Modernization

Federal CIO tees up 7 new TMF awards

The awards, the first since TMF's $1 billion plus-up in the American Rescue Plan Act, are expected to be made public soon.

Modernization

HUD makes nearly $100M in EIS task orders

The Department of Housing and Urban Development issued three substantial task orders on the governmentwide Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract.

Cybersecurity

Shutdown looms as Congress faces spending deadlines

Most agencies are still operating under shutdown plans crafted under the Trump administration, but there are provisions for continuing pandemic programs and operations.

Cybersecurity

Cyber officials look to toughen up reporting requirements

The head of CISA told lawmakers that federal breach disclosure rules should be accompanied by compliance mechanisms, including fines.

Acquisition

White House pushes back on efforts to restore program cuts in NDAA

The Biden administration appears determined to stick to plans to retire legacy platforms and systems.

Modernization

Hurricane Ida knocked out key NARA system

The system is back up and running, but the sustained outage could lead to delays in the approval of annual records transfer requests.

Cybersecurity

House reconciliation bill includes nearly $800 million for CISA

The funding supports the implementation of President Joe Biden's May executive order on cybersecurity and workforce development.

Digital Government

What 9/11 looked like inside the federal IT community

Mark Forman, the former administrator of the Office of E-Government and widely considered the first federal CIO, shares his recollections of the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Cybersecurity

DHS makes awards in $3 billion financial systems software BPA

In the works since 2017, a plan to unify financial reporting across the highly federated Department of Homeland Security is getting closer to coming online.

Modernization

IRS dips into enforcement funds, user fees for IT

"Each year, the IRS must take extraordinary measures to fund IT," IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig explained in an August letter to three senators.

Cybersecurity

House panel mulls mandatory disclosure bill

Industry reps at a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee were supportive of new requirements to report hacks, but want more clarity on how to report and what constitutes a covered incident.

Cybersecurity

VA's Cussatt heads to State

The former acting CIO of the Department of Veterans Affairs is joining the Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and Dr. Neil Evans will lead tech at VA on an acting basis.

People

Biden orders 2.7% pay raise for civilian feds

The pay hike was included in the administration's 2022 budget and takes effect early next year.

Cybersecurity

Census servers hacked in 2020

A watchdog report indicates that aging remote-access servers at the Census Bureau were successfully targeted by hackers in early 2020 using a known vulnerability, and while no data was stolen, the incident revealed flaws in the bureau's cybersecurity response.

Modernization

Microsoft touts top secret cloud ATO

Azure Government Top Secret is now "generally available" for national security workloads, Microsoft announced in a blog post.

Cybersecurity

Senate panel wants DHS to focus intel activities on foreign threats

The Senate version of the annual intelligence authorization bill, which passed out of committee last week, includes a warning to DHS' intelligence arm to distinguish more carefully between its foreign and domestic missions.

Modernization

Digital ID left out of infrastructure bill

A plan to get federal support and funding behind digital identity proofing as a way to combat benefits fraud wound up on the cutting-room floor as the Senate crafted its $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.

Modernization

White House orders compliance with 'critical software' protection measures

The Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to comply with software supply chain security measures as set out in the May cybersecurity executive order.

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.

Cybersecurity

CISA debuts vulnerability disclosure platform

Federal civilian agencies can tap a bug reporting system fielded as a shared service by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to gather information on potential website and software vulnerabilities.