Acquisition

CMMC board chief talks assessors, IT staff

Matt Travis, the CEO for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Accreditation Body, said proper training and IT access to the Defense Department's Enterprise Mission Assurance Support Service (eMASS) application, which will house CMMC data, still needs to be finalized for the third-party organizations that will be charged with conducting cyber assessments.

Cybersecurity

Army looks to revise cyber operations doctrine

Brig. Gen. Paul Stanton, the commanding general for the Army's Cyber Center of Excellence, said the service was in the final stages of publishing a revised field manual on how it executes cyber operations.

Modernization

Bipartisan bill looks to get acquisition workforce on board with AI

The leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee are looking to get the federal workforce – particularly program managers and acquisition specialists – on board with artificial intelligence.

Modernization

Lawmakers balk at cost-overruns, transparency issues with VA's $21 billion health record program

At a Senate hearing last week, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough noted deficiencies in training including the lack of a real system available for use by clinicians in advance of the go-live date for a new, integrated health care software system.

Acquisition

CMMC board clarifies assessor training timeline

Training materials and certification exams for the assessors and instructors are at least four months away from delivery.

Cybersecurity

Federal job satisfaction continues to lag behind private sector

The annual 'Best Places to Work' report indicates that almost 60% of the federal workforce teleworked full-time during the peak lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cybersecurity

Coast Guard confronts harassment and retaliation in the ranks

The U.S. Coast Guard wants to build out its cyber workforce, but will have to contend with budget restraints and culture issues surrounding sexual harassment and retaliation.

People

VP Harris breaks tie to confirm Ahuja to lead OPM

No Republicans supported the nomination of Kiran Ahuja to lead the Office of Personnel Management.

Cybersecurity

DHS poised to remake federal hiring in September to confront cybersecurity gap

The Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity Talent Management System has been years in the making, but officials say it will finally come online this fall.

People

Federal employee job satisfaction climbed during pandemic

The survey documents the rapid change to teleworking postures in government under the COVID-19 pandemic.

People

New OPM survey heralds rethink of federal job design

The new Federal Workforce Competency Initiative looks to update definitions of skills and abilities needed to are core competencies for different jobs.

People

SecDef plans new screening, training to weed out extremism

The Defense Department has ordered several personnel policy changes to address extremism in the military, ranging from updating intake questionnaires for recruits to training to prepare service members for potential targeting by extremist groups.

People

Dismantling the 'old boys' club' at State

Several witnesses scrutinized the State Department's placement and promotion practices when it comes to minority foreign service officers.

People

Small drones, training could be standard issue for service members

The Defense Department is planning to incorporate drone training for every service member as part of its counter small unmanned aerial systems strategy.

People

Navy report looks to combat racism and sexism in the ranks

The Navy's Task Force One Navy report looks to STEM training, recruitment, grooming policies as paths to encourage diversity and inclusion.

Acquisition

Judge halts enforcement of diversity training crackdown on contractors

A nationwide injunction blocks sections of the order that apply to contractors and grant recipients, including a hotline created for employees to report training materials.

People

A Biden-Harris 'reset’ for feds

Federal employee unions and associations are hoping for concrete day-one rollbacks of Trump administration workforce policies on diversity training, official time, collective bargaining and the new 'Schedule F' classification.

Acquisition

VA reports smooth go-live from $16B electronic health record system

The performance of infrastructure, end-user devices exceeded agency expectations on the VA's first go-live on its new electronic health record system.

Acquisition

18 state AGs call to end Trump's crackdown on diversity training

In a letter, 18 state attorneys general and the AG from the District of Columbia say that a recent executive order on diversity training is having "opposite effect" of its stated goal of preventing discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity or sex.

People

Civil rights groups sue to block diversity training order

"Regardless of whatever dates or deadlines are in the executive order, the chilling effect is happening now," an attorney involved the case said.