Modernization

The Customs System That Clogged Airports In January Isn’t Fixed, IG Says

The agency doesn't have a backup system in place if another outage happens, the watchdog said.

Emerging Tech

GAO: FCC Needs to Consider How Connected Toasters Could Clog the Spectrum

The internet of things could eat up spectrum, but the FCC isn’t doing enough to anticipate strains.

Digital Government

GAO: OMB, federal CIO need to be more involved in high-priority IT projects

An audit found that the Office of Management and Budget has discontinued or de-emphasized regular reporting and oversight on high-priority IT projects and could be passing up billions in cost savings across the federal government.

Digital Government

Lankford cites almost a half-trillion in government waste

A Republican senator's annual government waste report cites IT boondoggles, programs with insufficient oversight and structural impediments to efficient hiring.

Policy

GAO: Federal CIO Shirking Oversight Responsibilities On Critical Projects

The lack of CIO involvement in major projects could allow them to slide off the rails, GAO says.

Cybersecurity

IG Slams Coast Guard’s IT Investment Tracking

The Coast Guard doesn’t know if about 400 of its tech projects have adequate oversight.

Digital Government

What are voting machine companies doing about cyber?

Five voting machine companies responded to questions from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and largely downplayed the threat to their products, pointing to other dangers in the election system.

Digital Government

Technologists, privacy advocates push back against algorithmic 'extreme vetting'

The Trump administration's plan to use predictive software to rate threats posed by immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers will result in discriminatory decisions, say a group of privacy advocates and computer scientists.

Modernization

What's behind agency FITARA scores?

Agencies shared the stories behind improved, declining and stable FITARA grades.

Digital Government

IGs seek more access, authority, resources

A panel of inspectors general are seeking greater access, subpoena power and more resources to hire staff and increase transparency and oversight work across the government.

Cybersecurity

White House goes public with bug disclosure policy

The Trump administration is pulling back the curtain a bit on the secretive process by which the government discloses (or retains) computer vulnerabilities.

Digital Government

FITARA progress stalls

Federal CIOs under the Trump administration have seen progress lag on implementing the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act, according to the latest scorecards.

Acquisition

Army IT official sentenced in bribery scheme

Ranier Ramos, formerly of the U.S. Army Public Health Command, will serve a year in federal prison and pay millions in penalties and restitution.

Digital Government

DATA Act oversight highlights growing pains

The first round of oversight reports on financial reporting under the Data Act shows that most agencies are experiencing growing pains when it comes to implementing the recent law. Does that mean it's working?

Acquisition

Judge rules protestor couldn't compete for Vista replacement

In a recently unsealed ruling, a federal judge also noted that the administrative record lacks detail on why specifically Cerner was selected as the prime contractor for the replacement electronic health record system.

Modernization

Agencies failing key agile test

An oversight report found that most agencies were failing to certify implementation of incremental development on some major software projects.

Cybersecurity

DHS Cyber Info Sharing Focuses on Quantity Over Quality, IG Says

The department is sharing a lot of cyber threat indicators with agencies and the private sector, but only a handful are useful.

Cybersecurity

OPM still plagued by cyber weaknesses, IG finds

An oversight report found the OPM was unready for its annual cyber audit, while the agency says that the CDM program will help mature its efforts.

Cybersecurity

IG: Compliance alone will not save DHS cyber efforts

An oversight report gives passing grades to DHS on compliance with core tenets of the Cybersecurity Act of 2015 – but offers the agency a stark warning that its threat and information sharing efforts are still falling short.

Cybersecurity

S&T budget woes could blunt DHS research

The mission of the research arm of the Department of Homeland Security isn't helped by new budget priorities, a former undersecretary told a House Homeland Security subcommittee.