Editor's Corner: The challenge of insourcing mobile innovation Also Noted: FTC files its first case against mobile phone 'cramming'; HHS announces Apps4Tots Health challenge; and much more... Publisher’s Note Dear Subscriber, The FierceMarkets Government Group is pleased to be a supporting media partner of the Association for Federal Information Resources Management. As the publisher, I'm writing to ask our readers from the federal contracting community to show their support of federal IT workers by sponsoring AFFIRM's Leadership Awards. AFFIRM's Leadership Awards, to be held on Thursday, June 13 at the Capital Hilton, recognize individuals or groups of individuals who have made significant leadership contributions to activities that have an impact beyond their agencies or organizations. Sponsoring this exclusive event is a great way for those in the contracting community to celebrate the accomplishments of those who work for the greater public good. If you would like to help AFFIRM recognize the outstanding contributions of these federal IT workers, please contact me, Ron Lichtinger, at rlichtinger@fiercemarkets.com. Best regards, Ron Lichtinger, Publisher  Follow @fiercegovit on Twitter
More News From the FierceMobileGovernment Network:
1. VanRoekel: Fiscal 2014 request includes data-driven innovation fund
2. Q&A: Sheila Campbell and Jonathan Rubin on federal website usability testing
3. Senate bill calls for governmentwide customer service standards and OMB oversight
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The challenge of insourcing mobile innovation
 Since the Office of Management and Budget's May 2012 release of the Digital Government Strategy, "mobile first" has been the mantra. But actually acting on mobile first depends largely on talented developers.
Agencies are tasked with creating APIs, making mobile-friendly and responsive websites, and launching custom apps. But there's a problem. In government (and the enterprise for that matter), the demand for mobile services is outpacing the availability of developer talent. In a recent survey from technology job site Dice.com, IT hiring managers ranked mobile developers as the second most important skill set they're hiring for in 2013. Anecdotally, it's a skill set important to government, as well. According to Cheryl Cook, the newly-appointed Agriculture Department CIO, her department for one desperately needs mobile IT professionals. "We're spending money to re-tool our websites to be mobile enabled, developing mobile applications--we don't have that talent in house," Cook said at a recent industry event. As a solution, she suggested agency CIO shops work with human capital officers to create career paths that can guide IT pros from pockets of under-utilized talent elsewhere in the department to mobile IT positions in high-demand. It's a great idea and admirable that USDA wants to retain and re-tool its IT workers. Layering on mobile-specific training in order to build the type of employee they need, however, could be difficult and costly. Often mobile talent is something agencies just contract for rather than insource. At the same event where Cook spoke, Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel talked about a program that in many ways reinforces the concept that government isn't nimble enough to apply its own workers to pressing, cross-agency challenges. -->READ THE FULL EDITOR'S CORNER |
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Today's Top News 1. Q&A: USDA CIO Cheryl Cook discusses mobility projects
 The Agriculture Department has a geographically dispersed workforce, making it well-positioned to benefit from mobile solutions. Following a recent industry event, FierceMobileGovernment spoke with USDA's Chief Information Officer Cheryl Cook, about mobility efforts at the department.
FierceMobileGovernment: During the panel discussion, you mentioned briefly that you have some mobile projects underway. Are you working on apps, mobile device management, tackling mobile deployment, or what? Cheryl Cook: If you look at the FY '14 budgets for the individual agencies and staff offices at USDA, almost all of them mention mobility and mobile tools as a priority for them in the budget. So, we were a little ahead of that with our enterprisewide mobile device management contract. We want one number to call if it gets lost, or stolen, etcetera. We're doing some mobile app development. Actually one of our food safety apps, "Ask Karen"--we won an award for that one. You know, "Should I leave this potato salad out?" or "It sat out, can I still eat it?" "How hot does the turkey need to be?" Those kinds of questions and it's very simple. So, we have some public-facing apps that are starting to come along, really more in the regulatory arena, like the food safety app and some now in the science data arena, based on the upcoming G8 Summit. We're trying to make sure that developing countries have access to our data in a very easy-to-use way. So, the fiscal 2014 budget has that included in the Agriculture Research Service--a directive to do more app development around the scientific research that they've been doing. To make sure it gets directly out to the people who are going to be using that, literally on the ground. FMG: Right, because mobile is so huge in developing countries. Cook: Absolutely right. There's all kinds of potential in that area. Mobile in terms of our own employees--running 3,000 offices is really expensive to maintain. So, we're finding our field-based agencies in particular are looking at mobile so their employees can actually be out of the office, literally in the field working directly with farmers. Signing them up for programs on the spot. The Natural Resources Conservation Service, one of our 19 agencies, is on a project now that in a couple of years their goal is to have district conservationists spend 75 percent of their time actually out in the field with the farmer as opposed to today when it's more like 75 percent of their time in the office doing paperwork. You know, be out there armed with a tablet and just do it right there on the spot. Identify what conservation practices need to be in place on that farm for soil and water quality preservation and just do it right there. FMG: And is there a data collection aspect to that project? Cook: Absolutely, because the National Resources Conservation Service collects data on practices--on all of the land practices that farmers that are participating in and USDA programs are engaging in. Most of the other financial-type support programs require the farmers to have a conservation plan in place so that taxpayers aren't subsidizing the degradation of natural resources. And all of that data comes in through the Natural Resources Conservation Service. FMG: You mentioned some things you were doing with citizen-facing apps. Do you have any plans for employee-facing apps or using an internal app store? Yeah, we have some. We have AgLearn. Our web-based training platform now is mobile enabled so people can--wherever you are, if your plane is delayed or you have an extra half an hour, you can take some training off of your individual development plan right there on your tablet or your smartphone. Some of our employee personnel things--being able to change your name and address if you got married, if you got unmarried--being able to keep all those basic HR records up to date, that's all mobile enabled now. And our USDA Connect, which was built off the IBM Connections tool allowing collaboration, is also mobile enabled. So, if you're part of a connect community you can stay in touch with whoever else is in the community, no matter where you are. Related Articles:
Acting VA CIO: No BYOD until legal issue resolved
Lock-in leads OPM to sole source Sprint Nextel contract
GSA shares early takeaways from mobile experience crowdsourcing Read more about: USDA, Cheryl Cook
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2. 32% of visitors to federal sites arrive via mobile, says ForeSee
 For the second quarter in a row, web analytics company ForeSee reports that nearly one-third of visitors to federal websites arrived via mobile device.
Thirty-two percent arrived by way of mobile device in the first quarter of 2013. Another 16 percent said they hadn't accessed a federal website from a mobile phone or tablet but planned to, and 40 percent said they hadn't but might in the future. Only 13 percent of respondents said they had no plans to use a mobile device to access a federal website. Report authors note the large number of respondents with plans to visit via mobile devices presents an opportunity for agencies to grow their mobile presence. In addition to recording quarterly numbers for mobile access to federal sites, ForeSee Usability Team Lead Matthew Dull provides "Usability Best Practices for E-Gov Mobile Web Experiences" in the report's appendix. "Sites not offering or, at the very least, preparing for mobile experiences now risk falling behind the curve, especially as mobile becomes the primary means of accessing online content by many visitors," writes Dull. The decision to build a mobile site or an app isn't an easy one, says Dull, but he recommends content-heavy government sites develop a mobile website first and then consider adding an app for dedicated functionality later. Redirecting users to the mobile version of the site, when they access the agency site from a mobile device, is a best practice, writes Dull. Despite bandwidth and technical limitations, visitors do not want an oversimplified web experience on their phones and tablets, he adds. "This does not mean the entire full website should be ported over to a mobile-sized screen," says Dull. "It should be a judicious and thoughtful balance between too little and too much content. Just as important as browsing via navigation is searching. Dull says it's a best practice for the search bar on a mobile website to be located prominently right below the site logo on the homepage and every page of the site. Government mobile sites should also consider how users navigate on their devices. Links should be rendered like buttons, and visitors expect "swipeability" provided by their touchscreens. Government mobile sites can also volunteer geolocation functionality as a convenient option when users must search by location, adds Dull. For more:
- download the report (reg. req.)
- read the press release Related Articles:
Third of visitors to federal websites have come via mobile devices
Survey: 13% of Americans ages 16 and older visited library website using mobile device
Large minority of voters use cell phone to get campaign election info Read more about: mobile apps, mobile-enabled websites
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3. Virtual communication tools can cause trouble in the workplace
 Even if they're computer-savvy, mobile employees still need training to avoid the adverse effects of using chat, audioconferencing and videoconferencing tools at work, the Rand Corp. says in a new report based on research commissioned by the Air Force.
Many people have used tools like online chat since they were children, but it's a common misconception that familiarity with those tools means employees know how to use them harmlessly in the workplace, says the report (.pdf), published April 22. A variety of adverse effects can arise from online interactions. Virtual communication may make people less polite and less inhibited, because the virtual environment offers a sense of anonymity, says the report. Virtual communication may also hinder the development of interpersonal relationships. Trust may be impaired if team members can't observe each other's work ethic. Since multiple chat conversations can occur at the same time, some employees may experience "cognitive overload," the report says. In the case of the Air Force, the report suggests limiting the use of virtual communications at times when critical work is being done, so cognitive overload doesn't interfere with crucial tasks. An Air Force flight crew can videoconference with its intelligence team to talk about an upcoming mission, but end the conference when it needs to focus attention on the mission, the report suggests. Chat communication is vulnerable to misinterpretation, since participants can't rely on cues such as tone of voice or body language to understand each other.
Audio and video have some advantages over text chats, but they have their own problems. During audioconferences, lower-status team members might be less likely to speak up, the report says. For a call where the objective is mainly to listen, that's not an issue, but otherwise, it can harm group decision-making. Because it has long used radio communications, the military has significant experience training for clear audio communication, the report notes. In videoconferences, it is difficult to maintain eye contact, and body language can still fail to transmit, the report says. The report recommends that employees whose primary means of communication will be virtual should meet in person at the outset of their collaboration, so as to establish a relationship and sense of trust. For more:
- download the report, "Virtual Collaboration for a Distributed Enterprise" (.pdf) Related Articles:
CRS survey reveals inconsistency in telework adoption rates
OPM faces new problems in improving telework data collection, says GAO
GSA executives won't need to daily stake a desk claim Read more about: Rand Corp.
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4. Wireless carriers commit to free overage alerts
Major U.S. wireless service providers met an April 17 deadline, agreeing to send free usage alerts to wireless subscribers on plans that impose additional charges for exceeding services limits, the Federal Communications Commission said. Now, around 97 percent of all wireless customers in the United States are protected from "bill shock", said the agency. The FCC's campaign to prevent bill shock began in October 2011 when Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the program in conjunction with CTIA. The agreement between ten major wireless providers came in the form of a change to the voluntary Consumer Code for Wireless Service. The alerts are sent when a subscriber goes over the limit on voice, data or text usage and to those consumers without an international roaming plan who may incur charges when using their wireless devices while traveling abroad, FCC said. They are meant to prevent shock from unexpected charges on their bill. The alerts apply to currently-offered and future domestic voice, data and messaging plans as of Oct. 17, 2011. The alerts will come both when subscribers approach and then when they exceed plan allowances, FCC said. They allow subscribers to better monitor and manage the use of their devices and avoid unexpected charges. Subscribers do not need to take any action to receive the alerts, FCC said. The FCC also updated its Bill Shock Web Portal to give consumers at a glance status of carriers' reported compliance on bill shock alerts. The Bill Shock Web Portal offers links to participating carrier websites, meeting commitments from last year's agreement with CTIA and Consumers Union to clearly disclose policies and tools regarding usage balances and alerts, FCC said. For more:
- read the FCC statement Related Articles:
FCC solicits comment on government cell phone shutdowns
BART in cell phone shutdown imbroglio
BART backtracks on cellphone service interruption Read more about: bill shock
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5. Researchers propose mobile trust solution for medical data
Emergency medical teams in the field often need secure access to patient records on the go. But when unknown and un-trusted entities need temporary access to sensitive patient medical records via mobile networks, trust needs to be established. In a January 2013 article, researchers from the information security group at City University of London's School of Engineering and Mathematical Studies present an architecture for software that provides trust negotiation and access to confidential medical data over a public mobile network. The transaction requires the medical team to be verified by the medical record provider, the download to be authorized and encrypted, and the data to be destroyed following its use to avoid re-distribution. Researchers propose a downloadable security capsule, or "a software agent which is specially developed to protect the downloaded data on a remote mobile device." This capsule would communicate with a trust-granting server to establish a connection between two unknown parties--facilitating the exchange of tokens between the relying healthcare provider and the healthcare staff. "The mobile device of the staff initiates the trust lifecycle with the Trust Granting Server," write report authors. The use of tokens is preferred to authentication through a mobile keypad because "trust between two parties should be dynamic, since the mobile healthcare staff should not have access to the trust delegated sensitive data after the emergency care," authors add. The report also proposes token structures for the schemas in this trust lifecycle. Authors say the proposed framework and security capsule implementation could serve as a model for quickly and securely sharing healthcare information over mobile networks in an emergency situation. For more:
- go to the article abstract for "Secure Trust Delegation for Sharing Patient Medical Records in a Mobile Envirionment," (subscription may be necessary for full text) Related Articles:
IG: VA transmitting sensitive data over unencrypted carrier network
Report: health IT requires new oversight framework, not traditional regulations
VA and DoD have a plan to minimize iEHR risk, says Baker Read more about: mHealth, City University of London
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Also Noted > NHTSA unveils 'SaferCar' app for iPhones. Press release (NHTSA)
> FCC seeks comments on service rules governing public safety narrowband operations in the 769 to 775 MHz and 799 to 805 MHz bands. Announcement (FCC)
> HHS announces Apps4Tots Health challenge. Challenge page (Challenge.gov)
> FTC files its first case against mobile phone "cramming." Press Release (FTC)
> Groups urge FTC to reject COPPA deadline extension supported by app developers. Post (Center for Digital Democracy) And Finally... More than 4 years of sandwich bag art. Post (Flickr Blog) > TECHEXPO CYBER SECURITY Hiring Event - Columbia, MD - April 30th, 9am - 3pm Are you a Cyber Warrior & seeking a new employment opportunity? Don't miss TECHEXPO's Cyber Security Job Fair on April 30th in Columbia, MD. Interview face-to-face with industry leaders & learn from our panel of distinguished speakers! Cyber Security Experience Required. For more information on attending or exhibiting visit: www.TechExpoUSA.com
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