Back in March nearly every workplace – public and private – has to rapidly pivot and shift from in-person work to telework due to COVID-19. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is implementing a national digital divide consult as a part of its efforts to ensure that veterans without broadband connectivity can access necessary telehealth services, an agency official confirmed at a July 29 Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing. […]
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has identified warning signs for procurement officials on how to spot anticompetitive bidding schemes that may be used to procure COVID-19 relief funds. […]
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a slew of new Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) initiatives on July 28 to enable innovative research objectives through technologies such as AI and cloud. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Information and Technology and Loan Guaranty Service awarded a contract worth up to $328 million to Accenture to modernize the VA’s home loan program. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced July 28 the second annual President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition. Registration is open to any Federal Executive branch employee, including Department of Defense (DoD) and uniformed service members, with a knack for cybersecurity. Individuals can either register solo or as part of a team. […]
While contact tracing applications for COVID-19 can reach more people than traditional contact tracing methods, policymakers will still have to weigh the benefits and challenges of utilizing the new technology, including privacy and security issues. […]
To keep the 2020 election secure, experts at the Brookings Institution this week called for further efforts to combat the spread of domestic election disinformation, and instituting paper ballots. […]
Technologists responsible for the website of the Department of Veterans Affairs and other government websites emphasized the need for accessibility, ensuring that no one is excluded from access. […]
Congress is looking to hammer out its next COVID-19 relief bill in the coming weeks and it looks like it will be a contentious negotiation. As part of its opening salvo, Senate GOP leadership released their policy proposal on July 27. […]
The Departments of Veteran Affairs (VA), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Energy are partnering on a new initiative to share COVID-19 health data to enable the research and expertise on the virus. […]
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Enforcement Bureau announced today that it has selected the USTelecom-led Industry Traceback Group as the Official Consortium for coordinating industry-led efforts to trace back the origin of unlawful robocalls. […]
Verizon has hired Jennifer Chronis to lead its Verizon Public Sector business beginning next month. […]
Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., introduced the We Need Eviction Data Now Act (H.R. 7743) on July 23 to direct the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to create a database of eviction records. […]
The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) Board has awarded $15 million of funding to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) organization to transform its Collections platform into a modern, cloud-based system. […]
Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I. – one of the pioneering policy voices in Congress on cybersecurity issues – told MeriTalk in an exclusive interview that legislative oversight of Federal government actions in the cybersecurity arena remains “absolutely essential.” […]
The House Government Operations Subcommittee is planning to hold a hearing on August 3 at 2 p.m. EST to release the tenth version of the FITARA Scorecard, according to a knowledgeable source. […]
ACT-IAC released its 2021 agenda today listing priority issues that government will face next year including the need for citizen-centric services, transforming national infrastructure, and creating an agile government. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) launched an investigation to see how well facial recognition algorithms could identify people wearing face masks and found that it does so with “great difficulty.” […]
Per new figures from the Office of the CIO, the Department of Defense (DoD) accommodated more than one million personnel on telework as of mid-June, compared to the 95,000 employees that worked remotely prior to the coronavirus pandemic. […]
Securing the software supply chain is a “major source” of national security risk for both public and private-sector organizations, a new report from the Atlantic Council argues. […]
Google’s Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai told employees in an email that the company will extend its voluntary work-from-home option through June 2021. […]
While the Federal government has been focused on modernizing its technology infrastructure and legacy systems, COVID-19 has forced agencies to transform at warp speed, particularly when it comes to cloud. However, as agencies deploy new cloud solutions, cybersecurity needs to keep pace. […]
Federal IT has earned the status of lifesaver in the COVID-19 pandemic for its ability to deliver vital services to citizens in times of crisis. MeriTalk is chronicling those successes – along with lessons for the future as agencies turn to the next generation of service improvements. In this edition of CIO Crossroads, we examine the Department of Energy four months into the fray. […]
As crunch time approaches in Congress on a new round of pandemic relief legislation, a group of Democratic lawmakers including leaders of the House Oversight and Reform Committee urged House leadership in a July 24 letter to include in any bill at least $1 billion of additional funding for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF). […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is seeking a wide range of COVID-19 technologies, including ways to secure contact tracing and open source virus reporting, per a July 24 other transaction solicitation (OTS). […]
The Department of Energy (DOE) on July 24 announced America’s Blueprint for the Quantum Internet to further quantum research in the Federal space with private sector collaboration. In February 2020, DOE’s Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research hosted the Quantum Internet Blueprint Workshop where representatives from DOE National Labs, universities, industry, and other U.S. agencies […]
Four Republican members of the House of Representatives praised the news, originally reported by Reuters on July 22, that France will phase out the China-based company Huawei out of its 5G networks by 2028. […]
The Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service is seeking a third-party provider for data center colocation services, per a July 23 request for information (RFI). […]
A group of Republican senators introduced the Strengthening Trade, Regional Alliances, Technology, and Economic and Geopolitical Initiatives Concerning China (STRATEGIC) Act to advance a comprehensive strategy for U.S. competition with China. The legislation, introduced July 22, is co-sponsored by Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., Jim Risch, R-Ind., Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Todd Young, R-Ind. […]