Author Archive
Emerging Tech
The Air Force’s Platform One Team Thought It Was Agile. Then COVID-19 Hit.
The pandemic pushed the service’s internal DevOps team to hit a 10-updates-a-day deployment schedule for a new secure communications platform.
Emerging Tech
TSA Wants Passenger Self-Screening that Looks Like Grocery Store Self-Checkout
The agency, in partnership with the Science and Technology Directorate, is planning a solicitation to streamline airport security without compromising safety.
Emerging Tech
HHS Proposes ‘IT Control Tower’ to Manage Strategic National Stockpile
The proposal is part of a larger strategy to incorporate the manufacturing, distribution and point-of-care sectors.
Data
Federal Data Strategy Deadlines Shift Due to COVID-19
The team prioritized some items for the pandemic response but extended other deadlines.
Emerging Tech
Pentagon’s AI Center Awards $800M Contract Through GSA Center of Excellence Program
The contract is set to provide artificial intelligence-powered analytics tools to “prepare for future warfare operations.”
Data
HHS Relaxes Data Security and Privacy Enforcement For COVID-19 Test Sites
The agency offered a list of suggested security measures but said it will not be imposing penalties in specific circumstances.
Emerging Tech
Pentagon Shop Wants Machine Learning to Fix Complex RPA Processes
The office does not want new robotic process automation tools or cloud providers, according to a Defense Innovation Unit solicitation.
Emerging Tech
GSA Seeks Support for Challenge Sites, Including Potential New Challenge X Lab
The crowdsourcing Challenge.gov and Citizenscience.gov need program support, as does a potential new testbed for agencies.
IT Modernization
COVID-19 More Likely to Accelerate Telecom Modernization than Cause Delays, GSA Officials Say
The pandemic has delayed some agency transitions to the $50 billion Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract, but those are outliers, according to program leads.
CIO Briefing
SBA’s Maria Roat Officially Named Deputy Federal CIO
Roat will take over the federal government’s No. 2 IT leadership role.
CIO Briefing
FEMA Issues Solicitation For Temperature Screening Ahead of Plans to Reopen Two Facilities
The winning vendor will need to supply protective equipment for their employees and contactless, infrared temperature scanning for FEMA personnel.
Featured eBooks
IT Modernization
GSA Suggests Using ‘Secret Shoppers’ to Evaluate Call Centers
The contact center within GSA’s Centers of Excellence offered a template for using mystery shoppers to measure performance.
CIO Briefing
Decisions To Reopen GSA Regional Offices Will Be Made At the Local Level
The agency’s open floorplans and other concerns make it difficult to reopen offices, but GSA’s telework culture has kept operations running smoothly, according to an agency official.
IT Modernization
Centers of Excellence Team With Another Health Agency Amid Pandemic
FDA became the fourth agency in 2020 to join the Centers of Excellence program; ninth overall.
Emerging Tech
Big Tech and Aviation Companies to Set Standards For New Drone-Tracking System
The eight vendors will set the technology standards for FAA’s Remote ID program to track drones and their operators.
IT Modernization
Homeland Security’s Biometrics Database Is on Its Way to the Amazon Cloud
The Office of Biometric Identity Management released a privacy impact assessment as the program begins moving the nation’s biometric database to Amazon’s GovCloud.
Emerging Tech
Pentagon Wants AI to Predict Behavioral Changes in Troops
The Defense Department wants artificial intelligence that can tell when shifts in behavior could have “unwanted negative outcomes” for troops, their units and their missions.
Podcasts
Critical Update: How State Department IT Was Set Up to Deal with COVID-19
State Department CIO Stuart McGuigan joins Critical Update to talk about his vision for the agency and how the department’s decentralized nature made for an easy transition to mass telework.
Emerging Tech
The Army Wants a Wearable COVID-19 Detector
Due to the urgent need, the managing consortium has suspended some—but not all—of its members-only restrictions.
CIO Briefing