FCW Insider: Aug. 17

GAO: DHS acting secretary, top deputy were appointed illegally

Top acting officials at DHS were appointed without regard for laws in place governing agency succession, according to a Government Accountability Office legal opinion.

HHS CIO resigns

Jose Arrieta will depart as the top tech official at the Department of Health and Human Services in the coming weeks.

DHS gets mixed reviews on IT modernization

The agency is seeing uneven results on two of its most important efforts, cloud migration and data center consolidation, according to a new agency watchdog report.

Comment: Extend Section 3610 of the CARES Act

Without an extension to the legislation that compensates federal contractors unable to work because of pandemic-related facility closures, more people would lose their jobs, more companies could fold and the government could lose access to highly experienced and skilled members of their workforce who are critical to supporting national security, defense and other federal mission areas.

Quick Hits

*** The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union, is seeking language in the final fiscal year 2021 defense bill that would invalidate a presidential memorandum from early this year that looked to roll back collective bargaining at the Department of Defense. AFGE, which represents more than 300,000 DOD employees, is also seeking technical corrections to legislation granting paid parental leave to federal employees and an extension to the deadline of the ongoing reorganization of the Defense Health Agency and the military services own health care operations. An Aug. 13 letter released by AFGE outlines its priorities for the conference committee that will hash out the final version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.

*** According to government contracting analytics firm Govini, the Department of Defense is facing serious obstacles in efforts to compel its contractors to "reshore" vulnerable elements of its supply chain, rather than rely on overseas production, especially production in China.

*** The General Services Administration says it will complete the migration of Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) reports into the consolidated Systems of Award Management website by Oct. 17. The standalone FPDS website will continue to exist, but minus the reports functionality.