Emerging Tech
GSA Seeks Support for Challenge Sites, Including Potential New Challenge X Lab
The crowdsourcing Challenge.gov and Citizenscience.gov need program support, as does a potential new testbed for agencies.
Modernization
COVID-19 More Likely to Accelerate Telecom Modernization than Cause Delays, GSA Officials Say
The pandemic has delayed some agency transitions to the $50 billion Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract, but those are outliers, according to program leads.
Digital Government
SBA’s Maria Roat Officially Named Deputy Federal CIO
Roat will take over the federal government’s No. 2 IT leadership role.
Digital Government
FEMA Issues Solicitation For Temperature Screening Ahead of Plans to Reopen Two Facilities
The winning vendor will need to supply protective equipment for their employees and contactless, infrared temperature scanning for FEMA personnel.
Modernization
GSA Suggests Using ‘Secret Shoppers’ to Evaluate Call Centers
The contact center within GSA’s Centers of Excellence offered a template for using mystery shoppers to measure performance.
Digital Government
Decisions To Reopen GSA Regional Offices Will Be Made At the Local Level
The agency’s open floorplans and other concerns make it difficult to reopen offices, but GSA’s telework culture has kept operations running smoothly, according to an agency official.
Modernization
Centers of Excellence Team With Another Health Agency Amid Pandemic
FDA became the fourth agency in 2020 to join the Centers of Excellence program; ninth overall.
Emerging Tech
Big Tech and Aviation Companies to Set Standards For New Drone-Tracking System
The eight vendors will set the technology standards for FAA’s Remote ID program to track drones and their operators.
Modernization
Homeland Security’s Biometrics Database Is on Its Way to the Amazon Cloud
The Office of Biometric Identity Management released a privacy impact assessment as the program begins moving the nation’s biometric database to Amazon’s GovCloud.
Artificial Intelligence
Pentagon Wants AI to Predict Behavioral Changes in Troops
The Defense Department wants artificial intelligence that can tell when shifts in behavior could have “unwanted negative outcomes” for troops, their units and their missions.
Podcasts
Critical Update: How State Department IT Was Set Up to Deal with COVID-19
State Department CIO Stuart McGuigan joins Critical Update to talk about his vision for the agency and how the department’s decentralized nature made for an easy transition to mass telework.
Emerging Tech
The Army Wants a Wearable COVID-19 Detector
Due to the urgent need, the managing consortium has suspended some—but not all—of its members-only restrictions.
Digital Government
SBA Awards $5.5M Contract to Improve Response to Disasters
As the Small Business Administration responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s also implementing what it learned during its response to the 2017 hurricane season.
Modernization
Labor Wants Feedback on Checklist for Modernizing State Unemployment Systems
The federal agency seeks input on the mandatory guidance it released to help states prevent service disruptions as they update their technology.
Digital Government
Federal Register Tech Issue Caused by Oversized Document
The site directed users to a temporary rundown of regulatory notices for April 30 while two federal offices worked to resolve the issue.
Digital Government
Army Researchers Want Help Building Predictive COVID-19 Models For Use Across DOD
The research partner will be expected to immediately begin work on two modeling analyses and be agile enough to shift as priorities change.
Artificial Intelligence
NGA Knows Its Challenges, Now It Needs the Tech to Address Them
The world is changing—from commercially available GEOINT to COVID-19—so the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency released a list of tech challenges the agency needs help to overcome.
Modernization
IG: VA Knew Infrastructure Upgrades Wouldn’t Meet Timeline For March Health Records Rollout
Severe staffing shortages, infighting and lack of comprehensive planning for infrastructure improvements would have handicapped the multibillion-dollar project, the inspector general said.
Digital Government
One Year In, Administration Names First Lead Office In New Shared Services Regime
The Homeland Security Department is the first to designate a Quality Service Management Office to lead its shared services marketplace.
Digital Government
Federal Spending on COVID-19 Doubles in Last 10 Days
The latest government spending data shows a major jump between April 13 and 23, up to $6.4 billion.
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