Catch up on some reading this weekend. Here are a few interesting items from MeriTalk. […]

MeriTalk compiles a weekly roundup of contracts and other industry activity. Stay up to date on everything that’s happening in the Federal Information Technology community.

Strategic plans and scorecards are essential to effectively budgeting their cybersecurity needs, agency officials said. Michael Johnson, CIO of the Department of Energy, said the agency uses the DOE Cyber Strategy for information sharing and safeguarding, using multifactor authentication, and focusing on research and development.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability announced a new Funding Opportunity Announcement for joint research on smart grid and energy storage under the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Research.

The Department of Energy announced on its website that it would supply its Technology Commercialization Fund with $16 million to bolster 54 projects across 12 national laboratories that aim to move energy technology from DOE’s National Laboratories to the marketplace.

An initiative is underway at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory aiming to prevent hackers from gaining control of parts of the nation’s power grid, or Industrial Control System. As the grid gets smarter, threats increase, including damage to electrical equipment, local power outages, operational halts to production, and more.

The Department of Energy has started a podcast called “Direct Current”–telling stories of how the DOE generates and uses electricity, and what that means for the planet. The first episode discusses solar panels and the associated costs.