Blog : Sunlight Foundation

Why Government Spends So Much on Software and Employees

by Clay Johnson

technology

Jul 13, 2009 2:43 pm

As the person in the world that is least likely to become a government contractor, I will publicly state the obvious. Government spends a lot of money on software. $8.5 million is the price tag for Recovery.gov which is reasonable given what the Government is asking for. The White House Content Management System has a 16 Million contract on it. Or how about the 15 million dollars various agencies have spent this year on Sharepoint.

Review: The USASpending.gov IT Dashboard

by Luke Rosiak

technology

Jul 13, 2009 12:37 pm

The Obama administration unveiled its “IT Dashboard” last week—to significant fanfare, including a write-up in The New York Times—as a symbol of its commitment to openness and understanding of technology.

But is it more than a flashy gizmo?

The Web site is only the first step in a broader effort to make government contracting data available online, and the tech-minded workers tasked with designing a system made the natural choice to start with what they know best: IT contracts.

And as an early (and rushed) prototype, we won’t fault it for the bugs and crashes that were prevalent for the first several days, most of which appear to be fixed.

But if the challenge for central agencies is coordinating across the wide federal bureaucracy, the sometimes narrow focus of technophiles may be the site’s shortcoming. There is little explanatory language placing information in context—understandable given that it’s being drawn from many different departments.

Transparent Justice: The Sotomayor Nomination and Judicial Transparency

by Daniel Schuman Jul 12, 2009 8:08 pm

Monday at 10 a.m., the Senate Judiciary Committee starts its hearing on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the... View Article

WashingtonWatch Rolls-Out Earmark Crowd-Sourcing Tool

by Ellen Miller Jul 10, 2009 9:43 pm

Jim Harper, Webmaster at WashingtonWatch.com, can use our help this weekend. WashingtonWatch is beginning a soft roll-out of its new... View Article

This Week in Transparency – July 10, 2009

by Mike Smith Jul 10, 2009 4:59 pm

Here are a few of the more interesting media mentions of Sunlight and our friends and allies from the week:... View Article

Congressional Lawmakers “Invested” in Health Reform Debate

by Ellen Miller Jul 10, 2009 1:40 pm

Yesterday afternoon, the Center for Responsive Politics came out with a report showing how many congressional lawmakers have invested hundreds... View Article

Senate Finance Committee Health Care Influence Cluster: The Republicans

by Paul Blumenthal Jul 10, 2009 11:58 am

Over the past few weeks, our designer Kerry and I have visualized the health care lobbyist connections of Senate Finance... View Article

Apps for America 2 Update

by Clay Johnson

technology

Jul 10, 2009 11:02 am

With just under a month to go, I thought I'd introduce to you Judge #4 of Apps for America 2: The Data.gov Challenge. Her name is Allyson Kapin, she's the founder of Women Who Tech and Rad Campaign. It is great to have her on board the judging team.

Like I said, there's just a month left to enter the contest. So get building. What we're doing is really important: if we are able to show Government what kind of innovation exists outside its walls, we may be able to create new change on the inside.

We have one more judge to announce soon, but get cracking!