In a wide-ranging audit by Inspectors General (OIGs) spanning more than seven key agencies, only one – the Department of Defense – was flagged for lack of compliance with the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, which promotes the sharing of cybersecurity threat data. […]
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the finalized version of its 2020 Action Plan for the Federal Data Strategy, setting key actions that agencies and OMB will need to undertake over the next year. […]
President Trump signed funding bills for most Federal agencies on December 20, finalizing budgets for Fiscal Year 2020 and avoiding a government shutdown. […]
As the year draws to a close, it’s time to look back on the biggest Fed IT moments of 2019. From legislation and personnel changes to executive policies and agency projects, this year has seen a massive push towards Fed IT modernization across the government. […]
In November 2018, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and its CIO’s office were in the news for all the wrong reasons. […]
A new study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) revealed that data, algorithms, and application processes are the biggest determinants of facial recognition software’s ability to identify sex, age, and racial background. […]
The Senate on Dec. 19 voted to confirm the nominations of Dana Deasy as Defense Department CIO, and Lisa Hershman as DoD’s chief management officer, following up on a confirmation hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee on Oct. 29. […]
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced new cloud contracts with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Microsoft to provide easier access to environmental data sets. […]
The U.S. Air Force plans to release a solicitation to help the service branch optimize and modernize its Hill Enterprise Data Center (HEDC) in Utah while supporting a hybrid cloud environment and meeting requirements under the Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI), as noted in a beta.SAM.gov post. […]
The recent approval by the House of Representatives of two bills to improve the Federal government’s efforts to assemble and maintain accurate nationwide broadband service maps is adding weight to an ongoing push by the Federal Communications Commission to do the same in order to direct funding and other regulatory help to bringing more broadband options to underserved areas. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released several draft guidance documents for version 3.0 of its Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) initiative today, taking a less prescriptive and less boundary-focused approach in its updated policies. […]
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Dec. 19 that David Bottom will be starting as the agency’s new CIO in January 2020. […]
The House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Energy on Dec. 19 passed the Grid Modernization Research and Development Act of 2019. […]
President Trump announced his intent to nominate academic Sethuraman Panchanathan to be the next Director of the National Science Foundation. […]
The Department of Defense’s (DoD) artificial intelligence (AI) development and deployment efforts thus far lacks the communication, strategy, and metrics necessary for success, according to a December 2019 RAND Corporation report mandated by Congress. […]
The Senate today approved the first part of the $1.4 trillion spending package that will fund the Federal government through Fiscal Year 2020 and deliver a 3.1 percent pay raise to Federal civilian employees. […]
The United States and Japan have signed the Tokyo Statement on Quantum Cooperation, which supports continued collaboration in quantum information science and technology (QIST) research and development, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced Dec. 19. […]
The House Energy and Commerce Committee (E&C) released an initial draft of a bipartisan Federal privacy bill on Dec. 18. […]
Representative Mark Meadows, R-N.C., announced today that he will not run for reelection in 2020, removing a top Republican voice on Federal IT in the next Congress. […]
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) made progress during Fiscal Year 2019 on cybersecurity issues, and closed eight prior recommendations from its Office of Inspector General (IG) during the year, according to the IG’s 2019 Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) audit. […]
President Trump intends to appoint Bryan Ware as the next assistant director for cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to a Dec. 18 White House announcement. […]
The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted to advance the Federal Risk Authorization and Management Program (FedRAMP) Authorization Act to the full House during a work session today. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) Task Force approved a new working group to develop SCRM frameworks and best practices. […]
What do space, energy, and trade have in common? On the surface, maybe not too much, but in the hearts and minds of the Federal workforce, quite a bit.
That’s because three Federal agencies – NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) and ITC (U.S. International Trade Commission) took top honors in the latest survey of Best Places to Work in the Federal Government. […]
Focusing on the “compute” equation – instead of only prioritizing data center closures – is an important consideration in Federal agencies’ execution of the Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI), General Services Administration (GSA) Senior Adviser Stephen Naumann explained at a Dec. 18 ACT-IAC meeting. […]
The Fiscal Year 2019 audit of the Treasury Department found enough control issues with the department’s government-wide cash management and Federal debt IT systems to warrant a management report on the deficiencies from Treasury’s inspector general and auditor KPMG. […]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has detailed its planned vision for the department to internally transform how it shares, analyzes, and derives new insights by leveraging data. […]
President Trump issued an executive order late Tuesday that will close all Federal government executive departments and agencies on Dec. 24, and excuse their employees from work. The order gives department and agency heads leeway to determine that certain offices and installations will remain open on Dec. 24 “for reasons of national security, defense, or […]
The House voted Dec. 16 to approve legislation that would provide $1 billion to smaller-sized private sector communications service providers to remove from their networks equipment purchased from China-based equipment makers Huawei and ZTE, and replace that gear with equipment that does not pose a threat to U.S. national security. […]
While improving the management of data across agencies is an ongoing challenge for Federal agencies, leveraging geospatial data as a strategic asset is turning into an area of opportunity for the Departments of Energy and Transportation (DoT), officials from both agencies said on Dec. 17. […]