MeriTalk sat down with Jeff Grunewald, Force 3’s data center practice manager, and talked about all things data – from migrating to the cloud to crucial monitoring protocols. Having spent over 35 years working in the industry, Jeff knows a thing or two about data centers. Today, Jeff shares his insight on migrating data to the cloud and the critical importance of continuing monitoring protocols. […]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking a cloud-based Common Enterprise Loan Origination and Servicing (CELOS) platform. […]

In the Federal CDO Council report to congress on the summary of its activities and accomplishments in its first year, the Council said that for FY2021, it will meet regularly to support CDOs in efforts to increase the strategic use of data and develop and implement communications activities for stakeholders both inside and outside of […]

After Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the committee’s ranking member, called for the designation of a single official to lead the U.S. response to the Russia-backed hack of thousands of government and private-sector networks via SolarWinds Orion products, the White House confirmed to the senators that Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger is leading the effort. […]

The Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) employees have a new fashion accessory to wear to work – a contact-tracing device that utilizes 4G cellular data with the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has made progress on implementing its new electronic health records (EHR) system, but should postpone deployments of the system at additional locations because additional testing will likely identify issues that need to be resolved first, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report. […]

The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center and the Army Contracting Command have issued an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) Agreement to the Indiana Innovation Institute (IN3) to streamline procurement and delivery of AI capabilities for the Department of Defense (DoD). […]

Anne Neuberger, deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology on President Biden’s National Security Council (NSC), said this week that the administration is working on a new national cybersecurity strategy and that it will likely feature some of the recommendations that have already been made by the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) but not yet implemented. […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee met Feb. 11 to begin marking up the legislative language it will report to the House Budget Committee as part of the reconciliation process. Currently, there is $7.6 billion allocated by the committee to bolster the E-Rate program, as well as funding for COVID-19 testing and data management. […]

As agencies are scrambling to recover and build up their cybersecurity from the Russia-backed hack of thousands of government and private-sector networks via SolarWinds Orion products, Federal agency leaders say it will not be easy. […]

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced new legislation on Feb. 10 that would provide $500 million of Federal funding to help states deploy new technologies to improve performance of their unemployment insurance systems – many of which have had trouble dealing with higher demand during the coronavirus pandemic. […]

Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., along with Reps. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., and Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio, are introducing bipartisan and bicameral legislation that would require the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support research on privacy enhancing technologies. […]

The Army is looking to develop a high-energy laser system that will be able to detect and shoot drones out of the sky, in order to protect Department of Defense (DoD) operations. […]

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is looking to acquire a cloud-based Digital Evidence Management System to support its Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) component. […]

The road to better cybersecurity for government and the private sector looks like a long, uphill climb, with no concept of a finish line. […]

The U.S. Army Materials Command is forgoing a competitive bidding process for cyber training services while it waits for a bid protest between two contractors to be resolved. […]

As cloud-based services become the norm, Federal leaders are encouraging agencies to focus on cloud-native architectures in order to get the most out of their cloud approach. […]

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the committee’s ranking member, are urging the Biden administration to “assign a clear leader” to lead the United States’ response to the Russia-backed hack of thousands of government and private-sector networks via SolarWinds Orion products. […]

Federal officials stressed the need to view IT modernization as a continuous effort, rather than a buy- and-forget process, on Feb. 8 at the Resiliency Colloquium organized by MeriTalk, ACT-IAC, and the Partnership for Public Service, who partnered on the Resilient report issued earlier this month. […]

The State Department  has issued an update to its search for contractors to support its Cloud Program Management Office (CPMO). The search is part of the department’s overall quest to modernize IT capabilities across the State Department. […]

The COVID-19 pandemic forced government agencies to innovate much more rapidly with their IT systems, and now Federal leaders are planning how to continue that momentum beyond the pandemic. […]

Building resiliency in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic was an essential aspect of keeping the Federal workforce humming and managing a hybrid workforce of the future. […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is proposing a rule change that would provide rate incentives for electric companies that go “above and beyond” current regulations in their cybersecurity investments. […]

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is launching an out-of-this-world program to create technologies for manufacturing off Earth to produce space and lunar structures. […]

The age of government IT systems has negatively impacted agencies’ missions and their ability to attract young talent, according to a recent report. […]

Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., reintroduced legislation on Feb. 3 that would work to improve information sharing between health IT systems to aid in the distribution and administration of COVID-19 vaccines. […]

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) office of the chief procurement officer is turning to the use of robotics process automation (RPA) to speed up their work processes. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued another update – now up to three in total – in its search for solicitations that would improve the agency’s Data Center and Cloud Optimization (DCCO) efforts. […]

Think about technology from a restaurant perspective – every Federal agency is a pizzeria, providing citizens with one service. The goal – pivot from pizzeria to GrubHub – allowing citizens to identify essential technology, while agencies serve as the enabler, or “delivery service.” Being a positive digital disruptor will enhance the customer experience, IT experts said Feb. 3 during MeriTalk’s Power of Prediction: Federal IT Operations Management (ITOM) webinar. […]

Scaling out cloud connectivity during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge for some Federal agencies, but continuing to do so will accelerate the government’s pace of IT modernization and its ability to better serve citizens, Federal officials said at a Feb. 2 event organized by ATARC. […]