Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
Santa's Sleigh

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) confirmed it will be tracking Santa’s Christmas journey this year, marking its 66th anniversary of tracking Santa’s whereabouts as he and his reindeer travel around the globe on Dec. 24. […]

FCC

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking input from stakeholders and the public on a plan to create a new data portal to help streamline contractor reporting requirements and improve the use of digital information in its missions and programs. […]

White House

The Biden Administration appointed has Alexander Macgillivray, former United States deputy chief technology officer (CTO), to serve as the next Principal Deputy CTO in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Macgillivray announced on Twitter Dec. 21. […]

NASA
PMA

The Department of Navy has appointed retired Lt. Cmdr. Josh Reiter as the service branch’s Deputy Principal Cyber Advisor. Reiter, a veteran of both the Navy and Naval Cyber communities, has served in the post since September, according to his LinkedIn. […]

cybersecurity

The Accreditation Board (CMMC-AB) for the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program has elected Vice Chair Jeff Dalton to be its next CMMC-AB Chair, the board announced Dec. 20. […]

In its latest wave of funding, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has committed nearly $630 million in funding for the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) program to help close the homework gap. […]

This year further brought IT to the forefront of many organizations’ strategies in 2021, but as Federal chief information officers (CIOs) look to 2022, strengthening their agency’s workforce and cybersecurity posture are their big priorities for the year ahead. […]

IRS

A recent audit found that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has cybersecurity deficiencies that are leaving taxpayer data open to misuse, tampering, or disclosure due in part to the agency’s over-reliance on older systems. […]

AI

The Senate voted on Dec. 18 to approve the Artificial Intelligence Training for the Acquisition Workforce Act, legislation that aims to improve the Federal workforce’s understanding of AI and ensure its ethical and safe use. […]

The Senate confirmed the nomination of Kurt DelBene to serve as the chief information officer (CIO) and assistant secretary for information and technology at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) by voice vote on Dec. 16. […]

GSA General Services Administration

The General Services Administration (GSA) has released new details about several upcoming multiple-award blanket purchase agreements (BPA) to help speed up enterprise-wide modernization initiatives and meet increased demand for secure commercial cloud products and services. […]

The holidays are typically a time to relax and spend time with loved ones, but the White House reminded corporate executives and business leaders that malicious cyber actors don’t take the holidays off in new guidance issued on Dec. 16. […]

GSA

The leader of the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Integrated Award Environment, which oversees government-wide Federal award systems such as SAM.gov, will be heading to the private sector in the new year. […]

funding

The Alliance for Digital Innovation (ADI), a technology trade group that aims to help shape government innovation, is asking the Biden administration to increase both funding to the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) and collaboration with industry stakeholders to best execute the vision outlined in President Biden’s customer experience (CX) executive order (EO). […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is nudging the Department of Commerce to develop performance goals with measurable targets for the government’s Manufacturing USA effort – a joint effort among Commerce, the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Energy (DOE) on a network of 16 advanced manufacturing institutes to promote advanced manufacturing and technologies. […]

Oracle

Software and cloud services provider Oracle Corp. said today it agreed to buy Cerner Corp., a provider of digital information systems for the health care provider market, in a deal valued at $28 billion. […]

Nancy Pelosi Chuck Schumer -min

Despite a proclamation over the weekend from Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., that he was a “no” on the existing version of Build Back Better Act legislation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a Dear Colleague letter today that he plans to keep working on the reconciliation legislation until they “get something done.” […]

Pentagon Military Defense DoD

The Senate confirmed John Sherman to serve as the chief information officer (CIO) at the Department of Defense by voice vote on Dec. 14. […]

cybersecurity

Digital security breaches have shown us that Federal agencies are more vulnerable than anyone thought, and their security tools are no longer effectively defending against them. This begs the question, what can IT leaders and staff at all levels do to better protect Federal networks? The short answer: it’s time to rethink our approach to basic security and how we defend every endpoint across the enterprise. […]

In November, Aaron Bishop was elevated to the position of chief information security officer (CISO) for the Department of the Air Force, taking over for Wanda Jones-Heath, who now serves as the Air Force’s principal cyber advisor. […]

broadband

When the pandemic hit, affordable and dependable internet became vital to keep the United States going. This sudden change highlighted the glaring disparity in internet connectivity to underserved communities. Congress attempted to remedy this issue with the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB), which offers low-income consumers a $50 discount on their internet bills. […]

COVID-19
TMF

The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) has “evolved considerably” over the past year, and as a result the team that supports the TMF Board will continue to scale up to better support modernization investments, said Raylene Yung, executive director of the TMF at the General Services Administration (GSA). […]

CISA

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an emergency directive to Federal agencies today, requiring them to assess their internet-facing network assets for the Apache Log4j vulnerabilities and immediately patch these systems or implement other appropriate mitigation measures. […]

TMF

As dozens of Federal agencies continue to petition the TMF Board for some of the $1 billion of funding that the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) received from Congress earlier this year, one of the Federal government’s best-positioned officials to offer advice on the process stopped by MeriTalk’s TMF Forward virtual event on Dec. 16 with a bag of tips on how agencies can hone their proposals and clinch funding deals. […]

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