FCW Insider: July 22

Army re-orgs tech directorate

The Army has a new strategic operations directorate under the department's management office, an organization said to be a "precursor" to the upcoming CIO reorganization

Lawmakers ask DHS leaders to postpone USCIS furloughs

The immigration agency is now set to end FY2020 with surplus, and two Senate appropriators are asking for a pause on furloughs while Congress negotiates supplemental funding to offset 2021 shortfalls.

House passes TikTok ban on government tech

The House passed an amendment to ban the popular social media platform in its version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.

OMB says fourth quarter spending spree can help boost economy

The director of the Office of Management and Budget reminded agencies to keep category management, acquisition flexibilities and quick vendor payments in mind during the upcoming busy fourth quarter federal buying season.

Quick Hits

*** The Federal Acquisition Service's New England Region Client Support Center needs to improve contract management practices, according to an audit by the General Service Administration's Office of Inspector General released July 20. The CSC fell short in several areas of contract administration, including over-reliance on sole-source follow-on contracts, the reuse of old acquisition plans and lack of oversight in assessing contractor performance.

The agency largely agreed with the findings. In a July 2 letter responding to the report, FAS Commissioner Julie Dunne, told the IG that regional management has been working for the last three years to "strengthen its organizational structure and provide greater oversight of its acquisition program."

*** Joe Biden pledged to raise the stakes on countries that interfere in U.S. elections. "If elected president, I will treat foreign interference in our election as an adversarial act that significantly affects the relationship between the United States and the interfering nation’s government," the presumptive Democratic Party nominee wrote in a July 20 post on Medium. Biden said he would tap the resources of the FBI, the State Department, the Pentagon and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to establish plans for interdicting foreign threats to elections.

*** Maryland-based contractor iNovex agreed to pay almost $1 million to settle claims that it overbilled the National Security Agency on contract work performed between 2012-2016. According to a Justice Department statement issued July 20, iNovex knowingly billed NSA for work performed by employees who didn't meet all of the specialized qualifications required by the contract.