The chairman and ranking member of the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Government Reform delivered a clear to-do list on Thursday to Federal CIOs: pursue further data center consolidation, tighten the reporting lines between CIOs and agency heads, and craft better roadmaps for IT modernization. […]

A Federal appeals court found that Federal employees have standing to sue the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for harms caused by the agency’s 2015 data breach that affected 21 million people, according to an opinion released June 21. […]

A new bill would establish a rotational workforce for cybersecurity research within the Department of Homeland Security, supporting efforts to build the cyber workforce within the agency. […]

Federal agencies have fully implemented 60 percent of IT management-related and 78 percent of security-related recommendations the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued since 2010, and they should continue bolstering their cybersecurity and IT acquisition and operations, according to a new GAO report released June 26. […]

In establishing a foundation across an organization as large as the Department of Defense, it takes an organizational shift that’s supported by allies across industry and academia – and the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) is building towards that. […]

The General Services Administration released the proposed list of special item numbers (SINs) and categories for the upcoming consolidated Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), cutting down the number of SINs from over 900 to around 300, the agency announced today in a request for information. […]

Congressional concerns over the revision to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB’s) Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI) policy were a main focal point during a hearing on the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) Scorecard 8.0 today. […]

The House voted today to approve $35 million of FY2020 funding for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF), which provides money to Federal agencies to pursue promising IT modernization projects. […]

Members of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation discussed at a June 25 hearing ways the Federal government can help state and local governments (SLGs) deal with their cybersecurity challenges, including providing funding and opportunities to collaborate. […]

The House Oversight and Reform Committee’s latest report card on how the 24 largest Federal agencies are progressing on critical IT initiatives reveals a core of relatively stable agency scores, but with several big twists that significantly impact grades for most agencies. […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) released its Federal Marketplace (FMP) Strategy Summer 2019 release today, providing updates concerning the agency’s project to modernize and streamline Federal acquisition. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) netted its highest grade on the FITARA (Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act) Scorecard yet, earning a C+ on the eighth version of the biannual scorecard released today by the House Oversight and Reform Committee. […]

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are seeking input to prevent veteran suicide through data-sharing methods. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released an interagency report offering guidance for Federal agencies for managing Internet of Things (IoT) cybersecurity and privacy risks. […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) finalized the Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI) policy on June 25, largely keeping the draft policy in place despite criticisms from Congress and industry. […]

The Census Bureau did not implement security baselines and basic security practices for its cloud implementation, leading to “severe risks to 2020 Census cloud environments,” according to an audit from the Department of Commerce Inspector General released June 19. […]

The release of the Cloud Smart policy yesterday has given agencies a “North Star” of guidance on how to accelerate cloud adoption, Federal Deputy CIO for the Office of Management and Budget Margie Graves said today. […]

The Defense Department (DOD) aims to award its 10-year, $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract by the end of August, Inside Defense reported, citing comments from DoD CIO Dana Deasy to reporters today at a Defense Writers Group breakfast […]

The White House nominated Dana Deasy, current CIO of the Department of Defense, to be CIO of the Department of Defense today.  […]

A new report from Cybereason says that persistent cyberattacks on at least 12 global telecom service providers since 2012 were likely perpetrated by the China-based threat actor known as APT10. […]

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., is offering an amendment to the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act (HR 3351) that would boost the FY2020 budget for the Technology Modernization Fund by $15 million, to a total of $50 million. […]

A bill being readied by Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Josh Hawley R-Mo., would require large online service providers to give users regular assessments of the monetary value of the data that consumers provide to them. […]

Federal agencies are unprepared to confront and mitigate cyberthreats today, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affair Committee Investigations Subcommittee determined in a report released today, recommending that agencies give CIOs more authority to make decisions on cybersecurity. […]

The Federal government is dedicated to a whole of government effort on automated technologies and artificial intelligence, and agencies need to get started on their efforts sooner rather than later, said Federal CIO Suzette Kent today. […]

A new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found that Internal Revenue Service (IRS) IT procurement controls need improvements for cost effectiveness and efficiency. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is looking for technical and acquisitional aid from partners in refining its database to implement artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, DHS Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) Office CIO David Bottom said today at the AI World Government conference. […]

A trio of women in senior IT leadership spanning the top ranks at Federal agencies counseled that hard work, skill in making key relationships, taking career-changing opportunities, and remaining authentic have been among the key steps in their paths to the highest levels of tech leadership in government. […]

A new survey from MeriTalk finds that 70 percent of Federal IT leaders surveyed believe that FITARA (the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) has been effective in accelerating Federal IT modernization, with 68 percent agreeing that the law has improved Federal IT efficiency. […]

Federal CIO Suzette Kent tops the witness list for the House Government Operations Subcommittee’s June 26 hearing to assess implementation of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA), and to release the eighth version of the full House Oversight and Reform Committee’s FITARA Scorecard that grades Federal agencies on their progress under the law, MeriTalk has learned. […]

As the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) is set to become the primary background investigation provider today, Charles Phalen will be appointed acting director, effective July 1. […]