The 12th edition of the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s FITARA Scorecard issued on July 28 offered a mildly positive story of progress that the largest Federal government agencies are making against a range of IT-related goals. But that’s not where the real news came from in the committee’s semiannual exercise on keep agencies honest on the tech front. […]
Federal Chief Information Security Officer Chris DeRusha said today that working to update the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) – and generate more useful Federal agency cybersecurity metrics as a result – are among his top priorities currently. […]
On August 2, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced that it would be extending the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) Task Force to July 31, 2023. […]
The much-anticipated $1 trillion Senate bipartisan infrastructure bill unveiled on August 1 shows big cybersecurity funding wins for state and local governments with a $1 billion for a cybersecurity grant program, and electric utilities that will be receiving $1.25 billion through a cybersecurity grant program to protect the electric grid. […]
On July 29, the House cleared a $600 billion package of seven spending bills, including the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) funding bill that includes $50 million for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF). […]
While the steady performance of most large Federal agencies on the latest version of the FITARA Scorecard drew notes of praise from leaders of the House Government Operations Subcommittee at their July 28 hearing to review the grades, the central focus on the hearing – cybersecurity and IT modernization – got the most attention from private sector tech leaders. […]
Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat confirmed July 28 that the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) is still accepting proposals for IT modernization projects under a solicitation announced in May, and offered tips to agencies looking to score some of the $1 billion in funding the TMF received as part of the American Rescue Plan. […]
Federal CIO Clare Martorana confirmed today at the House Government Operations Subcommittee’s FITARA Scorecard 12 hearing that her office has received proposals from Federal agencies for $2.1 billion of IT modernization projects competing for Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) money. […]
Senate negotiators have reached a deal on the legislative language for the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure package, the White House announced today, and a vote could come as soon as tonight. […]
The White House released a National Security Memorandum (NSM) today containing a new set of actions aimed to strengthen cybersecurity efforts to protect United States critical infrastructure amid the growing number of cyber threats and cyberattacks. […]
What’s it take for a major Federal agency to get a better grade on the semiannual FITARA Scorecard issued by the House Oversight and Reform Committee – or backslide from previously hard-won gains? […]
The largest Federal agencies as a group made some notable progress on a range of IT-related performance categories in the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s FITARA Scorecard version 12 released by the committee on July 28. […]
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development earlier this month appointed Beth Niblock as the agency’s new CIO, succeeding David Chow, who left the agency in January. […]
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Government Reform and Operations announced the witness list for the FITARA 12.0 hearing on July 28. Federal CIO Clare Martorana headlines the list of four witnesses, according to a release today by the committee. […]
The House of Representatives passed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Capabilities Enhancement Act on July 20, and the bill now has bipartisan companion legislation in the Senate. […]
A group of House lawmakers that has been studying Defense Department (DoD) supply chain concerns has given the Pentagon a list of high-level recommendations to address supply chain risks going forward. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) has named 18 firms it will work with on NCCoE’s Implementing a Zero Trust Architecture Project. […]
The House Government Operations Subcommittee has scheduled a public hearing for July 28 at 2:00 p.m. EST for the release of the 12th edition of its FITARA Scorecard which rates major Federal agencies across a range of IT-related topics. […]
Federal Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Chris DeRusha today offered an expansive set of ideas for how Congress may undertake reform of the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) of 2014 to bring the existing law up to speed with the fast-moving security improvement work underway throughout the Federal government following the release of President Biden’s cybersecurity executive order in May. […]
Recent hacks on localities’ water supply have shown the importance of cybersecurity in the water infrastructure. Witnesses sounded the alarm about water infrastructure cybersecurity and called for training and funding investments at a July 21 Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing. […]
Federal CISO Chris DeRusha said today that the ongoing solicitation of Federal agency bids for money from the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) is drawing a lot of interest in security-related projects – one of the four primary areas that the TMF Board identified earlier this year as ones it would prioritize as it works to deploy up to $1 billion of new funding capacity from the American Rescue Plan Act. […]
The FedRAMP Authorization Act sponsored by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., has been nearly four years in the making without crossing the goal line. But after the House approved the bill earlier this year, Rep. Connolly said today that the House is “working in lockstep” with Senate colleagues to hopefully pass the bill in 2021. […]
Creating a winning Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) proposal includes thoughtfully crafting a business case, and detailing how the proposal aligns with the agency’s mission, said Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat on July 15 at IBM’s Think Gov Digital 2021 event. […]
Federal agency chief information security officers (CISOs) talked about several aspects of the Biden administration’s cybersecurity executive order (EO) during a July 15 FedInsider webinar in which they flagged steps agencies should be taking to meet the order’s requirements. […]
Senate-approved legislation that would boost Federal funding for U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing and provide the National Science Foundation (NSF) with another $52 billion over five years for research initiatives received strong endorsements from private sector witnesses at a July 15 Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing. […]
The Senate Budget Committee’s agreement reached late July 13 on a $3.5 trillion “soft” infrastructure funding package will help pave the way for Congress to consider the $1.2 trillion bipartisan compromise infrastructure agreement reached last month between the White House and a group of ten senators from both parties. […]
President Biden said today he was “optimistic” after speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the United States government’s expectations for cooperation from Russia in the event of ransomware attacks that emanate from Russian territory. […]
With President Biden’s cyber executive order (EO) guiding Federal agencies towards implementing zero trust architectures, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has already created a Zero Trust Playbook to help outline the change and create guidelines, the Corps’ CIO said today. […]
Republican members of Congress have written separate letters to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressing concerns about the companies’ collection of data on students, among other issues. […]
U.S. Air Force Chief Software Officer (CSO) Nicolas Chaillan this week emphasized the importance of a moving toward zero trust security architectures within the Department of Defense (DoD) – a process that DoD Acting CIO John Sherman has said is a top tech priority for the Pentagon. […]