Acquisition

VA on the fence about homegrown patient portal

The My HealtheVet tool used by more than 3 million veterans to access care at the Department of Veterans Affairs could be retired in favor of a tool from vendor Cerner as part of the agency's $16 billion electronic health record software upgrade.

Modernization

VA, NARA Complete Digitization Effort to Help Speed Up Disability Claims for Some Veterans

Records that fill 29,000 boxes will now be used to validate service-connected disability benefits claims for veterans exposed to toxins like Agent Orange in waters near Vietnam.

Cybersecurity

House bill aims to strengthen digital ID

Legislation proposed in the House would tap the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of Homeland Security in new effort to help set national digital identifier capabilities.

Ideas

Is COVID-19 a Threat or Opportunity for Electronic Government Records Capture, Access and Preservation?

The tsunami of data and the hard pivot to remote work and home school has stretched government information management capabilities to their limits.

People

NARA sharpens digital preservation plans

The National Archives released a framework for preserving government information that takes into account the proliferating variety of electronic formats – some now defunct – so that records can be saved in their original form.

Modernization

DOD's $7.6B cloud email buy heads for redo

Less than a week before a final protest ruling was due, the Defense Information Systems Agency and the General Services Administration are taking another corrective action in their big business software buy for DOD.

People

Why right now is the most challenging time in history for government CIOs

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented CIOs at all levels of government with unprecedented challenges to respond to the critical needs of the country.

People

FDA wants to upgrade ethics filing platform

The Food and Drug Administration aims to improve the way documents for ethics rules compliance are filed and tracked.

Cybersecurity

DHS maps out data sharing with Census Bureau

Data on travel, immigration and enforcement from the Department of Homeland Security will be used by the Census Bureau as part of a plan to determine the number of immigrants and non-citizens residing in the U.S. in the 2020 population count.

Cybersecurity

'Technical irregularities' plagued contact chaining at NSA

ODNI's privacy czar said bad data from telecoms irrevocably tainted the contact-chaining process that was at the heart of the NSA's Call Detail Records program.

Cybersecurity

VA Released Millions of People's Personal Data Despite Known Risks

The agency stopped redacting personally identifiable information in claims requested under the Privacy Act, even though officials knew the policy could leave millions of people vulnerable to identity theft.

Modernization

NSA says it can collect metadata for encrypted comms

During a hearing to discuss reauthorization for a number of controversial spying authorities, intelligence and law enforcement officials indicated they could sweep up logistical records related to encrypted communications.

Digital Government

FBI adds feature to threat notice system

The FBI has added a new notification capability to its incident reporting platform to spread tips on potential mass casualty suspects.

Digital Government

With hacks on the rise, is it time to revisit a national ID?

Our process for verifying people's identities is broken, leading some to revisit the idea of a national ID system. But politics, cybersecurity and other concerns loom large in the debate.

Modernization

Leveraging Technology to Clear Criminal Records

Cook County, Illinois, will automatically expunge low-level convictions for marijuana offenses using software from Code for America.

Modernization

VA’s Health Records Digitization Backlog Is 5 Miles High

Staff at Veterans Affairs medical facilities aren’t keeping up with the backlog of paper records that need to be digitized, with some outstanding documents dating back to 2016.

Digital Government

Navy cracks down on personal email, social media

The Navy CIO reminded department personnel in a recent memo about govermentwide and service policy covering use of personal communications accounts to conduct official business.