Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
AI
funding

A group of ten tech-sector trade groups led by the Alliance for Digital Innovation (ADI) is asking the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to make some big changes to Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) rules and policies, including those covering repayment obligations. […]

data

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, reintroduced the Data Care Act in the Senate on March 23, leading a pack of 17 senators looking to protect user data from hacks and hold companies liable for misuse. It is Schatz’s third time introducing the bill, having introduced similar versions in both the 115th and 116th Congresses. […]

Treasury

Thirty Democratic senators and House members are asking newly confirmed Labor Secretary Marty Walsh in a March 23 letter for the agency to focus its efforts to help states improve their unemployment insurance (UI) systems along the lines of legislation introduced in both houses of Congress earlier this year.   […]

Telehealth

After a year of moving IT heaven and earth to enable a huge jump in telehealth services for veterans during the coronavirus pandemic, officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said March 23 that one of the biggest remaining obstacles to delivering telehealth is a lack of sufficient and/or affordable broadband service in areas where some veterans live. […]

AI

The United States needs to start accelerating the implementation of AI to compete with our adversaries, according to Lt. Gen. Michael Groen, director of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC). […]

cloud cyber modernization AI
DHS
IRS
broadband
Census 2020
cybersecurity

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is seeking comments on an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to allow DHS to assist executive branch agencies in collecting cybersecurity vulnerability information and post the information on their own agency websites. […]

The Department of Energy’s (DoE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) said it is rolling out three new research programs aimed at energy supply chain security, protecting infrastructure from electromagnetic (EMP) interference, and cybersecurity education. […]

Microsoft and Amazon Web Services on March 16 announced a Collaborative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to assist the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Cloud Computing Program Office (CCPO) in developing a set of Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) templates to build standard environments in Azure to accelerate Defense Department (DoD) cloud adoption. […]

Cloud

To manage an increased workload, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is looking for a contractor to provide technical support for a cloud base software-as-a-service (SaaS) case management solution to aid its Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA). […]

Navy seal

The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has issued an update to its request for information (RFI)  seeking industry input as it looks to invest in ship-mounted cloud computing infrastructure as part of the Navy’s broader future strategy for network-centric naval warfare. […]

cloud

The United States Air Force (USAF) Cloud One program has allowed USAF to accelerate its digital modernization and find an advantage over adversaries, according to a USAF leader. […]

cybersecurity

It’s hard enough sometimes just keeping up with the challenges of cybersecurity in the big headline-news cases – think SolarWinds in recent months or the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) intrusion several years back. But the more you talk with experts in cybersecurity, the more it becomes clear that exploitable gaps in the network armor are nearly limitless, and that plugging those gaps requires innovative security in the spaces that remain off the radar for many. […]

Senate hearing Congressional-min

The acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) told senators on March 18 that CISA is making efforts to complete deployment at Federal civilian agencies of the first two phases of the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program by the end of this year as part of a push to shore up Federal cybersecurity after the SolarWinds Orion hack. […]

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., chairs of the Senate and House committees on Veterans’ Affairs, respectively, both predicted this week that the COVID-19 pandemic will have a lasting effect on veterans’ access to telehealth services. […]

cybersecurity
CISA

Over at the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), the agency is working on connecting the U.S. Army with innovative commercial technology companies as part of a big push for modernization, with many defense projects dealing with large-scale data. […]

cybersecurity

Brandon Wales, acting director of the Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency (CISA) today defended the value of CISA’s EINSTEIN cyber defense program against criticism leveled by the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and suggested that the program be improved rather than scrapped. […]

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