Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy

By 2023, nearly 30 percent of Federal employees will be eligible for retirement – a soon-to-be reality that keeps Federal agency and IT leaders up at night. How can leaders prepare for greater productivity, capture as much institutional knowledge as possible in the interim, and ensure mission continuity and efficiency as new employees onboard? Process and infrastructure automation is an essential part of the solution. […]

Senators Maggie Hassan, D-N.H. and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, introduced bipartisan legislation that would mandate the Department of Treasury and other Federal entities to review the use and mining of cryptocurrencies globally, and submit a detailed report on the issue to multiple congressional committees. […]

Senate hearing Congressional-min
CISA

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released version 1.0 of its Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) 3.0 Remote User Use Case to provide guidance on securely implementing and configuring specific platforms, services, and environments. […]

EHR

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program has been under fire in recent months after two VA Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) reports revealed program missteps and underreported, unreported, or unknown program costs. In response, the VA pledged to provide a full lifecycle cost estimate of the program – which Congress wanted to see within 90 days – but a VA official said today that the cost estimate will take at least 12 months to complete. […]

General Services Administration GSA

Paul Cunningham, chief information security officer (CISO) at the Department of Veterans (VA), explained this week how the agency is addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities to protect its users and their health care and financial data as the agency has turned increasingly to providing telehealth services for veterans. […]

DHS

In light of this year’s cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline and other critical infrastructure targets in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) component is prepping a new cybersecurity directive covering “high-risk” railroad operations, according to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.  […]

IRS
website

The newly created Made in America Office has set up an official website in an effort to promote transparency in Federal procurement by publishing proposed waivers and outcomes to Made in America laws. […]

A sampling of Federal agencies’ efforts to provide remote access for telework during the COVID-19 pandemic shows that each of the agencies was able to put the right technologies in place to accomplish that goal, but that several had not fully addressed relevant guidance for securing remote access systems, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found. […]

FCC

 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received a mostly favorable review from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on how the agency is proceeding with improving broadband service access maps, but GAO also flagged that the FCC will face technological challenges with integrating disparate sources of broadband service location data. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) has been working to establish a software acquisition pathway that emphasizes rapid delivery and user engagement, but the Pentagon has not collected data or developed tools needed to oversee programs using the pathways, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). […]

Space NASA Satellites
CDC
FCC

Dominic Sale, who for years helped lead Federal government IT modernization efforts at the General Services Administration (GSA), left government service earlier this month for a new position with Dynamic Integrated Services (DIS), a provider of IT, enterprise, and communications solutions to government and other customers. […]

Labor

The Department of Labor (DoL) awarded Verizon Public Sector five Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions task orders worth $887 million to help substantially modernize its legacy communications and information technology capabilities. […]

State Department
FCC

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) selected Lumen Technologies for a network modernization contract to strengthen and modernize its network services that support more than 32,000 post offices and mail processing sites around the country.  […]

IRS
FCC, Chinese suppliers
USDA Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a major initiative to modernize its IT operations back in 2017 by launching Farmers.gov to provide online self-service applications. However, improved oversight of the site is necessary to improve customer service for farmers and ranchers. […]

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded $73 million in cooperative agreements to 10 awardees as a part of its Public Health Informatics & Technology Workforce Development Program (PHIT Workforce Program). […]

cybersecurity

As part of a government-wide effort to counter ransomware, the U.S. Department of the Treasury is taking robust actions to disrupt criminal networks and virtual currency exchanges responsible for laundering ransoms, encourage best cyber practices, and increase efficient and timely incident reporting to agencies. […]

In the early days of the pandemic, the General Services Administration (GSA) leveraged new technologies to advance their electronic records management systems and processes, said Dave Simmons, knowledge management specialist and senior records officer for GSA, on September 21 at an FCW webinar. […]

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