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Ellen Lord: Defense Acquisition Policy Needs Reform
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Ellen Lord: Defense Acquisition Policy Needs Reform

 

Ellen Lord: Defense Acquisition Policy Needs Reform
Ellen Lord

Ellen Lord, undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment at the Defense Department, said at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference held Thursday that DoD should reform its acquisition process for information technology modernization programs, Federal News Radio reported Friday.

In line with this, Lord said that she and her staff develop acquisition policy “a little bit differently,” adding that they are “allowing the services and research and engineering to pilot authorities, assessing what happened and then writing the policy.”

She also spoke about the establishment of what she called an “agile acquisition framework,” where acquisition authorities are set alongside possible contract vehicles, and successful as well as unsuccessful combinations are documented.

Lord, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, envisioned having the framework replace DoD Directive 5000.01 — the prevailing set of policies governing defense acquisitions.

 

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OPM Mulls Direct Hire Authority for STEM, Cyber Posts
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OPM Mulls Direct Hire Authority for STEM, Cyber Posts


OPM Mulls Direct Hire Authority for STEM, Cyber PostsThe Office of Personnel Management is considering the issuance of direct hire authority in efforts to fill government positions related to science, technology, engineering, math and cybersecurity.

OPM said in a memo published Wednesday it will distribute a survey to chief human capital officers in the coming weeks as part of efforts to gather additional data on agencies’ recruitment process for STEM and cyber roles.

The office aims to determine if available information conform to statutory and regulatory criteria for issuing DHA.

OPM added it needs both quantitative and qualitative statistics in order to understand challenges that agencies face when hiring professionals that specialize in those fields.

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David Vargas: OPM Develops Blockchain-Based Prototype for Federal Employee Transfer
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David Vargas: OPM Develops Blockchain-Based Prototype for Federal Employee Transfer


David Vargas: OPM Develops Blockchain-Based Prototype for Federal Employee TransferThe Office of Personnel Management has developed a blockchain technology-based prototype as part of a new employee digital record platform, Federal News Radio reported Friday.

“We’ve actually prototyped a blockchain for an employee transfer,” David Vargas, director of the human resources line of business at OPM, said Thursday during a panel discussion at the IBM-sponsored Think Gov conference.

Vargas said OPM used agile processes to build the prototype in approximately two months and expects the new technology to help simplify the process of transferring, terminating and onboarding federal employees.

Justin Herman, lead for emerging citizen technology at General Services Administration, noted at the same forum that GSA seeks to help other agencies and companies to tap into the Technology Modernization Fund to develop blockchain, robotics and artificial intelligence platforms.

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Commerce Dept Proposes New Office to Oversee Commercial Space Activities
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Commerce Dept Proposes New Office to Oversee Commercial Space Activities


Commerce Dept Proposes New Office to Oversee Commercial Space ActivitiesThe Commerce Department has proposed to Congress its plan to create a new office to manage commercial space operations.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced on Thursday the proposal to establish the Space Policy Advancing Commercial Enterprise Administration office in line with President Donald Trump’s signing of the Space Policy Directive-2 that aims to introduce reforms to commercial space regulations, the department said Thursday.

“A burgeoning commercial space market is imperative to creating jobs, promoting economic growth and ensuring national security,” Ross said.

Ross has ordered the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology and other bureaus and agencies with space responsibilities within the department to designate a liaison to the new office to facilitate coordination on commercial spaceflight activities.

The new proposal would also direct the SPACE Administration office to house NOAA’s commercial remote sensing regulatory affairs office and the department’s office of space commerce.

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DISA Offers 4 Enterprise Voice Service Options for DoD System Users
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DISA Offers 4 Enterprise Voice Service Options for DoD System Users


DISA Offers 4 Enterprise Voice Service Options for DoD System UsersThe Defense Information Systems Agency is offering four service options to support the Defense Department‘s voice communication needs.

These options under the Enterprise Voice Services Program are part of the DoD chief information officer’s effort to replace Defense Information Systems Network legacy systems with new internet protocol technologies, DISA said Thursday.

The Enterprise Voice over Internet Protocol and Enterprise Classified Voice over Internet Protocol options are made to serve as platforms for unclassified and classified voice exchange across the DoD and its partners.

These services make use of the Non-classified IP Router Network and the Secret IP Router Network.

The Enterprise Audio Conferencing option is geared to provide audio conference service without the need for reservations.

Lastly, the Voice Internet Service Provider option uses an NIPRNet connection to provide commercial phone services encompassing local, long distance, international, emergency, inbound and outbound calls.

Marie Sakowicz, program manager for the Enterprise Voice Services, discussed each option at the 2018 Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association’s Defensive Cyber Operations Symposium.

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GAO Pushes Continued Effort to Manage Government IT Investments
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GAO Pushes Continued Effort to Manage Government IT Investments


GAO Pushes Continued Effort to Manage Government IT InvestmentsThe Government Accountability Office has found through a study that there are still a number of actions the government has to take in order to improve the management of information technology procurement.

These actions encompass further review of chief information officer responsibilities, IT contract approval, data center consolidation, software license management and security of federal IT systems, GAO said Wednesday.

GAO conducted the study with the aim to evaluate agencies’ progress in following previous recommendations for improvements in IT procurement management and cybersecurity as the government eyes an estimated $96 billion IT investment plan for fiscal 2018.

The agency noted 61 percent of its IT management recommendations from fiscal 2010 to 2015 have been implemented as of this month.

GAO will continue to oversee agencies’ implementation of the measures based on the study’s findings.

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House Passes $717B National Defense Budget for FY 2019
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House Passes $717B National Defense Budget for FY 2019


House Passes $717B National Defense Budget for FY 2019The U.S. House of Representatives passed the $717 billion 2019 National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday with 351 voting in favor and 66 voting against. 131 Democrats sided with 220 Republicans in support of the bill, The Hill reported.

The House’s version of the defense budget allocates $617 billion for expenditures related to military bases, $22 billion for the Energy Department‘s nuclear weapons programs, and $69 billion for what the bill refers to as “Overseas Contingency Operations.”

The 2019 NDAA also provides $2 billion in funding for the Defense Information Systems Agency. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, previously called for the agency’s elimination but the approved version of the defense bill only orders the transfer of certain functions to other Defense Department units by 2021.

Elsewhere, the defense bill authorizes $65 million for the development of a submarine-launched low-yield nuclear weapon based on the W76 missile warhead. House Democrats previously proposed a measure that would have halved funding for this purpose, but the motion was defeated.

Moving forward, the House bill will be transmitted to the U.S. Senate, whose version of the defense budget was approved at the committee level on Wednesday.

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Sen. Ron Wyden Asks DoD to Advance HTTPS Adoption on All Public Web Services
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Sen. Ron Wyden Asks DoD to Advance HTTPS Adoption on All Public Web Services


Sen. Ron Wyden Asks DoD to Advance HTTPS Adoption on All Public Web Services
Ron Wyden

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has called on Dana Deasy, chief information officer at the Defense Department, to direct the implementation of cyber best practices on all of DoD’s public-facing web services.

Wyden wrote a letter on Tuesday to Deasy calling him to require all agencies and offices at the Pentagon to enable the use of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure encryption with HTTP Strict Transport Security on all public web services.

DoD agencies should submit a list of all public domains to DHS to advance HSTS adoption and comply with a memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget and a binding operational directive from the Department of Homeland Security.

Wyden said agencies at the Pentagon need to secure and field certificates trusted by major web browsers for all publicly accessible web services and assess the use of “shorter-lived, machine-generated certificates.”

The senator also asked Deasy to come up with an action plan regarding the adoption of the cyber measures by July 20.

 

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Federal CIO Suzette Kent Comments on Government IT Modernization Initiatives
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Federal CIO Suzette Kent Comments on Government IT Modernization Initiatives


Federal CIO Suzette Kent Comments on Government IT Modernization Initiatives
Suzette Kent

Suzette Kent, federal chief information officer, discussed at an IBM event the government’s data and information technology modernization needs to catch up to commercial products and private sector basic practices, Federal Times reported Thursday.

She told attendees that federal agencies have much work to do to keep pace with the private sector and to meet citizens expectations.

Kent highlighted that through establishing incubators, specific problems and questions can be addressed. Questions such as: How do we protect privacy? How do we leverage data? What’s the hygiene? What are our shared models? What can we share? How can we accept that data? and What does that model look like?

Kent noted that the administration also plans to address the modernization process and the sharing of data within agencies through the President’s Management Agenda.

Kent was previously a principal at Ernst & Young prior to her appointment earlier this year to federal CIO and administrator for the office of electronic government within the Office of Management and Budget.

“Large-scale transformation…takes a vision, and it takes multiple years. So the funding we have has to support that process,” said Kent.

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ONC Launches Challenge to Procure EHR Issue Reporting Systems
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ONC Launches Challenge to Procure EHR Issue Reporting Systems


ONC Launches Challenge to Procure EHR Issue Reporting SystemsThe Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has launched a challenge for software developers to design an electronic health record issue reporting tool for medical professionals.

ONC said in the Easy EHR Issues Reporting Challenge posted Tuesday it needs a platform that works to enable clinicians to report EHR system usability and safety issues in a way that minimizes workflow disruption and supports applicable interoperability and technical standards.

The technology is also expected to provide feedback when a report is sent or received as well as display options for parties to report to, such as a provider’s health IT department or EHR service support team.

ONC said the initiative aims to address the technical concerns of medical practitioners with their EHR systems, which provide patient information and support the quality of healthcare.

The office believes enhancing EHRs can help health IT further meet the needs and expectations related to patient safety.

ONC will award a $45,000 prize to the grand winner of the challenge, $25,000 to the second placer and $10,000 to the third placer.

Challenge responses are due Oct. 15, and the announcement and notification of the winners will be in November.

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