Several states have started weighing alternative plans to the First Responder Network Authority’s initial outlines to create and operate a broadband network that supports first responder groups. Here’s what Arizona, Colorado, and New Hampshire are considering. […]
The General Services Administration is close to awarding a $50 billion contract for its Enterprise Infrastructure Solution (EIS), Bill Zielinski, assistant commissioner for category management at GSA, announced July 13. […]
More than one-third of the Small Business Administration’s 120 circuits are overloaded. To resolve this issue, chief information officer Maria Roat plans to modernize SBA’s infrastructure by moving to a “pure Ethernet backbone.” She said Ethernet will help employees with Skype and virtual counseling, and will extend to all of the agency’s field offices. […]
The Federal Communications Commission’s authority to create net neutrality policy is uncertain, so Congress needs to draft legislation that creates a definitive authority for which actions the FCC can and cannot take for the sake of net neutrality, according to experts who spoke at an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation panel. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cyber Risks Economics (CyRiE) project on July 7 awarded $220,209 to the University of Tulsa to study how to quantify the value of data sharing and to promote increased sharing in the cybersecurity community. […]
The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate is hosting its 2017 Cyber Security Research and Development Showcase featuring more than 115 technologies. The showcase, the Federal government’s largest cybersecurity training workshop, will run July 11-13 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. […]
GSA’s 18F provides positive competition to consultants and contractors, according to Booz Allen Hamilton vice president Bryce Pippert. The proof: the success of DATA Act implementation and the beta website of usaspending.gov. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate on June 28 unveiled its new Enhanced Dynamic Geo-Social Environment virtual training platform, which resembles an augmented reality video game. EDGE is an online, multiplayer environment that allows first responders to practice incident response scenarios. […]
The transparent reporting of spending data through Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA) requirements will go a long way to increasing public trust in the government, according to legislators and agency officials who spoke at the DATA Summit on June 29. […]
Booz Allen Hamilton made its analytics platform free for the government, military, and academic sectors. […]
As of June 28, the First Responder Network Authority team has met with 24 states to discuss the nationwide high-speed data network for first responders that the agency plans deploy over a 25-year contract with AT&T. […]
The Federal Communications Commission last week approved guidelines it will use to evaluate network proposals for states that want to opt out of FirstNet, the wireless broadband public safety network that AT&T is developing. AT&T was awarded the $6.5 billion contract earlier this year. […]
The number of reported Internet crimes and the costs incurred by those crimes are on the rise, according to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center’s recently released 2016 Internet Threat Report. The “hottest” Internet crimes of 2016 were business email compromise, ransomware, tech support fraud, and extortion. […]
The underreporting of cyber incidents is a chief issue across Federal agencies, according to Kevin Cox, Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program manager for the department of Homeland Security. However, when the CDM Federal dashboard launches in July, agencies will be able to view not only their own cybersecurity issues, but also those of their fellow agencies. […]
To protect the nation’s digital infrastructure, Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, said it’s important to empower agency leadership and expand information sharing between the Federal government and other entities. […]
The Department of Health and Human Services recently named Bruce D. Greenstein as its new chief technology officer. […]
The Department of Energy will grant $258 million to six technology companies that are working to create the nation’s first exascale supercomputer. […]
Autonomous vehicle technologies have the potential to eliminate road deaths worldwide, according to the Department of Transportation. Companies including Transurban are jumping at the chance to be a part of the autonomous vehicle revolution. […]
Over the past few years, the department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has started using cloud computing services. Michael Giardinelli, a senior software engineer and technical team lead at PNNL, said the lab’s 16 counterparts across the nation have embarked on similar cloud journeys. “A lot of them are moving in same direction as us,” Giardinelli said. “One key thing is collaboration amongst labs, like when working through the power grid.” […]
Cloud infrastructure may be the safest place to store an agency’s most sensitive data, department of Justice officials said at an AWS Public Sector Summit. “I’d say it’s a pretty good place to put your crown jewels,” said Karl Mathias, chief information officer for the United States Marshals Service, adding that commercial clouds may end up being safer than an agency’s own data centers. […]
Mark Schwartz is stepping down from his post as chief information officer of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. […]
Citing the WannaCry ransomware attacks, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee brought up concerns with Health and Human Services officials that a similar attack could cause severe damage to U.S. health systems. […]
The Federal Communications Commission announced June 8 that it made updates to its Connect2Health Mapping Tool, which shows areas of the United States that lack broadband connectivity and health care resources. The changes include adding the most recent data on broadband and health care access to the map from the FCC and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s County Health Rankings. […]
The Federal Emergency Management Agency on June 30 will become the first component within the Department of Homeland Security to completely roll out Microsoft Office 365 within the agency’s systems. That move is one of several initiatives Adrian Gardner, the agency’s chief information officer, is working on. By late September, FEMA aims to deploy derived credentials, which would enable employees to access the agency system from their mobile devices. […]
Government, industry, and the Hill got together for a collaborative powwow about government cloud progress, and specifically FedRAMP, the standardized cloud security certification, at the MeriTalk Cloud Computing Brainstorm on June 7 at the Newseum. The session reviewed progress to date and the path forward for the once-embattled GSA program–and revealed new transparency and important […]
Josh Ziman, technology product manager within the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, said agencies need to evaluate their biggest constraints before big efforts. He and his team addressed the question of how much space was in their data centers by automating their records system. […]
The Office of Personnel Management released a memorandum last week that extended the deadline for agencies to submit their Agency Reform Plans on executive branch reorganization. […]
Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Scott Taylor, R-Va., introduced the Hack the Department of Homeland Security Act, a bill that would establish a bug bounty program that encourages white-hat hackers to search for and report vulnerabilities within DHS systems. […]
Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin announced that his agency plans to move its medical records to the same electronic system currently used by the Department of Defense. […]
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency tweeted June 5 that David Bray will assume the new role of chief ventures officer. Bray, chief information officer of the Federal Communications Commission, will be tasked with driving internal and commercial innovation when he moves to the NGA in July. […]