Acquisition

Announcing the 2021 Federal 100 Award winners

Meet the women and men being honored for their exceptional contributions to federal IT.

Acquisition

DOL looks to roll back Trump's exemption for religious orgs in contracting

The agency plans going to reverse the rule through notice and comment rulemaking, a process that could take months.

Acquisition

Supply chain hack took a thousand engineers to pull off, tech exec tells Congress

The scope and scale of the attack as described by Microsoft President Brad Smith is in keeping with the attribution being made by public sector and private sector officials that the hack was perpetrated by Russian-sponsored actors.

Acquisition

GAO: DOD has to get a handle on future services spending

As the Defense Department looks to buy more services, it's going to need to come up with action plans to better account for spending in future years, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report.

Acquisition

GSA preps guidance for using CMMC in civilian contracts

The General Services Administration wants to get ahead on training and education materials contracting officers will need as Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification requirements become standard.

Acquisition

New risks threaten defense industry's cybersecurity, report claims

Newly reported cybersecurity vulnerabilities inched past 17,000 in 2020, signaling worsening security in the defense industrial base, according to a National Defense Industry Association report.

Acquisition

Labor secretary nominee comes with a long record on union issues, contracting oversight

During his time as mayor, Marty Walsh pursued actions to increase the amount of minority-, women- and veteran-owned contractors in Boston.

Acquisition

Pandemic response drives DOD's sharp uptick in OTA spending

The Defense Pricing and Contracting Agency recorded more than $16 billion in other transaction agreements in 2020 in the Defense Department's response to the pandemic.

Acquisition

Army CIO details digital strategy, changes for IT enterprise

Army CIO plans to release new enterprise digital strategy and rein in $2 billion of bloated IT spending.

Acquisition

CMMC, industrial capital strategy could continue in Biden's DOD

The Defense Department's top buyer, Ellen Lord, said the incoming Biden administration will have to contend with adversarial investments and cybersecurity weaknesses in the contractor base.

Acquisition

Labor Dept. official says religious exemption for some contractors won't allow discrimination

Civil rights groups caution that the rule change that allows faith-based organizations that are also federal contractors to favor their members in hiring could lead to employment discrimination.

Acquisition

Dunne: Schedule consolidation is paying off

The departing chief of the Federal Acquisition Service, Julie Dunne, talks to FCW about recent initiatives.

Acquisition

DOD does away with diversity training modification for contractors

The Pentagon eliminated a class deviation that implemented the president's executive order purging diversity training across federal grants and contracts.

Acquisition

In final days, Trump cracks down on Chinese apps

An executive order looks to block popular Chinese payment apps and other software from being used on U.S. devices.

Acquisition

Judge halts enforcement of diversity training crackdown on contractors

A nationwide injunction blocks sections of the order that apply to contractors and grant recipients, including a hotline created for employees to report training materials.

Acquisition

Deadline extended for Federal 100 nominations!

You now have until Friday, Jan. 15, to get them in. Happy holidays!

Acquisition

IoT cyber law signed amid growing vulnerabilities

The passage of the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2020 means that NIST will start to address the gap in post-market guidance to help organizations adequately address newly discovered vulnerabilities in devices already on their networks.

Acquisition

GSA preps launch of OASIS replacement

GSA plans a program of customer and industry events and interactions in the early part of 2021 to help shape its OASIS replacement contract.

Acquisition

GAO calls out agencies for IT supply chain risks

The government watchdog determined most federal agencies were not following best practices for supply chain risk management established by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology.

Acquisition

New rule lets contractors seek religious exemptions to anti-discrimination policies

The move will make it easier for companies that are organized around faith-based activities to evade certain civil rights laws and policies when making hiring decisions.