To assist agencies in a White House records management mandate, cloud vendor Feith Systems & Software last week unveiled new initiatives aimed at helping agencies minimize costs, reduce spending, operate more efficiently, maximize records security, decrease paper waste, and keep better track of key records information. President Barack Obama issued the Presidential Memorandum for Managing Government Records. This order aims to reform Records Management across all Federal Government Executive agencies. By March 27, 2012, each agency head is required to submit a report to the OMB that describes the agency's plans for improving its records management program based on the directive.  The initiative begins with education about Feith's "RMA iQ" secure Records Management application, part of the "BridgeLogiQ" BPM Suite, which offers agencies the flexibility to more productively store and manage all relevant records, including secure and classified. This includes scanned and OCR'd (Optical Character Recognition) paper documents – so agencies can transition from paper-based records management to electronic records management as directed in the memo – and electronic documents including computer files from local or network drives and email from mail servers or Microsoft Outlook.  The company’s "RMA iQ" aims to help agencies with solutions that offer both at-agency local storage, or – as highlighted in the directive – by deploying cloud-based solutions. Feith has long been a leader in the cloud revolution, having run cloud and application service provider (ASP) solutions for records management for over a decade.  An additional component is Records Security. DoD 5015.2 V3 certification is the main standard of the Federal Government, a distinct achievement considered the benchmark for organizations that manage classified documents, which includes the latest accreditation for the Privacy Act and e-FOIA (Freedom of Information Act). Several agencies currently utilize Feith's DoD 5015.2 V3-certified "RMA iQ" Records Management solution.  Feith also is offering a series of free webinars which aim to answer questions about the directive, its goals, and how agencies can satisfy the mandate before the March 27 deadline featuring Records Management Expert Tom Edwards. The next webinar is Tuesday, December 20, 2011, at 2pm ET, and can be registered for at http://www.feith.com.

(Contact: Don Feith, President & CEO, Feith Systems and Software, Inc.,             215/646-8000      , more-info@feith.com, http://www.feith.com).

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The Los Angeles Council Dec. 14 voted 12-0 to abandon plans for 13,000 City law enforcement employees to use Google’s cloud-based email system, InformationWeek reported last week.  The city expressed concerns over the security of the new system. Two years ago Google bested Microsoft for a $7.25 million contract to move 30,000 city workers to Google Apps, a win for Google in the two tech giants' battle to woo government customers with cloud-based email and productivity suites. But the Google suite hit a reef when it failed to meet the city's Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) security regulations.  That’s why Los Angeles officials voted to amend the contract. The amendment removes the LAPD, portions of the city attorney's office, the Los Angeles Fire Department, Department of General Services, and Department of Transportation from the contract, which concludes in November 2012.  In a related development, Consumer Watchdog has called on Los Angeles officials to demand Google remove a “deceptive” video featuring Los Angeles City employees from a website marketing the Internet giant's Google Apps for Government "cloud computing" service. "Google Apps has failed Los Angeles, but the deceptive marketing video gives the false impression that the system was successful here," wrote Jamie Court, Consumer Watchdog president and John M. Simpson, privacy project director. "That creates a first impression of credibility for Google that will mislead other communities. Given the failed Los Angeles Google project, you must demand that the inaccurate video be removed immediately.  As long as it remains, the City is complicit in Google's deceptive marketing. You have an obligation to tell the truth about the Los Angeles experience and how Google could not meet security requirements."

(Contact: UBM TechWeb, 415/947-6000, http://www.ubmtechweb.com; Consumer Watchdog http://www.consumerwatchdog.org)

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General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), will help federal agencies prepare for the cloud now that it has been selected as an awardee by the General Services Administration (GSA) for the Connections II contract. The nine-year, three-month, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract has a potential value of $5 billion among all 21 industry awardees. "With an increasing emphasis on data center consolidation and cloud computing, many agencies are looking at modernizing their infrastructure," said Marcus Collier, senior vice president of General Dynamics Information Technology's Health and Civilian Solutions division. "Through this contract, General Dynamics will efficiently and effectively deliver the IT services needed to modernize and successfully establish unified and secure communications." General Dynamics Information Technology has been a prime contractor on GSA's first Connections Support Services contract for the past eight years. Through the Connections II contract, General Dynamics will meet U.S. federal civilian, Department of Defense and intelligence agencies' needs for unified voice and data communications solutions.  Specifically, General Dynamics will provide equipment, building and infrastructure support, as well as professional and operational services to ensure network integration for new and existing systems.

The Connections II contract includes the full range of services required to modernize agency infrastructure and support next generation mobile workforce requirements, including: Communications and networking; Building/campus facility preparation; Operations, administration, and management; and Customer service and technical support.

(Contact: General Dynamics Information Technology,703/246-0200, 800/242-0230; http://www.gdit.com).

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A new report by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) is designed to help state and local governments better understand and prepare for the risks stemming from the use of cloud computing, American City & County reports. The report urges state and local governments contemplating cloud computing to consider the potential for data breach, the total cost of the service, and the service provider’s access to and use of government data. It also urges governments to involve their legal staffs early in their planning for cloud-computing use and their negotiation of service terms. “Capitals in the Clouds, Part III – Recommendations for Mitigating Risks: Jurisdictional, Contracting and Service Levels,” gives an overview of such issues as service agreements, how to evaluate service providers, interstate collaboratives, data protection and privacy, and the location of data storage. The report is the third in a series by NASCIO on cloud computing. The first brief addressed cloud computing definitions, and the second one examined data-integrity issues. “We fully anticipate further adoption of cloud computing and creation of multi-jurisdictional collaboration across the country,” added Carolyn Parnell, co-chair of NASCIO’s Enterprise Architecture and Governance Committee and the CIO for the state of Minnesota, in the release. “We’re expecting a proliferation of state and local government partnering. This presents some of the jurisdictional issues CIOs are facing or might face in the future, and calls to action for anticipating and avoiding potential conflicts of laws.” (Contact: Bill Wolpin, American City & County,             770/618-0112      , bill.wolpin@penton.com; http://americancityandcounty.com.)

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