Lawmakers and the White House have advanced a set of bills that would require federal agencies to improve their public websites and digital services in 2019, Nextgov reported Friday. 

President Trump in the past week signed two bills into laws that separately require agencies to improve the accessibility, security and ease of use of public websites and require the Department of Homeland Security to put all its data into a single system to improve access to information.

All agencies have one year to update their websites. One of the new laws also include determining in-person and paper-based services across the government that could be digitized.

House and Senate lawmakers also passed other data-related bills including the SECURE Technology Act that combines three other legislations aimed at strengthening cyber defense of DHS and the federal supply chain. 

The bill would launch DHS’ first enterprise-wide bug bounty program, establish a vulnerability disclosure program with the industry and form a federal council to assess potential cyber risks in the government’s supply chain.

The OPEN Government Data Act also passed both the House and Senate, which would support evidence-based policymaking. 

The bill would require agencies to disclose all non-sensitive data and appoint a chief data officer to oversee the effort.

The George C. Marshall Center for Security Studies, a German-American security training partnership, has released a new batch of 72 professionals who have completed a cybersecurity policy program.

The graduates, who came from 52 countries, trained with a number of U.S. agencies on internet governance, online freedom, international cyber policy, public-private partnerships and other matters related to cyber regulation, the Department of Defense said Friday.

“Our program focuses on areas that are not just within the normal Department of Defense or Ministry of Defense lanes or areas of expertise, but also examines whole-of-government approaches in addressing cyber security issues and challenges,” said Philip Lark, the course director of the center’s Program on Cyber Security Studies.

“We are the only DoD regional center that has the authority to do a transnational program like this with participants from all over the world,” said retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, the center’s director.

The Marshall Center has trained security professionals for the past 25 years, and has been providing transnational courses since 2014.

The Government Accountability Office has found that only three out of 11 federal agencies that take part in the Small Business Innovation Research program awarded grants and contracts to small firms owned by venture capital companies, hedge funds and private equity firms in the past four fiscal years.

Those three agencies are the Department of Education‘s Institute for Education Sciences, Department of Energy‘s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy and the Department of Health and Human Services‘ National Institutes of Health, GAO said Friday.

The agencies awarded 62 contracts and grants worth $43.6M combined between FY 2015 and FY 2018, a figure that reflects 0.1 percent to 2.7 percent of the three agencies’ awards.

The congressional watchdog found that NIH is the sole agency that awarded contracts to small businesses owned by multiple investment firms during the period.

The Department of Defense did not award SBIR contracts to small businesses majority-owned by investment firms and funds but sent a “written determination” to some congressional panels and the Small Business Administration for such awards.

GAO said the remaining seven agencies chose not to use the SBIR authority.

“Officials from most of the agencies that elected not to use the authority told GAO they believe that opening their programs to small businesses with majority ownership by multiple investment companies and funds would not substantially contribute to the agencies’ mission,” according to the report.
 

Mark Robbins, acting chairman of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, has been appointed to concurrently serve as general counsel of the Office of Personnel Management, the OPM said Friday.

Robbins served as the agency’s general counsel from 2001 to 2006 and previously held roles at the White House’s Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and Office of Presidential Personnel.

He also served as general counsel of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and received the U.S. Army’s Commander’s Award for Civilian Service during his tenure as the State Department’s senior rule of law advisor in Babil Province, Iraq.

Prior to his OPM career, Robbins worked as a litigation attorney in Los Angeles, Calif., and legislative assistant to L.A.-area Congress members.

He has been a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration since 2013.

The U.S. Marine Corps is creating a blueprint detailing how the service designs new capabilities for information operations, C4ISRNet reported Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the service said the Marine Corps Information Environment Blueprint is being designed for the newly-established Marine Expeditionary Force Information Groups.

MIGs are tasked to manage and deliver all information-related capabilities to Marine Corps commanders for cyber, intelligence, electronic warfare and information operations.

A top official for information at Marine Corps said the MCIEE Blueprint will include policies, standards, services, infrastructures, technical designs and architectural elements required to provide capabilities across the enterprise.

“Development of the MCIEE Blueprint is an iterative process focused on the delivery of capabilities defined by and validated against user objectives, functional goals and mission requirements,” the official noted.

The Marine Corps aims to release the final MCIEE in spring 2019 and intends to update the document periodically to add new capabilities.

President Trump has signed a bill into law providing $1.2B in funding for quantum computing research and development over the next five years, GeekWire reported Friday. The National Quantum Initiative Act will support federally-backed research programs exploring quantum information science and the effort to build a quantum-smart workforce.

The law also requires the establishment of a National Quantum Coordination Office and an advisory committee within the White House to manage such projects and address issues in quantum computing. Michael Kratsios, deputy assistant to the president for technology policy, said the initiatives would increase jobs in the U.S., boost economic growth and improve national security.

“We look forward to building upon efforts to support the quantum-smart workforce of the future and engage with government, academic and private-sector leaders to advance QIS,” he said.

The law comes after the National Academies of Science called on the government to develop “post-quantum” encryption protocols to protect commerce and national security.

The U.S. Air Force established a new program management office to lead efforts in rebuilding infrastructures damaged by Hurricane Michael at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. The service said Wednesday the PMO will assess the damage to installation facilities and infrastructures, determine usability and preserve capabilities of the base. 

“The work that lies in front of us is extensive, but the PMO office will ensure the Air Force has a 21st-century installation to carry out the missions of today and the future,” said Col. Scott Matthews, director of Tyndall AFB PMO.

Other missions of the new office include rapid repair and construction of temporary facilities and redevelopment planning to support near-term resumption of mission operations and long-term redevelopment of the base. 

PMO Deputy Director Brian Stahl said the office is working with the 325th Fighter Wing to provide resources, expertise and manpower for the rebuilding efforts. The Air Force expects rebuilding Tyndall AFB to take up to five years and cost nearly $3B. 

Mike Rits, Air Force Civil Engineer Center resilience subject matter expert, said the PMO could also help the service branch apply “Smart City” designs at Tyndall AFB to provide resilient warfighting capabilities.

The Department of Commerce has called on the financial sector to provide “better financing and insurance” for the space industry, Space News reported Wednesday.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the agency hopes to boost the overall space economy.

“There continues to be strong and growing venture capital equity funding for the space industry. But missing from space finance are the bigger institutions, especially banks,” he said. “Their participation will be necessary to execute longer-term commercial plans.”

In mid-December, the agency hosted a seminar in Washington gathering representatives from space companies and the financial sector to encourage additional investment and address the challenges to secure finance for the space industry. Ross said the Commerce Department is also utilizing its Office of Space Commerce to provide investors with more data on the industry. 

“We think that there’s a real ignorance barrier that we need to help overcome in order to facilitate lending,” he said. “We need to come up with a group of metrics here so that people can figure out what they have to do to get to the next level of value.”

The agency proposed a Space Policy Advancing Commercial Enterprise Administration to Congress to manage commercial space operations as part of President Trump’s Space Policy Directive-2 in May.