Topline results in the 11th edition of the FITARA Scorecard issued today show more agencies declining than improving. But a deeper look into the scorecard shows that agencies are mostly holding steady, and that grading trends are mainly related to changes with how the House Oversight and Reform Committee scores agencies and their IT progress. […]
Most of the largest Federal agencies hung steady with their grading in the latest edition of the FITARA (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) Scorecard issued by the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Tuesday, although five agencies saw their grades decline versus only three agencies that notched higher scores. […]
Leaders of the House Government Operations Subcommittee cited heightened cybersecurity concerns today in endorsing the FITARA Scorecard as an enduring mechanism to measure performance of Federal agency IT initiatives and drive future improvements. […]
The House and Senate were poised late Monday to vote on a $1.4 trillion omnibus Federal spending bill, that includes $25 million of new funding for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF). […]
Federal employees in the D.C. area that were scheduled to work on Inauguration Day (Jan. 20) will get the day off, according to a memo from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). […]
After months with no movement and a weekend full of deal-making, Congress is expected to pass a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package as part of a broader Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) omnibus spending bill. The relief includes a new round of Payment Protection Program (PPP) funding, money for broadband deployment and emergency use, and money to remove banned Huawei and ZTE equipment. […]
The National Security Agency (NSA) late last week released new guidance on cloud security to defend against cyber threats that manipulate authentication environments. […]
A new survey released by MeriTalk and Splunk finds that public sector IT decision makers are increasingly planning around zero trust security concepts, with that thinking driven by current and future requirements for telework capabilities, among other security management needs. However, agencies face challenges in migrating to zero trust, including the need to invest in foundational technologies, according to findings from the survey of 150 Federal IT decision makers and 150 state, local, and higher education (SLED) IT decisionmakers on their agencies’ efforts around zero trust. […]
Malicious actors are targeting K-12 schools with a strong increase in ransomware attacks and other cyber threats, according to a Joint Cybersecurity Advisory released December 10 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC). […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is well on its way towards its goal to move substantially to the cloud by 2024, with over 100 apps already migrated and expanded telehealth efforts leveraging cloud services, said James Gfrerer, VA CIO, during a MeriTalk webinar on Dec. 16. […]
The U.S. Air Force aims to modernize legacy systems built on COBOL and other legacy coding languages in the mid 1980’s to early 1990’s, with the intention of converting the code and moving the system into a cloud environment, according to a request for information (RFI) released by the service branch. […]
Senior House Republicans pointed today to the still-unfolding situation on Russian-backed hacking of government networks via SolarWinds software to call for passage of the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the cybersecurity elements that the legislation features. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a new report that four Federal agencies it examined are making progress on establishing data governance policies, but still have more work to do on some key milestones including assessing data and infrastructure maturity, and staff data literacy. […]
The Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) component have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on cybersecurity measures, according to a Dec. 17 announcement. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released the annual report for the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) Task Force on Dec. 17 which highlights ongoing efforts of five working groups addressing challenges related to information sharing, threat analysis, qualified bidder and qualified manufacturers lists, vendor assurance, and the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA’s) CIO office undertook quick efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that its infrastructure supported safe telework. The office was able to meet the needs of an organization playing a crucial role in keeping the country healthy, recounted VA CIO Jim Gfrerer along with other experts during a MeriTalk webinar on December 16. […]
Data analytics has the potential to improve nearly every aspect of society. Its practical applications include improving cybersecurity, preparing for natural disasters, reducing crime, allocating healthcare resources where they are needed most, responding to staffing challenges, and ensuring food safety. Agencies that successfully integrate and analyze data across business units are able to make faster and better decisions that ultimately improve citizens’ lives. […]
The Alliance for Digital Innovation (ADI), a Washington-based trade group known for its advocacy for Federal government IT modernization, released a new set of recommendations Dec. 17 for the Biden administration and incoming Congress to improve Federal tech capabilities by learning from some of the lessons of the government’s rapid turn to telework during the coronavirus pandemic. […]
President-elect Joe Biden confirmed late on Dec. 17 he intends to nominate former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm as the new Secretary of Energy. If confirmed, she will head an agency primarily concerned with nuclear energy and domestic energy production, but also a dazzling range of science and technology research and development activities through the Energy Department’s (DoE) National Laboratories. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned today that threats to government networks caused by previously reported breaches of SolarWinds Orion products pose a “grave risk” to Federal government, state, tribal and territorial governments, critical infrastructure entities, and other private-sector organizations. […]
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is in the midst of an IT modernization plan that has made progress within the agency, but a new report from the Social Security Advisory Board’s (SSAB’s) Information Technology Systems Expert Panel pulls from prior efforts and outside expertise to offer suggestions on how SSA can improve its efforts. […]
The Energy Department’s (DoE) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found in a new audit that the agency needs to take action to improve planning for the restoration of information systems in the case of system disruptions. […]
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) issued a request for information (RFI) to gather information about support for legacy applications, with an eye towards cloud migration. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is looking to streamline healthcare delivery for the roughly nine million veterans it serves through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). As part of its modernization efforts, the VA is seeking a cloud-based Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) mobile app for patient check-in. […]
The Veterans Administration (VA) is putting out a call for feedback from industry on its plan to standardize the agency’s Human Resources (HR) IT systems. The agency’s request for information (RFI), posted Dec. 11, asks for comment by Jan. 14, 2021. […]
The U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) is conducting market research to find innovative and efficient architectures, technologies, processes, and concepts for the continued cloud hosting of the Marine Corps Recruiting Information Support System II (MCRISS II). […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) is awarding the Spectrum Forward Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) worth up to $2.5 billion to the National Spectrum Consortium (NSC) for the development, adoption, and deployment of next-generation technologies, including 5G and spectrum access technologies. […]
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is seeking public comment on a proposed rule that would change the relative value of performance in decisions to lay off Federal employees. The proposed rule, published Dec. 17, would correspondingly deprioritize length of service in layoff decisions, making it the least important factor in the proposed order of retention. […]
The shift to remote work forced by the coronavirus pandemic has helped the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) – a component of Army Futures Command – identify security gaps, and work to improve IT security for offsite personnel, said Col. Gregory Smith, Military Deputy to the Director of the CCDC, at an AFFIRM webinar Dec. 16. […]
In a politically charged Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing today, former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Chris Krebs reassured the committee and the general public that the 2020 General Election was the most secure in U.S. history. […]