The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) launched its new “Federal Program Inventory” dashboard this week, with information on almost 2,400 federal domestic spending programs.  OMB intends the dashboard to bring greater transparency to how the government spends its money and plans to expand the dashboard to encompass all federal spending.  Data collection is a hot topic in both industry and government.  Everyone wants unique, one-of-a-kind information, while information available to a broad group of people is dismissed as unimportant. News alert:  It’s not the type of information to which you have access, but what you do with it.  Allen Federal has access to a baseball bat and glove, but no one has called us up for spring training.  Too many agencies, and companies, gather information for the primary purpose of saying that they collected it.  Like your third Chia Pet, it sits in a corner in its original packaging doing not much of anything.  You must water the chia seeds to make the animal sprout.  So, too, is it with gathered information.  In over 33 years of experience in the federal market Allen Federal has determined that what separates successful companies from others is what they do with the information and other tools they have.  While consultants, lawyers, accountants, and other professionals can help your federal business, no one knows your company as well as you do.  Successful companies take that outside information and channel it into their own culture to give them an advantage in the marketplace.  Whether it’s information on an upcoming bid, a federal budget change, or even new people that can alter agency priorities, smart contractors leverage what they learn and act on it.  We’ve recently written about how GSA is now making use of the data they gather to negotiate better deals on Multiple Award Schedule contracts.  What does your company do with the information it gathers?  The answer to that question can mean the difference between growing business and wondering why others are gaining while you sit in the dugout.