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Archived Government Notes
Published in 2020
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NASCIO Technology Champion Award Honors Indiana Department of Child Services CIO
by NASCIO Press Release
The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) has awarded Indiana Department of Child Services Chief Information Officer, Kevin Jones, with the association’s 2020 Technology Champion Award. Kevin’s nomination submission described him as the “epitome of CIO as problem solver with a personal leadership style grounded in empathy for the 25,000 children in his care and the 4,000 family case workers who support them.”
Indiana Child Welfare is currently undergoing massive transformation and Kevin is leading a holistic approach to change that focuses on people, process and tools. He is leveraging innovations like virtual reality training that simulates a home visit with a vulnerable family. This technology, steeping in immersive learning, is better preparing caseworkers for the field. It is also being used in hiring to determine whether a candidate is a good fit for child welfare. The agency has already seen an 18% reduction in turnover resulting in a cost savings to the state.
Read full story at NASCIO…
first published week of: 05/11/2020
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Navigating Cleveland Through Musical Maps
by dan polletta
If asked to a draw a musical map of the city, many Clevelanders would place classical music in University Circle, jazz on the East Side and heavy metal and polka on the West Side.
George Blake wondered if that’s what Cleveland really looks like.
Blake, who grew up in Cleveland Heights, earned his doctorate and master’s degree from the Department of Music at the University of Southern California, Santa Barbara. Blake’s research focuses on hidden musical histories, with a particular interest in black performers.
During his time in California, Blake had a realization.
Read full story at Idea Stream…
first published week of: 03/02/2020
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NIST Offers 8 Ways Agencies Can Use Its Cybersecurity Framework
by mariam baksh
One approach involves getting a better sense of potential contractors’ cybersecurity posture
Federal officials in the market for new products and services might consider asking candidates to include a profile based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework during the acquisitions process, a new interagency report suggests.
“Respondents can be encouraged to include their Cybersecurity Framework Profile in the reply to a request for information or a sources sought notice,” reads NISTIR 8170, which NIST released Thursday.
“A reply describing cybersecurity capabilities of a product or service that includes Cybersecurity Framework terminology would help the agency to better compare and contrast the cybersecurity capabilities of organizations, products, and services of respondents,” NIST wrote. “It also provides agencies the means to consistently and objectively assess the cybersecurity posture of potential partners.”
Read full story at NextGovA…
first published week of: 03/30/2020
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NOAA Selects Woolpert for $40M Shoreline Mapping Support Services Contract
by Woolpert Press Release
The firm will provide data and technology to support nautical charting, navigation, territorial limits and coastal resources across the country.
Woolpert has been selected as a prime consultant for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Shoreline Mapping Support Services contract. The firm and its partners will provide updated charting data and analytics of the national shoreline for use in nautical charts, to support maritime navigation, to define territorial limits and to manage coastal resources. The five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract will support NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS), National Geodetic Survey (NGS) and Remote Sensing Division (RSD). The contract has a ceiling of $40 million.
The Shoreline Mapping Support Services contract is being administered by NOAA’s NGS. Previous awards under this contract included lidar collection, aerial imagery acquisition, shoreline compilation, GRAV-D and disaster relief. Woolpert specializes in the collection and processing of high-resolution topographic and bathymetric lidar and imagery, acoustic hydrographic services and marine survey.
Woolpert also is under contract with NOAA’s Office of Coastal Management to acquire geospatial data of U.S. coastal regions and the Great Lakes, and Woolpert is part of a team contracted to provide Professional and Technical (ProTech) Services Oceans Domain support.
“We’re honored to be selected for this contract to support NOAA’s shoreline mapping program,” Woolpert Vice President and Maritime Market Director John Gerhard said. “We expect this contract to demand extensive data acquisition and processing for multiple geospatial and hydrographic needs, and we look forward to providing the information and technology that will propel the vital efforts of the NOS, NGS and RSD.”
first published week of: 07/13/2020
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NYC Broadband Plan Calls for Fiber Everywhere, With ISPs Sharing Network
by jon brodkin
City will invest in network, but success depends heavily on private ISPs
( Getty Images / Busakorn Pongparnit )
The New York City government has released an "Internet Master Plan" that calls for universal broadband throughout the five boroughs, relying on open-access fiber networks that can be used by multiple ISPs.
The plan, announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chief Technology Officer John Paul Farmer yesterday, says New York City "will prioritize and optimize 'open-access' or 'neutral-host' infrastructure, which can be shared by multiple operators to lower costs, increase competition, minimize physical disruption to the city, and incentivize private-sector investments to reach and serve customers." New York City wants to ensure universal access to both wired and mobile Internet, with a fiber network that offers home Internet and provides bandwidth to mobile services.
The plan continues:
Based on the data and analyses contained in this Master Plan, the City has determined that universal broadband calls for an open-access fiber optic infrastructure built out to nearly every street intersection with an aggregation point in every neighborhood.
Read full story at arsTechnica…
first published week of: 01/13/2020
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Ohio Invites Hackers to Try to Break Into Voting Websites
by larry seward
( Synopsis )
Part of Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
Ohio's chief elections officer has invited hackers to break into the state’s voting websites. It’s all about testing the sites’ protection, officials say.
The state calls it a Vulnerability Disclosure Policy. Only Ohio has one, and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose thinks it makes voting safer.
LaRose discussed the plan at the latest November task force meeting, which included offers to hackers.
"If you find a hole and tell us about it, we're not going to sue you,” LaRose said at the meeting.
But he’s not letting foxes in the henhouse either.
"These are white-hat hackers," LaRose said.
White-hat hackers are routinely hired by private companies to find and help patch holes in cybersecurity, and they have been invited to scan nine state government sites including VoteOhio.gov and ohiosos.gov, the secretary of state’s own page.
Read full story at WCPO…
first published week of: 09/21/2020
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Pentagon Expanding 5G Efforts, DOD Official Says
by Mila Jasper
Forbes.com )
The Pentagon will also be releasing guidance on securing the microelectronics supply chain, according to Defense Undersecretary for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord.
The Pentagon is pushing ahead on a variety of 5G projects with more proposal requests on the way despite concerns over what role the Defense Department should have in building and controlling 5G networks.
Defense Undersecretary for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord said Tuesday the DOD will issue two 5G broad agency announcements in early 2021. The first BAA will be for 5G security prototyping and experimentation, and the second will be “for more fundamental research and development into beyond 5G technologies,” Lord said at a MITRE Corporation event launching a new 5G consortium.
Lord’s pre-recorded remarks come after some of the Pentagon’s requests for information on 5G have raised eyebrows among lawmakers, Nextgov reported last month. GOP lawmakers including Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Democrats including Reps. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., objected to language in one solicitation suggesting DOD is considering owning and operating its own 5G network.
Read full story at NextGov…
first published week of: 11/16/2020
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Pentagon Names New Chief Data Officer
by jared serbu
New DoD chief data officer will be first to work inside CIO’s office
The Pentagon said Friday it had picked Dave Spirk as its new chief data officer, making him the first person to hold the job since a 2019 law overhauled the department’s data management functions.
Spirk will join the Pentagon from his previous job at U.S. Special Operations Command, where he also served as CDO.
“Effective data management is the central component of the department’s Digital Modernization Strategy,” Dana Deasy, DoD’s chief information officer said in a statement. “Dave brings extensive experience and a thorough understanding of how data empowers joint, all-domain operations. I look forward to working with Dave as we create a strong data culture across the department.”
Spirk is only the second person to hold the title of DoD CDO. The first was Michael Conlin, when the department created the data management position within the office of the Chief Management Officer in 2018.
Read full story at Federal News Network…
first published week of: 08/03/2020
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Pentagon to Adopt Detailed Principles for Using AI
by patrick murphy
( sibsky2016/shutterstock.com)
Sources say the list will closely follow an October report from a defense advisory board.
The Defense Department will soon adopt a detailed set of rules to govern how it develops and uses artificial intelligence, officials familiar with the matter told Defense One.
A draft of the rules was released by the Defense Innovation Board, or DIB, in October as “Recommendations on the Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence.” Sources indicated that the Department’s policy will follow the draft closely.
“The Department of Defense is in the final stages of adopting AI principles that will be implemented across the U.S. military. An announcement will be made soon with further details,” said Lt. Cmdr. Arlo Abrahamson, a spokesman for the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.
The draft recommendations emphasized human control of AI systems. “Human beings should exercise appropriate levels of judgment and remain responsible for the development, deployment, use, and outcomes of DoD AI systems,” it reads.
Read full story at NextGov…
first published week of: 03/09/2020
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Rep. Hoyer Offers Novel Approach to Fund IT Modernization Efforts
by jason miller
And now for an entirely different idea to modernize federal technology. What if Congress gave the IRS $2 billion to move off legacy systems and the savings from the tax agency would go back into the governmentwide Technology Modernization Fund?
That is the idea from Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the House majority leader.
Hoyer sent a letter to Steven Mnuchin, the secretary of Treasury, on July 31 proposing to merge the TMF with the line item for IRS modernization funding.
“Since the funds will be administered through the TMF, the long-term cost savings resulting from the IRS upgrades would be reinvested through the TMF’s competitive revolving fund model into other urgently needed federal technology upgrades, including the Treasury Department, the Small Business Administration, and other agencies,” Hoyer wrote. “That TMF model has already proven effective through three years of success.”
Hoyer said House Democrats included $1 billion in the HEROES Act, which it passed on May 15, for TMF, and the Trump Administration and Senate Republicans included $2 billion for technology upgrades specifically for the IRS in the legislative package proposed on July 27.
Read full story at Federal News Network…
first published week of: 08/10/2020