Senators and Federal government officials sparred over the country’s 5G-readiness and supply chain security at a hearing today of the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. […]
When thinking about robotic process automation (RPA), one might imagine advanced robotics assuming job functions alongside Tony Stark (of Marvel Comics Iron Man fame) in a lab, but the National Science Foundation (NSF) wants agencies to think of RPA as more of a software management project. […]
Federal agencies are making progress in assessing and articulating their IT staffing needs, but lag behind on developing strategies to tackle those gaps and keep track of progress in addressing them, according to a report released October 30 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). […]
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 General Services Administration’s (GSA) chief financial officer said today that adoption of robotic process automation (RPA) technologies across Federal agencies is helping to reduce manual tasks performed by the Federal workforce, but without the worrisome byproduct of trimming Federal government jobs. […]
The process of sharing datasets across Federal agencies is a complex one, and one Federal expert said today that pre-existing rules governing already-collected data can hinder interagency sharing opportunities. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is looking to update the techniques used to generate digital signatures under FIPS 186-5 and is seeking public comment, as noted in an upcoming Federal Register post. […]
The Small Business Administration (SBA) has been using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to sniff out bogus websites that are trying to interact with the agency and its networks, a senior IT leader at the agency said on Oct. 29. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) provided a glimpse into its vision for the organization’s Science, Technology Assessment and Analytics (STAA) team and Innovation Lab, at the Modernization in Action event on Oct. 29. […]
The Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program has an important role to play in protecting Federal systems, but the adoption process can be downright scary for some agencies. On Halloween, MeriTalk will host a webinar to dig through the skeletons and challenges in CDM’s closet, shine a flashlight on the success stories of the program, and ultimately help demystify the CDM program for vendors and agencies alike. […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) is looking to industry for advice on how the agency can share and spread human centered design (HCD) practices across the Federal government, as noted in a request for information released today. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is tackling managed service provider (MSPs) cybersecurity by developing a customizable reference model that MSPs can adapt to fit their program needs. […]
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. […]
The Advancing Cybersecurity Diagnostics and Mitigation Act, H.R. 4237, was unanimously approved by the House Homeland Security Committee on Oct. 23. […]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are looking to improve program administration with the usage of data analytics, automated technologies, and other emerging technologies, according to a request for information released on October 21. The RFI is open until November 20. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) mitigated security threats and met security standards in most domains of mobile device management, according to a report from VA’s inspector general released October 22. […]
Reps. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., and Cathy McMorris, R-Wash., introduced the US SAFE WEB Extension Act on Oct. 22, which would enable the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to protect Americans from fraud, spam, and deception online. […]
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. […]
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on securing elections, witnesses from law enforcement agencies were asked a litany of questions related to the security of U.S. elections for 2020, including what kind of new measures were being taken during this cycle. […]
Erica Thomas, a robotic process automation (RPA) Program Manager at the Department of Defense (DoD), said Oct. 21 that efforts to deploy RPA technologies in financial accounting systems are providing a boost in the morale of agency employees who are being freed from performing repetitive tasks. […]
Officials from the Departments of Defense (DoD), Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are bootstrapping an effort to further clarify and detail roles and career paths of the Federal cybersecurity workforce, the officials said Oct. 21 at the ACT-IAC Imagine Nation 2019 conference. […]
The Department of Interior (DOI) is seeking to acquire a new cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) electronic records management system from a commercial provider. […]
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) made its first investment under its ReConnect pilot program to support broadband availability, offering $2.85 million to a local service provider in Tennessee, the department announced October 18. […]
A new Office of Inspector General (OIG) report for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) found that veterans’ sensitive personal information was accessible on a shared network by veterans service organization (VSO) officers who didn’t represent the veterans. […]
Despite the passage of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, the Department of Labor (DoL) is providing low funding for evaluation activities compared to previous years, according to documents obtained by the Data Coalition. […]
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in an Oct. 11 report that H.R. 1975, the Cybersecurity Advisory Committee Authorization Act of 2019, would cost $2 million dollars over the next five years to implement. […]
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working to share more of its custom-developed software by amending its acquisition regulations to inventory and catalog its custom code, according to an upcoming Federal Register post. […]
According to an Office of Inspector General (OIG) Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) report, the PBGC’s overall cybersecurity performance independent assessment rating is “not effective.” […]
The Department of the Treasury’s inspector general added IT acquisition and project management as one of the agency’s top challenges and kept cybersecurity on the list of the most serious management and performance challenges facing the department. […]
A group of House Democrats introduced a bill aimed at combating disinformation online and prevent foreign election interference. […]

























