FCW Insider: Sept. 11

The Trump administration's plan to move more than 300 Washington, D.C. Bureau of Land Management jobs out west drew fire from skeptical House Democrats. Lia Russell reports from Capitol Hill.

Perspecta is protesting the $7.3 billion award in the Defense Enterprise Office Solutions contract to supply the Pentagon with Office 365 services to General Dynamics Information Technology. Perspecta was the only other bidder on the massive back office deal to supply DOD with Microsoft Office 365 software and services. Adam Mazmanian has more.

The Government Accountability Office wants the Department of Defense to implement governmentwide open source software requirements, but the Pentagon's top tech official has other plans. Lauren C. Williams explains.

With demands for spectrum increasing as 5G steams toward deployment, federal agencies see increasing opportunity and value in sharing their spectrum. Mark Rockwell takes a look.

Quick Hits

*** In a ranging New York Times opinion essay on the digital revolution and the future of war, National Security Agency General Counsel Glenn Gerstell argues that developments in advanced technology by our geopolitical rivals, ubiquitous data collection by private companies here at home and the widespread availability of weaponized cybersecurity exploits are likely going to require a significant increase in the $60 billion spent by the U.S. government on intelligence activities. A recalibration of the relationship between government and the private sector with regard to data privacy is also in order, he argues.

Gerstall also sounds the alarm on the potential for disruption in the event that rivals including China and Russia outpace the U.S. in areas like quantum computing and hypersonic missiles.

*** Three winners in the Government Effectiveness Advanced Research Center challenge were announced, with $300,000 in awards going to each top finisher. The White House-backed awards program, designed to spur innovative solutions to government problems, was first announced in July, 2018 and sought submissions from teams from academia, non-profits and private enterprise. The awards come almost a year after the due date for submissions. Awarded projects cover the cybersecurity workforce, improved use of administrative data to measure the effectiveness of government programs and a project designed to improve the use of government data by the federal workforce. A full list of the winners is available here.

*** DOD, NASA and the General Services Administration published a final rule banning the use of Kaspersky products in federal systems, as required under the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. An interim rule has been in effect since June 2018 and the Department of Homeland Security led a sprint to remove Kaspersky products from federal systems beginning in October 2017.