Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
AI
Labor
EHR

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report this week urging the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to address data management challenges with its Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program, which has come under fire in recent months from Congress over a troubled roll-out and inaccurate cost estimates. […]

The House Oversight and Reform Committee today approved by voice vote legislation that would update the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA). The committee’s vote sends the legislation to the full House of Representatives for consideration. […]

Ransomware and supply chain attacks dominated the news in 2021, and experts expect them to persist and continue to converge in 2022. Government agencies, suppliers, and other target organizations must evolve their own cybersecurity techniques to stay ahead of attackers, says Sam Curry, chief security officer at Cybereason. In the first episode of MeriTV’s new Fix Fed IT series, Curry takes stock of the ransomware-supply chain attack convergence and outlines actions that organizations can take to protect themselves. […]

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee today postponed a scheduled vote on the nomination of Gigi Sohn to become FCC commissioner, as a Democratic member of the committee was sidelined with health problems. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) has announced that its Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) has achieved initial operational capability in accordance with a Dec. 8, 2021 memorandum that required the establishment of CDAO, and for the office to attain initial operating capability by Feb. 1. […]

ICAM

With Federal employees accessing critical information, systems, and applications from anywhere, the mindset has shifted to never trust and always verify. Federal security experts explained that this shift put a focus on a new critical aspect of a zero trust architecture – identity management. […]

workforce
broadband
VA

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Paul Cunningham has announced his intent to retire, a VA spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk. […]

IT

While one primary focus of the Biden administration’s President’s Management Agenda is continuing to improve Federal IT to enable better delivery of citizen services, tech leaders from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) explained on Feb. 1 that they face emerging challenges in pursuing those goals. […]

The Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) finalized zero trust directive issued last week sets the stage for the first steps in implementing zero trust security architectures at Federal agencies, but a lot more work remains in the pursuit of that goal, a panel of Federal security experts agreed during an ATARC virtual event on Feb. 1. […]

cyber workforce
SBA

Luis Campudoni has been named Acting CIO at the Small Business Administration (SBA) following news that CIO Keith Bluestein will be absent from his position for an indefinite period. […]

Department of Commerce
capitol washington dc senate house congress-min

Reps. Anna G. Eshoo, D-Calif., and William Timmons, R-S.C., have reintroduced bipartisan and bicameral legislation that aims to help improve the cybersecurity of local governments and small organizations. […]

FITARA
wireless networks

In a new report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) lacks a formal process to plan for the transfer of some Federally-used spectrum to the private sector to help build mobile networks, including 5G. […]

quantum computing chip ai -min
DISA

Growing technology advancements have created new opportunities for military officials to improve training, war fighting, and even efficiency in the court of law, officials from the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force explained at a GovExec virtual event on Jan. 28. […]

Telehealth

NASA has updated a draft solicitation for a $720 million contract that will help the agency develop new technologies, and has invited request for proposals (RFP) to review and comment on the solicitation. […]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced today the agency is ready to authorize more than $1.2 billion through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to finance new broadband deployments in 32 states. The commission also announced creation of the Rural Broadband Accountability Plan, which is a new effort from to monitor and ensure compliance for universal service high-cost programs including the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. […]

FCC
White House

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