FCW Insider: Nov. 18

The Department of Defense's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program will affect every contractor that does business with DOD.  Lauren C. Williams reports on what Katie Arrington, the department's special assistant for cyber to the assistant secretary of defense for acquisition, says is on tap. 

Department of Homeland Security CIO John Zangardi stepped down on Friday, adding another vacancy to a department that already had plenty.  Derek B. Johnson has the details.

President Trump's Twitter attacks on former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch while she testified at Friday's impeachment hearing is just the latest and most public part of a broader campaign against career State Department officials, a new inspector general report argues.  Lia Russell reports on what State's IG and congressional Democrats have to say about the tensions at that agency. 

Supply chain security for 5G continues to concern members of Congress -- a House panel last week approved five measures to restrict the use of Chinese-made network infrastructure and to encourage providers to replace such hardware when it's already been installed.  Mark Rockwell has more on the latest legislative developments. 

FCW is now accepting nominations for the 2020 Federal 100 Awards.  Troy K. Schneider explains who's eligible, and how to craft the strongest possible submission.  

Quick Hits

*** The General Services Administration is about to release a new solicitation for Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation services for tiny federal agencies.  Jennifer Clarke, GSA's director for Rocky Mountain Region assisted acquisition services, said at FCW’s Nov. 14 CDM Summit that her agency expects to release the request for proposals for “microagencies” this week. The RFP will  be part of the CDM Dynamic and Evolving Federal Enterprise Network Defense (DEFEND) program, which GSA supports through its Alliant contract.

*** Cloud security if the focus of tomorrow's FCW FedRAMP Workshop, which will feature GSA acting FedRAMP Director Ashley Mahan, DOD's Kevin Dulaney, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's Monica Montgormery and a host of other speakers.   This Washington, D.C., event is free to government employees; click here to learn more and register to attend. 

*** The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency marked its first birthday over the weekend with a series of tweets recapping Year One accomplishments.

*** Finally, a reminder that funding for much of the federal government runs out on Nov. 21.  Key appropriators said last week that they expect to pass another continuing resolution to run into late December, but no word yet on when congressional votes might take place this week.