Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
cybersecurity
FCC, Chinese suppliers

The Federal Communications Commission voted on Feb. 17 to seek public comment on possible changes to how it implements a $1.9 billion program to help network service providers replace equipment in their networks made by China-based Huawei, ZTE, and any other providers that the Federal government may deem as risky to national security. […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) updated its Technology Assessment (TA) Design Handbook to include more recently published literature, recent GAO team experiences, and submitted comments from external experts and the public. Per GAO, the Technology Assessment Design Handbook is meant to give GAO staff and other users tools and guidance when designing technology assessments. It […]

cybersecurity

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is asking the FBI and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide more information on the recent attempt by cyber criminals to poison the water supply at an Oldsmar, Fla. water treatment facility. […]

Lumen

Nick Andersen, who held senior cybersecurity positions at the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) over the past few years, has joined communications services provider Lumen as the chief information security officer for the public sector. […]

Kevin Smith has taken over as CIO of the Federal Housing Finance Agency in Jan. 2021, according to his LinkedIn page. Smith has a wide range of Federal experience, having served for five years as the CIO of the U.S. Census Bureau and six years with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as Deputy CIO […]

General Services Administration GSA

The General Services Administration (GSA) announced today that a new version of Regulations.gov will launch on Feb. 18. The new website, which has been in beta testing since July 2019, will help improve the integrity of the public commenting process, GSA explained in a press release. […]

General Services Administration GSA

The General Services Administration (GSA) announced several key leadership positions today, including Laila ElGohary as White House Liaison, who brings substantial technology experience to the position. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) created a Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Profile using its Cybersecurity Framework that can be used as part of a risk management framework to assist organizations in managing risk to systems, networks, and assets that use PNT services. […]

Internet of Things IoT sensors devices internet-connected smart city

With IoT devices exploding in popularity and use in recent years, Reps. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., and John Katko, R-N.Y., reintroduced a bill that would direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to collect data from devices that connect to the Internet to ensure there is enough spectrum capacity. […]

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. […]

snow man capitol winter-min
IRS

The IRS announced on Feb. 9 that Nancy Sieger will become CIO of the tax agency, after serving as the acting CIO since June 2019. […]

workforce
Cybersecurity

The Senate voted late Monday to confirm President Biden’s nomination of Denis McDonough as secretary to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The vote was 87-7. […]

net neutrality-min

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has dropped a legal challenge to California’s net neutrality statute – a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration in 2018. The withdrawal of the lawsuit to block the state law provides an opportunity for net neutrality rules to return on a Federal level. […]

Robotic Process Automation

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. […]

Upgrade

President Biden’s Labor Secretary nominee – Boston mayor Marty Walsh – emphasized that state unemployment insurance systems are in sore need of technology upgrades during testimony at a Feb. 4 confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has extended by six months the term of its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Supply Chain Task Force, which was set up by the agency two years ago as a venue for government and industry to develop consensus strategies to improve ICT supply chain security. […]

Wayne Jones, CIO of the Department of Energy’s (DoE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), retired Jan. 30, following three decades in public service and 14 years at NNSA. It is not immediately clear who will replace him in the post. […]

FCC

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is joining the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and National Science Foundation (NSF) in the Spectrum Innovation Cooperation Agreement, which seeks innovative R&D advancements on challenges facing the United States because of increasing demands for electromagnetic spectrum access. […]

Rocky Campione is resigning as Energy Department CIO effective April 2, capping a 20-month stint at the helm of the agency’s IT operations marked by modernization efforts including a fresh push to cloud services, and helping to chart the agency’s course through the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. […]

cloud

Strengthening cloud service capabilities over the past year has been an important step for Federal agencies to both deal with pandemic-era network service demands, and bolster cybersecurity by meeting requirements of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program while using cloud services. […]

Cybersecurity

The House Committee on Homeland Security today designated cybersecurity as a key priority for the committee in the 117th Congress, and specifically noted the Russian-backed hack of thousands of government and private sector networks via a compromise of SolarWinds Orion products.  […]

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