Modernization
Understanding the DOD's ban on some China-made telecom gear
FCW spoke with Alejandro Sarria and Jason Workmaster, two attorneys specializing in federal contracting to get some clarity on the fast approaching government ban on contracting with companies that use certain telecom equipment and services.
Modernization
USDA Unveils Fresh Round of Farmers.gov Updates
New features on the Farmers.gov portal include a dashboard to help farmers track H-2A related application decisions in real time.
Ideas
A Post-Pandemic Guide to Building Resilient Business Comms
Agencies should ensure their communication systems are ready for another mass shift to telework in case the need comes up again.
Modernization
Expanded Telework Could Save Individual Feds $2.5K-$4K Annually
Lessons from the pandemic have big implications for federal offices and employees, lawmakers and experts say.
Modernization
Pentagon Aims to Support More Sensitive Telework By Year's End
The Defense Department is also in “an active conversation” about sustaining telework post-pandemic, according to Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy.
Modernization
DOD 'on schedule' for August JEDI announcement
The Defense Department's CIO Dana Deasy said a re-announcement of the embattled cloud contract should come by the end of August.
Digital Government
NIH Needs ‘Honest Broker’ To Manage New COVID-19 Data Warehouse
The health agency is looking for a vendor to act as a “neutral intermediary” to spur research without compromising patient privacy.
Digital Government
Congress Hammers Big Tech on Business Practices
House lawmakers grilled the tech chiefs of four of America’s largest companies, continuing its investigation into possible antitrust violations.
Modernization
GSA rolls out IT acquisition learning portal
The GSA's new IT acquisition portal offers a range of training on how to use and buy new technologies.
Modernization
IT modernization for the COVID era
Crises are clarifying events, and the pandemic is making clear the limits of IT systems built for a different era.
Digital Government
GAO: More Than Half of COVID-19 Government Contracts Not Competitively Awarded
While some of that spending went through existing IDIQs, some $7.7 billion in new contracts were awarded “using the unusual and compelling urgency exception.”
Modernization
Could a new academy solve the AI talent problem?
The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence is recommending a new academy to train feds to take on federal agency jobs involving emerging technologies including AI.
Modernization
Senate Dems join push for $1B TMF boost
A group of Democratic senators are asking top appropriators to include a sixfold increase to an IT modernization revolving fund in the next round of pandemic relief and stimulus legislation.
Digital Government
Survey: Tech Employees Less Comfortable Negotiating Salary in COVID-19 Era
Fewer employees at large tech companies are talking salary with their managers during the pandemic.
Artificial Intelligence
Facial Recognition Algorithms Struggle to Detect Faces Under Masks, NIST Study Finds
A new study from the National Institute of Standards and Technology found facial recognition algorithms developed pre-pandemic struggle to identify masked faces.
Modernization
CBP Gets $15M from Modernization Fund to Ditch Its Last Mainframe
The Customs and Border Protection Agency plans to upgrade a system that tracks imported goods and still relies on COBOL.
Digital Government
The State of Customer Experience
Federal agencies had been working to improve service delivery—then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Digital Government
4 Million Americans Waited Over an Hour in Line at Social Security Field Offices in 2019
Two separate Social Security Administration inspector general audits provide a detailed picture of customer experience over the past decade at the agency.
Modernization
CBP lands TMF award to modernize legacy system
Customs and Border Protection won a $15M award to update a COBOL-based fee collection system and move it to the cloud.
Ideas