Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
AI Quantum Computing

The Federal government – galvanized by the Biden Administration’s Cybersecurity Executive Order – has spent a lot of time and money on cybersecurity solutions, but as the digital landscape continues to evolve so does the risk. […]

Mina Hsiang, administrator of the U.S. Digital Service (USDS), offered her latest insights into current work and progress underway in executing on the White House’s customer experience executive order (CX EO) during remarks on July 21 at the MerITocracy American Innovation Forum. […]

Robin Carnahan

The United States is increasingly seen as one of the “important” leaders – rather than the uncontested leader – in science globally. But to reclaim the title of undisputed champion, the U.S. must bolster innovation by reigniting the nation’s interest in science, a top Federal science and technology official said today at the MerITocracy American Innovation Forum. […]

MerITocracy

Two members of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus warned today against any broad Federal action that would interfere with the workings of volatile cryptocurrency markets, and voiced a go-slow approach about any move by the government to set up dollar-backed digital currency on its own. […]

EHR
data

Federal agencies are increasingly sharing information with one another with both connected and disconnected applications, while trying to be more security conscious and reevaluating approaches to building software and other tech important for securing the homeland, officials said on July 20. […]

IRS
CISA

Witnesses at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on July 20 provided lawmakers with feedback about how local election officials are viewing security information being supplied to them by the Federal government, along with the need to train local officials on ways to defeat misinformation. […]

Cybersecurity

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has released the final report for its Comprehensive Cyber Review conducted over the last year, highlighting DoJ’s need for stronger collaboration with its partners and allies, as well as the need to prioritize prevention efforts. […]

Guaranteed access by the Defense Department’s Office of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD R&E) to annual data from Pentagon-sponsored Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC) could help DoD better ensure that R&D centers are producing effective results, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. […]

Cyber workforce

The White House, along with the Departments of Labor and Commerce, are kicking off a 120-day “sprint” aimed at promoting registered apprenticeships in cybersecurity as a way to begin tackling the persistent cyber workforce shortage in the U.S. […]

GSA General Services Administration

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued an alert memorandum detailing that the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) is planning to expand the Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) Rule to the entire Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) Program by November 2022. FAS’ plan to do so comes despite ongoing issues with data […]

NIST

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) NIST has chosen 12 companies that it will be partnering with in its efforts to develop the next generation of post-quantum cryptography. […]

MerITocracy 2021

What are the essential elements of innovation partnerships between government and the private sector to harness the technology that can tackle the toughest problems facing America?  On July 21 – we’re going to find out. The countdown to MerITocracy 2022: American Innovation Forum is on. […]

Federal agencies are increasingly moving to cloud computing environments, but as cloud service options have become more diverse, the General Services Administration (GSA) is stepping up its efforts to help agencies with developing informed strategies to understand, anticipate, rationalize, and optimize major cloud architecture decisions. […]

Today, the government and private sector face similar problems with the daunting amount of cyber data, according to materials presented at GTC Spring 2022. “The volume and velocity of cyber data is extreme,” Rachel Allen, an NVIDIA senior data scientist, said at a GTC session, Transform Cybersecurity with Accelerated Data Science. “It’s estimated that over 90 percent of cyber data today is left on the floor, so to speak, and is never collected or analyzed at all.” […]

General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) will provide IT and network support to the U.S. Air Forces (USAF) stationed in Europe under a new $908 million contract, the Defense Department (DoD) announced. […]

cellphone
cybersecurity

New legislation introduced on July 15 by Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., aims to mandate penetration testing and other proactive cyber defense measures for some Federal agency networks, and to give the National Cyber Director (NCD) the authority to weed out risk conflicts between agencies that have overlapping cybersecurity missions. […]

Veterans Affairs

Senior staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) responsible for overseeing new training for the electronic health record (EHR) system at the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Wash., submitted inaccurate data to inspectors, according to a new report from the VA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG). […]

MerITocracy 2021

In today’s edition of Countdown to MerITocracy, Amazon Web Services (AWS) explains the driving forces behind the company’s innovative programs to bring more U.S. military veterans into cybersecurity and IT careers – and swell the ranks of the tech-ready as the Federal government competes for their talents. […]

CISA

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) “Shields Up” cybersecurity campaign launched in February to warn critical infrastructure operators and other U.S.-based organizations of cybersecurity threats spilling over from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is proving its worth over the first four months of operation. […]

Gerry Connolly

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., is looking for answers from the General Services Administration (GSA) regarding its transition to a new online identification system for the Federal government’s awards process that has proved difficult for many vendors. […]

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