Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy

With the unveiling of its artificial intelligence (AI) executive order (EO) today, a senior administration official said the Biden-Harris administration is working aggressively to execute the timeline of the EO – with the goal of completing the directives in timespans ranging from 90 days to one year. […]

FedRAMP

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) today released proposed new guidance to modernize the General Services Administration’s (GSA) FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) program. […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent out a memo earlier this week reminding agency heads of the Biden administration’s goal to increase the percentage of contracting opportunities awarded to Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDB) to 13 percent in fiscal year (FY) 2024. […]

White House

Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), said this week that President Biden’s forthcoming executive order (EO) on AI will make significant progress, but it won’t be able to sufficiently stand on its own as guardrails for the emerging technology. […]

U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) said it is conducting a focused internal defensive cyberspace project to improve the internal defensive capabilities of the service and its allies during the month of October. […]

White House

The White House is asking Congress for an additional $9.1 billion to support the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), including $6 billion to help fund its Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and $3.1 billion for the FCC to fund the removal of outdated communications infrastructure operated by providers.  […]

VA, Veterans Affairs

A top Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) official said this week that the House Republicans’ proposed 25 percent budget cut to the cyber agency would have “catastrophic” effects on CISA’s programs – like the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Program. […]

FedRAMP

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will be unveiling proposed new guidance for the General Services Administration’s (GSA) FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) program on Friday morning. […]

CMS

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) a $450 million contract to continue to operate and modernize the agency’s integrated accounting system. […]

Danny Werfel, Daniel Werfel, IRS commissioner
Nancy Pelosi Chuck Schumer -min

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said today that Federal government investment in the artificial intelligence arena is being reckoned at a minimum of $32 billion based on consensus emerging from the Senate’s second in a series of AI forums held on Oct. 24. […]

FCC

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote next month on whether to take an exploratory look at artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and the potential of regulating their use in the context of preventing illegal and unwanted robocalls and robotexts – which has long been an enforcement priority at the commission. […]

cybersecurity

A new report out this week from Zscaler ThreatLabz finds a 400 percent increase in internet of things (IoT) and operational technology (OT) malware attacks since 2022, underscoring the need for better zero trust security to protect critical infrastructures. […]

FITARA Awards Scorecard 16.0

Three Federal agencies – the Labor Department, the Education Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) – each won “Best Overall” recognition in the MeriTalk FITARA Awards for their superior performance on the 16th edition of the FITARA Scorecard released on Sept. 26 by the office of Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., ranking member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation. […]

Dell Technologies Global Chief Technology Officer John Roese mapped out the company’s approach to five key technology and innovation hot spots – including AI tech, edge computing, and cybersecurity – during a keynote address at the Dell Technologies Forum in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 24. […]

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)

Adopting artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities is not a new notion for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). And as technology continues to evolve, the GEOINT agency continues to find more ways of using AI/ML capabilities to evolve how it meets mission outcomes, while managing its people and processes. […]

NIH

Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted 15-6 today to advance the nomination of Dr. Monica Bertagnolli to serve as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). […]

AI

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) approved the Improving Government Services Act today by a vote of 10-1, with only Ranking Member Rand Paul, R-Ky., voting against the measure. The bill now heads to the Senate for further consideration. […]

DoD

Top officials at the Department of Defense (DoD) are getting first use of the department’s secret-level version of Microsoft 365 delivered in an Impact Level 6 (IL6) cloud environment – and aptly named DoD365-Secret – a Pentagon spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk. […]

generative AI, ChatGPT
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.

A bipartisan group of House members has introduced the Government Service Delivery Improvement Act, which aims to improve customer experience and accountability across the Federal government in part by creating a new senior management position at the Office of Management and Budget devoted to improving customer experience. […]

DHS

A top official at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said today that he is worried about an uptick in the adversarial use of artificial intelligence technologies, which have the potential to cause harms to U.S. critical infrastructure. […]

Dell Tech Forum 2023

Technology and innovation expert Mitch Joel said at today’s Dell Technologies Forum event that the biggest challenge for organizations that have begun leveraging artificial intelligence involves evaluating the differences between traditional AI technologies and newer generative AI tools, and then considering the best uses for both. […]

DoD Pentagon Military

After a year of planning, military service branches and defense agencies have submitted their zero trust security implementation plans to the Department of Defense (DoD) zero trust team for evaluation, according to the department’s zero trust lead. […]

A bipartisan pair of House members has introduced legislation to reform the Federal government’s security classification system to prevent the over-classification of documents and avoid possible mishandling of information. […]

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