People
Fired GSA 18F employees appeal to have jobs reinstated
The Trump administration has endeavored to streamline the agency’s contracting and procurement processes while putting in mechanisms to shed its workforce.
People
Trump cyber nominees expected to testify next week, people familiar say
An unreleased telecom vulnerabilities report is being used as leverage to block one of the nominees from full confirmation in the Senate.
Ideas
Legacy government systems enter the AI era
COMMENTARY | How Federal agencies can transform decades-old code while strengthening security and compliance.
People
VA-based DOGE associate gets ‘the boot’ after publicly discussing his work
Sahil Lavingia detailed in a personal blog how the reality of hunting inefficiencies at the Department of Veterans Affairs was not what he had expected.
Defense
Pentagon orders civilian employees to submit money-saving ideas
It’s the last step in the "5 bullet points" weekly email exercise.
Defense
For DOD, the future of large language models is smaller
Everyone loves big AI, but “maybe there is a smaller-parameter model that could run on a laptop.”
People
Top CISA division chiefs depart amid broader agency reduction plans
The staffing shake-up comes as former officials argue that diminishing staff at the government’s primary cybersecurity agency is ill-advised given today’s escalating threat landscape.
Modernization
Labor cancels unemployment modernization grants for states
The grant dollars — which the agency has been doling out since Congress allocated funding for fraud and access work in 2021 — don’t align with department priorities anymore, Labor says.
Cybersecurity
China-linked ‘Silk Typhoon’ hackers accessed Commvault cloud environments, person familiar says
The hacking unit previously infiltrated Treasury Department networks and compromised some of the agency’s most sensitive systems.
Updated
People
Booz Allen plans 7% workforce cut
The civil business is where Booz Allen will focus most of these layoffs as part of broader “resetting and restructuring” of that business, the company's CEO and finance chief told investors.
Ideas
GSA has been given more of the government’s contracting authority
COMMENTARY | Folding SEWP and CIOSP into GSA may unbalance the system.
People
Most major agencies are now indefinitely barred from issuing mass layoffs
The Trump administration's plans to reorganize agencies are "likely unconstitutional," judge says.
Acquisition
Industry awaits significant disruption as GSA works on contract takeovers
Contractors are watching for impacts to competition, market access and innovation.
People
Judge says she is inclined to further pause layoffs at most major agencies
RIF plans have been frozen for two weeks, but federal court suggests they are unconstitutional and implementation will remain prohibited indefinitely.
People
New SSA chief praises DOGE for ‘making things better’
Frank Bisignano said he has no current plans to institute further reductions in force and hopes to use AI to make the historically sluggish Social Security disability determination processes move faster.
Ideas
Five strategies for government software modernization
COMMENTARY | There's more than one way to modernize.
Cybersecurity
An 18th-century war power resurfaces in cyber policy talks
An old-world legal concept is seeing renewed interest in the cybersecurity community as a tool to give the private sector more runway to combat hackers, though many agree it’s more metaphor than mandate.
Artificial Intelligence
Deloitte’s Silicon to Service’ available for government, regulated industries
Dell Technologies, NVIDIA and Equinix are also involved in the offering.
Artificial Intelligence
Proposed moratorium on state-level AI regs aims to level the playing field, lawmaker says
Georgia Rep. Rich McCormick, a GOP member of last Congress’ House AI Task Force, spoke on Wednesday night about the need to avoid a jumble of different rules of the road for AI developers.
People