While the Defense Department (DoD) has been working hard on developing AI capabilities – and has run into challenges that DoD usually faces when acquiring new technologies – a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says it’s too soon to assess effectiveness of the overall effort. […]
University professors and Tribal leaders are using a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop narrative technology tools to address the lack of representation of Indigenous culture, history, and stories in K-12 classrooms. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has faced a troubled rollout of its Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program, including underreported costs, deficiencies in training, and diminished employee morale. But VA’s recently installed CIO says the agency is coming to grips with those problems and looking for better performance in coming expansions of the program. […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted rules intended to unlock broadband competition for those living and working in apartments, public housing, office buildings, and other multi-tenant buildings. […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) has committed to increasing the number of Historically Black Colleges and Universities with Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts in fiscal year (FY) 2022, which ends Sept. 30., according to a press release. […]
The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) announced it hired Russell Rappel-Schmid as PRC’s first chief data officer (CDO), and also unveiled a new service performance data dashboard. […]
The General Services Administration is extending the deadline – by one year – for Federal agencies to transition off of their Networx telecommunications contracts by implementing a continuation of services (CoS) clause, a GSA spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk today. […]
A group of Senate Democrats is calling for the removal of facial recognition technology in verification processes for state unemployment programs. […]
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking information from vendors about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to detect cyberattacks on power plants. […]
A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds that the U.S. Census Bureau delayed decisions regarding IT plans and capabilities for the 2020 Census, which led to schedule impacts, cost increases, and reduced scope. […]
The Department of Education (DoE) has released new updates to its College Scorecard that are intended to make the tool more useful for students and families weighing college options. DoE said that updates may also be beneficial to school counselors, college access providers, researchers, and other critical stakeholders. […]
Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat, who is retiring from government service at the end of March, reported this week that Federal civilian agencies are making solid progress to expand beyond the pilot phase an initiative to put chat and collaboration tools in place across agencies. […]
House Democrats in recent weeks have asked the Biden administration about its plans to improve diversity across the national security workforce. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a new report said the Defense Department (DoD) needs to improve stakeholder input and data gathering practices to better meet its obligations for reporting on national security topics to Congress. […]
Several Federal agencies that have been tasked with promoting the adoption of cybersecurity standards by private-sector critical infrastructure providers are coming up short in their efforts to evaluate whether private providers are getting that work done. […]
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee held a second hearing Feb. 9 on the nomination of Gigi Sohn to become an FCC commissioner, which produced little in the way of new information about her qualifications for the position, and not much insight into when or whether the Senate may take action to confirm the nomination. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is taking a deeper look to evaluate its supply chain management system, the Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support (DMLSS), which the VA adopted from the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Logistics Agency in 2019. […]
A group of House and Senate members from both major political parties urged five Federal agencies in Feb. 9 letters to end their use of facial recognition technologies, particularly those that employ AI tools supplied by software firm Clearview. […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said it plans to commit nearly $125.9 million in its ninth wave of Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) program support. […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) has awarded the second cohort of the 8(a) STARS III Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) to streamline procurement from prime contractors. […]
The IRS is planning to transition away from using facial recognition technology provider ID.me to verify IRS.gov accounts, according to Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore. […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has launched two new online resources for supporting noncitizen service members, veterans, and their families. […]
Steven McAndrews has left his position as director of Federal cybersecurity at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to take on a new role as deputy CIO at the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). […]
While the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is making progress in communicating with training providers, veterans, and employers for its pilot program to support veterans enrolling in certain technology training programs, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said VA has yet to come up with documented and measurable pilot objectives for the program, among other shortfalls. […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) and the General Services Administration (GSA) today issued a request for information to learn more about capabilities necessary to achieve the goal of President Biden’s executive order issued last December to cut carbon emissions across government and reach the goal of using 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report this week urging the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to address data management challenges with its Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program, which has come under fire in recent months from Congress over a troubled roll-out and inaccurate cost estimates. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Paul Cunningham has announced his intent to retire, a VA spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk. […]
Luis Campudoni has been named Acting CIO at the Small Business Administration (SBA) following news that CIO Keith Bluestein will be absent from his position for an indefinite period. […]
The Department of Labor (DoL) has announced up to $15 million in grants to states and territories to ensure that Americans eligible for unemployment insurance (UI) can apply and receive their benefits. […]
In a report on the Department of Commerce’s system security assessment process, the Commerce Inspector General (IG) found that the agency must improve the system and continuous monitoring program for effective security controls. […]