FCW Insider: March 24, 2021
The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.
A career fed does a stint at USDS
Steve Kelman checks in with procurement innovator and past Fed 100 winner Mark Junda on his latest chapter.
Fight over defense dollars looms in House
The House Armed Services Committee's top Republican, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), is pushing for a 3% to 5% increase in the topline 2022 defense budget and wants education and training for cybersecurity and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence to top the panel's agenda.
Dems press on federal role in UI tech modernization
The Labor Department recently got $2 billion for the administrative costs of unemployment insurance delivery. Democratic Lawmakers have a plan for how the agency should use it.
GAO warns on cyber risks to power grid
The country's electrical systems are increasingly susceptible to cyberattacks, according to government auditors, and there is uncertainty about the extent to which a localized attack might cascade through power distribution systems.
Quick Hits
*** The White House is expected to release its topline discretionary funding request next week, with the budget request to follow later in the spring. An Office of Management and Budget memo released March 23 instructs agency heads to refrain from making comments or commitments to lawmakers with regard to budget items not expressly mentioned in the discretionary funding request.
*** Shalanda Young was confirmed March 23 by the U.S. Senate to serve as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. The vote was 63 to 37. Young is expected to be installed as acting OMB director while the Biden administration selects a nominee for the post to replace Neera Tanden who withdrew from consideration. Young, who was staff director on the House Appropriations Committee, is a potential candidate for the director post.
***AT&T won a $231 million-ceiling award to modernize voice and data networks at the Treasury Department under the governmentwide Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract. Get more on this story from Washington Technology.