In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., 20 Democratic senators plus Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, urged leadership to include maximum telework provisions for Federal employees and contractors in the next coronavirus relief package. […]
Federal government IT and its ability to deliver vital services to citizens is often said to be one of the few notably bipartisan issues left in Congress, and that sentiment was on clear display as the House Government Operations Subcommittee unveiled its tenth FITARA Scorecard at a public hearing on August 3. […]
After moving to nearly 90 percent telework in April, the State Department has entered the second phase of its reopening plan. […]
The Departments of Homeland Security and Commerce released an update to their ongoing work to address botnets, automated and distributed attacks on the internet, which threaten the nation’s internet infrastructure. […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) announced the completion of the second phase of its Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) consolidation and has now begun its third and final phase. […]
On July 30, the Senate passed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Information Technology Reform Act, which would improve VA management of IT projects and investments, among other things. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released the final versions of three of the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) 3.0 guidance documents today. […]
As the congressionally mandated National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service concludes its three-year effort, several of its cyber workforce recommendations are ripe for legislative action, including the idea of a civilian cybersecurity reserve. […]
This week the Federal agency primarily responsible for protecting elections held a training event to test its plans in advance of November’s Election Day. The third “Tabletop the Vote” exercise hosted by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, took place over a three day period from July 28 to 30, featuring 37 states and over 2,000 total participants, the majority of which participated remotely. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is looking to gain feedback on Draft NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-53B, Control Baselines for Information Systems and Organizations. […]
Department of Agriculture (USDA) CIO Gary Washington is crediting the cloud for keeping agency networks cyber-secure during the coronavirus pandemic, and lauding the technology’s cost-savings and efficiency benefits in a remote environment. […]
While telecommunications providers in the United States prepare to rip out and replace gear from China-based Huawei and the United Kingdom has moved to eventually ban the company’s equipment from its 5G networks, the German government has officially stated its neutrality in the matter. […]
As the COVID-19 pandemic marches into August, many Federal agencies are reflecting on the challenges of their initial transition to the telework environment, what positives have resulted, and lessons learned from the transition. […]
In a report to congressional committees, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found through data analysis that a majority of government-wide contracting in response to COVID-19— about 62 percent—is going to items that protect patients and healthcare workers, but that most deals have been awarded noncompetitively. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency announced that its third annual National Cybersecurity Summit will move online this year and take place through a series of weekly webinars starting in September. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is implementing a national digital divide consult as a part of its efforts to ensure that veterans without broadband connectivity can access necessary telehealth services, an agency official confirmed at a July 29 Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing. […]
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has identified warning signs for procurement officials on how to spot anticompetitive bidding schemes that may be used to procure COVID-19 relief funds. […]
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a slew of new Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) initiatives on July 28 to enable innovative research objectives through technologies such as AI and cloud. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Information and Technology and Loan Guaranty Service awarded a contract worth up to $328 million to Accenture to modernize the VA’s home loan program. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced July 28 the second annual President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition. Registration is open to any Federal Executive branch employee, including Department of Defense (DoD) and uniformed service members, with a knack for cybersecurity. Individuals can either register solo or as part of a team. […]
While contact tracing applications for COVID-19 can reach more people than traditional contact tracing methods, policymakers will still have to weigh the benefits and challenges of utilizing the new technology, including privacy and security issues. […]
Technologists responsible for the website of the Department of Veterans Affairs and other government websites emphasized the need for accessibility, ensuring that no one is excluded from access. […]
Congress is looking to hammer out its next COVID-19 relief bill in the coming weeks and it looks like it will be a contentious negotiation. As part of its opening salvo, Senate GOP leadership released their policy proposal on July 27. […]
The Departments of Veteran Affairs (VA), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Energy are partnering on a new initiative to share COVID-19 health data to enable the research and expertise on the virus. […]
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Enforcement Bureau announced today that it has selected the USTelecom-led Industry Traceback Group as the Official Consortium for coordinating industry-led efforts to trace back the origin of unlawful robocalls. […]
Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., introduced the We Need Eviction Data Now Act (H.R. 7743) on July 23 to direct the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to create a database of eviction records. […]
The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) Board has awarded $15 million of funding to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) organization to transform its Collections platform into a modern, cloud-based system. […]
ACT-IAC released its 2021 agenda today listing priority issues that government will face next year including the need for citizen-centric services, transforming national infrastructure, and creating an agile government. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) launched an investigation to see how well facial recognition algorithms could identify people wearing face masks and found that it does so with “great difficulty.” […]
Federal IT has earned the status of lifesaver in the COVID-19 pandemic for its ability to deliver vital services to citizens in times of crisis. MeriTalk is chronicling those successes – along with lessons for the future as agencies turn to the next generation of service improvements. In this edition of CIO Crossroads, we examine the Department of Energy four months into the fray. […]