform Center provides a central source for information about education reform in the District. It is a meeting place for residents to share information and opinions, and allows communities to work together on issues affecting District schoolchildren.

“Mayor Fenty’s number one priority is public school reform, therefore this Center is designed to facilitate a crucial component to transform District schools—community participation,” explained Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra. “Parents, residents, teachers and other DC community members can now voice their opinion, contribute to their schools’ reform and participate in the democratic process.” The Reform Center features a Discussion Space, online forms and emails to enable parents, teachers, students and concerned District residents to express their unique opinions, concerns and ideas about public education. These ideas and concerns will be regularly posted to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) of the site.The Reform Center is available on the homepage of DC.Gov.

“This is a terrific example of how collaboration in DC government is working to improve the city’s future,” said DC.Gov Website Manager Eleanor Evans. “The Office of the Chief Technology Officer looks forward to providing more technologies to assist in the reform of the DC school system.”