U.S. Central Command is requesting active service members and civilian personnel to submit innovation ideas and proposals designed to address military problems as part of a new competition, dubbed Innovation Oasis.

The competition calls for ideas, inventions and processes to be judged by top executives from Google, SpaceX and NASA, as well as senior uniformed U.S. military leaders, CENTCOM said.

Active service members, reservists, National Guard members and service civilian personnel have until Sept. 16 to submit proposals with a visual presentation depicting their ideas in the implementation stage.

The CENTCOM Innovation Oasis team will screen the submissions and select five finalists to present their ideas to the panel of technical and military experts on Oct. 12 at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.

The competition winner will receive a service award, a four-day pass and the opportunity to implement their idea across the command.

The General Services Administration’s Office of Government-wide Policy has created a document for identity program managers and enterprise and application architects looking to modernize their identity management process for federal employees.

The Identity Lifecycle Management Playbook serves as a practical guide to help federal agencies understand how to manage the life cycle of identities to achieve an enterprise identity, credential and access management system, GSA said Friday.

ILM refers to the stages of digital identity from creation to deactivation, also known as the joiner-mover-leaver process.

According to OGP, this process can help agencies ensure only active employees can access federal resources, remove access for employees with incomplete security training, enforce least privilege to accounts whose users have changed roles; and implement access control using attributes.

OGP encourages agency leaders to adapt the playbook to their organizational structure, requirements and mission needs. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is investing more than $3 billion in two resilience grant programs to help communities prepare for and mitigate the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events.

FEMA announced Friday the funding for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program will more than double to nearly $2.3 billion and the budget for the Flood Mitigation Assistance initiative will increase to $800 million.

About $900 million of the budget will be funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, consisting of $200 million for BRIC and $700 million for FMA.

BRIC and FMA were established to help states, local communities, tribes and territories build hazard mitigation projects designed to reduce their risks to flooding, wildfires, extreme heat, hurricanes, drought and other disasters and hazards.

“With historic levels of funding for the BRIC and FMA programs being announced today, we are investing in our nation’s resilience and building individual and community preparedness across the country,” said Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and a previous Wash100 Award recipient.

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comments on a proposed rule to address the negative effects of collecting, analyzing and profiting from people’s information and implementing lax data security practices.

FTC said Thursday it has issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to gather information on the risks posed by commercial surveillance and determine whether it needs to adopt new rules to protect the public’s privacy and information.

The agency raises concerns about the possibility that companies monetize the collection of consumer information, including browsing and purchase histories, online activities and other personal details.

FTC is also concerned that companies analyze the information they collect using algorithms and automated systems that are prone to errors, bias and inaccuracy.

“Our goal today is to begin building a robust public record to inform whether the FTC should issue rules to address commercial surveillance and data security practices and what those rules should potentially look like,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said.

Douglas Packard, head of the contracting activity at the Defense Information Systems Agency, has released a letter reminding federal contractors to refrain from using government furnished equipment and internet sites for unauthorized purposes.

Packard said DISA has seen an increase in the inappropriate use of government furnished equipment and access to internet sites by contractor personnel over the past year and noted that the practice could jeopardize the security of federal systems.

“Examples of inappropriate use includes, but is not limited to, viewing inappropriate and/or sexually oriented material, operating a private business or participating in non-contract/task order employment activities, and gambling,” the letter stated.

According to Packard, the inappropriate use of government information technology devices violates DISA’s contract agreements and policies.

He noted that corrective action will be imposed on contractors enabling the unauthorized use of government systems.

“Misuse of GFE and Government information systems entrusted to contractors and their personnel to perform official duties can subject individuals to removal of access to Government information systems and may affect security clearances,” Packard added.