Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
FCC, Chinese suppliers

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has officially adopted rules for identifying, removing, and replacing telecommunications equipment that could pose a national security threat to the United States. […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning consumers about scams related to the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine, which could see distribution authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – after applications are reviewed by the third or fourth week of December 2020. […]

VA

President-elect Joe Biden announced today that his administration will be nominating Denis McDonough as Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as naming a few others to key cabinet positions. “This dedicated and distinguished group of public servants will bring the highest level of experience, compassion, and integrity to bear, solving problems and expanding possibilities […]

While larger Federal government agencies had the resources necessary to facilitate a shift to large-scale telework earlier this year, some smaller agencies had a more difficult time mounting similar efforts, a State Department official said at a Dec. 9 AFCEA Bethesda webinar. […]

DHS

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced its new Hacking for Homeland Security (H4HS) Program today, which aims to leverage university students to take new approaches and create unique solutions for agency-identified issues. […]

cloud

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is soliciting public comment through Feb. 1, 2021, on a proposed rule for the permanent digitization of public records. The agency – which publicly posted the proposed rule on Dec. 1 – said the measure is integral to civilian agencies going fully paperless by December 2022. […]

The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Integrated Award Environment (IAE) program consolidates separate systems into the beta.SAM.gov website, but on April 26, 2021, the current SAM.gov will be integrated into the modernized beta.SAM.gov environment – with the term ‘beta’ being retired. […]

Health and Human Services HHS

President-elect Joe Biden said today he will nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The nomination will be subject to Senate confirmation. Becerra is a former member of Congress and would become the first Latino to head HHS. […]

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, is leading a bipartisan group of 49 members of Congress urging Senate and House leadership to include in end-of-year legislation language to make permanent Medicare telehealth expansions that were enacted earlier this year. […]

There’s nothing more important in the Federal Trade Commission’s mission than consumer protection. A recent upgrade to the agency’s consumer fraud reporting site that focuses on eliciting more precise – and thus more valuable – data from fraud victims is benefiting not only ripped-off consumers, but also the larger law enforcement community that depends on the same data to combat criminal activity. […]

cybersecurity

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) completed a website redesign for ease of access on Dec. 3, according to a press release from FDIC OIG communications specialist Caitlin McDaniel. The site houses audits, investigations, and reports completed by the department, and now includes filters to sort through those reports easier. The site is also home to joint press releases with the Department of Justice about investigations into the banking sector. […]

AI

President Trump signed an executive order (EO) on Dec. 3 that sets forth guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for Federal civilian agencies, and a roadmap to implementing those guidelines that will out-last the current administration set to depart on January 20. […]

General Services Administration GSA

The Technology Transformation Services (TTS) office housed at the General Services Administration (GSA) is getting new leadership as current GSA CIO David Shive adds acting TTS Director to his curriculum vitae. […]

Census 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the Census Bureau to make a series of late-stage adjustments to the census design and these changes have opened risks to the “quality of data that the Bureau provides for apportioning congressional representation among the states.” […]

As Federal agencies increasingly look to capitalize on the rich data they are collecting, they need to ensure their workforce is up to the challenge. However, many agencies are finding that their current workforce lacks the needed skills.  The Office of Management and Budget estimates that approximately 400,000 Federal employees will need to be reskilled by Fiscal Year 2021 – accounting for nearly 20 percent of the government’s current workforce. To help get the workforce they need in place, agencies are looking for ways to effectively retrain and reskill their workforce to enable an agency-wide digital transformation. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is launching an inspector general (IG) investigation into Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) warrantless tracking of phones after an inquiry from Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. […]

AI
Ajit Pai, FCC Commisioner

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said today he will leave the commission on January 20, 2021, when the Biden administration takes over the executive branch. […]

5G Broadband rural broadband FCC-min
Health and Human Services HHS

Any good healthcare provider will tell you that early diagnosis of a problem can lead to better outcomes down the road – and IT leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proved the enduring truth of that adage in the agency’s quick adjustment to a telework footing as the coronavirus pandemic emerged earlier this year. […]

cybersecurity

The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), a component agency of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), struggled to keep its disaster recovery plan in place during COVID-19, failing to store off-site backups and not conducting testing, according to a report released by the EPA’s inspector general. […]

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is looking to manage the growing number of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with augmented reality tools to ensure safety in the air and visibility for air traffic management. […]

CX Customer experience -min

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has released a “Customer Experience (CX) Cookbook” for Federal agencies that features key ingredients and recipes for embedding CX in Federal services and for cooking up CX best practices. […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LMNL) has turned to a mobile app to let the public time travel to the 1940s. LMNL announced that it has re-released its mobile app, The Secret City: Project Y, which allows users to explore Los Alamos, N.M., as it was during the Manhattan Project in the 1940s. […]

Emily Murphy GSA

House Democratic committee leaders didn’t get the briefing they wanted on Monday from General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Emily Murphy on why she has not yet made a judgement that Joe Biden is the apparent winner of the 2020 presidential election, so they pressed for a briefing session on Tuesday. […]

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