Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
FCC
IRS

In a sources sought notice (SSN), the IRS is seeking to improve the security posture of Federal tax information (FTI) and optimize processes to reduce costs and minimize risk to FTI in possession of agency partners. […]

Federal money spending government
Army

The Department of Defense (DoD) is failing to track the continued progress of the military’s development of Global Positioning System (GPS) alternatives and lacks key information to make decisions on funding those initiatives, according to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. The GAO report – published last week – explained that the U.S. Air Force’s […]

CISA

Officially designating the space sector as one of the “critical infrastructure” sectors designated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is a “hot topic” of conversation at the agency, according to Tina Won Sherman, a director in the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Homeland Security and Justice team. […]

DoD Pentagon Military

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks reminded Pentagon leadership in an August 3 memo that records retention requirements under Federal law are a “solemn responsibility,” and that going forward all data on Defense Department (DoD) provisioned mobile devices will be captured and saved when devices are turned in by their users. […]

SBA

The Small Business Administration (SBA) appointed Steve Kucharski as acting chief information officer (CIO) last month, a knowledgeable source confirmed to MeriTalk. […]

Army

While the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Office of Connected Care’s digital divide program has successfully been providing patients with video-capable devices for video-based virtual care for the past two years, an Office of Inspector General (OIG) report has found that less than half of patients that the agency issued video devices to ended up completing VA Video Connect (VVC) appointments. […]

broadband 5g -min

Reps. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., have joined with Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., to introduce the Proper Leadership to Align Networks (PLAN) for Broadband Act, which calls on President Biden to develop a national broadband strategy. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has named Dr. David Massaro as the “functional champion” and acting senior medical advisor for the agency’s Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) program. […]

research

The Federal government must take action to promote stronger research practices that will help ensure the reliability of its scientific research, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a new report. […]

OPM Office of Personnel Management
State Department

Nate Fick, President Biden’s nominee to serve as the ambassador at large to lead the State Department’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy (CDP), laid out his initial priorities for the newly established bureau during an August 3 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination. […]

FedRAMP

Through the President’s Management Agenda Vision, the administration has put a spotlight on customer service in Federal government agencies. Fortunately, as agencies modernize their information technology (IT), they can employ technological solutions such as artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to transform the customer experience. […]

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, has proposed establishing a new health data agency to improve access to impartial and objective public health data, with the payoff of bolstering infectious disease intelligence and preparedness. […]

Gerald Caron, chief information officer (CIO) and assistant inspector general (IG) for information technology at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said this week that sustainability and continuous authentication are two of the keys to creating a robust identity and access management (IAM) strategy as part of how Federal agencies move to comply with President Biden’s 2021 cybersecurity executive order that requires migration to zero trust security architectures. […]

The Chips and Science Act approved by the House and Senate last week – and expected to be signed by President Biden next week – has generated a lot of headline news on the chips side of the legislation, including $52 billion of government funding to incentivize semiconductor makers to build new plants in the United States. […]

Cybersecurity

Angelica Phaneuf, Chief Information Security Officer at the Army Software Factory, explained some of the steps that her organization has been taking to meet the needs of zero trust security mandates at an August 2 event entitled Securing Identity in a Zero Trust Environment and hosted by Federal News Network. […]

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved by voice vote on August 3 two cybersecurity bills whose next stop is consideration by the full Senate. […]

TMF

The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) today announced over $26 million of new project funding to the Department of Labor (DoL), AmeriCorps, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). […]

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved by voice vote on August 3 the Advancing Government Innovation with Leading-Edge (AGILE) Procurement Act of 2022, which aims to make simpler Federal government processes for buying technology products and services. […]

federal workers workforce IT workers employees millennial -min

A new report from the Partnership for Public Service finds that the workforce attrition rate across all Federal government agencies rose to 6.1 percent for the 2021 fiscal year, up from the 5.5 percent attrition rate in FY2020. […]

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