Federal agencies and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) need to continue notching progress  on IT acquisitions, operations, and cybersecurity necessary to meeting FITARA (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) requirements, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said. […]

The Treasury Department Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reported that the agency’s cyber threat indicators in Calendar Year (CY) 2017 and CY2018 were “adequate and aligned with the provisions of CISA [the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015]” in an audit released on Dec. 10.

Anil Cheriyan, Director of Technology Transformation Services (TTS) at the General Services Administration (GSA), said Dec. 11 that legacy, talent, and culture – not just technology – are the biggest challenges to IT modernization.

Federal CIO Suzette Kent today hailed the results of the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s FITARA (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) Scorecard 9.0 which shows a rising trend in agency grades and solid progress on a number of important Federal IT fronts.

For agencies pursuing new ways to share and manage data, Government Accountability Office (GAO) Director of IT and Cybersecurity Nick Marinos recommends focusing on the agency’s mission and incorporating security early on in the process.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is in the early implementation stages of its rollout of the modernized, $2.5 billion Financial Management Business Transformation (FMBT) effort, but full implementation isn’t scheduled until 2030, prompting concern from members of Congress during a joint meeting of the House Veterans Affairs’ Subcommittee on Technology Modernization and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on December 5.

A FISMA audit found problems with both phishing and data exfiltration at the Social Security Administration (SSA), according to two report summaries released December 4 by the agency’s inspector general.

Chief information officers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and NASA are scheduled to testify at the House Government Operations Subcommittee’s hearing on Dec. 11 to discuss results of the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s ninth FITARA (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) Scorecard, MeriTalk has learned.

On Dec. 6, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Penn., introduced H.R. 5353, which will establish a policy that promotes and maintains “digital and software development expertise” in the Defense Department’s (DoD) workforce.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has announced the appointment of chairs for four working groups that will support the work of the FCC’ new Task Force for Reviewing the Connectivity and Technology Needs of Precision Agriculture. 

While figures vary across industry and government as to the size of the “phishing-prone” population in any organization, both sides agree that sustained internal employee training efforts are necessary to cut the success rate of spear-phishing exploits down to more manageable levels.

The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released a sole source procurement notice for 451 Research’s one-year subscription to the agency’s Cloud Price Index Service on Dec. 4.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched a new mobile application called the CURE ID that will allow the clinical community to report uses of existing drugs for infectious diseases that may prove difficult to treat.

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operation has pulled its support for a mandatory biometric entry-exit system that would require facial recognition scans for all travelers – including U.S. citizens – entering or departing the United States, according to a Dec. 5 press release from Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.

Officials from the General Services Administration (GSA), and Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Veterans Affairs (VA) talked this week about some of the obstacles they’ve encountered, and are overcoming, in wrestling with Big Data sets.

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee is poised to take action next week on a range of tech-related legislation including bills dealing with making available spectrum for 5G wireless services, and further action to rein in robocalling.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today the launch of its National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Institute (NAII) to coordinate veteran-specific AI initiatives.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee’s Government Operations Subcommittee has scheduled a  hearing for Dec. 11 at 2:00 p.m. to discuss results of the subcommittee’s upcoming release of the ninth edition of its FITARA (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) Scorecard.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has rolled out its modernized Disability Case Processing System (DCPS) to 31 states and territories, but the system is only being used to process seven percent of their workloads due to gaps in functionality, according to a review by SSA’s inspector general.

Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and five major healthcare companies to “provide more information on how they are addressing bias in algorithms used in many healthcare systems.”