Modernization

Government Offering Prizes for Best Ideas to Stand Up GEAR Center

Challenge.gov is offering up to $300,000 to teams or individuals who submit the best proposals.

Modernization

What’s Hot In Federal Tech, Per GSA’s IT Category Lead

Bill Zielinski, head of the Information Technology Category, shares the trends he’s seeing in federal IT through thousands of ongoing acquisitions governmentwide.

Emerging Tech

The Pentagon's Drones May Soon Run on Open Source Software

The Defense Innovation Unit is exploring whether a popular commercial platform could help the military keep up with the rapidly advancing drone industry.

Emerging Tech

Instagram Is the New Mall

The platform is allowing influencers to sell things to users directly through their posts.

Ideas

The Government Wants To Teach Drones Some New Tricks

Recent Army contracts focus on the skies while DARPA is focused on underground efforts.

Cybersecurity

Lawmakers Worry DHS’ 2020 Budget ‘Shortchanges the Future’

The department's Science and Technology Directorate would be forced to close multiple research facilities to accommodate the 30% budget cut.

Emerging Tech

The Underlying Messages That Screen-Time Recommendations Send Parents

Providing the sort of straightforward guidance parents desire is hard for anyone, even experts.

Modernization

Air Force Awards $76 Million to Fund Device Management and IT Support

Unisys Corporation was selected to help consolidate multiple toolsets and service desks into a single entity.

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.