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
More than 2,100 GSA employees have accepted deferred resignations
Combined with those employees that have been impacted by reductions in force, the losses amount to nearly a quarter of what the agency’s workforce totals were last fall.
People
Judge overturns firing of Democrats on intelligence and privacy oversight body
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board has played a major role as a watchdog of controversial intelligence collection programs.
Exclusive
Acquisition
GSA prepping plans to move NASA SEWP and NIH contract vehicles under its management
The General Services Administration’s role in federal acquisition may soon expand further.
People
Gerry Connolly remembered for his passion and bipartisanship
The long-time representative from Northern Virginia has died at 75 following a battle with cancer. He is being remembered for his advocacy of federal workers and the contractor community as well as championing initiatives to improve how the government buys goods and services.
Cybersecurity
US, international and industry partners topple infrastructure of popular info-stealer malware
The collaborative effort worked to seize the takedown of some 2,300 domains that backed the web infrastructure of Lumma Stealer, sold to help hackers steal passwords and deploy ransomware around the world.
Acquisition
Inside GSA’s AI strategy: Using the tech while learning how to buy it
In deploying its own AI chatbot, the General Services Administration is also developing frameworks for government-wide acquisition at the same time.
Digital Government
USDA wants to modernize farmer services, even as staffing cuts could hurt the effort
The department plans to digitize farmer-facing applications that are still on paper.
Digital Government
VA now has ‘100% visibility’ into its software license inventory, official says
Jeff VanBemmel, director of end user operations at VA’s Office of Information and Technology, told lawmakers that the department’s total inventory of software licenses includes 4,433 commercial off-the-shelf products and another 224 software-as-a-service offerings.
Modernization
House bill wants VA to pilot cloud-based medical supply management system
The bipartisan proposal from Reps. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., would direct the agency to test the system at one VA medical facility before potentially expanding it out further.
People
CISA’s deputy cyber chief plans to depart
Matt Hartman’s final day is not known but his departure was announced Tuesday.
Exclusive
People
Dragos policy executive to be CISA’s chief of legislative affairs
In a recent interview, Kate Diemidio said she wanted government-industry information-sharing mechanisms to improve and for CISA to deliver more actionable data back to the private sector.
Cybersecurity
US should rethink current views of Russia’s cyber might, new report says
A think tank paper argues that Moscow’s network of hackers is more fragmented than U.S. officials once believed — a dynamic that may have led to exaggerated expectations of Russia’s cyber capabilities during its 2022 Ukraine invasion.
Emerging Tech