Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
Budget Federal spending

The chair of a key Senate committee expressed support this week for the Biden administration’s proposal to increase Federal funding to advance artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, and other emerging technologies, along with boosting support for the Department of Energy’s (DoE) Office of Science. […]

VA, Veterans Affairs

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Oracle Cerner have extended the contract for the Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program for one month as current contract negotiations between the two parties continue. […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified two significant tech-related ways to potentially save taxpayers billions of dollars in its 14th annual report that aims to identify overlap, duplication, and fragmentation across the Federal government. […]

Department of Commerce

The Commerce Department said on May 23 that it has reached a preliminary agreement with Absolics to provide the company with $75 million of CHIPS and Science Act funding that will support the company’s construction of a facility in Covington, Ga., where it will develop substrates technology for use in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. […]

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released on May 20 is offering some good news: the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) since last year has improved its capabilities to protect personally identifiable information (PII). […]

taxes, IRS

The IRS has announced the extension of its current Free File program through 2029 under an agreement with Free File, Inc. – a partnership between the agency and several tax preparation software firms – that provides free access to tax prep and online filing software. […]

military private sector government contract spending procurement-min 1

As U.S. military veterans make the transition from serving in the armed forces to securing new employment in the civilian workforce, employers need to pay attention to how skills learned in the military can best translate into civilian jobs including those in the IT and cybersecurity fields, a senior Labor Department official said this week. […]

Robin Carnahan

The General Services Administration (GSA) is making strides in advancing the three pillars of the President’s Management Agenda (PMA), with Administrator Robin Carnahan saying this week that doubling down on efforts to recruit AI talent into the Federal government is “paying off.” […]

Dorothy Aronson

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is ahead of schedule in developing a new chatbot that will assist the research community in navigating NSF program websites and matching their ideas with current solicitations, according to a top agency official. […]

The Office of Personnel Management is looking to hire a chief artificial intelligence officer (CAIO), according to a new job posting on USAjobs.gov. […]

As the proliferation of AI technologies across the private and government sectors continues to pick up steam, the top technology official at the Department of Energy (DoE) pointed this week to several areas that are presenting challenges to integrating AI within zero trust architectures moving forward. […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is leveraging the savings it generates from its transition to the cloud services to fund AI technology pilots, the agency’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Acting Chief AI Officer (CAIO) Guy Cavallo said Thursday. […]

CISA

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued guidance on Thursday that aims to help Federal agencies meet requirements related to the encryption of Domain Name System (DNS) traffic and bolster the cybersecurity of their IT networks. […]

CISA
Labor
NIST

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released newly updated guidelines for Federal agencies on how to protect their controlled unclassified information (CUI) when it resides on private-sector systems. […]

EHR

Top lawmakers on the House and Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs introduced new legislation this week that aims to put an end to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) current Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program within two years unless improvements are made. […]

Veterans Affairs

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Chief Information Officer (CIO) Kurt DelBene told lawmakers on Tuesday that the VA’s Office of Information and Technology (OIT) budget for fiscal year (FY) 2025 is a “challenging” one with many significant cuts, but defended its funding increase to support the VA’s Special Salary Rate (SSR). […]

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is giving Federal agencies instructions on how to review, identify, and organize records in their custody relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) – or UFOs as they are more commonly known. […]

Robin Carnahan

The head of the General Services Administration (GSA) said at the agency’s Federal Digital Experience Summit on Tuesday that GSA is working hard on numerous initiatives to improve digital services across the Federal government, and to become “better partners” to companies that do business with the government. […]

General Services Administration GSA Headquarters 1800 F St 18F TTS FAS

Nearly three years ago, the General Services Administration (GSA) embarked on its official journey towards zero trust architecture (ZTA), helped by a $29.8 million Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) award. GSA’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Bo Berlas – who is spearheading the agency’s ZTA journey with the CIO shop – told MeriTalk in an exclusive interview that the Federal procurement agency has notched significant progress for ZTA in its initial three areas of focus: users; devices; and networks. […]

CISA

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, is calling on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to provide more details on a People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored cyber actor – known as Volt Typhoon – which he says poses a national security threat. […]

NASA

The Department of Commerce announced today that it has entered into a preliminary agreement with Polar Semiconductor to provide the company with $120 million under the CHIPS and Science Act to expand the company’s semiconductor manufacturing facility in Bloomington, Minnesota. […]

Jen Easterly

The head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said today that her team has plans to unveil its own international cyber strategy on the heels of the State Department’s release of its International Cyberspace and Digital Policy Strategy during the RSA Conference in San Francisco last week. […]

EHR, electronic health record

Three Democratic senators are calling on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to push for stronger accountability provisions in its ongoing contract negotiations with Oracle Cerner on the Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) program. […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is claiming that the agency generated a $70.4 billion return on investment during fiscal year 2023 as a result of its oversight work. […]

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