Tag Archives: Navy

Department Spotlight: DoD – More Money, More Opportunity?

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With the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2018 passing in February, the defense discretionary funding cap was increased by $80 billion in FY2018 and $85 billion in FY2019. The DoD now has over $700 billion in their budget. This type of legislation is not unprecedented with BBAs issued in 2013 and 2015. However, the 2018 deal does stand out in terms of the amount of money added to funding caps.

So what are defense agencies doing with this influx of federal dollars? According to research from Market Connections, two thirds of Defense decision makers say that money will go toward projects that have been stalled due to budget disagreements and continuing resolutions. This means that agencies are not necessarily investing in net new work, rather using the influx to put existing plans and programs into action. Those projects getting the kick start range widely, with a large portion involving cybersecurity, modernization initiatives, and training. Continue reading →

We Want You…To Mark your Calendar

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The landscape for battle is shifting quickly. From the emergence of cyber warfare to the physical battlefield moving from fields into cities, our military is undergoing a huge transformation. Additionally, military spending priorities are rapidly changing and military professionals are expected to pursue continuing education and specializations. Luckily there is a wide array of events tailored for the armed forces.[Tweet "View the wide array of events tailored for the armed forces and #DoD #GovEventsBlog"]

We wanted to highlights some of the major events that should be on the calendars of anyone involved with the DoD. Continue reading →

Behind the Curtain: Sea-Air-Space

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SASIn this peek behind the curtain we look at the work that goes into the planning and execution of the Sea-Air-Space event, the largest maritime exhibition in the United States. The exposition is produced by the Navy League, a non-profit organization designed to communicate the challenges and successes of the U.S. sea service to the American public and government at large. This event has become a key platform for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard to interact with each other as well as the private sector.[Tweet "A look at what goes into planning the Sea-Air-Space event. #GovEventsBlog #SAS16"]

This year's event takes place May 16-18 at the Gaylord National Convention center just outside Washington, DC. We spoke with Kevin J. Traver, Staff Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Membership with the Navy League of the United States, about what goes into planning a show of this scale and what trends are shaping the content and delivery of information to our maritime forces.

Q: What impact have the shifts in training and travel budgets had on your event?

There has been a shift away from the hard restrictions to travel and training requests. With a few years of strong cut backs in these areas, I think government has seen, more than ever before, the value in gathering in large groups and having discussions. They see how this powers the innovation that is being called for across government.

We were "lucky" in that the majority of our audience is within an easy day trip to DC so we did not see a huge impact in attendance numbers. We do see that people are able to get approval easier and earlier than in recent years. Also, being an official non-profit of the Navy we are able to provide this event free of charge to government. This includes any exhibit space that government organizations want to use. We have also increased our bussing from various locations around the DC region. Attendees can hop on a bus in Quantico, Mechanicsburg, and the Pentagon (among others) making it easy for people to get to the event.[Tweet "As an official non-profit of the #Navy, Sea Air Space event is free for Government. #GovEventsBlog"] Continue reading →

Navy Turns to Strategic Sourcing to Cut Conference Spending

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From time to time GovEvents will come across information we feel our members and audience would benefit from. Here's something we wanted to share:

 

The Office of Management and Budget has a long list of governmentwide priorities -- among them are more federal spending with small businesses, more use of strategic sourcing in the procurement process and less spending on government conferences.

With regard to those three priorities, the Department of the Navy thinks its brand new contract vehicle for conference planning services is a trifecta.

The Navy made blanket purchase agreement awards to 17 firms -- all of them small businesses -- on May 31 in an attempt to take a strategic sourcing approach to the way the Navy and Marine Corps plan and pay for their conferences.

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DoD moves meetings online, but IT systems can’t keep pace

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Originally posted by Jared Serbu on Federal News Radio

As budget cuts take their toll on in-person conferences within the Defense Department, more meetings are shifting online, specifically to DoD's in-house Web conferencing service, Defense Connect Online.

The system has seen so much traffic recently that usage is starting to outstrip the system's capacity. And DCO may be about to see even more users. The Defense Information Systems Agency and the contractor that runs DCO have just released an app that lets defense employees host or log into meetings from their iPhones and iPads.

Continue reading →