Jason Miller covers civilian agencies in the federal government with a focus on technology and acquisition. He is also an executive editor at Federal News Radio. Jason's reports can be heard Monday - Friday on the Federal Drive and In Depth.

DHS broadens public-private efforts to combat cyber risks

Mark Weatherford, DHS deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity, discusses how the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center is at the core of an effort to bring government and industry closer together to respond to threats against critical infrastructure.
October 25, 2012

Comment

GSA sending resources, expertise to rescue SAM

Acting Administrator Dan Tangherlini shifted responsibility for the troubled System for Award Management to the CIO's office and the Federal Acquisition Service and out of the Office of Governmentwide Policy. GSA is reconsidering all of its options, including possibly recompeting the contract for SAM. OASIS, Networks 2020 and changes to the schedules program also are making progress.

1

Agencies to cut billions in commodity IT spending

The Office of Management and Budget said the PortfolioStat tool helped agencies find duplicative technology costs and opportunities to buy in bulk. Acting OMB Director Jeff Zients wrote in a blog post agencies listed 98 opportunities for savings.

2

Cyber progress fueled by agency brass recognition

Six years after the Veterans Affairs data breach, civilian agency networks and computers are more secure. Current and former federal officials and cyber experts say from secretaries on down, the threat of a cyber attack and the impact on mission is well understood.

Comment

Rewrite of cyber circular aims to 'break some china'

A group of experts released a white paper recommending changes to OMB Circular A-130. The suggestions center on continuous monitoring, the role of DHS in overseeing FISMA and the definitions of a major IT system and a national security system.

Comment

DHS details services, tools needed to better defend federal networks

The draft solicitation asks for 15 toolsets and 11 service areas to help agencies implement continuous monitoring as-a-service and to buy sensors. DHS has asked vendors on GSA Schedule 70 to comment on the requirements.

Comment

DHS realigns cyber office into five divisions

Homeland Security Department Secretary Janet Napolitano approved the reorganization plan earlier this week. The newly aligned Office of Cybersecurity and Communications expands from three divisions and creates a new performance-management office.

1

OMB to give CIOs IT hunting license through broadening of authorities

The administration wants chief information officers to take more control over spending on technology, especially in those areas in the "shadows." OMB acting Director Jeff Zients said the Interior Department's approach to giving its CIO control over almost all spending is a model for the rest of the government. Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel to release a report on expected savings from PortfolioStat in the coming months.

1

VA gears up to standardize ratings for exceptional employees

The Veterans Affairs Department's National Cemetery Administration is testing the new employee appraisal system, called GEAR, to better define and measure employee performance. The Coast Guard also is preparing a pilot of the approached designed by the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations.

3

Budget shortfalls driving CIOs' priorities

A new Federal News Radio survey of federal chief information officers shows that budget cuts are among their biggest concerns. Senior technology managers also said among the biggest benefits they are seeing from moving systems to the cloud is cost savings. DoD deputy CIO Rob Carey said the Pentagon is setting certain changes in motion as part of its move to the cloud to help deal with an assortment of challenges.

Comment

Affordable Care Act gives CMS shared services a shot in the arm

Agency CIO Tony Trenkle said CMS is building the foundation for four enterprisewide applications, including identity management and an enterprise portal.
October 18, 2012

1

Major rewrite makes MSPB's regs more consistent, viable and transparent

The Merit Systems Protection Board completed the first major rewrite of its regulations in more than 30 years. Susan Grundmann, the MSPB chairwoman, said the changes fall into four categories. The board is giving its users six weeks to transition to the new rules.

1

Panetta warns DoD will respond to destructive cyber attacks

The Defense Secretary told a group of business leaders Thursday night the nation's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to online assaults that would take down systems and networks. Panetta said DoD is acting aggressively to get ahead of the problem through workforce training and through technology capabilities.

Comment

Cross-agency priorities give cyber an in with non-IT officials

White House senior director for cybersecurity Andy Ozment said budget folks are getting a better understanding of why cybersecurity is important thanks to the administration's high- priority governmentwide goals. NIST also is helping push the cross-agency goals forward from a technical perspective.

Comment

IT sharing at the center of the Intel community's second transformation

Al Tarasiuk, the chief information officer for ODNI and for the intelligence community, said the IC-IT Enterprise strategy is centralizing technology services across the 17 agencies.
October 11, 2012(Encore presentation November 22, 2012)

Comment

Agencies finally figuring out how HSPD-12 cards can improve security

More than eight years after the White House issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 requiring the issuance of secure identity cards, governmentwide and agency-specific initiatives provide hope the smart cards can be more than "glorified ID cards." NIST and GSA are developing an identity exchange in the cloud. DHS and IRS are putting their cards to use at a local level for both building and computer access.

2

CFOs remain tepid on financial shared services

An exclusive Federal News Radio survey of federal CFOs and deputy CFOs finds 55 percent of the respondents rated spending money more wisely as their top priority. But at the same time, 36 percent rated moving to the Internet Payment Portal or other financial management shared services as their fourth highest priority. CFOs also say they are using data to make better decisions and budget reductions, not sequestration, is their biggest concern.

Comment

CFO Council extends contract to build debt-collection dashboard

GSA also renews a contract to improve its human resources shared service provider effort. The Federal Acquisition Institute will hold an industry day in November to discuss two new solicitations.

Comment

DISA puts mobility project into its next phase

The agency made awards to AT&T and Verizon for more than 1,000 Apple and Samsung handheld and tablet computers. DISA also wants for industry to develop a mobile device Common Access Card-enabled virtual thin client.

Comment

DHS urged to hire 600 cyber ninjas

The Homeland Security Advisory Council Task Force on Cyberskills submitted 11 recommendations to the DHS secretary on how to improve the agency's cyber workforce. The committee said DHS must define the skills needed to protect .gov networks. It also suggested setting testing and certification standards.

4