*** Federal chief data officers are optimistic about the future of evidence-based policymaking and data-driven government, according to a survey released Aug. 24 by the Data Foundation. Large majorities of chief data officers report making improvements to agency data quality and expect progress in advancing data inventories in the future.
*** After its win of a $10 billion Defense Department cloud contract, Microsoft is making a push to supply cloud computing infrastructure around the world, according to an article in CNBC. Microsoft is still waiting to see if its win in the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure program is upheld -- the contract award is the subject of a long-running lawsuit brought by cloud rival Amazon Web Services.