Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
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Budget Federal spending

Legislative crunch-time for the Biden administration’s two infrastructure funding bills began in earnest on Monday. Here are three tracks to watch that impact the legislation, which proposes billions of dollars of funding for Federal IT, cybersecurity, and broadband initiatives.  […]

website

The office in charge of building a government-wide shared services ecosystem for grants management plans to launch a website for grants management shared services marketplace by the end of the year and have all Federal service providers onboarded by mid-year 2022. […]

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Federal government contractors and subcontractors are facing a deadline of Dec. 8 to get their employees fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus – subject to a list of exceptions that include medical conditions and religious beliefs – with an additional 60-day extension of the compliance window possible in the case of “urgent” contract needs. […]

Senate hearing Congressional-min

President Biden’s nominees to run the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) promised during a confirmation hearing on September 22 to act quickly to reduce an unprecedented backlog of cases involving agency personnel decisions. They also acknowledged they anticipate an onslaught of appeals involving COVID-19 vaccine mandates. […]

Electronic Records

As the deadline to meet the requirements set in Memorandum-19-21 (M-19-21), some Federal agencies are struggling to meet the remaining requirements. However, during an FCW virtual summit on Sept. 21. the National Archives and Record Administration’s (NARA) chief record officer, Laurence Brewer, said the agency is aware of these challenges and is prepared to have those conversations, but there is currently no plan for a deadline extension. […]

US tech

The White House’s announcement this week of a new trilateral security partnership with Australia and the United Kingdom named AUKUS – which will focus on the Indo-Pacific region – features pledges for cooperation between the three countries on a range of advanced technologies. […]

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Customer experience CX-min

In its annual update to Circular A-11, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) made significant changes to section 280, which focuses on customer experience (CX) and service delivery.

The new changes provide a new expanded definition for customer experience – one that includes equity and designates CX as a priority instead of a nice-to-have. […]

vaccine

While the White House’s September 9 executive order makes clear that employees of Federal government contractors will be covered by an updated coronavirus vaccine mandate, the exact details of that requirement may not be learned until later this month when the government’s Safer Federal Workforce Task Force issues more precise information. […]

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The Department of Commerce (DOC) established the National AI Advisory Committee (NAIAC), which will serve as a high-level committee advising President Biden and other Federal agencies on AI-related issues. […]

White House

President Biden announced he is extending for another year the terms of a 2018 executive order (EO) that declares foreign interference in U.S. elections a national emergency and a threat to foreign policy. […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has set up Evaluation.gov, a portal that helps to meet the goals of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act) by having agencies document plans and policies that guide evaluation efforts across the Federal government. […]

USDS

Mina Hsiang will serve as the new administrator of the United States Digital Service (USDS). She will be the first woman and first Asian-American to lead the agency since it was created in 2014. […]

White House

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum for agencies to improve investigative and remediation capabilities related to cybersecurity incidents, as directed by Executive Order (EO) 14028, Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity. […]

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Federal money spending government

President Biden confirmed a 2.7 percent pay increase today for the Federal civilian workforce, consistent with his FY2022 budget, in a letter sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. […]

President Biden

The White House’s August 25 cybersecurity meeting between administration officials, tech-sector and other private-company CEOs, and representatives of the education and insurance sectors yielded a long list of big-dollar corporate commitments to improve security, and the pledges of educational institutions to offer programs that aim to help swell the size of the U.S. cybersecurity workforce. […]

White House

President Biden on August 25 gathered Federal government cybersecurity leaders and a deep roster of corporate leaders at a White House meeting that he said aimed to “raise the bar” on cybersecurity across the government, critical infrastructure, and private sectors. […]

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Emerging tech

A new report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) found that just two percent of over 1,000 forms that it reviewed on Federal websites comply with the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA). […]

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Acting Director Shalanda Young has delivered a report to Joe Biden assessing equity in government practices, and identifying significant existing barriers preventing historically underserved communities from accessing benefits and services in Federal programs. […]

White House flag at half mast

President Biden has nominated Andrew Fois to a five-year term as chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) – an independent Federal agency that convenes experts from the public and private sectors to recommend improvements to Federal government administrative processes and procedures. […]

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