- The Justice Department wants to use the data to help address the nation's drug crisis. The Department of Justice is launching a public data effort to inform the public safety response to drug overdoses. The agency is releasing data from the Drug Enforcement Administration as part of this challenge. The Department of Justice hopes participants will combine DEA data with other public health and safety data to drive potentially life-saving insights. The deadline for initial submissions to the challenge is April 24th.
- Two federal cyber executives have new jobs, the Department of Homeland Security has a new chief information security officer, and ZScaler hires former federal technology leader to expand global reach and influence . These are two federal executives who have recently started making moves. DHS CIO Eric Hysen has named Hemant Baidwan his new CISO. Mr. Baidwan replaces Ken Bible, who retired on March 29th. Meanwhile, Brian Conrad, who has led the FedRAMP cloud security program for the past three-plus years, will join ZScaler as the new director of Field Compliance Authorization Liaison.
- Government agencies will have increased reporting requirements on their telework policies under a new bill in Congress. Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) introduced the bipartisan Telework Transparency Act on Wednesday. If enacted, agencies would have to provide more up-to-date information about how many federal employees are working from home and how often. The bill also aims to assess the impact of telework on office space, productivity, recruitment, and retention rates.
- The Biden administration is putting the final nail in Schedule F's coffin. Stronger workforce protections for federal policy-making employees have been formally introduced. The Office of Personnel Management finalized rules regarding these protections Thursday morning. OPM's ruling ensures that these employees cannot be fired or transferred to another job at will without their consent. The Biden administration's efforts come in response to former President Donald Trump's now-rescinded Schedule F, an executive order that sought to make it easier to remove some federal officials. The Biden administration's final rule aims to avoid the possibility of Schedule F being reinstated in a future administration.
- State Department officials are concerned that recent budget cuts will lead to an overburdened workforce. Congress recently approved a more than $56 billion budget for the State Department for the remainder of this year. This represents a nearly 6% reduction compared to 2023 spending levels. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma said the department was in a difficult position due to the budget. “The department will have to make trade-offs. The dollar can't grow as much as it needs to at that moment. And budget cycles don't necessarily match the realities and crises in the world,” Verma said, adding that the department added that there is an average staffing shortage of 13% and that 15% of ambassadorial candidates remain unconfirmed.
- Air Force Platform One seeks non-traditional small businesses and startups to showcase innovative technology. Platform One wants to understand how technology integrates and leverages artificial intelligence, machine learning, and large-scale language models. DevSecOps small businesses and startups can pitch their solutions at the Industry Day event in Colorado Springs from May 8th to May 9th. The software must be able to integrate with Platform One's established enterprise network. Platform One will select companies to apply for the Direct to Phase II award.
- The Department of Homeland Security is looking for new cyber talent. This month, DHS is hiring multiple entry-level cybersecurity professionals to work at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FEMA, or DHS Headquarters. This position is being filled through DHS' growing Cyber ​​Talent Management System. The system is exempt from many of the government's competitive hiring, classification, and compensation practices.
- Federal employees have the right to become whistleblowers even under their agency's confidentiality policy. The Office of the Special Counsel is reminding government agencies that they are required to include this “anti-gag order” language in non-disclosure agreements. The OSC said the agency has violated this anti-gag provision of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act at least 25 times in the past year. This includes the Department of Veterans Affairs reprimanding employees who questioned the agency's practices. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), co-chair of the Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus, recently called on all 74 federal inspectors general to ensure their agencies implement these “anti-gag” policies. did.
- The General Services Administration awarded General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) a $922 million contract to modernize U.S. Central Command's IT infrastructure. Under this agreement, CENTCOM will migrate to a new cloud environment and improve its network. The command also uses artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to help operators make better decisions. As the Department of Defense races to achieve targeted levels of zero trust by 2027, GDIT will leverage zero trust capabilities to improve the command's cybersecurity posture. The contract has a one-year base period and a five-year option period.
- A new bipartisan bill takes aim at many of the long-standing challenges government agencies face when purchasing commercial technology. The Federal Technology Improvement (FIT) Acquisition Act, introduced by Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), would streamline the procurement process and create more competition and better deals. The purpose is to promote This bill would require the Office of Management and Budget to update the Federal Acquisition Regulations to eliminate outdated, onerous, or overly restrictive requirements. It will also expand the use of certain procurement methods to make outcome-oriented IT purchases faster and easier. Finally, the bill would require government agencies to increase training for acquisition professionals on purchasing rapidly evolving technologies such as artificial intelligence.
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