Federal IT has played a critical role in sustaining delivery of critical services to citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the government and the nation take the first steps toward recovery, MeriTalk is chronicling the untold stories – and lessons – of Federal IT operations during three months of pandemic. In this latest chapter of CIO Crossroads, we explore cybersecurity operations at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). […]
President Trump issued an executive order today that the White House said requires Federal agencies “to focus hiring on the skills job seekers possess, rather than focusing on whether they have earned a college degree.” The White House said the order will transform the Federal hiring process “to replace one-size-fits-all, degree-based hiring with skills-based hiring.” […]
The General Services Administration said today it selected three companies to test their e-commerce portals for up to a three-year period in an effort to increase transparency of government purchases and make it easier for agencies to make purchases of less than $10,000. […]
While the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recently outlined key considerations for Federal agencies returning to work following the coronavirus pandemic, a GAO official said this week that the agency hasn’t yet seen a comprehensive and detailed plan from government that is comparable to some industry reopening plans. […]
The Federal government has worked to expand access to broadband across the U.S. through large investments in the sector and can continue expanding access in rural areas by improving data and broadband access maps. […]
As public and private sector organizations face a heightened threat landscape amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Richard Driggers, deputy assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), explained how agency efforts have scaled to meet governmentwide cyber needs. […]
After a two-and-a-half-year tenure widely recognized for success in promoting Federal IT modernization – and superb performance in shepherding the government’s quick turn to telework during the COVID-19 pandemic – Federal CIO Suzette Kent said today she will step down from her post next month. […]
NSF’s CIO Dorothy Aronson said moving forward, lessons learned from the pandemic “can’t be unlearned.” “We probably will continue to be much more of a virtual organization in the future than we had been in the past,” she said. […]
Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) is tasked with protecting U.S. national security and protecting the nation’s borders. When it comes to the technology infrastructure needed to meet mission goals, Sonny Bhagowalia, deputy assistant commissioner with CBP’s Office of Information Technology, has turned to supported open-source technologies. […]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Small Business Association (SBA) aimed warnings this week at six companies to cease potentially misleading marketing geared toward small businesses seeking COVID-19 relief loans. […]
As the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect organizations across the United States, officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) warned of common trends and attack vectors that are being used by malicious actors for financial or informational gain. […]
The Federal Communications Commission said today that the total value of funding grants under its COVID-19 Telehealth Program rose to $157 million, after the agency approved $29.4 million of new grants. […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) increased the ceiling of the 8(a) Streamlined Technology Application Resource for Services (STARS) II contract to $22 billion today. […]
While the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has left a flurry of cybersecurity risks in its wake targeting healthcare and other sectors, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has scarcely missed a beat in carrying out its mission to protect the U.S. from cyber threats. […]
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Christopher Krebs called the COVID-19 pandemic – and the quick switch to telework stemming from efforts to curtail the spread of the virus – one of the “biggest drivers” of IT and cyber modernization in recent times. […]
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the Identifying Outputs of Generative Adversarial Networks (IOGAN) Act (S.2904) would cost $6 million between 2020 and 2025. […]
As the COVID-19 pandemic made it increasingly difficult for veterans to access in-person healthcare services, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) quickly scaled its existing telehealth capabilities to accommodate more patients. Now, per several VA officials, the agency is planning to continue investments in and accessibility to its virtual health services even after the pandemic winds down. […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has updated its Insider Threat Program (ITP) to expand the program’s scope to include those with past or current access to DHS facilities, information, equipment, networks, or systems. […]
At the Department of Education, workforce training and collaboration with other Federal agencies and academic stakeholders are helping the agency stay cybersecure, according to CIO Jason Gray. […]
The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is hosting a site dedicated to compiling election security resource amid the COVID-19 pandemic with help from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) is seeking information to stand up a Common Operating Platform (COP) within its Office of Mission Assurance (OMA), which responds to emergencies and crises. […]
NASA is taking a “risk-based, phased, and methodical” approach to reopening its offices, with the health and safety of its workforce and continuing telework as top priorities, according to the agency’s framework for returning to on-site work. […]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has delivered two congressionally-requested reports on the agency’s consumer privacy work as part of the fiscal year 2020 spending bill that funds FTC and other agencies. The first report details the way FTC uses its authorities to protect consumer privacy and security and to “deter unfair and deceptive conduct.” The […]
In the past three months, Federal IT has emerged as the indispensable lifeline for delivery of government services to citizens in times of turmoil. As the nation finds its new footing on the road to recovery, MeriTalk is chronicling the untold stories of how Federal IT is paving the way. In the latest chapter of CIO Crossroads, we examine the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). […]
The Senate voted by voice yesterday to confirm academic Sethuraman Panchanathan to be the next director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). […]
The unique ability of government IT operations to ensure the delivery of vital services to citizens has formed the backbone of the larger Federal pandemic response. MeriTalk is chronicling the untold stories of that effort in our CIO Crossroads series. Please join us for our latest chapter: Department of Transportation. […]
“One of the things that we are trying to do with our indictments, and that we’ve been trying to do for a number of years, is to establish norms of nation-state behavior in cyberspace,” said John Demers, the Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the Department of Justice. […]
In selecting which exempt organization returns to examine, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) should start using data and document the measurable objectives in using it to reduce errors and incomplete procedures. […]
The Department of Commerce announced a rule to allow American companies to participate in international standards setting bodies, an area previously vacated by the United States to discourage commercial cooperation with the Chinese company Huawei. […]
Cost-of-Living-Adjustments (COLAs) from Federal retirement programs, such as Social Security are based on consumer price indexes (CPI) produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), however, the agency hasn’t evaluated whether its data accurately reflects what certain groups pay, purchase, and shop. […]