The Department of Commerce announced a rule to allow American companies to participate in international standards setting bodies, an area previously vacated by the United States to discourage commercial cooperation with the Chinese company Huawei. […]
Cost-of-Living-Adjustments (COLAs) from Federal retirement programs, such as Social Security are based on consumer price indexes (CPI) produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), however, the agency hasn’t evaluated whether its data accurately reflects what certain groups pay, purchase, and shop. […]
While the mass shift to telework amid the COVID-19 pandemic caught some organizations off-guard, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) had already practiced with a full telework workforce just weeks before the maximize telework order came. […]
The National Institutes of Health announced June 15 that it has launched a new data analytics platform to track COVID-19 patient data. […]
Lauren Knausenberger, the chief transformation officer of the United States Air Force, said the pre-pandemic culture in the service was, “you’re not really working if you’re remote,” but explained that the service’s culture has shifted quickly out of necessity. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released Open Security Controls Assessment Language (OSCAL) 1.0.0 Milestone 3, a key step toward finalizing the full initial release of OSCAL v1. […]
It’s hard to fathom the number of critical government processes that have had to evolve – very quickly – to meet the needs of the American people during the COVID-19 pandemic. And if this crisis has a silver lining, it’s the accelerated modernization and innovation being born out of it. MeriTalk is surfacing the untold stories – and lessons – of those efforts. In the latest installment of CIO Crossroads, we turn to the General Services Administration (GSA). […]
Agencies are now up and running with their mobile workforces – which means telework is here to stay. But with this increased number of endpoints and phishing as the top threat vector, Feds must be more vigilant about their approach to mobile security, according to Bob Stevens, vice president of Americas, Lookout. […]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai asked members of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee for $65 million to implement the Broadband DATA Act, a law signed in March to improve the accuracy of broadband deployment maps. […]
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is seeking information to establish a Customer Identity Credential and Access Management (ICAM) Solution to authenticate external users. […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already begun work toward reopening its offices in accordance with phase one of the White House’s Opening Up America Again plan, but members of the House Committee on Homeland Security and witnesses at a June 16 hearing suggested that reopening plans should prioritize personnel health and safety. […]
The Department of Energy (DoE) kicked off Phase 1 of its agency reopening plan on June 1 as part of a slow but steady approach to reopening its offices. […]
While the Census Bureau was already adjusting to embracing new tech for the 2020 Census, the COVID-19 pandemic has raised new concerns and pushed the agency to increase its focus on IT, data, and cybersecurity matters to properly manage risks.
Per a June 9 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Census Bureau must closely manage its tech to ensure that the pandemic and other delays don’t impact the quality of its 2020 Census results.
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House Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Gerry Connolly, D-Va., is asking major Federal agency inspectors general to examine agency facility re-opening plans in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, saying that he aims to “ensure that Administration officials are cautious and prudent when requiring federal employees and contractors to return to federal office buildings.” […]
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has begun considering sending at least some employees back to work at their offices under Phase 1 of a longer term re-opening plan, but most employees will remain teleworking for at least the next month. […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it is working to re-open agency offices in accordance with Phase 1 of the White House’s Opening Up America Again plan, although office re-opening schedules are expected to vary based on a number of factors. […]
As some Federal offices begin looking ahead toward reopening when the COVID-19 pandemic slows, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is still largely pushing for maximum telework despite its rolling plan to reopen, an agency spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk. […]
A small number of Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff began to return to work at the agency’s offices on June 15 in the first phase of a three-part re-opening plan, according to an NRC spokesperson. […]
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is continuing to dispute a unanimous decision in April by the Federal Communications Commission to grant Ligado access to a spectrum band adjacent to a band used by the Defense Department for Global Positioning System. […]
The Department of State has been monitoring local conditions in the D.C.-metro area during the Coronavirus pandemic, with the expectation of entering Phase I of Diplomacy Strong today. […]
Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., introduced two bills – the Continuity of Economy Act of 2020 and the National Guard Cyber Interoperability Act of 2020 – with the goal of bolstering the United States’ cyber defenses. […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded two contracts on June 15 to move forward with implementation of their cloud adoption and customer experience Centers of Excellence (CoE). […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) is beginning Phase One of reopening of the Pentagon today, under the Pentagon Reservation Plan for Resilience. […]
The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that cleared the Senate Armed Services Committee last week on a bipartisan vote of 25-2 includes the Spectrum Modernization Act, which would direct the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to evaluate a range of IT improvements that would improve Federal government spectrum management. […]
Rep. G. K. Butterfield, D-N.C., introduced the Expanding Opportunities for Broadband Deployment Act on June 11 to increase access to and accelerate deployment of broadband services across the United States. […]
The critical importance of Federal IT operations in sustaining vital government operations during the COVID-19 pandemic is nearing the status of universal truth. What’s much less obvious to the naked eye – and meant to be that way – are the security operations underpinning and defending the vast Federal technology enterprise. As the nation takes its first steps on the road to recovery, MeriTalk is bringing to light the untold stories of those efforts. In the latest chapter of CIO Crossroads, we examine the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program. […]
On June 10, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced five Defense Production Act Title 3 actions to help sustain workforce capabilities that were disrupted by COVID-19. The actions will include funding totaling $135 million. In a statement, Lt. Col. Mike Andrews said that the actions by DoD would “help sustain defense-critical workforce capabilities in body […]
The Senate’s National Defense Authorization Act was approved this week by the Senate Armed Services Committee on a 25-to-2 vote, including provisions for the development of 5G, artificial intelligence and quantum technologies. […]
Nokia, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and U.S. Cellular joined the ranks of Amazon Web Services, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Verizon in the Open RAN Policy Coalition, formed last month to promote policies for openness and interoperability in a key part of the architecture used for 5G. The June 12 announcement of 14 new members brings the total number of companies in the coalition to 45. […]
Three major tech companies – Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM – have recently begun backing away from aspects of their facial recognition technology businesses amid heightened racial bias concerns in the United States. […]