User:Ordwayen/Bloomberg Government Sandbox

Bloomberg Government, also known as BGov, is an online subscription-based service owned by Bloomberg L.P. that provides aggregated news, data, information and analysis to policy makers, media, lobbyists and business leaders about legislative and regulatory data, government contracts and grants policy issues, and congressional activity. The service was launched in January 2011.

History
Bloomberg Government launched in 2011 as a solution to eliminate multiple government information resources. According to The New York Times, the service was developed to provide news and information about politics, along with the less "glamorous" aspects of government reporting including legislative and regulatory coverage.

The first stages of what is now Bloomberg Government began in 2009 when a team lead by Chris Walters and Don Baptiste spent most of the year researching the market and finding a solution to match market needs. In 2010, in preparation for the launch of Bloomberg Government, Bloomberg L.P. acquired Eagle Eye Publishing, a provider of data on federal procurement. A year later, in August 2011, Bloomberg L.P. purchased Arlington, Virgina-based publisher of business and government news services, Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), to help build the company's government and law market franchise.

The service is sold via subscription for $5,700 a year and provides access to a database that offers identification of government contracts by agency or congressional district, analysis of contract spending over time and tracking of donations from contractors to elected officials. The database also includes information about all members of Congress, such as sponsored legislation and frequently updated staff contact information. Like subscribers to the Bloomberg Professional service, Bloomberg Goverment can be accessed at any internet-connected desktop or advanced mobile device.

Staff
Bloomberg implemented an aggressive recruiting strategy to staff the Bloomberg Government newsroom in Washington, D.C. which included hiring many of the reporters from leading D.C. media outlets including CQ-Roll Call, the Associated Press, Dow Jones and other industry publicactions including Kaiser Health News, Army Times and Defense Week. As of March 2011, Bloomberg had hired 115 journalists and editors with plans to expand to more than 300 by the end of the year.

Mike Riley serves as managing editor and Don Baptiste is head of strategy and product development for Bloomberg Government in Washington D.C.

Awards
In its inaugural year, Bloomberg Goverment received a Knight-Batten Award for Innovation in Journalism for combining interactive data, analytics and reporting that quantifies the business impacts of government action. In 2012, the service was nominated for two CODiE awards including Best Governance, Risk & Compliance Information Solution and Best Political Information Resource.