FCW Insider: Jan. 16
The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.
Members of the House Homeland Security Committee quizzed experts on the capabilities of Iran to launch cyberattacks against the United States amid tension over the killing of Gen. Qassim Soleimani. Derek B. Johnson reports from Wednesday's hearing.
The long-awaited Chief Data Officers Council, mandated by the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking legislation, will have its first meeting Jan. 31, Federal CIO Suzette Kent told FCW. Troy Schneider reports.
Department of Homeland Security workforce engagement scores still lag, but numbers may not tell the whole story. Angela Bailey, the agency's top human resources officials, said at a House hearing that low rankings don’t take into account ongoing efforts to address internal issues. Lia Russell has more.
Mark Forman, vice president of digital government for Unisys Federal, writes in this FCW commentary that 2020 will be the year when IT governance practices drive a new wave of mission benefits, rather than just better control over IT infrastructure spending.
Agencies can use new guidance documents on Trusted Internet Connections 3.0 to jumpstart their own pilot programs and suggest improvements to the policy. Mark Rockwell explains what policymakers are looking for in TIC 3.0.
Quick Hits
*** Former California governor Jerry Brown will receive the Elliot L. Richardson Prize for Excellence in Public Service on Jan. 23, the National Academy for Public Administration announced. Brown served as governor from 1975-1983 and 2011-2019, netting him the honor of being California’s longest-tenured elected official.
*** The National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) said on Jan. 15 it plans to have a draft solicitation for its CIO Solutions and Partners 4 (CIO-SP4) contract vehicle posted to SAM.gov in late March or early April. Proposals for CIO-SP4 will be be due in the second quarter of 2020. CIO-SP4 is the successor contract to CIO-SP3, which sells IT services and solutions.
*** The intelligence community's research arm IARPA (short for Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity) is launching a "moonshot" program to develop tabletop sized storage technologies that can handle an exabyte of data – one million terabytes. The Molecular Information Storage Program (MIST) is designed to dramatically reduce the costs, footprint and power requirement for current storage systems. IARPA launched the program with multiple awards to academic and research lab teams.