Policy

Biden looks to preserve tech, cyber legacy with veto threat

Experts see continuity in tech policy from the Biden administration to a possible Kamala Harris presidency, with possible divergence on some national security and antitrust issues.

Updated Cybersecurity

Biden briefed on CrowdStrike IT outage as multiple federal systems impacted

Social Security offices are closed for the day due to the incident. It will be “time-consuming” for all affected systems to undo the damage because the process is manual, one expert says.

People

Hitting the gas at Energy

CIO Ann Dunkin talks FITARA, modernization and the challenge of managing IT in an environment driven by high-performance technology.

Ideas

Why it's past time to modernize the FITARA scorecard

COMMENTARY | Another reset is needed to keep the FITARA scorecard relevant in driving IT management best practices across federal agencies

Ideas

Overcoming technical debt and accelerating modernization

COMMENTARY | High performance in IT requires an ability to adapt, preparing the organization to seize future opportunities and tackle upcoming challenges efficiently.

Digital Government

Automation helped VA approve 1 million PACT Act claims, officials say

The agency is relying on automated decision support and other optimization efforts to help process claims for veterans exposed to burn pits and other chemicals.

People

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel details his hefty tech to-do list

Enabling taxpayers to fully interact with the IRS digitally is a “generational imperative,” the agency head said.

Exclusive Acquisition

Senate bill looks to chop through red tape in procurement

The bipartisan legislation aims to both expand access to special acquisition authorities and give new, innovative contractors more opportunities to work with the government.

Modernization

Federal weather system experiences outage amid severe weather nationwide

The agency is seeking money to shore up weather forecasting IT systems in fiscal year 2025.

Digital Government

Export control agency lacks funding and tech to manage its workload, official says 

The head of the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security gave lawmakers “an emphatic no” when asked if his office has the IT resources it needs to carry out its mission.

Ideas

How federal agencies can accelerate IT systems modernization with AI

AI can explain older programming languages, assist in developing new code and expedite vulnerability remediation.

Cybersecurity

NDAA provision looks to close cybersecurity gaps in nuclear weapons systems

The requirement included in the fiscal year 2024 defense policy bill follows a 2022 GAO report that found the National Nuclear Security Administration did not fully implement “foundational cybersecurity risk practices.”

Ideas

Why smart multicloud policies are a golden ticket to modernizing IT infrastructure

COMMENTARY | A multicloud approach to cloud computing is used for better data control, allows access to the best services from each provider, and offers more flexibility as IT leaders can optimize workload placement based on workload requirements.

Digital Government

IRS hits key digitization goal months ahead of schedule

Although Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plugged progress in IRS efforts to tame paper in the agency, she also emphasized that “playing politics with IRS funding is unacceptable.”

People

Raylene Yung exits TMF

Jessie Posilkin, currently the Technology Modernization Fund's customer experience portfolio director, will take over as acting executive director until a permanent candidate is selected.

People

The White House’s tech team, 10 years after HealthCare.gov

Mina Hsiang, the administrator of the U.S. Digital Service, was on the team that saved the flawed website supporting Affordable Care Act enrollment 10 years ago. Now, she leads the tech team born from that crisis.

Modernization

The White House is developing a 10-year modernization plan to replace legacy IT

The National Cybersecurity Strategy tasks the Office of Management and Budget with creating a plan to eliminate all vulnerable legacy systems from federal agencies within a decade.