Contest Archives

Bob Brewin is on vacation and will return to writing What's Brewin' later this month.

Wired's Danger Room blog has a fun contest that Nextgov readers should take a serious look at -- especially cyber specialists.

The logo for the Defense Department's new Cyber Command has a mysterious series of numbers and letters on the gold ring: 9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a.
It's being described as code -- at least that's what an inside source at the Cyber Command told Danger Room, which asks readers to post what they believe the code means.

Apple's iPhone and smart phones built around Google's Android operating system make for yummy application development platforms, but their use in the federal government -- especially the Defense Department -- has been restricted because neither the iPhone nor Android phones have received security accreditation from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

But Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson, the Army chief information officer, indicated at a press briefing on Wednesday that that situation may soon change. He said Apple and Google are making progress in getting their gizmos certified to the Federal Information Processing (FIPS) 140-2 cryptology standard needed for use on federal networks.

Where does that leave applications under development for the Apps for the Army competition the service kicked off this week, which has both iPhone and Android categories?

Sorenson said those apps can be tested and used outside standard federal networks until they receive a blessing from NIST.

The Army launched its "Apps for the Army" contest on Monday, which is open to active-duty, Reserve and National Guard personnel, and civilian employees. The service seeks some good Web and mobile software applications that can be used throughout the Army.

Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson, the Army chief information officer, said the purpose of the contest is "to encourage smarter, better and faster technical solutions to meet operational needs."

Anyone interested in competing should apply quickly at Army Knowledge Online because participation is limited to just 100 folks.

The Army will distribute a total of $30,000 in prizes to winners of the contest, which, when you get down to it, is probably less than it would pay a contractor to write a thousand lines of code, let alone an entire application.

Anonymous.

Alas, I had singled out the best entry (actually two entries sent in by the same person) in the AHLTA definition contest, but the winner has chosen to remain anonymous. It seems person who submitted the entries fear that that the folks who run the Military Health System may not have a sense of humor when it comes to clever acronyms to describe AHLTA, the military electronic health record system, which has had its troubles.

The winning entries for the new AHLTA acronym were submitted by a Navy medical officer serving with the Marines somewhere in the Central Command area of operations. They are:

All Hope Lost Through Automation

All Healthworkers Loathe This Application

Since many military medical personnel consider AHLTA a lemon, I am sending 32 free-range, line caught lemons purchased at the Santa Fe, N.M., Whole Food Market outlet to the clever winner, along with 10 pounds of sugar to make lemonade.

When Tom Shoop, editor of Government Executive, gets the lemon bill, he will understand why Whole Foods customers also call the grocery store chain "Whole Paycheck" -- 32 organic free-range lemons cost $19.

Last month I kicked off a contest for the best definition of AHLTA, the Defense Department's electronic health record system that used to stand for the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application.

As loyal What's fans know, it turned out that in a bureaucratic assault on the English language, the Clinical Information Technology Program Office at the Military Health Service declared AHLTA to be a proper noun in 2006.

But this year, Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Ark., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said at a hearing that AHLTA the noun "does not convey what it means" and added that he knew it meant the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application system.

Folks in What'sland definitely believe AHLTA should be an acronym, but not the one favored by Snyder. Readers submitted some really good substitutes for the contest, which ended on June 5.

Other folks - seemingly shy of the torrent of publicity that will go to the award winner - decided to submit their AHLTA acronyms anonymously and outside the contest rules. Here's a few of the funnier noncontest AHLTA acronyms:

• Army Has Lost Touch Again
• A Huge Loss of Time and Assets
• A Hyper Link to Agony
• A Hope Less Technology Application

I do have an official winner, which I will announce on Wednesday. Since AHLTA is widely viewed as a lemon of an application, the winner will receive either the fixings for lemonade or a glass at Johnny's Half Shell on North Capitol Street near Union Station, which serves an award winning lemonade.

And, as a special bonus, Tom Shoop, editor of Government Executive, has promised to provide the AHLTA Definition Contest winner with a limited edition, 40th anniversary GovExec T-shirt with cover photos of presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

This is a real keeper, and I bet a lot of people now wish they had entered the contest.

As dedicated What's fans know, AHLTA, the Defense Department's electronic health record system, used to be known as an acronym standing for the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application.

But, as Pecksniffian readers pointed out to me in February, an Oct. 11, 2006, internal memo on the Military Health System CITPO (an acronym that stands for Clinical Information Technology Program Office) Wire declared AHLTA a proper noun. I've adhered to that policy ever since, even though Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Ark., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, thinks it still should be an acronym.

SAIC (an acronym that stands for Science Applications International Corp.) further muddied the AHLTA linguistic waters in May when it issued a press release that said it won a $156 contract from the Military Health System to provide sustainment support (whatever that means) for what it dared to call the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA).

But What's fans have told me that neither the proper noun nor the above acronym really does AHLTA justice. One frustrated AHLTA end user said AHLTA is neither a noun nor an acronym, but an expletive. Another reader agreed AHLTA was an acronym, but said it stood for "Ah Hell, Let's Try Again."

We need to come up with the most fitting description of AHLTA, so I'm asking readers to submit their best new acronym for AHLTA or a pithy and humorous description. The contest will run through Friday, June 5.

Since many AHLTA end users view it as a lemon, we should end up with lemonade, right?

Therefore, I will treat the winner (and a companion) of the "What Does AHLTA Really Mean Contest" to a glass of lemonade - along with a certificate suitable for framing - at Johnny's Half Shell on North Capitol Street near Union Station.

I will try to get a high-ranking Military Health System official to show up for the "award ceremony."

The Vagablond foodie Web site rated Johnny's as serving one of the best lemonades in Washington. Jim Lamontagne, general manager of Johnny's, said he would be happy to set up a table for four folks who just want to order lemonade - I don't want to suborn federal officials, so if you want some clams to go along with the lemonade, it's on your dime.

If the winner is from outside the Washington area, I will ship two dozen lemons, one pound of sugar and a recipe for some really awesome lemonade.

Contest rules:

All entries must be submitted in the comments section of this item as well as in an e-mail to me at bbrewin@govexec.com. Please include a daytime phone number in the e-mail.

No AHLTA description may be longer than 100 words.