Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the committee’s ranking member, are urging the Biden administration to “assign a clear leader” to lead the United States’ response to the Russia-backed hack of thousands of government and private-sector networks via SolarWinds Orion products. […]

Federal officials stressed the need to view IT modernization as a continuous effort, rather than a buy- and-forget process, on Feb. 8 at the Resiliency Colloquium organized by MeriTalk, ACT-IAC, and the Partnership for Public Service, who partnered on the Resilient report issued earlier this month. […]

The State Department  has issued an update to its search for contractors to support its Cloud Program Management Office (CPMO). The search is part of the department’s overall quest to modernize IT capabilities across the State Department. […]

The IRS announced on Feb. 9 that Nancy Sieger will become CIO of the tax agency, after serving as the acting CIO since June 2019. […]

The Federal government has “won the battle” over historical cultural impediments to widescale telework, and going forward needs to reimagine the workplace as a mix of remote and in-person settings, said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., speaking on Feb. 9 at the Resiliency Colloquium event organized by MeriTalk, ACT-IAC, and the Partnership for Public Service. […]

Congressional Democrats are moving forward this week with the budget reconciliation process that aims to create the legislative language for President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan. […]

As government IT continues to get more complex, continuing education is an increasingly important ingredient for keeping up with the latest advancements. […]

The COVID-19 pandemic forced government agencies to innovate much more rapidly with their IT systems, and now Federal leaders are planning how to continue that momentum beyond the pandemic. […]

The advent of new leadership in the White House and the still-unfolding impact of the Russia-backed hack of thousands of government and private-sector networks via SolarWinds Orion products are leading to a fresh consideration of options to improve Federal cybersecurity, panelists said on Feb. 9 at the Resiliency Colloquium event organized by MeriTalk, ACT-IAC, and the Partnership for Public Service. […]

Building resiliency in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic was an essential aspect of keeping the Federal workforce humming and managing a hybrid workforce of the future. […]

President Biden’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Neera Tanden faced questions on cybersecurity, IT modernization, and supply chain during her confirmation hearing today before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is proposing a rule change that would provide rate incentives for electric companies that go “above and beyond” current regulations in their cybersecurity investments. […]

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is launching an out-of-this-world program to create technologies for manufacturing off Earth to produce space and lunar structures. […]

Negotiations between congressional offices on President Biden’s proposal for a $9 billion funding increase for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) angled toward a compromise in the range of $5 to $6 billion of new funding before senators moved to drop the funding measure altogether from their consideration of the White House’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill. […]

The Senate voted late Monday to confirm President Biden’s nomination of Denis McDonough as secretary to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The vote was 87-7. […]

As the Biden-Harris administration embarks on its first year in office, the Blockchain Research Institute is offering recommendations on how the administration could reimagine U.S. technology strategy and policy as they relates to AI, Internet of Things, and blockchain technologies. […]

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has dropped a legal challenge to California’s net neutrality statute – a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration in 2018. The withdrawal of the lawsuit to block the state law provides an opportunity for net neutrality rules to return on a Federal level. […]

The age of government IT systems has negatively impacted agencies’ missions and their ability to attract young talent, according to a recent report. […]

Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., reintroduced legislation on Feb. 3 that would work to improve information sharing between health IT systems to aid in the distribution and administration of COVID-19 vaccines. […]

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) office of the chief procurement officer is turning to the use of robotics process automation (RPA) to speed up their work processes. […]

A proposed $9 billion funding increase for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) has been dropped from President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan as Congress works to enact the plan through the budget reconciliation process, according to a knowledgeable source in Congress. […]

The White House has issued a memorandum to revitalize the U.S.’ national security and foreign policy workforce and institutions and establish an Interagency Working Group on the national security workforce. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued another update – now up to three in total – in its search for solicitations that would improve the agency’s Data Center and Cloud Optimization (DCCO) efforts. […]

MeriTalk recently connected with ServiceNow’s Bob Osborn, Chief Technology Officer, Global Governments, to explore how Federal IT leaders are anticipating and avoiding IT outages that impact employee and citizen services. […]

Think about technology from a restaurant perspective – every Federal agency is a pizzeria, providing citizens with one service. The goal – pivot from pizzeria to GrubHub – allowing citizens to identify essential technology, while agencies serve as the enabler, or “delivery service.” Being a positive digital disruptor will enhance the customer experience, IT experts said Feb. 3 during MeriTalk’s Power of Prediction: Federal IT Operations Management (ITOM) webinar. […]

President Biden’s Labor Secretary nominee – Boston mayor Marty Walsh – emphasized that state unemployment insurance systems are in sore need of technology upgrades during testimony at a Feb. 4 confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. […]

Scaling out cloud connectivity during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge for some Federal agencies, but continuing to do so will accelerate the government’s pace of IT modernization and its ability to better serve citizens, Federal officials said at a Feb. 2 event organized by ATARC. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has extended by six months the term of its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Supply Chain Task Force, which was set up by the agency two years ago as a venue for government and industry to develop consensus strategies to improve ICT supply chain security. […]

Wayne Jones, CIO of the Department of Energy’s (DoE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), retired Jan. 30, following three decades in public service and 14 years at NNSA. It is not immediately clear who will replace him in the post. […]

Federal government spending on cloud computing rose by about eight percent in Fiscal Year 2020, to $6.6 billion – from $6.1 billion in FY2019 – although the growth rate in cloud computing spend by the Feds slowed from prior periods. […]