OMB Issues Guidance on Federal Agencies’ Use of Official Internet Domains
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OMB Issues Guidance on Federal Agencies’ Use of Official Internet Domains

The Office of Management and Budget issued a guidance to federal agencies on the registration, use and renewal of the .gov domain.

According to a memo signed by OMB Director Shalanda Young, agencies must use government domain names to provide official information and limit utilization of non-government Internet addresses.

Government domains such as .gov and .mil must be used to offer official information, communications or services, since they are already established as trustworthy sites for the public, the guidance stated.

In alignment with the new federal zero trust architecture strategy, OMB may require federal agencies to justify their continued use of non-.gov domains and order them to retire those names if necessary.

The memo gives offices 180 days to review their previously registered domains and naming conventions to ensure compliance with new requirements.

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White House Proposes Guidance to Boost U.S.-Made Products for Government Purposes
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White House Proposes Guidance to Boost U.S.-Made Products for Government Purposes

The Office of Management and Budget has issued proposed guidance to advance and maximize the use of U.S.-manufactured construction materials in federally funded infrastructure projects.

OMB is also proposing standards to ensure that construction materials used in government infrastructure projects are made in the USA as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen the U.S. manufacturing sector, Livia Shmavonian, director of the Made in America Office, wrote in a blog post published Wednesday.

According to Shmavonian, the Biden administration has strengthened initiatives to invest in American industry and workers through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which includes the Build America, Buy America Act that requires that all iron, steel, products and construction materials used in government projects are produced in the U.S.

“That means taxpayer dollars funding our country’s infrastructure projects are invested back in American jobs and American manufacturing,” Shmavonian explained.

The initiative has also encouraged private sector investment in the local manufacturing industry by creating job opportunities. Since the beginning of President Biden’s term, 750,000 manufacturing jobs have been created for the American people.

Shmavonian said the proposed guidance is a major step toward strengthening the implementation of the domestic content procurement standards while improving transparency and oversight to “ensure effective stewardship of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding.”

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FCC OKs Amazon’s Updated Orbital Debris Mitigation Plan for Broadband Satellite Constellation Project
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FCC OKs Amazon’s Updated Orbital Debris Mitigation Plan for Broadband Satellite Constellation Project

Amazon has received approval from the Federal Communications Commission for its updated orbital debris mitigation plan for a project to deploy and operate a Ka-band constellation of more than 3,000 satellites in non-geostationary orbit to provide broadband service.

The FCC clearance grants the application of Amazon’s Kuiper Systems subsidiary to modify its license for its Project Kuiper satellite constellation, the commission said Wednesday.

The approval requires Kuiper to comply with several conditions, including the submission to FCC of semi-annual reports that detail the collision avoidance maneuvers performed by its satellites.

The clearance also comes with post-mission disposal conditions. Kuiper will remove satellites from orbit at the end of their seven-year mission by reducing the spacecraft’s perigee to about 350 kilometers and ensure that its satellites have sufficient propellant to maintain collision avoidance capabilities.

“We adopt requirements for Kuiper to report mitigation actions taken to avoid collisions in space and to coordinate and collaborate with NASA to ensure continued availability of launch windows and on other matters,” FCC wrote in the order and authorization document.

Amazon received initial FCC approval for Project Kuiper in July 2020.

CBP Opens Information Solicitation on Planned Asset Management System
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CBP Opens Information Solicitation on Planned Asset Management System

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection is seeking information from vendors with the capabilities to design an integrated enterprise-wide asset lifecycle management system.

In an RFI notice issued Tuesday, CBP stated that the asset management system will help the agency process and report on its more than 1 million assets, which ranges from equipment to vehicles and information technology.

CBP’s Office of Facilities and Asset Management is in need of a cloud-compatible platform that can consolidate its 17 disparate systems. Its design must include standard usage and maintenance modes for normal and emergency situations.

The agency is looking for technologies that can be used by CBP procurement personnel, maintainers, reporting stakeholder and analysts on a daily basis.

Interested companies may respond to the RFI until March 10.

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CISA, FBI Issue Joint Advisory in Response to ESXiArgs Ransomware
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CISA, FBI Issue Joint Advisory in Response to ESXiArgs Ransomware

The Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency collaborated with the FBI to help organizations respond to a ransomware campaign known as ESXiArgs.

The two agencies on Wednesday issued the ESXiArgs Ransomware Virtual Machine Recovery Guidance, which includes a recovery script for users that have lost their files from the cyberattack.

The malware originated from outdated versions of VMWare’s ESXi software, whose servers were used by malicious cyber actors to access and encrypt configuration files, disabling virtual machines as a result.

In their joint advisory, CISA and FBI urged organizations using ESXi to upgrade to the latest software version. Their Service Location Protocol service should also be disabled, and their ESXi hypervisor should not be visible to the public internet, the agencies said.

CISA encouraged affected users to access https://github.com/cisagov/ESXiArgs-Recover to retrieve their compromised files.

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Elisabeth Schmidt Joins Maximus as SVP for Technology and Consulting Services; Scott Barr Quoted
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Elisabeth Schmidt Joins Maximus as SVP for Technology and Consulting Services; Scott Barr Quoted

Elisabeth Schmidt has been appointed as one of the senior vice presidents for technology and consulting services at Maximus.

In this position, Schmidt will be responsible for assisting the company’s efforts to provide all-encompassing offerings to federal health agencies for enhanced citizen results, Maximus announced from Reston, Virginia on Thursday.

Schmidt noted the challenges currently facing federal healthcare, which include health equity and accessibility, data management and the application of new technologies within government health organizations.

“We want to help these agencies implement technology that is driven with a human-centered design approach and is focused on improving outcomes for citizens, including veterans, patients, and providers, among others,” she said.

For over 25 years, Schmidt has worked to provide consulting services for federal, state and local government customers as well as industry clients. Her experience is centered around complex program management and delivery and spans the areas of systems integration, application development, business process outsourcing and transformation programs.

“The foundation of our success in public health is built upon aligning experienced professionals with innovative technology solutions. It strengthens our ability to address complex transformative initiatives, such as data modernization, that will reimagine how federal health agencies operate,” said Scott Barr, who leads Maximus’ technology and consulting services practice.

Prior to joining Maximus, Schmidt served as a partner with IBM’s consulting business. She has previously worked with Eagle Hill Consulting as a senior director and with Accenture Federal Services as a managing director.

Schmidt’s appointment comes shortly after Maximus selected Joe Jeter as senior vice president for federal technology, a role in which he will lead the organization’s technology strategy and approach for federal agencies.

Elisabeth Schmidt Joins Maximus as SVP for Technology and Consulting Services; Scott Barr Quoted

Maximus is sponsoring the Potomac Officers Club’s 4th Annual CIO Summit, which will host CIOs from all areas of the GovCon community to discuss current challenges and opportunities within the broad information technology landscape. To learn more and register to attend the event on May 16, please visit the POC events page.

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Biden Calls on Congress to Strengthen Antitrust Enforcement
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Biden Calls on Congress to Strengthen Antitrust Enforcement

President Joe Biden urged Congress to pass measures to strengthen U.S. antitrust law as part of efforts to improve competition in the technology industry, The Verge reported Wednesday.

“Pass bipartisan legislation to strengthen antitrust enforcement and prevent big online platforms from giving their own products an unfair advantage,” Biden said Tuesday during his State of the Union address.

Time reported the president’s renewed call comes after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., decided not to bring two bipartisan antitrust bills — the American Innovation and Choice Online Act and the Open App Markets Act — to a Senate floor vote during the remaining days of last year’s congressional term.

The AICOA measure would prohibit tech companies from giving preference to their own offerings over competing products. OAMA would direct tech companies to provide rival marketplaces access to their app stores.

Schumer, who stated that the measures did not have enough votes to pass, allocated $50 million in additional funding to the Federal Trade Commission and $35 million to the Department of Justice’s antitrust division in the previous fiscal year’s spending legislation, according to the magazine.

US Army PEO IEW&S Works to Future-Proof Integrated Sensor Architecture
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US Army PEO IEW&S Works to Future-Proof Integrated Sensor Architecture

The U.S. Army’s Integrated Sensor Architecture is undergoing future-proof modernization at the Program Executive Office Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors Integration Directorate.

The branch’s Sensor Compute Environment team intends to introduce ISA to all program management offices in order to achieve interoperability throughout the Army, the service branch reported.

ISA features a modular and adaptable framework that is compatible with any type of sensor, providing a workaround for Army systems and devices that only function in an exclusive, proprietary environment. 

The framework’s design minimizes the need for a middleman or a remote translator to process sensor data, facilitating rapid information exchange.

PEO IEW&S is looking for ways to improve ISA to keep up with evolving technology without having to pay recurring upgrade costs every few years.

“There are two fundamentals we’re trying to fix in designing ISA. One is, how do we allow only one way for you to provide information, so the position is always represented this way, so there’s no argument about it,” said Matthew Harrell, Sensor CE and ISA tech lead at PEO IEW&S. “But at the same time, how do we make it extensible, so others can add new data types, experiment with what makes sense, get the right thing going, and then turn around and add those to the standard without breaking everybody else.”

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Treasury Outlines Plans to Address Cloud Adoption Risks in Financial Sector; Wally Adeyemo Quoted
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Treasury Outlines Plans to Address Cloud Adoption Risks in Financial Sector; Wally Adeyemo Quoted

The Department of the Treasury has revealed plans to establish an interagency cloud services steering group to coordinate government actions against potential risks posed by cloud services to the financial industry.

In a report published Wednesday, Treasury explained that financial institutions of all sizes are ramping up their adoption of cloud products to advance innovation and support their information technology modernization efforts, but noted that there are several challenges associated with increased reliance on cloud computing services.

According to Treasury, there is insufficient transparency on cyber incidents, gaps in the current talent pool and vulnerability of existing systems to cyberattacks threaten the integrity of financial systems and information.

To address the risks raised in the report, the department will launch an interagency committee within the next year to facilitate collaboration with U.S. financial regulators, international partners and cloud service providers.

“By building trust, cooperation, and collaboration at the outset, we can promote safe and effective migration for financial institutions that choose to adopt cloud services,” said Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the Treasury.

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Chris Inglis to Retire as National Cyber Director
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Chris Inglis to Retire as National Cyber Director

National Cyber Director Chris Inglis, a previous Wash100 awardee, is set to retire on Feb. 15 after nearly two years of leading the White House’s cybersecurity office, CNN reported Wednesday.

Kemba Eneas Walden, a former executive at Microsoft who joined the Office of NCD in May 2022 as the first principal deputy national cyber director, will lead the office on an interim basis until the White House nominates a replacement for Inglis.

Inglis, former deputy director of the National Security Agency, said in a statement to CNN that he had “full confidence” that ONCD “is viable and valuable – in its capabilities, its people, and its influence on issues that matter: protecting our Nation’s critical infrastructure, strengthening and safeguarding our technology supply chain, expanding pathways to good-paying cyber jobs, and so many more.”

His planned retirement comes as his office works on a new cybersecurity strategy that is expected to take a tougher regulatory approach to the private sector’s security practices. It is still uncertain when the strategy will be unveiled, according to the report.

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