While the COVID-19 pandemic caused millions of students to have their education disrupted during the 2020-2021 school year, teachers have since reported finding limited strategies that could be helpful in mitigating learning loss, the Federal government’s top watchdog agency said in a new report. […]

State audit agencies reported unparalleled challenges faced by their workforces in providing pandemic-related unemployment insurance benefits, according to a new report released Dec. 16 by the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC). […]

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to ensure that schools nationwide are aware that they can use Federal funding from COVID-19 relief bills to improve cybersecurity. […]

Federal Inspectors General have the crucial task of agency oversight, often handling that job for large agencies while operating on relatively small budgets. To keep up with their responsibilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, IG offices have had to leverage new technologies – and old technologies in new ways – over the past year-plus, IG officials explained today. […]

Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Jim Langevin, D-R.I., urged Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in an April 1 letter to address the growing cybersecurity threat facing K-12 schools by issuing guidance that will give K-12 schools more confidence in making investments in increased cybersecurity measures. […]

With the COVID-19 pandemic stretching on, President Biden signed an executive order (EO) to direct an all-of-agency effort to help those most impacted by the pandemic. In accordance with that EO, the Department of Treasury is working to change the way it delivers economic impact payments, according to a Jan. 22 release. […]

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said today that the $1 billion funding increase for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) included in the slimmed down HEROES Act pandemic relief legislation is probably not big enough to spur Federal agencies to undertake widespread IT modernization, but agreed that winning approval for the huge funding increase would be a good first step. […]

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., proposed in a July 31 letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to engineer a dramatic, long-term funding increase for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) by moving $2 billion of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) IT modernization work to the front of the TMF funding line. […]

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has identified warning signs for procurement officials on how to spot anticompetitive bidding schemes that may be used to procure COVID-19 relief funds. […]

While the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced last week that it awarded the final $10 million under its $200 million COVID-19 Telehealth Program authorized by the CARES Act, FCC Chairman Ajit Pail talked today about the success of the program, and expressed hope that lawmakers authorize similar programs in the future that will allow the commission to distribute funding quickly. […]

The Department of the Interior (DOI) is facing challenges in implementing the CARES Act, along with IT, financial and programmatic issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the agency’s inspector general. […]

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. […]

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.  […]

As states shift their voting processes and procedures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, another element of the process for states has been subject to change—Federal funding, an inconsistency that has caused local election officials to adapt on the fly. […]

As Congress begins work on future COVID-19 relief bills, a group of bipartisan legislators wrote to House and Senate leadership urging them to include funding for state and local government (SLG) IT infrastructure in future relief bills. […]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced May 21 it is partnering with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to promote the use of $50 million in funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to help close the digital divide during the COVID-19 pandemic. […]

The latest COVID-19 relief legislation being prepared by House Democrats – the HEROES Act – proposes $1 billion for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) to help Federal agencies improve their information technology systems. […]

The Small Business Administration (SBA) said on May 3 that the agency’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)  processed loan applications totaling more than a half a trillion dollars since the coronavirus pandemic was declared in March. […]

The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) launched its website and Twitter account today, and appointed Robert Westbrooks as Executive Director of the committee. […]

President Trump signed the $484 billion Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, H.R. 266, today to bolster funding for small businesses and healthcare organizations amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. […]

The Office of Personnel Management released guidance on April 22 to agencies on how to implement sections of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that involve emergency paid sick leave. […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is asking Federal agencies to consider reimbursing paid leave to Federal contractors to keep them in position to mobilize in a timely manner, as needed to complete government missions. […]

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said today he is continuing to push hard to include a $3 billion Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) budget increase in future Federal government COVID-19 relief legislation. […]

The Democratic Party’s top leaders in the House and Senate today proposed a $500 billion interim emergency coronavirus relief bill as a prelude to the next jumbo-sized relief measure that could rival the size of the $2 trillion CARES Act legislation signed by President Trump late last month. […]

After Congress agreed to pass the CARES Act in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote to House Democrats that it is time to “double down” on those efforts. […]

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) voted in favor of adopting a $200 million telehealth program, as appropriated by the CARES Act, to help healthcare providers purchase telecommunications devices and broadband connectivity. […]