Digital Government
Acting Federal CIO Has Been in the Job for Months, OMB Confirms
Even some federal IT officials who work closely with the Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer weren’t aware that Michael Rigas has been serving as acting Federal CIO for months.
Artificial Intelligence
Homeland Security’s Small Business Program Will Focus on Viruses, Security and Networks in 2021
The Small Business Innovation Research program identified 12 tentative topics as priorities for the coming year.
Modernization
Biden Review Teams Include Many Former Tech Officials and Digital Service Members
The transition also includes a U.S. Digital Service-specific review team.
Digital Government
Analysts See ‘First Glimmers of Sustained Growth’ in Under-30 Federal IT Workforce
After a decade of declining ratios of younger-to-older federal technology employees, analysts see the start of a turnaround.
Digital Government
NIH to Study How Much (More) Americans Are Drinking Alcohol During Pandemic
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism contracted for a second study to get better data about how the pandemic is affecting Americans’ drinking habits.
Modernization
Army Wants a Vendor to Bring ‘Parity’ to AWS and Azure Cloud Offerings
The contractor would be expected to streamline all of the Army’s disparate cloud services, including integrating new Microsoft Azure offerings.
Modernization
IG: Treasury’s IT Challenges Persist But No More So Than Other Agencies
Three projects were identified as having a medium risk of failure due to cost and schedule overruns.
Emerging Tech
Pentagon Scientists Seek Device to Detect COVID-19 in the Air
The Pentagon’s research and development arm is looking for new ways to detect coronavirus.
Modernization
Library of Congress’ Copyright Office Taps Centers of Excellence to Improve Contact Centers
The Library became the 10th agency to contract with the General Services Administration’s in-house IT modernization consultancy.
Emerging Tech
Army Picks Fitbit to Develop Wearable Presymptom COVID-19 Detectors
The health and wellness wearable company plans to use the award to partner with the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research to expand testing of its internally developed algorithm.
Modernization
GSA Preparing Switch to eSignature for Multiple Award Schedule Offers and Modifications
Contract holders will also see new security measures being implemented in the near future for eOffer and eMod.
Digital Government
Administration Adds 16 Months to Transition from DUNS to Unique ID
The General Services Administration will extend Dun & Bradstreet’s services while agencies get more time to patch and test systems.
Emerging Tech
Lawmaker Proposes Federal Institute of Technology and New Contracting Set-Aside
The 21st Century Jobs Package would create a federal agency for training the workforce of the future and incentivize federal contracting officials to buy from vendors who hire rural American workers.
Modernization
VA Launches New Electronic Health Record Platform Amid a Pandemic, Wildfires and Citywide Power Outages
Nature seemed to be against the Veterans Affairs Department’s new EHR system. But officials are reporting a “flawless” cutover for the first deployment.
Artificial Intelligence
VA Piloting AI to Predict Mortality Rates of COVID-19 Patients
The tool has been in development since the spring and is now being piloted ahead of a larger rollout, VA officials said.
Digital Government
‘For the First Time In Many Years,’ OPM Has a Plan To Fix Its Tech
The agency will need funding, a skilled staff, consistent leadership and more funding to successfully implement the CIO’s latest plan, according to the inspector general.
Modernization
Pentagon Will Move Primary Biometrics Systems to Amazon Cloud
The move means at least two of the government's biggest biometrics databases will live in AWS clouds.
Digital Government
FPDS Reporting Tools Make Final Transition to beta.SAM
GSA shuttered the reporting functions on FPDS.gov, making the beta.SAM.gov Data Bank tool the definitive source for contract awards data.
Modernization
VA-DOD Health Exchange Adds 15,000-Member Hospital Network
The CommonWell Health Alliance officially joined the joint health information exchange, broadening the government’s ability to digitally share patient data with private health care providers.
Artificial Intelligence
White House Strategy Names 20 Emerging Technologies Crucial to National Security
As part of the strategy, the administration is encouraging government agencies to research, develop and buy more emerging technologies.
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