Agencies are facing a growing backlog of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and the agencies facing the most requests have started notifying the public, according to a report by the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS). […]

The call for fresh investments in several major Federal IT areas featured in the new “Resilient, Keeping your WITS – Workforce, Innovation, Technology, Security – About You” report relies in part on survey data gathered from 300 Federal IT leaders in late 2020 as part of the project to identify how the Federal government can improve resilience as the country emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. […]

General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) said today it is adding Amazon Web Services (AWS) offerings to the lineup available through GDIT’s milCloud 2.0 contract, one of the key pillars of the Defense Department’s (DoD) enterprise cloud environment. […]

The Defense Counterintelligence Security Agency (DCSA) is looking for a contractor that can support the Defense Department’s (DoD) Insider Threat Management Analysis Center (DITMAC) System of Systems (DSoS) Program Management Office (PMO) in implementing technical activities to enable DSoS to function as authorized by DITMAC. […]

The call for fresh investments in several major Federal IT areas featured in the new “Resilient, Keeping your WITS – Workforce, Innovation, Technology, Security – About You” report relies in part on survey data gathered from 300 Federal IT leaders in late 2020 as part of the project to identify how the Federal government can improve resilience as the country emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) saw a sharp increase in acquisition spending in 2020, more than doubling its 2019 spending in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an annual report by the Defense Pricing and Contracting Agency (DPC). […]

The Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has invested in a cybersecurity platform to upgrade their “cyber threat detection and intelligence-gathering capabilities,” according to a Jan. 25 press release. […]

The Department of State had notified Congress in 2019 of its plans to create a bureau within the department to focus on cybersecurity, but a lack of data and evidence to justify the proposal may halt its progress. […]

The Indian Health Service (IHS) is looking for available small businesses and small Indian-owned firms “capable of providing subscription services for the technology-based business research, industry-specific reporting, best practice methodologies, benchmarking, and market analysis research,” the Jan. 28 sources sought notice says. […]

Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, reintroduced a bill that would support the National Guard in helping state and local governments improve their cybersecurity, citing “the SolarWinds attack and continued cyberattacks connected to the COVID-19 pandemic.”  […]

It’s been a long time – early March 2020 to be precise – since MeriTalk last hosted a live, in-person event where the Federal tech community can get together, share refreshments, reunite with old friends, and meet new ones too. […]

While the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to impact healthcare delivery to veterans well into 2021, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and its Veterans Health Administration (VHA) component are already taking into account requirements for telehealth services when the pandemic abates but its mental-health impacts persist.  […]

For the seventh time in the National Association of State Chief Information Officers’ (NASCIO) half-century existence, the White House changed political parties with the incoming Biden Administration this month. Given the fact that Federal funds support as much as half of state IT budgets, it is no surprise that such changes in Washington, D.C. can have a significant impact on states’ IT bottom line. […]

Denis McDonough, President Biden’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), plans to make cybersecurity “a key priority” if confirmed, along with IT modernization efforts and expansion of broadband services. […]

Though the legislative machinations may be tricky, the bottom line is that the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas to head the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is headed to likely Senate approval early next week. […]

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has launched a coordinated international law enforcement action to disrupt the NetWalker ransomware-as-a-service crimeware product. […]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) named Rebecca Piazza as senior advisor for delivery in the office of the under secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) has confirmed the appointment of Amy Hasletine as acting executive director of the Office of Enterprise Technology Solutions (ETS). […]

Security policies can be tricky to navigate with constantly changing technology, but when developing a cloud program, it’s vital for agencies to continually update those policies, according to Federal leaders. […]

President Biden said on Jan. 27 that he will re-charter the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), a group that was formed in 2001 with a broad mandate to advise the President on science and technology issues. […]

What if you could diagnose predictable points of IT failure, and then take action to remedy them before they have a chance to hurt your agency’s ability to serve citizens and employees? […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) posted an alert warning that a “US Trading Commission” website is a scam and not associated with the FTC. […]

A group of eight House Democrats is pushing House leadership to include in the next round of COVID-19 relief legislation the $9 billion boost to the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) proposed by President Biden earlier this month. […]

The IRS announced Ken Corbin will serve as the chief taxpayer experience officer, a new role created to help unify and expand agency efforts aimed at improving customer experience. […]

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the increased adoption of telehealth services, but that positive development for technology-delivered services comes with both benefits and community equity challenges, Federal leaders said this week. […]

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has developed an AI strategy to enable AI fluency and adoption across the enterprise. The strategy also establishes an AI Council to oversee the agency’s AI implementation efforts. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking a solution to provide unlimited cloud-based SMS messaging for patients, staff, and family members for the Hershel Woody Williams VA Medical Center in West Virginia. […]

Today, MeriTalk launches MeriTV, a new platform delivering news and commentary on today’s mission-critical government IT challenges. […]

Chris DeRusha, who headed information security efforts for the Biden-Harris campaign last year, will become the Federal government’s next chief information security officer, Federal government security officials said today. […]

President Biden’s Jan. 25 executive order to direct more of the Federal government’s spending to the benefit of American businesses has a larger focus on commodity and non-tech goods, but may end up extending to commercially available IT products. […]