The adoption of robotic process automation (RPA) technologies in business and management areas of the Defense Department (DoD) is “catching fire,” and RPA is firming up to become a gateway for the use of more sophisticated technologies such as artificial intelligence, a DoD official said on Oct. 26 at an online event organized by FCW. […]
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has gone in just a few short years from a few scattered pilot projects to an essential tool deployed by dozens of agencies. In the process, Federal agency IT leaders have found that automation at scale comes with challenges, and they shared some of their best practices for and lessons learned for integrating RPA into existing systems at an FCW virtual workshop on October 26. […]
After fits and starts reaching back over the last two years, the State Department has unveiled plans to establish a new Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, along with an envoy for critical and emerging technology, State Department spokesperson Ned Price announced at a press briefing this week. […]
The U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), the agency tasked with educating the children of military service members, has awarded a $500,0000 grant to the Savannah-Chatham County, GA., Public School System (SCCPSS) to purchase the resources needed to build and expand the district’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEAM) programming. […]
Microsoft is warning that it has seen Nobelium – the Russian nation-state threat group responsible for the SolarWinds software supply chain hack – trying to recreate the same approach that allowed it to gain access to Federal government systems, according to an Oct. 24 blog post from the company. […]
The Naval District Washington (NDW) has awarded Verizon Public Sector a $78 million task order through the Federal government’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract vehicle to modernize its telecommunications infrastructure. […]
The Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) released a new paper on October 25 that details what it calls onerous implementation requirements of the government’s Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) Program, and offered eight recommendations to improve the program. […]
With cyberattacks on the rise, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., introduced legislation in the House this week that would require the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to assess the agency’s cybersecurity incident response procedures and propose improvements. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has appointed Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman as CISA’s Senior Election Security Lead. […]
In a move to strengthen K-12 computer science education, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded two non-profits nearly $1 million to increase computer science education throughout the state of Tennessee. […]
President Biden today named Jessica Rosenworcel Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – an agency she has run since January with the title of Acting Chair, and where she has served as one of five commissioners since 2012. […]
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) should develop and implement a process for collecting and sharing lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic to inform hiring during future emergencies, and share these lessons governmentwide, the Government Accountability Office urged in a new report. […]
An official at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is applauding the work of a private cybersecurity firm that, in collaboration with CISA, helped victims of the BlackMatter ransomware group, according to a new report from the New York Times. […]
The Office of Management and Budget has released a 2021 action plan for Federal agencies to make progress on a list of goals under the Federal Data Strategy published in 2019, but given there are little more than two months to go in 2021, OMB characterized the year-end goals as “aspirational.” […]
The National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) announced that it will prioritize industry outreach efforts in U.S. technology sectors as they relate to economic and national security, including tech-heavy areas such as AI, bio-economy, autonomous systems, quantum information science and technology, and semiconductors. […]
The U.S. Army released a request for information (RFI), seeking information for a new way to securely log in its users, especially members of the National Guard or Army Reserve that need to check systems for announcements. […]
The White House appointed Jonah Force Hill, a longtime cyber advisor and strategist, to become the National Security Council’s (NSC) Director of Cybersecurity and Emerging Tech Policy, according to Hill’s LinkedIn. […]
Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and John Thune, R-S.D., have introduced a bill to create a new council that would oversee Federal investments and policy development of next-generation communications technology including sixth-generation – or 6G – wireless tech. […]
The President’s Management Council, in partnership with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and General Services Administration, launched the first government-wide pulse survey to gain a better understanding of how Federal employees feel about employee engagement, inclusion, and return to their offices. […]
The Department of State is developing a suite of multiple-award contracts to modernize its end-to-end information technology (IT) service delivery that could be worth up to $8 billion. […]
Teddra Burgess, senior vice president Public Sector at cybersecurity technology provider Tanium, is still relatively new to the company, but hardly so to the Federal marketplace. Throughout her career, she has held numerous leadership roles at high-profile organizations like ASG Technologies, Micro Focus Government Solutions, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, to name a few. […]
Federal and state CIOs shared pandemic lessons and their thinking about return-to-office strategies during an October 19 panel discussion at the Dell Technologies Forum online event. […]
Following several Federal initiatives published this year such as the National Security Strategic Guidance and Cybersecurity Executive Order, greater collaboration between the public and private sectors is critical to better understand and manage risk. […]
Only 25 percent of jobs in the technology industry and less than 20 percent of all tech leadership positions are held by women – but General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) is leading the charge to provide the knowledge and tools to change that. […]
The Defense Department’s (DoD) information system for tracking capability documents that identify new or enhanced capabilities in weapon systems doesn’t have reliable data on how many programs have gone through a revised process. […]
The House of Representatives passed the DHS Software Supply Chain Risk Management Act of 2021 this week with a 412-2 vote. […]
Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, introduced a bill Oct. 21 that would look to better secure and protect the data that Federal contractors collect when using artificial intelligence (AI) and make clear that the government is the ultimate owner of contractor-collected AI data. […]
In many cases, inspector general reports don’t tally up to good news for Federal agencies, but not this time. […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has authorized $554 million for broadband deployment through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. […]
A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on development of quantum information technologies covers the general waterfront on the current status of the technologies, but notes that development of game-changing systems are probably still ten years and billions of dollars of further investments away. […]