Podcasts about fitara

Days before the Biden administration is set to leave the White House, it issued Tuesday an executive order aimed at shoring up the nation's AI infrastructure, including through the operation of data centers, in an effort to ensure that the growing technology will be built and operated in the U.S. Specifically, the order outlines requirements for federal agencies — including the departments of Defense and Energy — to identify sites that the government could lease to the private sector for the construction and operation of frontier AI data centers, as well as clean energy facilities to serve those centers. The order instructs those organizations to review competitive proposals to construct AI infrastructure on those sites. The order appears to be a direct response to AI companies, such as OpenAI and Microsoft, which have emphasized the importance of investment in data center infrastructure to meet AI's massive data processing and training needs. The Office of Personnel Management has a new top IT official: Melvin Brown II is now the agency's chief information officer following Guy Cavallo's retirement from federal service. Before his promotion, Brown was the deputy CIO at the agency and served in that role since January 2021. In a written statement, an OPM spokesperson said Brown “has been an integral leader in delivering many of OPM's accomplishments in modernizing IT.” That includes the agency achieving an “A” score on its Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, or FITARA, scorecard, which tracks agency progress in multiple IT areas. Prior to joining OPM, Brown directed enterprise business management within the Small Business Administration's Office of the CIO and was a senior adviser to the Department of Homeland Security's Presidential Transition Office. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Robert and Adam wrap up the year with a look back at the season's podcast highlights, a dive into DOGE mania, and insights into what's ahead for next year. Wishing you happy holidays!Show NotesGAO: Fraud Risk Management ReportBiden EO: Executive Order on the safe, secure, and trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence   FedRAMP: Securing Cloud Services for the federal GovernmentEvents on the GovNavigators' RadarATARC's Public Sector Summit (December 18th) RegisterMeritalk's TechTonic celebration of FITARA's A's (December 19th) Register

A dozen federal agencies received an A on the most recent FITARA Scorecard, with 18 agencies improving their grades since January. In a Friday roundtable hosted by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, officials from USAID, NASA, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Energy and the Governmental Accountability Office shared the overwhelmingly positive FITARA grades for most of the 24 CFO Act agencies. Meeting procurement requirements laid out in 2019 Office of Management and Budget guidance on cloud strategy has been a mixed bag for federal agencies, a new congressional watchdog report found. As of this July, all 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies completed an OMB requirement in its Cloud Smart strategy to ensure that CIOs oversee modernization efforts, according to the Government Accountability Office. And all but one agency — the Small Business Administration — addressed the OMB mandate to “iteratively improve agency policies and guidance.” But there is plenty of work to do on the remaining three OMB callouts, the GAO said in its June 2022-September 2024 performance audit. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast on on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Federal agency scores plummeted on the 17th Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard. The reason for the drop in grades: Continued struggles to implement best practices for moving workloads and services to the cloud.But oversight leaders say the decrease in grades is not only expected, but not indicative of the progress agencies have made over the last decade.The scorecard, released today by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), co-author of FITARA, showed double the amount of “C” grades with 10 “Cs” and three “Ds” for the first time since July 2022.At the FITARA scorecard roundtable today on Capitol Hill, Connolly and Carol Harris, the director of cybersecurity and technology at the Government Accountability Office, were quick to downplay the drop in grades. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal agency scores plummeted on the 17th Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard. The reason for the drop in grades: Continued struggles to implement best practices for moving workloads and services to the cloud. But oversight leaders say the decrease in grades is not only expected, but not indicative of the progress agencies have made over the last decade. The scorecard, released today by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), co-author of FITARA, showed double the amount of “C” grades with 10 “Cs” and three “Ds” for the first time since July 2022. At the FITARA scorecard roundtable today on Capitol Hill, Connolly and Carol Harris, the director of cybersecurity and technology at the Government Accountability Office, were quick to downplay the drop in grades. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin: Uh oh. Finances at these HUD programs are like a house of cards. Some new recommendations for securing artificial intelligence. How the Education Department earned an A grade on its FITARA scorecard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert and Adam get a visit from The GovNavigators Show overlord Jason Miller to deliver their annual performance review. They discuss the shutdown hangover (the "shutdown letdown"), the latest update to the long-running FITARA scorecard, and an upcoming reorganization at the Federal Acquisition Service at GSA. 

As a member of Congress, Will Hurd made a name for himself in the federal technology space as one of the largest advocates for agency cybersecurity and technology modernization. The former CIA operations officer helped penned legislation that created the Technology Modernization Fund, and regularly conducted oversight hearings around the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act, better known as FITARA. Hurd, who left Congress in 2021 and until recently was vying to be president, spoke with my colleague Elias Groll about his campaign and why he wants to convince his party to focus on what he sees as a series of generational technological threats.

Congressman Gerry Connolly couldn't wait any longer for the Republican majority to jump on the FITARA bandwagon.The Virginia Democrat and ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on cybersecurity, IT and innovation handed out grades under the 16th iteration of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard today with agencies earning 3 “As”, 16 “Bs” and 5 “Cs.”Connolly is holding a FITARA roundtable this afternoon on Capitol Hill featuring testimony from the Government Accountability Office, the General Services Administration, the Social Security Administration and the departments of State, Veterans Affairs and Commerce. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Congressman Gerry Connolly couldn't wait any longer for the Republican majority to jump on the FITARA bandwagon. The Virginia Democrat and ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on cybersecurity, IT and innovation handed out grades under the 16th iteration of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard today with agencies earning 3 “As”, 16 “Bs” and 5 “Cs.” Connolly is holding a FITARA roundtable this afternoon on Capitol Hill featuring testimony from the Government Accountability Office, the General Services Administration, the Social Security Administration and the departments of State, Veterans Affairs and Commerce. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congressman Gerry Connolly couldn't wait any longer for the Republican majority to jump on the FITARA bandwagon.The Virginia Democrat and ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on cybersecurity, IT and innovation handed out grades under the 16th iteration of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard today with agencies earning 3 “As”, 16 “Bs” and 5 “Cs.”Connolly is holding a FITARA roundtable this afternoon on Capitol Hill featuring testimony from the Government Accountability Office, the General Services Administration, the Social Security Administration and the departments of State, Veterans Affairs and Commerce. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Congressman Gerry Connolly couldn't wait any longer for the Republican majority to jump on the FITARA bandwagon. The Virginia Democrat and ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on cybersecurity, IT and innovation handed out grades under the 16th iteration of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard today with agencies earning 3 “As”, 16 “Bs” and 5 “Cs.” Connolly is holding a FITARA roundtable this afternoon on Capitol Hill featuring testimony from the Government Accountability Office, the General Services Administration, the Social Security Administration and the departments of State, Veterans Affairs and Commerce. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, host Dave Wennergren talks with technology leaders about recent actions to enhance the FITARA Scorecard. Guests:Richard Spires, Principal at Richard A. Spires Consulting, former CIO at both DHS and IRS, former Vice Chair of the Federal CIO Council and former Chair of the Industry Advisory Council. https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardspires/ Margie Graves, Senior Fellow at the IBM Center for the Business of Government, former Federal Deputy CIO and current Chair of the Industry Advisory Council.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-graves-4515661a0/ Rich Beutel, Commissioner on the GSA Acquisition Policy Advisory Board, Principal Researcher at the Baroni Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University, Managing Principal and Founder, Cyrrus Analytics LLC and former Counsel for Acquisition and IT Policy/Cloud on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardbeutel/  Additional Resources:To learn more about ACT-IAC and the FITARA Scorecard work, please visit our website: https://www.actiac.org/   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode, host Dave Wennergren talks with technology leaders about recent actions to enhance the FITARA Scorecard.  Guests: Richard Spires, Principal at Richard A. Spires Consulting, former CIO at both DHS and IRS, former Vice Chair of the Federal CIO Council and former Chair of the Industry Advisory Council. https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardspires/ Margie Graves, Senior Fellow at the IBM Center for the Business of Government, former Federal Deputy CIO and current Chair of the Industry Advisory Council.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-graves-4515661a0/ Rich Beutel, Commissioner on the GSA Acquisition Policy Advisory Board, Principal Researcher at the Baroni Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University, Managing Principal and Founder, Cyrrus Analytics LLC and former Counsel for Acquisition and IT Policy/Cloud on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardbeutel/   Additional Resources: To learn more about ACT-IAC and the FITARA Scorecard work, please visit our website: https://www.actiac.org/  

Deep in the weeds of agency management, you find something called the FITARA scorecard. FITARA stands for Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act. It became law in 2015. Twice each year, agencies receive a scorecard from Congress on how they did managing their IT activities. Now a team, under the IT trade group ACT-IAC, has come up with a list of recommendations for revising the FITARA scorecard. To fet the the whys and wherefores, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke in-studio with former federal CIO Alan Balutis along with the the Executive Director of the Policy Center at the MITRE Corporation, Dave Powner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Deep in the weeds of agency management, you find something called the FITARA scorecard. FITARA stands for Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act. It became law in 2015. Twice each year, agencies receive a scorecard from Congress on how they did managing their IT activities. Now a team, under the IT trade group ACT-IAC, has come up with a list of recommendations for revising the FITARA scorecard. To fet the the whys and wherefores, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke in-studio with former federal CIO Alan Balutis along with the the Executive Director of the Policy Center at the MITRE Corporation, Dave Powner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cybersecurity is, once again, the prime focus of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act scorecard.The 15th version of FITARA debuts a new category for federal cybersecurity progress, while also reconfiguring the current IT security metric. The House Oversight and Reform Committee used agency inspectors general assessments based on the committee's determined weighted average instead of the traditional average. Federal Chief Information Security Officer Chris DeRusha told the subcommittee that the Office of Management and Budget released new cyber metrics on the Performance.gov site on Dec. 14.

A group of former agency chief information officers and other technology executives is offering some specific suggestions for how to evolve the FITARA scorecard in a white paper from ACT-IAC.

In the wake of the mid-term elections, FedHeads welcomed a new guest cohost, ACT-IAC CEO Dave Wennergren. And with ACT-IAC's Imagine Nation ELC, a report on FITARA reforms, and the general mayhem in DC, these two had plenty to talk about.

Agencies are finally starting to make progress on their transitions to the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract, according to the latest FITARA scorecard. Perryn Ashmore, industry executive director for federal government at Oracle and former chief information officer at the Department of Health and Human Services, discusses the obstacles of change management in government and how to overcome it. The Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce are delaying an agreement again that would codify data-sharing between the two agencies. Mike Peckham, managing director for advisory at KPMG U.S. and former executive director of financial management at HHS, explains the progress federal agencies have made sharing data. The Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate will take a three-step approach to bring new technology into the department and to market. The department's new partnership guide lays out the journey for potential partners. Megan Mahle, director of industry partnerships at DHS' Science and Technology Directorate, explains the purpose of the guide and how it will look to help develop homeland security solutions. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every weekday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. And if you like what you hear, please let us know in the comments.

On this episode, we talk with technology executives, Richard Spires, Margie Graves and Dave Powner about the recently released ACT-IAC report, “Recommendations for Evolving the FITARA Scorecard.”

From 2012 to 2021, data center closures and optimization brought government an estimated 6.6 billion in cost savings and avoidances. Data center and energy management also play a key role in sustainability targets and the Biden administration's goal to hit net-zero emissions by 2050. General Services Administration (GSA) Director for the Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI) Thomas Santucci discusses the significant strides made by this program, which sunset from the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard this past January after all agencies made an "A" grade.

The FITARA Scorecard is up for a makeover. The new House IT Caucus will look at ways to change the scorecard. Richard Spires, principal at Richard A. Spires Consulting and former CIO at the Department of Homeland Security, discusses recommendations on evolving the scorecard. The Technology Modernization Fund is just one of the priorities of Federal Chief Information Officer Clare Martorana. In a recent Capitol Hill testimony, Martorana talks about her list of priorities as Federal CIO. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every weekday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. And if you like what you hear, please let us know in the comments.

On today's episode of The Daily Scoop Podcast, Dave Wennergren, CEO at ACT-IAC and former chief information officer at the Navy, discusses FITARA 14 and the importance of outcome-based measures in technology modernization efforts. Terry Gerton, president and CEO of the National Academy of Public Administration, explains how the federal government can better compete with private industry for talent. The Thrift Savings Plan projects another several weeks of high call volume at its call centers before it gets back to normal. The high call volume is because of the transition to a new recording-keeping backbone for its system. Kim Weaver, director of external affairs for the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, talks about the ongoing transition. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every weekday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. And if you like what you hear, please let us know in the comments.

House Oversight and Reform Committee members were more engaged this past Thursday on federal IT management issues than we have seen in some time. Not only were the questions relevant, but the lawmakers did not stray into the silly, non-sequitur or totally unrelated world that could've easily happened during the 14th iteration of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard hearing on July 28.

On today's episode of The Daily Scoop Podcast, Dan Chenok, executive director of the IBM Center for The Business of Government and former branch chief for information policy and technology at the Office of Management and Budget, discusses a new bill on Capitol Hill that would make it easier for agencies to buy commercial technology. Changes to the FITARA grading system push grades down across government, according to the new scorecard. Carol Harris, director of information technology and cybersecurity at the Government Accountability Office, explains what's different in this scorecard and its results. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every weekday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. And if you like what you hear, please let us know in the comments.

Our senior researchers are on the virtual red carpet for the first annual Flycademy Awards! Celebrate the year in federal IT with categories like Zero Trust Advocate of the Year, the FITARA Award, Cloud Thought Leader of the Year, and more.

On today's episode of The Daily Scoop Podcast, the U.S. Transportation Command is migrating its cloud applications to the Air Force's Cloud One platform. A Marine Corps financial management transition to a system at the Defense Logistics Agency is complete. Former Deputy Chief Financial Officer at the Department of Defense Mark Easton discusses how transitions like this help organizations audit themselves and help external auditors audit them better. Agencies have another year to move contracts to the new Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) vehicle. 15 agencies got failing grades in the recent FITARA scorecard for their transition to EIS. Jim Williams, principal at Schambach and Williams Consulting and former deputy administrator and acting administrator of the General Services Administration, explains the challenges agencies are having in moving to EIS and how they can be resolved. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is fusing commercial solutions and unclassified information in the cloud. Chris Johnson, deputy chief technology officer at NGA, tells Scoop News Group's Wyatt Kash explains how NGA is using cloud technology to support its mission. This interview is part of FedScoop's “Cloud-Driven Innovation in Federal Government” video campaign, sponsored by AWS. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every weekday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. And if you like what you hear, please let us know in the comments.

On today's episode of The Daily Scoop Podcast, the Assistant to the Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency is retiring at the end of April. Chief information officers across government will get new measures on the next edition of the FITARA Scorecard. Richard Spires, principal at Richard A. Spires Consulting and former CIO at the Department of Homeland Security, explains what the new measures for IT modernization in government should be. The new Zero Trust Strategy from the Office of Management and Budget drives collaboration among some offices that may not have worked together before like they should. Donna Roy, strategic advisor for the national security sector at Guidehouse and former executive director of the Information Sharing and Services Office (IS2O) at DHS, explains how collaboration between Federal CDO Council and Federal CISO Council will be important in implementing the strategy. Diana Epstein, evidence team lead at OMB and Nichelle Johnson Billips, fellow at the White House Leadership Development Program, spoke at a recent National Academy of Public Administration event about how OMB will use their learning agenda to identify research that will support the president's management agenda. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every weekday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. And if you like what you hear, please let us know in the comments.

The 13th Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act or FITARA scorecard may be the last of its kind. House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations members plan to revamp the bi-annual agency-by-agency scorecard. In his weekly Reporter's Notebook, executive editor Jason Miller covers what those changes may look like.

The potential of RPA in government; Future of FITARA; U.S. military posture in the Indo-Pacific by The Daily Scoop Podcast

On today's episode of The Daily Scoop Podcast, a new IT modernization caucus in the House of Representatives. Dan Chenok, executive director at the IBM Center for The Business of Government and former branch chief for information policy and technology for the Office of Management and Budget, explains how integrating automation can help improve government's delivery of the recent customer experience executive order. Gordon Bitko, senior vice president at Information Technology Industry Council and former FBI chief information officer, discusses his recommendations to Congress for modernizing FISMA. Dave Powner, executive director of the Center for Data-Driven Policy at MITRE and former director for IT Issues at GAO, talks with Francis about his takeaways from the new FITARA scorecard and what to look for in FITARA 14. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every weekday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. And if you like what you hear, please let us know in the comments.

On today's episode of The Daily Scoop Podcast, the new FITARA scorecard is out. Congress is moving to reform the Federal Information Security Management Act. Former NASA Chief Information Officer Renee Wynn explains her recommendations to the House Oversight and Reform Committee. FISMA reform in Congress could change several things about how agencies do the business of cybersecurity and how they show their work. Jennifer Franks, director of information technology and cybersecurity issues at the Government Accountability Office, gives an update on the implementation of FISMA requirements across government. Kristina Balaam, senior threat researcher for threat intelligence at Lookout, explains steps organizations can take to make sure their employees avoid cyberattacks. This interview is sponsored by Lookout. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every weekday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. And if you like what you hear, please let us know in the comments.

Few people have more experience in the intricacies of federal procurement than Soraya Correa. She's led procurement operations at several Homeland Security component agencies and at headquarters. And she guided the purchasing staff into the age of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act era. In all, she spent 40 years in federal service at several agencies. Now she's been inducted as a fellow into the National Academy of Public Administration. Soraya Correa joined the Federal Drive to discuss.

Congressman Darrell Issa returned to Capitol Hill in January after a two-year absence, bringing with him his "one CIO per agency" idea. You might remember the California Republican pushed the concept that there should be ONLY one person per agency with the title of chief information officer in 2012 as he was working on the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act, or FITARA, bill. While that provision was left out of FITARA, Issa and Democrat Gerry Connolly are again pushing the need for CIO consolidation. In his weekly Reporter's Notebook, Federal News Network's Jason Miller writes about why the time may have come for Connolly and Issa's idea.

The 12th version of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard offered few real surprises. Most agencies continue to earn “B” and “C” grades. What came from the most recent hearing however, is a call to possibly refocus the scorecard or break it apart into smaller and more specific accountability tasks. Federal News Network executive editor Jason Miller joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss what some lawmakers are thinking about it comes to the future of FITARA.

Who can make a lark of listing OMB memos? USDA's Lorna Drennen and Tim McCrosson can, all while sharing how they transformed commodity IT management in less than a year and during a pandemic!

Improving IT modernization in government David Powner, Executive Director of the Center for Data-Driven Policy at MITRE, discusses important areas for the continued evolution of the FITARA scorecard, including the PMA, legacy modernization and a focus on cyber Reassigning the duties of the Chief Management Officer Beth McGrath, Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting and former Deputy Chief Management Officer at the Pentagon, discusses the process of distributing the CMO’s responsibilities to other offices Top priorities for the next GSA administrator Jim Williams, Partner at Schambach & Williams Consulting, discusses how category management can help the Biden administration implement acquisition policy

It didn't take long for agencies to feel the brunt of how serious lawmakers want them get on board with the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract. The lack of EIS progress dropped two agencies a whole letter grade on the 11th Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard. Scores came out from the House Oversight and Reform Committee yesterday. Federal News Network Executive Editor Jason Miller - who loves this stuff - joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for the latest.

The Department of Education is undergoing a modernization journey that ramped up when CIO Jason Gray joined in 2016. Gray discusses the progress since then, which resulted in FITARA score improvements, cloud development, pivots during the pandemic and an increasing focus on data security to protect student and financial aid information.

Reforming the FITARA scorecard David Powner, Director of Strategic Engagement & Partnerships at MITRE, discusses the results of the latest Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act scorecard and recommendations for improving future iterations Updates on the National Cyber Director role Suzanne Spaulding, Senior Adviser for Homeland Security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, explains the authorities that a National Cyber Director role would have and the steps necessary to create this position Recommendations for the Technology Modernization Fund Matthew Cornelius, Executive Director of the Alliance for Digital Innovation, discusses technology problems that agencies are facing, including technical debt and antiquated operating models, and ways to address these problems

Takeaways from the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act scorecard Carol Harris, Director of Information Technology Acquisition Management Issues at GAO, provides takeaways from the latest FITARA scorecard and discusses the possibility of expanding the scorecard to include additional IT metrics Updates on the State Department coronavirus response Mike Mestrovich, Principal Deputy Chief Information Officer at the State Department, discusses the challenges of the State Department’s shift from teleworking to returning to the office and explains the Cloud-Smart strategy Updates on the Navy’s shipbuilding plan Mackenzie Eaglen, Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Michael O’Hanlon, Senior Fellow and Director of Research for Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, and RADM Sinclair Harris (USN ret.), National Vice President of Military Affairs at the Navy League, discuss progress on the Navy’s shipbuilding plan, delays to the plan, and the argument about what to include when counting ships

New Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act scorecard Richard Spires, Principal at Richard A. Spires Consulting, discusses his take on the new FITARA scorecard, recommendations to evolve it, and the impact of IT on agency missions HHS’s search for an innovation partner for medicine Mary Denigan-Macauley, Director of Health Care and Public Health & Private Markets at the Government Accountability Office, discusses the progress of the Department of Health and Human Services on working with a private nonprofit to invest in companies making drugs or vaccines Looking ahead to the next FITARA scorecard Jonathan Alboum, Principal Data Strategist at ServiceNow, shares his takeaways from the hearing on the FITARA scorecard and possible changes for the future

For the first time in five years, no agency received a “F” or “D” grade on the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act or FITARA scorecard. The grades are both a sign of progress and a sign it’s time to raise the bar on agencies. Federal News Network’s executive editor Jason Miller covered the 10th House hearing on FITARA and joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss the latest grades and how the scorecard may be changing.

Cloud-to-cloud record preservation at the National Archives Leslie Johnston, Director of Digital Preservation at the U.S. National Archives, explains how NARA’s new Digital Preservation Framework is helping agencies transfer their records to the National Archives cloud as part of a digitization effort driven by law Updates on the tenth FITARA scorecard David Powner, Director of Strategic Engagement & Partnerships at MITRE, talks about the tenth FITARA scorecard and areas where the scorecard could evolve going forward The future of Alliant 2 and governmentwide acquisition contracts Nick Wakeman, Editor of Washington Technology, discusses what went wrong with the Alliant 2 contract and what the future of governmentwide acquisition contracts will look like

IT modernization takes center stage on Capitol Hill this month with two hearings, including one happening in the next week. The two hearings will cap a spring and early summer which saw renewed interest in getting agencies to move off of legacy systems. In his weekly feature, the Reporter's Notebook, executive editor Jason Miller writes about why these hearings and other efforts may be a part of how lawmakers are teeing up the next major IT legislation in the fall.

The Veterans Affairs Department has a 6 billion dollar IT budget. Now there's real news: Its chief information officer finally has control over it. This means the largest civilian agency is at last complying with a 2015 law that gave agency CIOs authority over all IT spending. Federal News Network's Jason Miller got a hold of the memo giving the VA CIO new authority. Jason writes about why five years after the passage of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act or FITARA agencies still are falling short of meeting the spirit and intent of the law.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is dealing with a cumulative total of over 19,000 corona virus cases, with 2,285 veterans being treated today. More than 200 VA health professionals have active cases, with nearly 1,800 VA additional VA employees having already recovered from COVID-19. And there have been 27 deaths of VA employees due to coronavirus.

CMDR Bryan McGrath (USN ret.), Managing Director at The FerryBridge Group, provides his perspective on the idea of the Navy cutting two aircraft carriers from the fleet Richard Spires, Principal at Richard A. Spires Consulting, discusses how the coronavirus could affect the FITARA scorecard and what CIOs can take away from it Kirk Kern, Chief Technology Officer at NetApp, describes how contact tracing can be implemented while data and privacy are protected

Kristen Kociolek, director at the Government Accountability Office, discusses why the Department of Defense needs to change their accounting adjustment practices and what recommendations GAO has for the Pentagon. Ari Schwartz, managing director of cybersecurity services at Venable, details how the Pentagon will audit contractor cybersecurity and breaks down the timeline for putting the new certification in place. David Powner, director of Strategic Engagement & Partnerships at MITRE, discusses the history of FITARA, and the effects the scorecard had on federal IT.

The ninth version of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard shows the most compliance progress yet. Three agencies received grades of “A” and most of the subcategory areas saw improvements across the board. In his weekly feature, the Reporter's Notebook, Federal News Network Executive Editor Jason Miller wrote about the fact that, despite the improvements in FITARA scores, some old habits don't die easily. He joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin in studio.

CAPT Frank Futcher (USN) and David Schiff from NavalX discuss their “tech bridges,” and how they’re looking to reduce barriers between the Navy and industry. Stacie Alboum, deputy director of the Center for Information Technology at the National Institutes of Health details NIH’s enterprise-wide cyber safety projects, and the buy-in they’re receiving across the agency. Simon Szykman, CTO for Federal Services at Attain, explains what the latest FITARA grades mean for federal agencies, and why it’s good news for the state of federal IT.

Melchior Baltazar, SVP/General Manager Brightspot, is the guest in the studio today. In December of 2019, there is a deadline for many agencies to comply with the IDEA legislation. Melchior has an excellent background for this discussion; he has a law degree from the University of Virginia as well as seven years’ service as a Navy SEAL. In December of 2018, the 21st Century IDEA legislation was passed, requiring federal agency websites to be accessible, scalable, secure, and user-friendly. This law is the latest in a series of federal legislation, policies, directives, and standards designed to modernize federal websites and improve the citizen experience. During the interview, Melchior summarized critical components of this regime, including the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act, Mobile Ready Act, Connected Government Act; Modernizing Government Technology Act; OMB Guidance: OMB Circular A-11, Section 280; GSA TTS U.S. Web Design Standards. He also mentions the success of the Department of Agriculture, getting ten million dollars from the Technology Modernization Fund. Gerald Connolly is one of the congressional leaders that promote improvements in federal technology that include website modernization and digitization of government services. One of his flagship concepts was FITARA, and he is including the IDEA legislation. Brightspot has success in the commercial world and can show federal agencies on how to become consistent with business best practices.

Kim Weaver, director of external affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, discusses changes to TSP’s international plan, and why the change prevents “discrimination.” Richard Spires, CEO of Learning Tree International, discusses what could be in the latest FITARA report, and changes that should be made to the scorecard. William Weisberg, of counsel at Centre Law & Consulting, details why he believes the current contract debriefing process doesn’t work, and how to fix it.

Gerry Connolly discusses government progress on the standards and directives codified in FITARA, IT modernization and FedRAMP. We look at IT modernization efforts and discuss both the Modernizing Government Technology Act and the associated Technology Modernization Fund.

Agencies received mixed scores on the latest Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act, or FITARA, scorecard — with five agencies posting higher scores, and another five posting lower scores. But a new IT management maturity model from the American Council for Technology and the Industry Advisory Council gives agencies a roadmap for how to improve their FITARA scores. Two of the model's authors, ACT-IAC project lead Suzanne Komara and Stu Hammer, chairman of the IT management and modernization community of interest spoke with Federal News Network's Jory Heckman about their work on the model.

Carol Harris, director of information technology and acquisition management issues at GAO, details her testimony on Capitol Hill about the TMF and FITARA. Glenn Fine, Principal Deputy Inspector General at the Department of Defense, discusses his office’s recommendations for the Pentagon, and the trendline for their completion. Bill Manger, associate administrator in the SBA Office of Capital Access, discusses how improving technology at the agency also improves their mission delivery.

In this two-part interview, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), discusses what the latest FITARA scorecard means for agencies, and why there’s “no case” for an OPM-GSA merger. Tony Bardo, assistant vice president of government solutions at Hughes Network Systems, and Gary Wall, CEO of Coastal Communications Consulting Group, discuss the EIS contract deadline extension, and how it impacts agencies and contractors.

Like students across the country, federal agencies are getting their report cards. The House Oversight and Reform Committee is handing out grades on IT modernization under the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA). Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) is the chairman of the subcommittee on operations, which is handing out the FITARA grades today. He told Federal News Network Executive Editor Jason Miller about agency progress in this bi-annual report card. Hear more details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

It’s one thing to get an “A” or a “B” in the different areas of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard. It’s another to translate those grades into real IT reforms. While the results are far from final, the Department of Health and Human Services seems to be on a path to transform how it manages technology and delivers services. Amy Haseltine, the deputy chief information officer for enterprise services at HHS, said the agency’s IT reform efforts are starting to pay off in measurable ways. Hear her conversation with Jason Miller on Ask the CIO.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) sits down with Francis Rose to outline shutdown priorities, new developments at the Government Operations subcommittee and the future of FITARA. Bob Gourley, CTO and Co-Founder of OODA, discusses the unique issues that arise when dealing with securing AI, and why it’s important to monitor machine learning systems before they start having bad ideas. Mike Hettinger, president of Hettinger Strategy Group, and Rich Beutel, principal at Cyrrus Analytics, discuss the latest number for the Technology Modernization Fund’s FY19 budget, and why it’s a message to the White House.

Michael Missal, Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs, details how his office makes recommendations to fix agency issues, and what challenges are facing the second-largest federal agency. David Powner, former director of IT Issues at the Government Accountability Office and director of Strategic Engagement & Partnerships at MITRE, discusses possible changes to the federal data center policy, and looks back on FITARA’s progress. Katell Thielemann, research vice president at Gartner, details how agencies are planning to use Robotic Process Automation, and where it fits in the technology “continuum.”

Artificial intelligence and the cyber workforce will be front and center when the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on IT comes back for the 116th Congress. Both Reps. Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), currently the chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee, respectively, said they want to see progress across the government in both of these areas. House Information Technology subcommittee Chairman Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, talks with Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill. on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 18, 2015, before the start of the subcommittee's hearing on Cybersecurity. While it’s still unclear what the shape of the committee and subcommittees will look like and whether Hurd and Kelly will switch roles both say they plan to remain involved in federal IT and management issues. They spoke with Federal News Network Executive Editor Jason Miller on Ask the CIO.

Jeanette Manfra, assistant secretary at the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency outlines top priorities for the recently-elevated agency. Jose Arrieta, associate deputy assistant secretary of acquisition at HHS, Oki Mek, chief product officer at the Division of Acquisition at HHS, and Michael McFarland, director of the Office of Acquisition Business Systems at HHS, discuss the government’s first blockchain authority to operate, and what it means for the department’s acquisition workforce. Mark Forman, former Federal CIO, and Simon Szykman, former CIO at the Commerce Department, discuss the latest FITARA scorecard, and what the future holds for federal IT oversight.

Max Stier, president & CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, discusses where the best places to work are in the government, and how leadership plays a role in the rankings. Linda Miller, director at Grant Thornton Public Sector, discusses ways to reduce improper payments in the federal government, and why reporting laws need to be changed. Mike Hettinger, president of Hettinger Strategy Group, and Rich Beutel, principal at Cyrrus Analytics, discuss the Federal CIO Authorization Act, and takeaways from the latest FITARA scorecard.

In today's Federal Newscast, 11 agencies improved their grades, and for the first time no agency received an F on the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act or FITARA scorecard.

The Department of Health and Human Services will be in the hot seat before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday. That's when committee members will bore in on its progress against the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA). This seventh oversight session of FITARA will continue the committee's focus on agency implementation of the law enacted four years ago this month. In his weekly feature, the Reporter's Notebook, Federal News Network Executive Editor Jason Miller spoke to Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on IT, about why the FITARA scorecard remains a key indicator of how agencies value the role of their chief information officer. Hear the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Mark Forman, vice president and Global Head of Public Sector for Unisys, joins host Mark Amtower on this week's Amtower Off Center to discuss FITARA, the Internet of Things, and the top issues facing the CIO community.

The White House's latest attempt to give agency chief information officers a bigger seat at the table is filled with many of the same wants, desires and hopes that previous efforts have had over the last 22 years. So is President Donald Trump's executive order from May 15 really going to make progress where the Clinger-Cohen Act, FITARA and many other policies have struggled? Can the EO breathe life into stagnant CIO authorities like the administration claims? In his weekly feature, the Reporter's Notebook, Executive Editor Jason Miller asked six former federal IT executives with more than 50 years of experience these questions. He joins me now to discuss what they said.

You have to dig deeper into the latest congressional scorecard to really understand the state of federal IT reforms. Yes, overall grades for compliance with the FITARA law went down or stayed the same for most agencies. And they stunk to begin with. But when you break down the areas like incremental development or managing software license, the results are much different. In his weekly feature the Reporter's Notebook, Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller did that digging and wrote about what he found. He joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss.

In today's Federal Newscast on Federal News Radio, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee releases the expanded Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act report card today, five agencies saw their grades go up, 11 saw them go down.

The Defense Department is the last agency to receive an “F” on the latest Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act, or FITARA, scorecard. But DoD is not alone in earning a bad grade on the bi-annual IT reform scorecard from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Federal News Radio's executive editor Jason Miller joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for details about which agencies have to answer for lower grades.

Before we talk about the future of government technology, let’s find out where we are. Nextgov’s Senior Editor Aaron Boyd chats with Dave Powner, the head of IT management issues for the Government Accountability Office, about the present state of agency tech, why it’s so hard for government to integrate new ideas, plus how to take advantage of emerging tech. Here are some of the things they mentioned: The GAO High Risk List, which are projects flagged for possible mismanagement or waste. And waste happens: The Coast Guard leadership recently had to defend a failed five-year health record project. GAO updates Congress on how agencies comply with data centers, software licensing and other IT metrics mandated by FITARA. Here are the latest FITARA grades. GAO also keeps tabs on federal workforce issues, such as the Department of Homeland Security cyber skills and diversity in agencies’ tech staff. This episode is underwritten by Leidos. 

Lawmakers on the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on IT are concerned that the IT modernization effort is losing momentum. Federal News Radio's Jason Miller joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to talk about why the committee will continue to press agency chief information officers to move off legacy systems.

As the the Internet of Things and 5G become more prevalent, analysts say the government needs a strategy on how it buys hardware and software. Federal News Radio's Scott Maucione joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to talk more about the vulnerabilities.

The Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act handed federal chief information officers and their staffs a lot of work. And it gave Congress something else to oversee and for which to issue scorecards. The latest report shows the government middling along, with a few glaring problems. David Powner, director of information technology management issues at the Government Accountability Office, provides the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act would give agencies working capital funds to use for moving off legacy systems.

In today's Federal Newscast, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has given lower grades to six agencies on their latest Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act report cards.

In today's Federal Newscast, a new Government Accountability Office report has found many agencies are having trouble implementing one of the key parts of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act.

Jason Gray, the Education Department's CIO and the co-chairman of the CIO Council's IT Workforce Committee, said there are four main goals for the upcoming governmentwide hiring fair.

Transforming and modernizing agency networks and using the commercial cloud to do so remains a high priority for federal chief information officers. But growing confidence and expectations around the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act or FITARA is what will propel this effort toward success. CIOs are more positive about the impact FITARA will have over the next few years, particularly in giving them more authorities and additional oversight over technology acquisition. These are among the top findings from Federal News Radios seventh annual online survey of federal CIOs deputy CIOs and other federal executives in the IT sector. Executive editor Jason Miller conducted the survey and joins Federal Drive with Tom Temin discuss it.

This week Dave and Gunnar talk about: OMB, Uber, Slack, GitHub, OpenStack, Docker, the slow-motion password Armageddon, and our favorite OpenShift customers. D&G This Week in Meeting Hygiene: Steve Jobs vs. Lucasfilm CFO Bonus link: Steve Jobs Knew How to Run a Meeting: Here’s How He Did it Uber is a garbage company, chapter 283 Optimizing Dave’s ad experience: Amazon Now Selling Ad Space On Shipping Boxes Two High School Interns Return to the GVIS for the Summer Slack loves the Fighting Unicorns Slack for Linux Red Hat Software Collections 2.0 Now Available (h/t Robin Price) Cisco buys Piston, IBM buys Blue Box Docker backlash begins Congressman submits PR on FITARA repository (h/t Matt Micene) Your most paranoid fantasies about cybersecurity threat sharing with DHS were basically right on OPM is a garbage agency 90% of credit card readers still use the default password, Gunnar builds cabin in the woods If you generated your ssh key on Debian between 2006 and 2008, it’s time to build a new key Auditing GitHub users’ SSH key quality (h/t Robin Price) gpg keypair workflow even i can follow (h/t Matt Micene) Meanwhile: Password Manager LastPass Got Breached Hard LastPass for Apple Watch? Apple to require 6-digit passcodes on newer iPhones, iPads under iOS 9 Not sure how we missed this: Irate Congressman gives cops easy rule: “just follow the damn Constitution” Mark Bohannon, Vice President of Global Public Policy and Government Affairs at Red Hat, has more to say about this D&G Public Sector CIO of the Week is Tony Scott: US CIO Orders All .Gov Websites To Require Encrypted Connections Check the compliance dashboard at pulse.cio.gov Guidance from 18F See you at the Red Hat Summit! Gunnar is moderating Red Hat as a Catalyst for Government Dave’s fireside chatting about security w/Jeff Blank of the NSA Data Virtualization Tutorial from Kenny Peeples Red Hat certified engineers get 1000 hours of AWS or Google, free for nuthin’ thanks to Ravello Kolla = Deploying OpenStack on Kubernetes, blowing minds xsos – Support tool for sosreports (h/t Robin Price) Red Hat loves OpenShift OpenStack on OpenShift, FedRAMP’d Latr.fm Saves Individual Podcasts Episodes to a Special Feed Delete your browser history? That’s a felony. (h/t Jim Wildman) This story on Russian trolls is bonkers Microservices will not cure cancer, thank God. Cutting Room Floor Heroic citizen’s rooftop sign has been trolling people arriving in Milwaukee for years Wedding drone fail Cantas is a Trello clone, built by some folks at Red Hat. Paul Ford is a national treasure. A map of the Paris Metro in Git branches. Pay for votes, but in a good way. Anyone see this as not proceeding as planned? Interloper! Smart-y Pants! (h/t Matt Micene) 1980s computer controls Grand Rapids Public Schools heat and AC We Give Thanks Matt Micene, Robin Price, and Jim Wildman!