The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) launched a new broadband initiative dubbed the Minority Broadband Initiative (MBI), that will focus on “solving broadband deployment challenges in vulnerable communities.” […]
As part of the Federal Data Strategy, the Department of Commerce is looking for experts to help Federal agencies use their data for decisionmaking as part of the newly formed Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence Building, according to an upcoming Federal Register post. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released today that the Census Bureau “is generally on track” to meet some of the early operational milestones for the 2020 Census, but that the Commerce Department component still has a lot of work to do in a short time on 15 IT systems that are critical to upcoming service deliveries for next year’s census. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), along with the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA), on Oct. 24 launched their Accelerate R2 Network Challenge. […]
Karen Dunn Kelley, principal deputy secretary at the Department of Commerce, said Oct. 22 she expects the final version of the year-one action plan accompanying the Trump administration’s Federal Data Strategy to be released next month. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a plan on Aug. 10 to prioritize Federal agency engagement in developing standards for artificial intelligence (AI), just before the deadline of an executive order issued in February that gave the agency 180 days to develop a plan. […]
The Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) took the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) to task in a July 22 report that finds “control weaknesses” in FirstNet’s handling of a $336 million payment it made to its contractor AT&T. Separately, FirstNet said it has taken action to resolve the issue. […]
The Department of Commerce issued a request for information (RFI) for the Commerce CIO, Solutions and Partners (S&P) requirement, that supports the Office of Enterprise Services and Solutions (OESS) whose priority is delivering IT solutions. […]
Alex Greenstein joined the Commerce Department today as director of the U.S.-European Union (EU) Privacy Shield – which helps companies comply with data protection requirements when transferring personal data from the EU and Switzerland to the U.S. He was a senior advisor for international communications and information policy at the State Department. […]
Contradicting President Trump’s comments at the G20 Summit in Japan last weekend, the Department of Commerce has said today that Huawei Technologies remains on the Entity List and will continue to review licenses for exports to Huawei for their national security impacts. […]
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is seeking nominations for people to serve on the National Medal of Technology and Innovation Nomination Evaluation Committee, which has 12 members who each serve for a minimum of three years and are ultimately appointed by the Commerce Secretary. Members are responsible for reviewing nominations and recommending “the […]
The Census Bureau did not implement security baselines and basic security practices for its cloud implementation, leading to “severe risks to 2020 Census cloud environments,” according to an audit from the Department of Commerce Inspector General released June 19. […]
The House Appropriations Committee released a second of five appropriations minibus FY2020 spending bills for Commerce-Justice-Science, Agriculture-Rural Development-FDA, Interior-Environment, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development. […]
The United State Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) did not properly manage its active directory, leaving multiple vulnerabilities and showing little improvement from previous audits of the agency’s cybersecurity posture, according to a Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General (IG) report released June 13. […]
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) extended a request for information on a potential enterprise data exchange to share weather observations across the globe. Responses are now due by June 17. […]
With less than a year until Census Day left, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that the Census Bureau’s critical census IT systems and cybersecurity mitigation and contingency plans are high-concern areas among the 360 active risks for the 2020 Census that GAO identified in a report today. […]
China-based communications equipment maker Huawei said today that Google has begun the process of cutting off Huawei’s access to Android hardware and software services support. […]
The Department of Commerce announced that it will add Huawei to the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List, preventing American companies from selling technology to Huawei without approval from the American government. […]
David Redl is resigning his position as administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration – a component agency of the Commerce Department influential in a host of communications technology issues including 5G wireless spectrum – according to three Federal Communications Commission (FCC) leaders. […]
The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced the appointment of 30 experts to serve on the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) on April 18. […]
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a solicitation on April 12, looking for help with IT services at the National Ocean Service (NOS) across a wide range of IT infrastructure and technology. The solicitation is open until April 19. […]
After the partial government shutdown that stretched from mid-December 2018 and into January 2019, the Department of Commerce took a long look at its needs, according to Acting Executive Director for Commerce’s Enterprise Services Program Jamie Krauk. […]
The House Appropriations Committee’s Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee adjourned its scheduled hearing today without reviewing the Trump administration’s FY2020 Department of Commerce budget request after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross declined to testify before the subcommittee. […]
With the U.S. decennial census set to begin gathering data in one year, the focus on new technology involved in the effort is increasing, along with security questions. The coming census has a reference date of April 1, 2020. […]
The question of the best way for transitioning to cloud infrastructures is a big one for Federal agencies. One approach to solve this issue is a slow, measured migration. Another approach is a more dramatic transformation in a shorter period that might be painful, but allows agencies to reap the benefits of cloud migration much sooner. The best approach for agencies to successfully transition depends on the agency itself, its mission, and what officials are looking to achieve. […]
Both the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) named new CIOs this month. Henry “Jamie” Holcombe will join the USPTO as CIO on Feb. 25 and Keith B. Vaughn has already begun his work with the USITC. […]
In a letter on Friday, Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., questioned Steven Dillingham, director of the U.S. Census Bureau, over how nearly $5 billion in IT costs are being managed by the Bureau. His concerns come as IT costs grew by $1.56 billion between October 2015 and December 2017. […]
On the heels of the Senate voting down both competing Republican and Democrat funding bills to reopen the partially-closed Federal government, President Trump today suggested that he might be willing to accept a smaller “down payment” on funding the southern border wall. […]
In response to the Department of Commerce exploring new export restrictions for emerging technology, industry organizations stressed that export controls should be narrowly tailored to national security concerns, and not used to accomplish trade policy. […]
Rod Turk, the Commerce Department’s acting CIO who will be retiring next month, said in a wide-ranging discussion today that the Federal government is approaching the “tipping point” in its IT modernization efforts, and that requirements put in place in recent years to strengthen the hand of Federal CIOs in pushing modernization are resulting in less “rogue” tech projects at agencies. […]