The National Institutes of Standards and Technology will update its cybersecurity framework in an effort to address feedback from its users and aims to publish an initial draft for comment in early 2017.

NIST said Thursday it will work to address requests from customer feedback that asks the agency to publish a governance process that outlines the framework maintenance process, serve as convener of framework stakeholders and continue framework outreach.

“We are working from all of the feedback we’ve received since the framework was published on its use, best practices, outreach, prospective updates and governance,” said Matthew Barrett, NIST Cybersecurity Framework program manager.

NIST developed the “Framework for Improving the Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity” to provide voluntary cybersecurity guidance and work to boost the security of the country’s infrastructure, the agency said.

The agency added it plans to analyze references in the document to update any outdated information and clarify the framework’s Implementation Tiers mechanism designed to help organization gauge its approach to cybersecurity risk management.

The technology and evaluation center of the Defense Department’s Computer/Electronics Accommodations Program has reached its 20th year of providing assistive technologies to individuals looking to address accessibility challenges.

CAPTEC is the federal government’s centrally funded accommodation program and the largest assistive technology initiative worldwide, DoD said Thursday.

“The accommodation solutions provided by the Department of Defense through CAP remove barriers for employees with disabilities and service members, promote inclusion and increase productivity,” said Stephen King, director of CAPTEC.

“Matching tools to an individual’s job requirements and limitations, and giving that individual the opportunity to try the tools on the spot, allows them to maximize their capabilities,” added Mike Young, manager of CAPTEC.

The value of assistive technologies DoD has provided to non-defense agencies since 2000 have reached more than $21 million.

Terry Halvorsen, chief information officer at the Defense Department, has said the government should forge partnerships with industry in order to address cybersecurity challenges, Signal magazine reported Wednesday.

Sandra Jontz writes Halvorsen gave the remarks Wednesday during his keynote speech at the NITEC 2016 conference hosted by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Europe and NCI Agency in Estonia.

He cited DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit Experimental program that seeks to advance collaboration with technology firms and introduce changes to the department’s acquisition process, Jontz reports.

“It’s one of the things we’re going to have to change,” he said of the government’s procurement process.

“I would argue we can’t buy ships and planes that way anymore because they are also cyber assets,” he added.

Halvorsen, an inductee into Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 for 2016, also mentioned the need for a two-way dialogue between the government and industry when it comes to addressing requirements, according to the report.