Artificial Intelligence

Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill To Prioritize AI Adoption in Government

The Artificial Intelligence in Government Act would create a center of excellence, a governance board and require agencies to develop plans to ensure the ethical use of advanced algorithms.

Cybersecurity

Cyber Espionage Targeting Public Sector Rose 168% In 2018

“Government incident responders must either be cape-and-tights-wearing superheroes, or so stressed they’re barely hanging on by their fingernails.”

Digital Government

How Improving Employee Experience Leads to Better Citizen Experience

Happier, more productive employees lead to better citizen services and customer experiences, officials said.

Modernization

Watchdog: OPM CIO Isn’t Exercising Enough Authority Over IT Budgets

Department IT leadership was given significant budgetary authority under FITARA, but the government’s human resources department hasn’t been applying them properly, according to the inspector general.

Modernization

FBI Starts Over On Enterprise IT Recompete With New Draft Solicitation

Contracting officials made some small but significant changes to the latest draft solicitation for ITECS.

Policy

Shifting the Pentagon’s Employee Training to OPM Could Save Millions

The move also establishes the Defense Department as a petri dish for OPM to obtain more data on how employees learn and where more training is needed.

Modernization

What’s Hot In Federal Tech, Per GSA’s IT Category Lead

Bill Zielinski, head of the Information Technology Category, shares the trends he’s seeing in federal IT through thousands of ongoing acquisitions governmentwide.

Cybersecurity

CISA Cuts Deadline For Patching Critical Weaknesses In Half

A new binding operational directive requires agencies to patch critical vulnerabilities in just over two weeks.

Cybersecurity

Agency Cyber Pros Welcome DHS’ Leadership If It’s Not One-Size-Fits-All

Homeland Security is well-positioned to lead governmentwide cyber acquisitions and standards, so long as they work with agencies as individuals, officials said.

Modernization

DHS Tries Again to Build a Contract for Agile Development

The department is pushing components to buy more off governmentwide contracts—except when it comes to the cloud and agile development.

Modernization

What Agencies Get From Taking Leadership Roles In New Shared Services Regime

The administration is asking select departments to take the lead on governmentwide services. But don’t think it’s charity on the part of the agencies.

Policy

Exclusive: What OMB’s New Shared Services Policy Will Mean for Modernization

A new class of shared services providers will manage a “marketplace” of offerings, meaning big changes for employees and modernization plans.

Emerging Tech

One Defense Agency is Building a Bot Army

And it's saving the department hundreds of thousands of work hours a year, a defense official said.

Digital Government

It’s Official: Trump Shifts All Security Clearance Work to Pentagon

An executive order renames the Defense Security Service and sets a timeline for the office to take over background investigations for the entire federal community.

Modernization

SEC Pulls On-Ramp For $2.5 Billion IT Contract

The agency is reworking the on-ramp solicitation for its massive enterprise IT vehicle, which, if officials aren’t careful, could take down the entire contract.

Emerging Tech

TSA Wants A Vendor To Manage Its Third-Party Tech Testing Ecosystem

The new process will let the agency leverage private sector testing organizations instead of relying solely on Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate.

Digital Government

Exclusive: TTS Director Wants GSA’s Innovation Shop To Punch Above Its Weight

In his first interview since joining government, Anil Cheriyan shares his insights into problem areas and the future of innovative programs like the Centers of Excellence, 18F and FedRAMP.

Emerging Tech

GSA Testing Tool to Ensure Tech Projects Meet Accessibility Rules

A government-built AI tool to ensure compliance with accessibility mandates is headed for the user testing phase before going governmentwide this fall.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence Is Helping Evaluate 1.1 Million Security Clearance Holders

While artificial intelligence is key to the future of background investigations, it will always be up to humans to make clearance decisions, an official assured.