FCW Insider: October 22, 2021

VA seeks full 2022 funding for health record project, despite six-month pause

House appropriators are concerned that the Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking to fully fund its program to switch from its homegrown Vista system to Cerner's commercial electronic health record in 2022, despite having unspent funds from fiscal year 2021.

New missions could present challenges for the DOD cyber workforce

Mieke Eoyang, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy said one of DOD's main cyber workforce challenges is being able to set expectations around policymakers' calls to step in and defend against cyberattacks.

Lawmakers seek probe of veterans' records requests backlog

The National Personnel Records Center is facing a backlog of 550,000 requests that built up over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ICYMI: Congratulations to the 2021 Rising Stars

These early-career leaders already are having an outsized impact on government IT.

Quick Hits

*** The House of Representatives passed the DHS Software Supply Chain Risk Management Act on Wednesday. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) passed on a 412-2 vote and would require contractors who furnish software to the Department of Homeland Security to include a software bill of materials that specifies the origin of software components and to certify that software is free of known vulnerabilities.

*** A new rule from the Bureau of Industry and Security cracks down on the export of cyber tools that can be used for surveillance, espionage or to attack computer networks. The rule takes effect January 19, 2022.

*** Washington Technology released its annual Fast 50 ranking of fast growing small businesses in the government market.