The Department of the Interior received 18 security-related recommendations in a KPMG Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) audit, which identified several information security risks across the agency. […]

Amid discussions of data governance at an IBM Think Gov panel yesterday, Department of Homeland Security Data Manager Col. John Scott explained an interagency predictive analytics program in development between the Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veteran Affairs (VA). […]

The government has been trying to apply artificial intelligence to combat the opioid crisis, with projects like real-time mapping of the signs of illegal drug use, and prescription monitoring programs to identify high rates of opioid prescriptions and incidents of “doctor shopping” for the drugs. […]

The Department of Labor (DOL) on March 13 announced creation of a Chief Data Officer (CDO) position in accordance with the OPEN Government Data Act, which includes directing the heads of each Federal agency to “designate a nonpolitical appointee employee in the agency as the CDO of the agency.” […]

Officials from various Federal agencies are focusing on data-driven approaches, utilizing blockchain, and business-focused functions to brace for a digital future. […]

The Cyber Diplomacy Act, H.R. 739, was scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Wednesday and the CBO found it would not have a material impact on government spending. […]

Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at the Department of Homeland Security, provided an update to Congress today about how CISA is working to secure election infrastructure ahead of the 2020 Presidential election. […]

While opening a Senate Small Business Committee hearing on cybercrimes against small businesses today, committee Chairman Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., announced his rollout of two pieces of legislation which would aim to create greater accountability at the Small Business Administration (SBA) and to expand small business cybersecurity awareness and training resources. […]

Security controls across eight Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) operating divisions (OPDIVs) need improvement to better detect and counter cyberattacks, the agency’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) said in a report issued today. […]

Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, issued a statement on Tuesday urging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “pause” activities to spread the use of facial recognition technologies and develop policy that will further inform U.S. citizens about the technology and what happens to the data that it generates. […]

Emily Murphy, administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), explained the agency’s extensive portfolio of IT modernization work at a GSA oversight hearing held today by the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. […]

As the Federal government continues toward technological modernization, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced yesterday in a blog post that it is offering a new Software License Management (SLM) program–SLM Fast–to more efficiently, securely, and cost-effectively manage software. […]

After reviewing 24 Federal agencies that cover work in IT, cybersecurity, or cyber-related projects, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a report today that six of these agencies did not accurately categorize the work roles of their work positions and that 22 assigned non-IT roles to about 19 percent of their IT positions. […]

Successfully implementing DevOps methodology requires a maturation process and cultural shift for organizations, experts from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) advised today. […]

After committing to DevOps – a software development practice that combines development and information technology (IT) operations – two and a half years ago, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has made major strides in increasing the speed and efficiency of its IT initiatives, according to Kaschit Pandya, IRS Enterprise Operations deputy associate CIO. […]

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology met today to hear testimony on H.R. 1644, the Save the Internet Act, which would roll back net neutrality rules to their 2015 level. […]

Through efforts such as the Centers of Excellence, common standards, and consolidation of schedules, the General Services Administration is looking to support modernization efforts across government and modernize its own systems and processes, GSA Administrator Emily Murphy said today. […]

The Department of Interior has brought in Alaska’s first statewide CIO, Bill Vajda to fulfill the same role. […]

Government-wide security clearance processes, and the half million-plus backlog in the clearance applications pipeline, made the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) High-Risk report last week as a contributing factor to the larger problem of ensuring IT security, generally. […]

The 2020 U.S. Census is on the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO’s) list of high-risk programs, particularly out of concern for the U.S. Census Bureau’s ability to implement modified information technology (IT) systems to efficiently collect and secure data in a timely and cost-effective manner. […]

Even though the broad category of U.S. cybersecurity has spent more than ten years on the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) High-Risk List, it appears there’s still plenty of work to be done in improving cyber defense, according to GAO’s update to the list issued earlier this week. […]

The Government Accountability Office encouraged the Departments of Transportation (DoT) and Labor (DoL) to continue working closely with trucking stakeholders in a study released yesterday that analyzed the potential workforce effects of automated trucking. […]

The House Foreign Affairs Committee marked up the Cyber Diplomacy Act yesterday, signaling the overall approval of the legislation by the committee. […]

The General Services Administration announced Thursday that they are adding a category for cloud-oriented IT professional services to IT Schedule 70 under the Cloud Special Item Number (SIN), as well as draft updates for existing software SINs. […]

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr., D-N.J., and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., said this week they are concerned that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may be violating the Federal Records Act (FRA). […]

While a Federal government-wide database on fees would require a lot of resources to implement, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) should aim to make more fee data available to the public, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday. […]

In written testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations, Alicia Puente, director of Financial Market and Community Investment at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), suggested that increased authorities for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) could enhance privacy enforcement and consumer protection online. […]

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) director Christopher Krebs said that a strategic risk assessment of 5G technology would be completed within “a couple months” at the RSA Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. […]

U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, who heads the Government Accountability Office, said in congressional testimony on Wednesday he is “hopeful” that Robert Wilkie, who became the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in July 2018, will have more luck cracking the agency’s pressing problems, including IT, than his predecessors. […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) released the solicitation for the $5.5 billion 2nd Generation Information Technology (2GIT) blanket purchase agreements (BPAs), which will replace the existing NETCENTS-2 contract. Vendors have until April 18 to respond. […]