President Biden’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) is preparing a report for the White House National Security Council (NSC) focused on “challenges facing the critical infrastructure workforce and the risks to national security posed by a lack of skilled workers,” and paying special attention to the cybersecurity workforce. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will pilot a program to assess the competencies of AI practitioners to ensure that the AI workforce at the VA is knowledgeable and capable of producing trustworthy results with the technology, according to Gil Alterovitz, director of artificial intelligence at VA. […]

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) found that Federal employees overwhelmingly support continued telework after the pandemic, and believe that their productivity has increased while teleworking over the past 14 months.  […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report on strengthening the Federal science and technology (S&T) workforce to compete for talent with the private sector and address factors affecting the Federal work environment, and found that the government has been slow in some cases to implement GAO’s previous recommendations that would help boost the S&T workforce. […]

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said today he was reintroducing legislation to create a stronger Federal workforce by reauthorizing the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and requiring Federal agencies to report publicly about their workforce diversity and inclusion efforts. […]

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., on Feb. 11 reintroduced the Chai Suthammanont Remembrance Act, a bill which is designed to protect Federal employees who must return to the workplace from COVID-19 by requiring government agencies to publish safety plans to guide their return. […]

The White House has issued a memorandum to revitalize the U.S.’ national security and foreign policy workforce and institutions and establish an Interagency Working Group on the national security workforce. […]

A new report from the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) examines human capital challenges facing the Federal government, and lays out several recommendations to modernize the Federal workforce in 2021 that could be accomplished via executive order from the next presidential administration. […]

While the science underlying the still-nascent field of quantum information science (QIS) is well established, timelines for other key milestones in the development of QIS remain big question marks – with none bigger than the development of a QIS tech workforce that can meet increased demand for the technology in the coming years. […]

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., whose northern Virginia congressional district is home to a multitude of Federal government employees, is working on legislation that would aim to overturn last week’s controversial White House executive order that would create a new classification of Federal employees in policy-making positions and make it easier to hire and fire them. […]

An executive order (EO) released on October 21 creates a new classification in the Federal workforce for career professionals in “policy-making” positions, with provisions that could make it easier to hire and fire employees and prevent them from joining unions. […]

The White House has finalized adjustments to Federal employee disciplinary procedures that will assist agencies in carrying out Executive Order 13839 – signed in 2018 – and shrink the timeline under which managers can take disciplinary steps against employees. The final rule issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) updates current regulatory language   commensurate […]

Communication, collaboration, and coordination are being touted as the keys to success for teleworking during the coronavirus pandemic, but the best frameworks for cyber defense in these modern times may end up coming from old teachings. […]

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) has released results of a two-part survey that found most GPO employees were satisfied with IT support and top leadership’s communication in keeping them informed during the COVID-19 pandemic. […]

The White House issued an executive order on October 5 directing several Federal agencies to create a Coronavirus Mental Health Working Group. The group is charged with mounting an “all of government” response to “mental-health conditions induced or exacerbated” the coronavirus pandemic, including issues related to suicide prevention. […]

In a discussion about creating more diversity in the field of cybersecurity, Department of Agriculture CISO Venice Goodwine encouraged cyber professionals not to let anyone put them in a box, to invest in themselves, and to be deliberate in their career decisions. […]

A new report from the Greater Washington Partnership revealed that employers in the National Capital Region that responded to their survey plan to have 72 percent of their employees return to the office by summer 2021, but a third of those respondents are still unsure of their reopening plans that far in advance. […]

In hopes of creating a coherent strategy for growing and sustaining the Federal cyber workforce, the Cyberspace Solarium Commission released a new white paper with recommendations on improving government pay flexibility and implementing more upskilling programs. […]

While the COVID-19 pandemic has had wide-ranging effects on the Federal workforce, one positive impact has been to boost the efficiency of Federal agency employees in how they approach their day-to-day duties, said Bryan Ware, Assistant Director for Cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). […]

Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat asserted at the Billington Cybersecurity Summit that the Federal government is using a DevSecOps approach to integrate security into every aspect of modernization, but she insisted that the workforce must be cyber ready to be entirely secure. […]

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., released a statement today on the General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) report that found the Public Buildings Service (PBS) did not always receive timely notice of positive COVID-19 test results from building occupants or provide timely notification of positive COVID-19 cases. […]

The telework landscape has changed what the future of the Federal workforce could look like, pushing Fed IT leaders to prioritize new hiring initiatives and embrace the benefits of working from home. […]

A new report released August 26 from the Partnership for Public Service recommends data-driven hiring and innovative talent management to maintain a strong Federal workforce and overcome mission-critical skills gaps. […]

Officials at the General Services Administration (GSA) have started internal discussions on the impact that pandemic-driven employee telework may have on longer-term uses of government office buildings and other facilities, said Beth Anne Killoran, GSA’s Deputy CIO, at an August 26 event organized by Association for Federal Information Resources Management (AFFIRM). […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) should help agencies analyze employee feedback data to uncover effective strategies for increasing retention of military veterans that the agencies hire. […]

With a growing cyber workforce gap, Federal agencies need to get creative as they work to shore up their cyber defenses. What skillsets are most valuable for incoming cyber workers? And how can Federal agencies find talent in surprising places and nurture the talent they already have? […]

A group of six Democratic senators led by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, introduced legislation on July 29 to establish labor task forces that would provide Federal workers with an outlet to express needs for personal protective equipment (PPE) and establish health precautions for returning to the workplace. […]

House Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., is helping to lead the charge for a 3 percent Federal pay raise in Fiscal Year 2021 budget legislation. […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) identified cybersecurity as one of the high-risk mission critical occupations that the Federal government lacks, and is helping agencies create action plans to bolster cyber workforces, according to its July 2020 President’s Management Agenda (PMA) update. […]

A May 2020 report from the Federal CIO Council on the future of the government IT workforce makes 10 new recommendations to improve the 21st century work environment, including better recognition for employees doing a good job and revamping the hiring process. […]