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“I congratulate OCTO on receiving this prestigious award,” Mayor Gray said. “This award recognizes the District as a leader - not just in the US, but also throughout the world - in applying information technology to expand opportunities for local businesses and enhance government efficiency.”

OCTO won the award for its innovative Information Technology Staff Augmentation (ITSA) contract program in the area of Economic Opportunity. ITSA enables District government agencies to quickly assess and hire IT staff to meet their immediate needs, resulting in greater business opportunities for District-based high tech staffing companies. The program was selected from more than 500 nominations to become one of 200 Laureates from 25 countries.

“ITSA has improved the way the District acquires talent,” said Rob Mancini, Chief Technology Officer. “ITSA applies efficient processes and cloud technology to reduce cost, improve government operations and stimulate economic growth.”

Initiated in 2008, ITSA has:

• Significantly reduced hiring time from 16 weeks to 4 weeks;
• Provided an objective, transparent, and highly accountable hiring process;
• Expanded opportunities for DC-based businesses; and
• Saved District government agencies an average of 11 percent per year on IT spending.

The program has been adopted by most major agencies within the District government, including DC Public Schools (DCPS), Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Department of Employment Services (DOES), District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and Department of Health (DOH).

“There's no question technology plays a vital role in driving business forward. It ensures an organization's ability to compete, innovate, communicate and to thrive,” said John Amato, Vice President/Publisher of Computerworld. “What the Computerworld Honors Laureates so clearly demonstrate is technology's role in moving society forward. Computerworld acknowledges and applauds the outstanding work being done by individuals and organizations who have successfully used technology to improve the quality of our lives and that of future generations.”

Laureates’ case studies become part of the Honors Program's Global Archives, available to researchers, students and scholars through cwhonors.org and through records housed in national archives in over 350 universities, museums and research institutions throughout the world.

The Computerworld Honors Program awards will be presented at the Gala Evening and Awards Ceremony on June 4, 2012 at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW.

About The Computerworld Honors Program
Founded by International Data Group (IDG) in 1988, The Computerworld Honors Program is governed by the not-for-profit Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation. Computerworld Honors is the longest-running global program to honor individuals and organizations that use information technology to promote positive social, economic and educational change. Additional information about the program and a Global Archive of past Laureate case studies, as well as oral histories of Leadership Award recipients can be found at the Computerworld Honors website.

About Computerworld
Computerworld is the leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers worldwide, providing peer perspective, IT leadership and business results. Computerworld's award-winning web site (computerworld.com), bi-weekly publication, focused conference series and custom research forms the hub of the world's largest (40+ edition) global IT media network. In the past five years alone, Computerworld has won more than 100 awards, including Magazine of the Year by American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) awards in 2010, the 2009 Best Blog from the Neal awards, and 2006 Best Overall Web Publication from ASBPE. Computerworld leads the industry with an online audience of over 3.5 million unique, monthly visitors (Omniture, September 2011). Computerworld is published by IDG Enterprise, a subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading media, events and research company. Company information is available at idgenterprise.com.

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