The longest 20 seconds of my life

Federal Computer Week News Editor Michael Hardy experienced his first earthquake. Now he asks for your stories.

Rare 5.9 earthquake shakes up D.C. federal buildings

"Did you feel it?" was the question that boomeranged around Twitter in thousands of tweets after an unusually strong earthquake hit Virginia about 90 miles from Washington, D.C.

SAIC official returns to TASC as group senior VP

John Hynes Jr., who worked at TASC from 1990 to 2001, returns to the company from SAIC as the newly appointed senior vice president of the Defense and Civil Group.

Regulatory reforms to hit competition, communication

President Barack Obama ordered agencies to modernize and increase the transparency of their regulation of industry and commerce.

Lockheed makes a health IT acquisition

Lockheed Martin Corp. is acquiring QTC Holdings Inc., a provider of outsourced medical evaluation services to the government. Move builds Lockheed's health IT portfolio.

STG names new VP of civilian agency tech services

STG Inc. has promoted Darin Stolte to vice president of the Technology Services Group, Civil Agencies Sector, responsible for the operation and oversight of a business portfolio that approaches $35 million in revenue with more than 215 employees.

Cloud reputation hurt by cybersecurity worries

Former CIO Vivek Kundra promoted cloud technology as a way to save money, but some feds are concerned about its security.

Navy's NGEN gears up for new contract action

The final request for proposal for the Navy's Next Generation Enterprise Network program is expected in December.

Where were you when the earthquake hit?

Washington Technology Editor Nick Wakeman shares his story of the earthquake. Where were you and how did you react? Share your stories.

Former SRA CEO tapped to lead new company

Former SRA International Inc. President and CEO Stanton Sloane wasted little time finding a new home. He's taken the reins of a California advanced security company.

GSA plans huge BPAs for laptops, desktops and other devices

GSA officials propose creating as many as 10 blanket purchase agreements covering laptops, desktops and other popular IT products.

Honeywell subsidiary completes tender offer for EMS comms firm

Honeywell International's subsidiary Egret Acquisition Corp. has successfully completed the tender offer to pay $33 per share of common stock of EMS Technologies Inc. for a purchase price of $491 million.

GTSI dumps stake in EyakTek

GTSI has sold its stake in Eyak Technology for $20 million.

Second former female exec sues Booz Allen

Booz Allen Hamilton is being hit with a second lawsuit in two months from a former female partner who says her termination was a result of sex discrimination.

Swap Social Security benefits for long-term care: Fair trade?

Steve Kelman wonders if people would trade in their monthly Social Security checks in exchange for insurance against outliving their assets.

Defense agencies adjust procurement thinking

At a time when the government is drawing borders around contractors, some defense IT officials are pinning their technology hopes on their close partnerships with companies.

Questions are being raised about an OPM system failure that affected 70K job applications

Readers of FCW are having strong reactions to the stories on the Office of Personnel Management's system failure that resulted in 70,000 job applications going unprocessed.

Take responsibility for the power envelope every day

Energy conservation reduces the size of government's "power envelope" and provides twin benefits of increased operational efficiency and a range of significant cost savings, including lower utility bills, writes a sponsor of the upcoming Power IT Down Day on Aug. 26.

Contractors share $900M prize to develop the Army's smart combat vehicle

Two teams of contractors, one led by BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman and another by General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin Corp., share a $900 million contract to develop the technology for the Army's smart combat vehicle.

VA seeks info on cloud-based health care collaboration

The Veterans Affairs Department is seeking information about cloud-based collaborative tools that could improve communications between VA doctors and clinicians and reduce data breaches.