FCW Insider: December 9, 2021
The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.
Biden executive order calls for 65% drop in federal government emissions by 2030
A new White House executive order looks to leverage the purchasing power of the federal government to support clean energy goals, and sets ambitious targets for a carbon neutral government by 2050.
Cyber in the 2022 defense bill
As has been the case for the past few years, cyber governance provisions were featured in this year's must-pass defense policy bill moving through Congress, but a bipartisan breach notification measure was dropped from the bill -- to the chagrin of its supporters.
NDAA requires new job data, software job series
The House-passed compromise NDAA also has other workforce provisions, including a change to the probationary period for civilian feds at DOD and paid parental bereavement leave for federal employees.
ICYMI: Accounting for software in weapons systems
The Defense Department is still trying to figure out the best way to buy software and track that spending. But could the answer be in separating out those costs from the hardware required in major acquisitions?
Quick Hits
*** The Senate Armed Services Committee advanced the nomination of John Sherman to serve as CIO of the Department of Defense on a voice vote. Sherman was named DOD’s principal deputy CIO in 2020 and had been in the acting CIO role from January 2021 to the time of his nomination for the CIO spot in September. The nomination now moves to the full Senate for a vote.
*** The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) awarded a $4.5 billion contract to General Dynamics IT for user-facing and data center IT services at the intelligence agency’s Springfield, Va., headquarters, its west headquarters in St. Louis and other NGA facilities and intelligence community and Defense Department partner sites. The contract runs five years with five one-year options.
*** In a report released Dec. 8, the Government Accountability Office weighed in with three recommendations for improving communication and metrics in the Defense Department’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program for defense contractors. GAO recommends that program administrators communicate in a more timely fashion with stakeholders, that DOD come up with a plan to measure the results of a CMMC pilot project and develop metrics to measure CMMC’s effectiveness.