The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA’s) CIO office undertook quick efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that its infrastructure supported safe telework. The office was able to meet the needs of an organization playing a crucial role in keeping the country healthy, recounted VA CIO Jim Gfrerer along with other experts during a MeriTalk webinar on December 16. […]

President-elect Joe Biden confirmed late on Dec. 17 he intends to nominate former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm as the new Secretary of Energy. If confirmed, she will head an agency primarily concerned with nuclear energy and domestic energy production, but also a dazzling range of science and technology research and development activities through the Energy Department’s (DoE) National Laboratories. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned today that threats to government networks caused by previously reported breaches of SolarWinds Orion products pose a “grave risk” to Federal government, state, tribal and territorial governments, critical infrastructure entities, and other private-sector organizations. […]

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is in the midst of an IT modernization plan that has made progress within the agency, but a new report from the Social Security Advisory Board’s (SSAB’s) Information Technology Systems Expert Panel pulls from prior efforts and outside expertise to offer suggestions on how SSA can improve its efforts. […]

The Energy Department’s (DoE) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found in a new audit that the agency needs to take action to improve planning for the restoration of information systems in the case of system disruptions. […]

The Veterans Administration (VA) is putting out a call for feedback from industry on its plan to standardize the agency’s Human Resources (HR) IT systems. The agency’s request for information (RFI), posted Dec. 11, asks for comment by Jan. 14, 2021. […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is seeking public comment on a proposed rule that would change the relative value of performance in decisions to lay off Federal employees. The proposed rule, published Dec. 17, would correspondingly deprioritize length of service in layoff decisions, making it the least important factor in the proposed order of retention. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is in the process of creating and institutionalizing data governance procedures, recently appointed acting Chief Data Officer Carlene Ileto said during a Dec. 15 ATARC webinar. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced the completion of all IT initiatives for the implementation of the Forever GI Bill – also known as the Colmery Act – and the full deployment of associated software and systems, finishing the implementation of a policy initiative that initially put VA’s IT in the headlines for the wrong reasons. […]

The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) has announced the election of Allison Lerner as the group’s new chairperson, effective in January. […]

House members led by Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Gerry Connolly, D-Va., introduced legislation on Dec. 15 that will monitor any “midnight” regulations put into place in the waning days of the Trump administration. […]

In a push to help students and faculty feel safer in their classrooms, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is looking to help K-12 schools make data-driven decisions on how to use current and evolving security procedures and technologies to improve school security – primarily against active assailants. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) is continuing a partnership with Bastille Networks—an Atlanta-based Internet of Things (IoT) technology start-up—by awarding the company a Phase 5 Other Transaction Agreement (OTA). […]

The $908 billion emergency COVID relief package debuted Dec. 14 by a bipartisan group of senators proposed another big round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) work for the Small Business Administration (SBA), along with a $10 billion lifeline for broadband connectivity and distance learning programs. […]

President Trump on Dec. 11 signed an executive order (EO) giving Federal employees the full day off on Christmas Eve. While Christmas Eve is not officially a Federal holiday, President Trump gave Federal employees Dec. 24 off in 2019 and 2018, as well. Department heads will still ultimately have the last call as the EO […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a Dec. 10 report the Department of Defense (DoD) is at risk of not being able to fully achieve its electromagnetic system (EMS) strategy goals without addressing key issues. […]

New legislation being prepared by House leaders will aim to track the promulgation of any “midnight” regulations by the outgoing Trump administration with an eye to amending or eliminating any eleventh-hour rules that are not based on “evidence and research.” […]

Federal government agencies are making consistent progress on going paperless and 97 percent of agencies believe they will meet the December 2022 deadline, set in Memorandum-19-21, to properly manage permanent files, according to a National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) report. […]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has officially adopted rules for identifying, removing, and replacing telecommunications equipment that could pose a national security threat to the United States. […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning consumers about scams related to the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine, which could see distribution authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – after applications are reviewed by the third or fourth week of December 2020. […]

President-elect Joe Biden announced today that his administration will be nominating Denis McDonough as Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as naming a few others to key cabinet positions. “This dedicated and distinguished group of public servants will bring the highest level of experience, compassion, and integrity to bear, solving problems and expanding possibilities […]

While larger Federal government agencies had the resources necessary to facilitate a shift to large-scale telework earlier this year, some smaller agencies had a more difficult time mounting similar efforts, a State Department official said at a Dec. 9 AFCEA Bethesda webinar. […]

Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., along with 16 House colleagues in a Dec. 7 letter, called on Senate and House appropriators to prioritize funding for broadband infrastructure projects and reject proposed cuts included in the Senate version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 funding bill. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced its new Hacking for Homeland Security (H4HS) Program today, which aims to leverage university students to take new approaches and create unique solutions for agency-identified issues. […]

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is soliciting public comment through Feb. 1, 2021, on a proposed rule for the permanent digitization of public records. The agency – which publicly posted the proposed rule on Dec. 1 – said the measure is integral to civilian agencies going fully paperless by December 2022. […]

The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Integrated Award Environment (IAE) program consolidates separate systems into the beta.SAM.gov website, but on April 26, 2021, the current SAM.gov will be integrated into the modernized beta.SAM.gov environment – with the term ‘beta’ being retired. […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has created a new webpage for the transition to the incoming Biden administration and the 117th Congress which begins in January. […]

President-elect Joe Biden said today he will nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The nomination will be subject to Senate confirmation. Becerra is a former member of Congress and would become the first Latino to head HHS. […]

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, is leading a bipartisan group of 49 members of Congress urging Senate and House leadership to include in end-of-year legislation language to make permanent Medicare telehealth expansions that were enacted earlier this year. […]

There’s nothing more important in the Federal Trade Commission’s mission than consumer protection. A recent upgrade to the agency’s consumer fraud reporting site that focuses on eliciting more precise – and thus more valuable – data from fraud victims is benefiting not only ripped-off consumers, but also the larger law enforcement community that depends on the same data to combat criminal activity. […]