Acquisition
IoT cyber law signed amid growing vulnerabilities
The passage of the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2020 means that NIST will start to address the gap in post-market guidance to help organizations adequately address newly discovered vulnerabilities in devices already on their networks.
Digital Government
FCW Insider: Dec 22
The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.
Policy
Spending Agreement Would Allow 1% Pay Raise, Fails to Ban Schedule F
Provision in the fiscal 2021 omnibus appropriations bill would give feds until the end of next year to repay payroll taxes deferred by the Trump administration from September through December.
Cybersecurity
Massive Hack Roundup: Attorney General Pins Intrusion on Russia
Here are the news and updates you may have missed.
Emerging Tech
Two Years into the Government’s National Quantum Initiative
An Office of Science and Technology Policy official offered a look back on what’s unfolded—and a glimpse into what’s to come.
Emerging Tech
Researchers Sent ‘Smart Fabric’ Capable of Detecting Microscopic Vibrations to Space
The acoustic fabric, which could eventually be used in spacesuits and soldier uniforms, “bridges the physical and digital domains,” officials say.
Cybersecurity
Software factories are new 'crown jewels,' Air Force official says
Will Roper, the Air Force's acquisition chief, said the massive cybersecurity breach that's plagued several federal government agencies creates "a new kind of target for our adversaries" that must be protected.
Emerging Tech
VA Plans Poop Pilots to Detect COVID-19 Outbreaks at Nursing Homes
The Veterans Affairs Department will test wastewater for early indications of infection among residents, who can then be quarantined to limit the spread to others.
Digital Government
VA to Begin COVID-19 Vaccinations at 128 More Sites
The Veterans Affairs Secretary said the approval of a second vaccine allows the department to inoculate more health care providers and veterans.
Ideas
Federal Contracting Trends to Expect in 2021
The pandemic has contractors rethinking recruitment and office space.
People
Schedule F workforce plan survives funding bill
Democrats in the House and Senate urged appropriators to include a measure blocking the implementation of a workforce executive order making it possible to reclassify thousands of senior civil servants as "at will" employees, making it easier to hire and fire feds in certain key positions.
Cybersecurity
Trump Officials Deliver Plan to Split Up Cyber Command, NSA
An end to the “dual hat” arrangement has been debated for years — but the timing raises questions. The plan requires Milley's certification to move ahead.
Cybersecurity
Cyber exec: 50 orgs 'genuinely impacted' by SolarWinds hack
FireEye's chief executive officer said he's seen evidence suggesting hackers changed code in SolarWinds software as early as October 2019.
Digital Government
FCW Insider: Dec 21
The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.
Modernization
Court denies Perspecta's NGEN protest
Perspecta has held the Next General Enterprise Network contract for 20 years, dating back to when one of its legacy business in EDS won the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet contract in 2000.
People
COVID premium pay varies across Veterans Affairs
The lack of national direction from the Department of Veterans Affairs on issuance of pandemic "premium pay" has left regional VA networks and local facilities to decide which employees get additional pay for working on the front lines of the pandemic -- and how much.
Digital Government
OPM Proposes Prioritizing Job Performance Over Tenure in Layoffs
Officials at the Office of Personnel Management are seeking to finalize a provision of President Trump’s controversial workforce executive orders before he leaves office.
Cybersecurity