As the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) activates its “fourth mission” duties to provide lifesaving aid during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Chief Data Officer Kshemendra Paul said at a May 27 Federal Data Strategy Conference that scaling telemedicine has been a “huge success story” of the agency’s capabilities. […]
The U.S. government is seeking input for its implementation plan for 5G infrastructure and deployment while also seeking feedback on how the country should collaborate internationally and prepare for future iterations of wireless technologies. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) hired Mojdeh Bahar, former assistant administrator for technology transfer at the Department of Agriculture’s Research Service, as the second associate director for innovation and industry services (ADIIS), per a May 22 press release. […]
A new bill introduced by Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., would task the Department of Commerce with conducting a quantum computing study to outline economic benefits of the technology, and identify and mitigate supply chain risks. […]
The U.S. Census Bureau is seeking industry input on a new acquisition strategy to revamp its cybersecurity practices over the next decade, according to a May 20 request for information (RFI). […]
The manager of the Federal government’s airwaves petitioned the organization which oversees airwaves’ commercial use, the Federal Communications Commission, to reconsider its April decision to allow the Virginia-based company Ligado to operate in a spectrum band that the military and others claim could cause interference. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified in a new report 168 new actions that Congress and Federal agencies could to take to improve efficiency and effectiveness across the Federal government, including two new recommendations involving information technology. […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced May 21 it is partnering with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to promote the use of $50 million in funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to help close the digital divide during the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) released a new chatbot this week to respond to frequently asked COVID-19 questions, including triaging symptoms, telehealth troubleshooting, and rescheduling appointments. […]
The same day that the United States’ Department of Energy and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency teamed up to release an infographic of best practices for industrial control systems, their counterparts across the pond released their guidance. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology released Special Publication 800-137A, guidance on how to assess Information Security Continuous Monitoring (ISCM) programs for commercial entities as well as Federal, state, and local government organizations. […]
Federal agencies and departments have spent more than $13 billion on COVID-19 related contracts since February – including an additional $3 billion in just the past nine days. […]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is considering a new approach to the Strategic National Stockpile, a “supply chain IT control tower” that would allow officials a full, comprehensive view of emergency supplies. […]
In a letter to the Department of Transportation (DoT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., called for the expansion of drone use to facilitate contact-free delivery of medical supplies and other needed equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
Nick Ward, Chief Information Security Officer at the Department of Justice (DoJ), said the agency is proceeding “full steam ahead” on efforts to explore adoption of zero trust security models, with the more distributed nature of DoJ’s workforce in the coronavirus pandemic providing impetus to that effort. […]
The Spectrum IT Modernization Act, which advanced on a voice vote out of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on May 20, takes aim at revamping the way the Federal government manages the airwaves. […]
Apple and Google are launching the Exposure Notification application programming interface (API) that will enable apps created by public health agencies to work more effectively in contact tracing of COVID-19. […]
A Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) national recruiter exposed sensitive information including locations, phone numbers, and emails of more than 1,300 American University students following a virtual job fair on May 15. […]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Federal IT operations are providing a resilient fabric that enables accelerated delivery of vital services to citizens during an unprecedented public health crisis. As government IT operations reach their new steady-state and map the path to further modernization, MeriTalk is surfacing the untold stories – and lessons – of those efforts. In the latest installment of CIO Crossroads, we examine the Labor Department’s performance eight weeks into the fray. […]
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, agencies like the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have made the telework transition much easier for their personnel because of cloud-based systems. […]
The National Institutes of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) is asking industry to demonstrate products and technical expertise to support its project entitled, 5G Cybersecurity: Preparing a Secure Evolution. […]
Consolidating Federal data centers through adoption of cloud and shared services has the “greatest potential” for streamlining the use of Federal resources, according to Thomas Santucci, director of the Data Center and Cloud Optimization Infrastructure Program Management Office at the General Services Administration (GSA). […]
The CIOs of the Agriculture (USDA) and Transportation (DoT) Departments said today that workforce productivity trends have been stable or improved since both agencies turned to large-scale telework in March to combat spread of COVID-19. […]
In a project between ACT-IAC’s Emerging Technology Group and the Acquisition Community of Interest (COI) important takeaways were found for improving training, implementing modern techniques, and integrating appropriate tools for improving the Federal acquisition process. […]
The final version of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-207 on zero trust could be released as soon as this month, with an opportunity for industry collaboration coming this fall, a NIST official confirmed today. […]
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was joined by a bipartisan group of senators to introduce legislation that would expedite staffing for the special pandemic recovery watchdog that oversees trillions in taxpayer funded pandemic relief. […]
According to a request for information (RFI), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is seeking to modernize its grants management system with an end-to-end automated solution. […]
The Department of Commerce (DoC) has amended an existing rule in order to prevent China-based network equipment maker Huawei from using U.S. technologies to design and manufacture semiconductors. […]
During the COVID-19 crisis, Federal agencies are vulnerable to more cyberattacks and data breaches than ever before, but agencies like the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) are working hard to address the cybersecurity challenges. […]
On the same day that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a joint warning to COVID-19 research organizations about China’s cyber threat, the Cyberspace Solarium Commission got its hearing in the Senate. […]