The Department of Defense (DoD) is evaluating its acquisition processes to understand how contractors interact with the department and how it can make it easier for small businesses to provide innovative solutions to the DoD, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said on June 13. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is looking for innovative healthcare technology solutions that can eventually be scaled into clinical production with a new contract worth up to $650 million. […]
As Federal and state government agencies face growing cyber threats, the Department of Justice (DoJ) must improve its coordination with other Federal agencies on cybersecurity requirements and assessments of state agencies to better manage fragmentation of that process, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in its latest annual open priority recommendations report to the agency. […]
Smita Patel has been named Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ)’s National Security Division (NSD), according to her LinkedIn page. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a new report that the Social Security Administration (SSA) still needs to improve its cybersecurity by addressing how it coordinates with states and other Federal agencies. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is prodding the Federal Reserve System to take action on a GAO recommendation dating back to 2018 on the use of alternative data in underwriting processes. […]
The United States Army plans to increase the size of its cyber branch across all components and double the size of its active-duty cyber corps, according to Army Spokesperson Bruce Anderson. […]
While the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is working to make progress on numerous discrete security policy directives and projects that it has been handed in recent years, a top agency official explained today that the higher-level goals uniting most of those tasks boil down to the government and the private sector achieving much greater visibility into cyber threats and how to defend against them, and not leaving organizations to defend against threats on their own. […]
After a releasing an op-ed with Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly last week that called CISA’s “Shields Up” campaign a new baseline for cyber defenses, National Cyber Director Chris Inglis said today that the cost of entry for cyber attackers is still too low to create stout deterrence. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has added three new priority recommendations to its list for the Small Business Administration (SBA) including new items that aim to improve COVID-19 response oversight and communications in order to reduce related risks. […]
At the onset of the pandemic, Federal, state, and local government agencies across the country needed to rapidly reach disparate populations with information about COVID-19, testing, and vaccines – and swiftly gather and assess pandemic data across multiple agencies and populations. To help address these new and unique challenges, the Federal government turned to Maximus, which has designed, developed, and delivered impactful health and human service programs for more than 40 years. MeriTalk sat down with Lisa Slaughter, senior vice president at Maximus Federal Services, to take stock of how agencies utilized data and technology throughout the pandemic response and how lessons learned are informing new efforts to share and leverage data to improve public health. […]
Building a zero-trust security architecture foundation that underlies better cybersecurity capabilities is at the top of the list for Robert Costello, Chief Information Officer at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). […]
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank focused on science and tech policy, has opened a new policy center focused on industrial strategy policy, the Hamilton Center on Industrial Strategy. […]
The House on June 8 voted to approve a bill that would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), among other tasks, to ensure cybersecurity throughout the lifecycle of medical devices and make sure that device makers meet minimum cybersecurity requirements set by the agency. […]
Federal CIO Clare Martorana today published the Biden administration’s Information Technology Operating Plan that ties together the efforts of four big Federal tech programs and offices into the administration’s goals to improve citizen service and cybersecurity, among other goals. […]
Brillient Corp. announced this week that it won a $310.6 million contract to support the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) National Benefits Center (NBC). […]
The Department of Energy (DOE) needs to develop a comprehensive approach to electric grid resiliency that coordinates disaster response and grid recovery, as well as utilizes lessons learned from prior natural disasters, according to a June 9 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). […]
The world’s top space agency has decided to join in the hunt for unidentified flying objects (UFOs), “bringing in a more scientific perspective to the discussion,” officials said Thursday. […]
The Biden administration is welcoming 40 new technologists to its inaugural cohort of the U.S. Digital Corps fellowship program, according to a new blog post from Federal Chief Information Officer Clare Martorana. […]
Paul Selby has been appointed to serve as the deputy chief information security officer (CISO) for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at the Department of Treasury. […]
States have a big opportunity to provide internet service to millions of unconnected citizens people with billions in broadband funding provided by Congress in bipartisan infrastructure legislation, but states have a lot of work to do to make the most of the funds, according to a McKinsey & Co. report released on June 7. […]
As the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) continues to grapple with the early stages of a rulemaking process for recently enacted cyber incident reporting legislation, CISA Director Jen Easterly said it will be crucial to develop trust with the private sector so that the law is seen as “value-added” and not a burden. […]
IoT ransomware risks, cyber incident reporting and workforce development, AI proposals, satellite security standards, and more. […]
The Biden-Harris Administration is seeking feedback on a pending national strategy for privacy-preserving data sharing and analytics, according to a request for information (RFI) released today in the Federal Register. […]
Raylene Yung, Executive Director of the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) administered by the General Services Administration (GSA), said today that the TMF Board has coming before it funding proposals that are nearing the final stages of development and that could total a “few hundred million” of funding support from TMF. […]
U.S. Air Force (USAF) Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Officer Brig. Gen. John Olson is sounding the call for the defense and intelligence sectors to begin using data and AI as strategic assets in shaping the future battlespace, with a goal for the Air Force to be “AI-competitive” by 2027. […]
The Defense Department (DoD) needs to pick up the pace on its development and delivery of weapon systems software or face the possibility of Pentagon programs missing out on the benefits of modernization, according to the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) annual assessment of DoD’s weapons acquisitions. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), along with the National Security Agency (NSA) and the FBI, this week issued a joint advisory warning telecommunications companies and network service providers of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored cyber actors that continue to pose a threat to their networks. […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) announced on June 7 that its use of Verified Products Portals (VPP) is helping to strengthen Federal supply chains. […]
The senate has confirmed Kenneth L. Wainstein to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A), with a 63-35 vote in favor of his nomination. […]