Tag Archives: FITARA

Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, said artificial intelligence, helping federal agencies address critical technology issues and a new cybersecurity scholarship program would be among his priorities in Congress this year to help modernize and secure the government, Federal News Network reported Friday. He aims to promote the FITARA scorecard across the government to ensure all 24 large agencies and departments “are following efforts to have good digital hygiene.”

The House plans to combine the subcommittees that handle information technology oversight and government operations to help in technology modernization across the government, FCW reported Tuesday. The decision comes amid the growing number of government operations relying on IT, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said in a statement. 

Congress provided the chief information officer at the Department of Defense with additional authorities and responsibilities through new provisions that took effect Tuesday, Jan. 1, as part of the fiscal 2018 defense authorization measure, Federal News Network reported Tuesday. The amendments would direct the DoD CIO to develop, publish and adopt standards for all cyber and information technology capabilities that operate on networks of service branches and defense agencies.

Rod Turk, acting chief information officer at the Department of Commerce, has said the policies, budget authorities and funding vehicles provided by the White House and Congress in recent years have already been helping federal agencies modernize their networks, MeriTalk reported Wednesday.

The Office of Management and Budget has updated the Data Center Optimization Initiative after Congress passed a measure that extends agencies' compliance with the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act’s data center consolidation requirements through Oct. 1, 2020. Suzette Kent, federal chief information officer, said in a draft memorandum published Monday OMB decided to revise DCOI in accordance with the FITARA Enhancement Act of 2017.

 

The Government Accountability Office has called on eight federal departments and their component agencies to organize their policies and review and approval processes for their information technology budgets. 

Dave Powner, a 16-year Government Accountability Office veteran, told FedTech in an interview published Tuesday that the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act scorecard has provided agency chief information officers authority to oversee IT modernization and security efforts. “We have plenty of acquisitions that have failed, we have plenty of operations that need to improve, and I think elevating that position and making it a real CIO position at more and more agencies is extremely important,” said Powner, former director of IT management issues at GAO.

The General Services Administration plans to update and enhance the Wireless Mobility Solutions special item number 132-53 in its GSA IT Schedule 70 Program to add eight new categories, including Internet-of-Things, enterprise mobility management, application development, threat protection and identity management.

The Government Accountability Office noted in an audit report published Wednesday that from 2013 to 2017, the rate at which the Defense Department conducted competitions when procuring products or services went down by more than 4 percent, despite government-wide efforts to encourage the practice. The GAO attributed the regression to a number of factors including the complexity of the DoD’s contracting procedures.

Sylvia Burns, chief information officer at the Interior Department, is set to join the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to serve as deputy CIO for enterprise strategy, Federal News Radio reported Wednesday.