FCW Insider: May 3
Top stories, quick hits and other updates from FCW's reporters and editors.
With a new executive order, the Trump Administration hopes to standardize or promote cybersecurity workforce development in government, the private sector and the educational system. Derek B. Johnson reports on the push to recruit and retain cybersecurity talent.
The General Services Administration will launch a test version of its planned online buying portal with more than one vendor and – it hopes – with a $25,000 micropurchase threshold. Mark Rockwell explains what GSA is planning for 2019.
The Census Bureau is expecting a maximum of 120,000 concurrent respondents to its internet self-response page during the 2020 population count, but Chase Gunter reports that the bureau is preparing for much higher loads.
At a May 1 funding hearing, Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) said he wants the Pentagon to consider multicloud options for the $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure program. It's not the first time the lawmaker has registered his displeasure with the DOD's single vendor approach.
Quick Hits
*** The Pentagon's $8 billion back-office cloud solicitation hit the street. Nick Wakeman at Washington Technology explains what's in the Defense Enterprise Office Solution request for proposal.
*** The White House wants vendors thinking about doing business with the federal government to be aware of flexibilities in contracting rules and opportunities for innovation to speed up the acquisition process. In its latest mythbusters document, Lesley Field, deputy administrator for federal procurement policy and the Office of Management and Budget details opportunities for industry-government engagement that might be under the radar for all but the most expert federal procurement experts.
*** The administration's proposed public-private partnership is kicking off with a prize competition. The Government Effectiveness Advanced Research (GEAR) Center competition, which opened May 2, challenges participating teams from the public to solve one of the major challenges identified in the President's Management Agenda. Proposals are due May 24, and winners will be announced August 1. The grand prize for winners will be $300,000.
*** The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking to slash the amount of time agency employees can spend on union business through what it's calling a "reset" of labor-management relations, said Secretary Robert Wilkie. VA proposed in its negotiation with the American Federation of Government Employees cutting annual official time from a million hours a year to 10,000, arguing it will save $48 million. In its CBA offer, VA is also proposing giving more power to supervisors in line with the recent VA-related legislation passed last Congress, as well as streamlining the hiring and job classification processes.