Modernization

DHS Tries Again to Build a Contract for Agile Development

The department is pushing components to buy more off governmentwide contracts—except when it comes to the cloud and agile development.

Emerging Tech

DIU is Helping the Army Put More Backpack-Sized Drones in the Battlefield

The Pentagon’s internal startup accelerator wants to get consumer quadcopters in the hands of soldiers in a matter of months, not years.

Emerging Tech

DHS Funds Tech to Reduce False Alarms at Airport Security

A British X-ray tech company won a $1.7 million contract to build software that double checks whether that nail clipper in your luggage is actually a switchblade.

Policy

Exclusive: What OMB’s New Shared Services Policy Will Mean for Modernization

A new class of shared services providers will manage a “marketplace” of offerings, meaning big changes for employees and modernization plans.

Digital Government

When the Bureaucracy is Stifling, Recharge

Part of being an innovator at work involves avoiding burnout, federal officials said.

Emerging Tech

One Defense Agency is Building a Bot Army

And it's saving the department hundreds of thousands of work hours a year, a defense official said.

Cybersecurity

DISA Awards Two Contracts to Build a Moat Around the Pentagon’s Internet

The two selected vendors will prototype cloud-based systems that isolate the department’s internal network from the public internet while still allowing employees to browse the web.

Emerging Tech

FAA Greenlights Drone Company to Deliver Food in One Virginia Town

The Federal Aviation Administration gave its first OK to drone company to deliver commercial goods.

Modernization

SEC Pulls On-Ramp For $2.5 Billion IT Contract

The agency is reworking the on-ramp solicitation for its massive enterprise IT vehicle, which, if officials aren’t careful, could take down the entire contract.

Emerging Tech

How GSA Is Helping the Government Embrace Automation

The agency, which plans to have more than two dozen bots deployed by the end of the year, is standing up a community of practice around the technology.

Emerging Tech

FDA Approves First Device to Treat Kids with ADHD

A nerve-stimulating medical device sends therapeutic signals to parts of the brain thought to be involved in ADHD.

Emerging Tech

TSA Wants A Vendor To Manage Its Third-Party Tech Testing Ecosystem

The new process will let the agency leverage private sector testing organizations instead of relying solely on Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate.

Emerging Tech

How Humans Will Design the First Full-Time Habitat on the Moon

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), in partnership with the ESA and MIT, wants to accommodate research and maybe even tourism on the moon.

Emerging Tech

The Pentagon is Investing in Space Robots to Repair Satellites

The robots would service military, government and commercial spacecraft more than 22,000 miles above the Earth.

Emerging Tech

FCC Commissioner Wants Community Colleges to Become Pipelines for America’s 5G Workforce

An FCC Commissioner hopes to mirror Aiken Technical College’s Tower Installation Program in other schools across the country.

Ideas

Moving from Random Acts of Digital to Real Transformation

Too often, government agencies and businesses alike pin their hopes on a single type of transformative technology.