Rail investment a great start

By Parris Glendening

Senior Advisor

Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia got some very good news recently. They will soon claim their share of $8 billion in grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to create 13 new high-speed rail corridor projects and for planning initiatives to lay the groundwork for future high-speed intercity rail service.

The move represents a clear commitment and understanding by the Obama Administration of this country’s dire need for a balanced transportation system. And we can all look forward to the many benefits of such a system, including job creation. On that point, a new analysis by Smart Growth America found that in the first 10 months of last year’s economic stimulus package, investments in public transportation created twice as many jobs per dollar as investments in highways.

Still, while understanding the necessity of spreading the new funds to multiple projects around the country, I agree with the Washington Post's editorial in that I would have rather seen some focused resources that could lead to the best overall transportation impact, particularly the Northeast corridor. This rail network from Boston to Richmond and almost every place in between is the nation’s most traveled rail line. It impacts 11 states and 110 million people and has the most potential for moving this country to a 21st century transit system.

Instead, the corridor is slated to receive $112 million in recovery money to help fund improvements along the route. As the Post opinion piece pointed out, these federal dollars are meant to be seed money to spur local and private investment. But these projects are massive, will take years to build and cost tens of billions of dollars. It is a start. Congress, however, must follow the lead of the Obama Administration and significantly reorder the priorities in America's transportation plan to make rail the investment of the future.

Stay tuned for NSI’s analysis of the potential public safety and security threats associated with these infrastructure and related issues.

Former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening serves as a Senior Advisor for NSI, where he works with the NSI team to develop winning legislative and marketing strategies for NSI’s clients. The Former Governor spent eight years as Governor of the State of Maryland, (1995-2003) where he made the environment, especially, smart growth-- education and inclusiveness the heart of his legislative, administrative and personal agenda. In addition, Governor Glendening had the honor of being elected chairman of the National Governor’s Association by his colleagues, where he made quality of life issues his top agenda item. He also served as President of the Council of State Governments. He was elected to statewide office after serving three terms as county executive of Prince George’s County, a jurisdiction of 800,000 outside of Washington, D.C. Mr. Glendening also serves as President of Smart Growth Leadership Institute, part of Smart Growth America, a nation-wide coalition of nearly 100 organizations promoting a better and more healthy way to grow; one that protects open space and farmland, revitalizes neighborhoods, keeps housing affordable, and makes communities more livable. As president, Mr. Glendening travels the country advising about the dangers of urban sprawl and its effect on our health, our prosperity and our communities as well as recommending a range of solutions to governors and public leaders.

New desktops won’t close real tech gap

By Peter Butler

Vice President of Technology and Telecommunications

A top Obama Administration official recently claimed “federal workers having better computers at home than in the office” has led to a technology gap between the public and private sectors that nets “billions of dollars in waste.” Unfortunately, the comments fell short of addressing the real crisis for America’s CIOs.

The Hill reported the comments made by Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag in a statement last week before a technology summit between Obama and dozens of corporate CEOs. While it’s probably fair to say government offices need technical upgrades, swapping out screens won’t solve the real issue. If only the solution were that simple.

The problem lies more with how government tracks and monitors the dollars it is allotted to support today’s most complex problems.   Government could gain greater efficiencies through the enterprise deployment of asset management systems and project portfolio management systems.   With an asset management system, government can track how its resources are being utilized.   Also, they can determine whether the technology resources are up to date and being used in compliance with regulatory demands.   With project portfolio management, government officials can better understand what they are spending our money on and, most importantly, why we are spending on that category.  It’s imperative for our government leadership to have a real-time, birds-eye view into where their people, processes and technology are focused.   

  

These are tough choices. And neither will come cheap.

Peter Butler is the vice president of the technology practice of NSI. In this capacity, Mr. Butler manages the day-to-day operations of the technology practice, leading efforts for new client acquisition, client management and P&L responsibility. Prior to NSI, Mr. Butler was an account director for Mainline Information Systems, CA, and Idea Integration. In 1998, Mr. Butler left the public sector to launch Homes.com as the vice president of Product Development. The site grew quickly, launching branded realtor and broker sites, and remains one of the leading portals today for online real estate. Mr. Butler also served as spokesperson for Florida Governor Bob Martinez in 1989 before changing his focus to internet communications. After launching the web strategies for Florida’s Leon County and the City of Tallahassee, Mr. Butler turned his attention to the State of Florida’s internet launch, and was project director for the State of Florida’s award winning web team under Governor Lawton Chiles. 

Nevada governor’s threat should be wakeup call

By Christine Ferguson

Senior Advisor

We’ve seen this happen before. Unlike the Federal government, states must balance their budgets every year. The economy tanks, state budgets shrink and as governors crunch the numbers they can’t help but consider axing the biggest ticket item: Medicaid.

Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons has done just that, according to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

           

A conservative Las Vegas-based think tank said the idea could save the state money and suggested that poor Nevadans probably would be better off without Medicaid, according to the article. But legislative leaders said Gibbons' idea would not receive their approval, which might be required. And a nonpartisan policy research group that monitors Congress said dumping Medicaid would leave many Nevadans without health care.

I’d be willing to bet it won’t happen after the governor’s staff researches the implications of such action. It’s a pretty difficult move to justify. If he follows through, Nevada would become the first state to have dropped Medicaid during tight times.

This should, however, be a wakeup call for Congress as to the magnitude of the problems facing states when it comes to health care and Medicaid costs. Despite at least a 50 percent match in federal funds, coming up with the remaining tab is getting more and more difficult in this economy.  The cost of health care to states continues to grow and to infringe on other priorities – in some states health care consumes almost 30% of the state budget.

In the coming months, Congress must consider extending the enhanced match for Medicaid until the country climbs out of economic crisis. Otherwise, the results could be devastating, perhaps particularly so for 233,000 Nevadans who currently receive Medicaid benefits.

Christine C. Ferguson, JD serves as Senior Advisor for NSI’s Health Care sector providing expertise and strategic insight to NSI’s health care clients. In addition to her senior advisory role with NSI, Ms. Ferguson currently serves as a research professor at the George Washington School of Public Health and Health Services. Ms. Ferguson has been engaged in the development of an educational program in state health policy and concentrates her research on health reform, health services for vulnerable populations, overweight and obesity, and health systems reform. 

VC investments in clean-tech hold steady

By Kevin Matthews
Vice President, Energy and Environment Practice
Critics who question the future of clean technology and our government’s investment in the industry’s future might have to admit they’re wrong, once and for all.
Here’s a little bit of news for them from the New York Times’ Green Inc.: Venture capitalists invested $5.6 billion in green technology companies worldwide last year, according to a preliminary report from the Cleantech Group and Deloitte.
VC firms don’t spend that kind of cash on pipe dreams, particularly in today’s economy.
Although the report reflects a 33 percent drop from 2008 investments, the overall amount of venture capital fell further, to 2003 levels. But clean technology investments matched those from 2007, indicating a steady hold amid a global economic downturn.
Dallas Kachan, managing director of the Cleantech Group, said: “In 2009, clean-tech went from a niche category to become the dominant category in venture capital investing. Clean-tech continued to outpace software and biotech.”
Certainly, as the Green Inc. post points out, government subsidies are key. The clean-tech industry has experienced significant growth in recent months and analysts predict an ongoing upward trend due in large part to the Department of Energy’s $36.7 billion in stimulus funds.
As it turns out, NSI secured part of those funds for VC-backed companies Power Assure and SeaMicro, both of which develop data management products that increase energy efficiency. With help from premier investors in Silicon Valley, the startups leveraged that funding for NSI consultants’ strategy and oversight to win $14 million in grants from the DOE.
Power Assure reduces data centers’ energy consumption by an average of 50 percent, helping companies meet energy reduction targets and regulatory requirements, according to a company press release announcing the DOE grant. In fact, the DOE award was granted to Power Assure based on its principal goal of transforming data center energy strategy from an “Always On” to an “Always Available” model, which dramatically increases the efficiency of data centers. The root cause of high fixed energy expenses in data centers, according to the release, is that they are built to remain “always on”, consuming their full power load regardless of user demand.
In a press release announcing the project grants, DOE Secretary Steven Chu said, “By reducing energy use and energy costs for the IT and telecommunications industries, this funding will help create jobs and ensure the sector remains competitive. The expected growth of these industries means that new technologies adopted today will yield benefits for many years to come.”

Reports indicate bright future for renewables

By Bruce Gruenwald

Director, Energy and Environment Practice
The green movement seems to have the blues lately. Many advocates and experts are still reeling over disappointment with the outcome in Copenhagen. Reports indicate climate change ranks far below reality TV on Americans’ priority lists.

Regardless, the green movement marches forward — at least when it comes to renewable energy. Reports from the end of last year and the beginning of 2010 actually illustrate a promising picture.

Last October, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance released an updated report that examines a state-by-state commercial renewable electricity potential. According to Environmental Leader, 36 states with either renewable energy goals or renewable energy mandates could meet them by relying on in-state renewable fuels. The report also finds 23 states could be self-sufficient in electricity from in-state renewables, and another seven states could generate 75 percent of their electricity from homegrown fuels. The study finds new technologies like smart grids, electric vehicles, distributed storage and rooftop solar will have a major impact at the local level. As an example, the integration of millions of electric vehicles into the grid will change the context for energy planning by creating, for the first time, abundant storage for electricity, according to the report.

Last month, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a preliminary report (the full version is due in March) indicated renewable fuels accounted for nine percent of all energy consumption in 2008. However, the report also projects that share to grow to 17 percent by 2035. Why? The extension of key federal tax credits and the loan guarantee program in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which greatly increases renewable generation relative to the projections in earlier outlooks. According to the report, additional growth is also supported by the many state requirements for renewable generation.

Clearly, the government is driving the market for renewable energy and has, in fact, mandated a percentage of energy derived from renewable resources by 2020. It’s already boosting business for companies such as Energy Xtreme, an NSI client that provides large-scale storage products and other modern energy solutions.

While it’s easy to feel the that progress toward a greener future has come up against the proverbial yellow traffic light, it’s important to remember how far we’ve come. As the EIA report stated, we saw vigorous and far-reaching debate about the scale of future energy systems in 2009. I believe we’ve arrived at a point where there is real potential for the centralized renewable energy future, which will be characterized by greater federal involvement in planning and local and state-based strategies. The report, as the Executive Summary indicates, truly does provide compelling evidence that if states retain their authority, energy self-reliance is within their grasp.

A look at good news with an eye on the future

By Christine Ferguson

Senior Advisor

A New Year always presents an opportunity to look back and look ahead and the crucial issues we have faced and will meet head on in the coming months.

Amid last month’s flurry of debate and voting on health care reform legislation, there was a bit of good news that came out of the Department of Health and Human Services. The department announced the award of more than $72 million to nine states for making significant progress in enrolling children in health coverage through Medicaid and improving access to children’s coverage through Medicaid and the state children’s health insurance program. Funding for the “performance bonuses” was included in the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization (CHIPRA) law.  CHIPRA also set performance goals that states must meet to qualify for a bonus.  The press release also pointed out that a short-term boost in Medicaid reimbursement rates authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) also provided relief to states with suffering economies, enabling them to extend care to eligible children.

Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations within the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), had this to say:

“In the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, decisive action in ARRA and CHIPRA, along with focused state activity, helped ensure that children got the health care they need. We are pleased to see the success these states have achieved as well as the actions to enroll eligible children taken by other states that we expect may qualify for the bonus next year.”

It was, in fact, great news. But the real issue of the day is what’s going to happen a year from now when the enhanced ARRA funding runs out and we’ve failed to dig out of the recession or implement health care reform. How will states that are barely hanging on meet their mission for children - let alone their overall Medicaid responsibilities?

States could be facing serious hardship in the years ahead. Meanwhile, it sometimes seems as though folks in Washington don’t understand what it means to live and work in an environment where budgets must be balanced on an annual basis. Without sustained help, states will continue to struggle to provide very important health care coverage in the very near future.

So while we celebrate and enjoy the benefits of ARRA and CHIPRA, it’s important to remember we need to keep discussion going about the very near and potentially disastrous future ahead when it comes to health care at the state level.

This article originally published at GovConExecutive.com. Christine C. Ferguson, JD serves as Senior Advisor for NSI’s Health Care sector providing expertise and strategic insight to NSI’s health care clients. In addition to her senior advisory role with NSI, Ms. Ferguson currently serves as a research professor at the George Washington School of Public Health and Health Services. Ms. Ferguson has been engaged in the development of an educational program in state health policy and concentrates her research on health reform, health services for vulnerable populations, overweight and obesity, and health systems reform. Prior to her academic role, Ms. Ferguson served in executive positions at the state government.

Green construction to account for billions in wages

By Kevin Matthews

Vice President, Energy & Environment Sector

Green construction in the United States has soared in recent years and there’s plenty of reason for optimism as we head into the New Year. A steady stream of statistics, studies and reports indicate the trend will continue in the coming years.

In November, a report from the U.S. Green Building Council and Booz Allen Hamilton showed green building will support 7.9 million U.S. jobs and pump $554 billion into the American economy through 2013.

The promise of the industry, fueled by a need to curb environmental impact for the sake of our future, has spawned new businesses and ideas from solar panels to insulation made from recyclables. It’s also led to the discovery that what some may consider to be more conventional materials may be every bit as gentle on our environment as new developments. Last year, the American Forestry and Paper Association successfully argued paper products’ eligibility for renewable energy credit. The distinction also allows companies using such products to qualify for LEED certification. There are many reasons for their success, including chemical-free forestry practices and insulation made with recycled paper.

Though rebuilding our national economy might appear daunting, green construction continues to contribute to signs of a rebound. The USBC/Booz report determined that green construction spending currently supports more than 2 million American jobs and generates more than $100 billion in gross domestic product and wages and will account for $396 billion in wages in the next four years.

Green construction has certainly soared. And, clearly, it’s about to reach new heights.

This article was originally published at GovConExecutive.com. Kevin Matthews is Vice President of Energy and Environment for NSI where he runs the day-to-day sector operations and works with clients on sustainable solutions for interfacing with state and local governments. Prior to joining NSI, Mr. Matthews held various positions with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. where he worked for Administrator Carol M. Browner and served as both Special Assistant and Senior Congressional Liaison. He also worked as an aide to U.S. Senators Dale Bumpers and Joseph Lieberman.