FCW Insider: Nov. 23

CBP wants to expand facial recognition

Customs and Border Protection is on track to move out of its test phase and expand use of facial recognition systems at airports and land border crossings.

Tech experts call on feds to coordinate benefits solutions

With surges in unemployment insurance applications straining legacy IT systems at the state level, digital services specialists say that the federal government should take a more central role in fielding tech infrastructure.

VA union claims victory in termination case

In win for the National VA Council, the Federal Labor Relations Authority dismissed the VA's exceptions to an arbitrator's award that requires it to reinstate union employees fired without performance improvement plans.

Peters calls on White House to protect health care systems from cyber threats

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) is asking the White House to take more aggressive actions to shield the country's health care systems from state-sponsored cyber threats.

Quick Hits

*** IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig told a House panel on Friday that IT modernization at the tax agency would cost between $6 billion and $7 billion. "The large banks are spending $10 billion to $12 billion a year to modernize their systems," Rettig told the Oversight subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee.

*** Amazon Web Services, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle are the winners of the CIA's C2E multivendor cloud services contract, the companies confirmed to Washington Technology. The firms will compete for task orders over the next 15 years to roll out new cloud capabilities for the 17 intelligence agencies.

*** Nominations for the 2021 Fed 100 are now being accepted. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 31.