Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
Federal money spending government

House members today grilled officials from the Department of Defense (DoD) on a long-standing and vexing issue for Congress – the Pentagon’s inability to produce a clean audit opinion on its financial statements since that requirement went into effect for Federal agencies in 1990. […]

EHR

The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held a hearing on Wednesday afternoon to consider two bills that aim to improve the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) troubled Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program contract with Oracle Cerner. […]

cyber workforce

MeriTalk recently sat down with Essye Miller, former DoD deputy chief information officer for cybersecurity, former acting defense chief information officer, and board member for Axonius Federal Systems, and Tom Kennedy, vice president, Axonius Federal Systems, to talk about what successful public-private partnerships look like, lessons learned from past partnership experiences, and how industry and government can come together effectively to work towards common goals that advance the nation’s cybersecurity. […]

Kemba Walden, Principal Deputy National Cyber Director, Office of the National Cyber Director

The White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) released its National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan (NCSIP) today, putting 18 agencies on the hook for 69 “high-impact” initiatives to be completed between now and fiscal year (FY) 2026. […]

capitol washington dc senate house congress-min
contract acquisition CFO

The National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) plans to take corrective action and reevaluate proposals under its $50 billion Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 4 (CIO-SP4) contract, after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) upheld 98 protests to the IT services contract. […]

FCC
Microsoft HQ
AI

As the Federal government continues to navigate the world of AI regulations, Alondra Nelson – the former deputy director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) – said this week that a lack of guardrails and regulations in the AI space may ultimately prevent the United States from leaning into innovation. […]

Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, introduced legislation this week that would establish a Digital Economy and Cybersecurity Board of Advisers at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The bill comes as lawmakers are working to reauthorize the NTIA – a Commerce Department component – for the first time since 1992. […]

As the U.S. Air Force and Space Force move toward expanding their Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), the service branches are looking to brew up competition among private sector organizations of all sizes to grow ABMS capabilities, said Gen. Luke Cropsey, the Air Force’s Integrating Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communications, and Battle Management. […]

DHS

The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) has failed to address prohibited telecom items offered on its Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts, “putting customers at risk of unauthorized surveillance of foreign adversaries,” the agency’s watchdog said in a new report published on Monday. […]

The U.S Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) is looking for industry’s help to create a system in which the Army can forecast “near-term enemy courses of action (ECOA) based on current Situational Awareness (SA)” according to the new request for information (RFI). […]

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is preparing to release a brand-new National Intelligence Strategy (NIS), providing the Intelligence Community (IC) with strategic direction for the next four years. […]

AI
CISA

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said the agency is surpassing its own target for the rate at which Federal agencies are using automated Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program reporting. […]

DoD Pentagon Military

Greg Little is stepping down from his post as the Pentagon’s inaugural deputy chief digital and artificial intelligence officer (CDAO) for enterprise platforms and business optimization, a spokesperson for the Defense Department’s (DoD) Office of the Secretary of Defense confirmed to MeriTalk today. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued a notice on June 30 seeking public comments on a draft plan to make scientific data and publications more readily available to the public. […]

The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has received 491 comments on its recent request for information (RFI) – including from tech giant Google and think tank Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) – to help inform an upcoming National AI Strategy. […]

Jen Easterly, CISA

The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) component is working every day to reduce risks to the cyber and physical infrastructure that Americans rely on – but CISA Director Jen Easterly said today that effort relies on public-private partnership to help mitigate those risks through technological innovation. […]

The Defense Department’s (DoD) Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) component awarded a $94 million contract on July 5 to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) to finish the final phase of an agency project to create an armed air-launched drone system. […]

TSA

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Administrator David Pekoske published the third edition of the agency’s Administrator’s Intent document last week, which outlines the agency’s planned actions through 2025 to achieve the vision and key technology and cyber objectives from TSA’s eight-year strategy released in 2018. […]

Telecom policy veteran Gigi Sohn – who came out on the short end of a bruising nomination battle to become a commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) earlier this year – joined the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) last month as the group’s executive director, according to her LinkedIn page. […]

telework
health

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS), released a new Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) on July 6 warning against Truebot malware variants. […]

USAJOBS, Federal workforce

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has launched two new job portals on USAJOBS to help streamline the job search for national security and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Federal government positions. […]

Categories