FCW Insider: Sept. 26

The Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center has partnered with the General Services Administration to accelerate government's AI adoption. The new Centers of Excellence program is designed in part to adapt top defense AI applications for civilian use. Lauren C. Williams has more.

The Trump administration prevailed for now in a lengthy court battle and within days could get the green light to implement contested measures in a series of workforce executive orders. The issues at stake range from official time to collective bargaining practices to employee discipline. Adam Mazmanian reports.

With impeachment in the background, Democrats on a House subcommittee grilled the GSA's buildings commissioner about oversight of President Trump's lease on the Old Post Office building in Washington, D.C. Mark Rockwell explains.

Quick Hits

*** Former federal CIO Tony Scott has stepped down as executive vice chair of the Industry Advisory Council, the vendor side of ACT-IAC. Typically, the vice chair advances to the IAC chair post.

Scott is a widely respected figure in the federal IT community. He entered government service in early 2015 under President Barack Obama and was a key figure in the cybersecurity sprints that followed the devastating Office of Personnel Management hack and in standing up the U.S. Digital Service.

*** Two more of the nine Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions prime contractors got their authorities to operate from the General Services Administration to provide service under the $50 billion next generation telecommunications contract. The GSA reported in its monthly report on the carriers' progress in testing backoffice EIS support systems that BT Federal and Harris are now qualified to accept and process task orders or service orders, provision or deliver services, and bill for services. AT&T, CenturyLink and Verizon are the other EIS contractors with ATOs.

*** The Senate passed the Cyber Incident Response Teams Act Sept. 24. A similar bill passed the House earlier this summer. A number of changes made by the Senate means that lawmakers will have to act to reconcile the measures before sending to the White House for the president's signature. Among the notable differences in the Senate version are the inclusion of a requirement for a report to Congress regarding metrics associated with the program, a requirement that the Homeland Security secretary consult with and gain approval from the entity requesting assistance if private sector cybersecurity specialists are added to the teams and stronger language about the role of the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center from "assisting" agencies to "leading federal asset response activities."

*** Federal government innovation shop 18F got a generous hat-tip from the prestigious Brookings Institution. A new report from Brookings suggests that 18F could be a model for the U.S. government to address the consequences of climate change.

"Just as 18F started as a small experiment within the White House, a new administration could quickly establish an 18F-Climate, too," the report states. "The mandate of this unit would be straightforward: slash emissions from federal agency operations, and measurably reduce risk to agency assets, operations, and communities served through increased investment in adaptation and resilience."