Federal CIO Suzette Kent revealed today that the new draft Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) policy will be released next week, and that new policies on data and automation are coming in 2019.

“I’m very happy to say that this morning, the first thing I did was complete the paperwork for the Federal Register for the TIC policy, so you will see that next week, and that is our last piece of policy that … we wanted to update,” said Kent. “I’m really excited, because we’ve heard a lot from the vendor community, and from all of our agencies that this needed to be updated, and it will be a significant enhancement.”

“Thank you to SBA [Small Business Administration] and the Department of Energy, who ran the pilots for us to inform some of the new ways we can use software to protect our perimeter,” Kent added

While Kent’s office is ending 2018 with a bang, 2019 holds plenty more work ahead for IT modernization efforts, including an automation strategy.

“We are now working on creating an initial approach for use of automated technologies inside the Federal government,” she said. “Our intent is that we ensure that we have guardrails for how we use it, and we create transparency and the right processes for inspection that align with the consequences of the outcomes of those activities.”

She also noted that the Federal Data Strategy will be published next year, alongside data incubators and a one-year action plan. The data strategy has already seen a draft release. Kent also highlighted a push for shared services in the new year, and said OMB will launch three more workforce initiatives.

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