The software licensing metric in the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard will now be retired after all 24 agencies received an ‘A’ in the category in its 11th iteration.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Tuesday three agencies saw improvement in their letter grades in the FITARA scorecard and those are the departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Veterans Affairs (VA) and Labor.

None of the 24 agencies received failing grades. The committee reported that 16 agencies maintained their scores, while five showed a drop in their letter grades.

The House panel added a new metric to the FITARA 11.0 scorecard to assess agencies’ efforts to move from expiring contracts for telecommunications support to the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) vehicle. The scorecard showed that eight agencies got an ‘A’ grade in this category, including HHS and the departments of Agriculture and Justice.

“In the midst of a global pandemic, continued reliance on remote work, and an unprecedented and highly sophisticated cyber-attack by a foreign adversary—the importance of federal agencies’ effective use of IT is too great to ignore,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., chairman of the House Oversight’s government operations subcommittee. “FITARA remains an effective tool at catalyzing IT advancement across the enterprise of the federal government. Let’s ensure we use it to continue to raise the bar."

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has set aside more than $107 million in research projects and grant supplements to support development of non-traditional technologies needed for COVID-19 testing and surveillance and for addressing future COVID-19 waves and other infectious diseases.

NIH said Monday 43 U.S. institutions received funding under the "Radical" segment of the agency's Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics program to work on nearly 50 initiatives focused on new approaches to SARS-CoV-2 virus tracking and identification.

Technologies being considered under the RADx Radical program include artificial intelligence-powered biomarkers and biosignatures for risk prediction, integrated biosensing platform for early SARS-CoV-2 detection, airborne detector for real-time monitoring and diagnostic breathalyzer for instant virus identification.

"These awards from the RADx-rad program provide superb examples of outside-the-box concepts that will help us overcome this pandemic and give us a cadre of devices and tactics to confront future outbreaks," said Francis Collins, director of NIH.

The awards also provide for efforts to characterize the spectrum of SARS CoV-2 associated illness and to create wastewater technologies and data collection methods intended to inform development of targeted public health protection measures by estimating SARS-CoV-2 community infection levels.

The RADx program provides assistance in COVID-19 testing efforts through four targeted initiatives: RADx Tech, RADx Advanced Technology Platforms, RADx Underserved Populations and RADx Radical. Eleven NIH institutes and centers support the RADx-rad grants and supplements.

The FBI, the inspector general office at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have warned the general public to be vigilant against potential scammers that want to illicitly obtain money from people interested in getting access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The bureau said Monday that it received vaccine-related fraud complaints and will coordinate with industry and other law enforcement organizations to address emerging schemes.

Fraudulent activities include advertised offers that ask potential victims to pay for fake vaccine reservations and additional medical testing and claims of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for unverified coronavirus treatments.

Some scammers also falsely claim to be an official associated with vaccine centers, insurance companies and medical organizations, the FBI noted.

The FBI advises U.S. citizens to consult state governments and the FDA's website for legitimate vaccine information and double-check online portals and email addresses in case they are just imitations of the actual ones.

The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) has selected Siemens Government Technologies (SGT) for its 100 most innovative technology companies in 2020, the company reported on Tuesday. The council also selected Tina Dolph, president and CEO of SGT and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, as a NVTC Tech 100 Executive.

“It’s a tremendous honor to receive this recognition from NVTC. I am very proud of our SGT and Siemens teams that do mission critical work for our government customers each day,” said Dolph. 

SGT was recognized for its innovation across the technology sector. The company has supported the government contracting (GovCon) and federal sectors throughout the year. SGT has supported its customer base with its portfolio across smart infrastructure, energy and digital transformation technologies. 

For example, SGT partnered with the Army Corps of Engineers and Haugland Energy to support the conversion of a convention center to a fully functioning medical center to combat COVID-19. 

Through Siemens’ Digital Industries Xcelerator portfolio, the company has also supported the U.S. Air Force and Navy. SGT has provided digitalization expertise to the service branches, advising them on how to effectively manage the technical and manufacturing data produced by prime contractors. 

In addition, SGT has worked with government customers to optimize their operations through digital twins. The company’s support has enabled customers to gain efficiencies and insights, and advance maintenance and sustainment activities. 

“This year has presented so many challenges, but through it all, our team hasn’t wavered in their grit and resolve to help our government customers fulfill their missions of national consequence,” Dolph added.