The Department of Commerce’s (DoC) Bureau of Industry and Security published a request for comments to gain feedback on what should be included in a report on supply chains for critical sectors and subsectors of the information and communications technology (ICT) industrial base. […]
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, wrote a letter to the Department of Commerce’s (DOC) Bureau of Industry Security (BIS) asking for details on implementing a “Final Rule” restricting access by China-based network equipment maker Huawei to U.S. technologies, and whether companies are still seeking to sell restricted technology to the company. […]
The Department of Commerce (DOC) is in the process of building an IT services contract to be used agency-wide, and is seeking contractors who can deliver solutions to securely operate and manage the current IT infrastructure. […]
President Biden has nominated Alan Estevez to become Under Secretary for Industry and Security in the Department of Commerce – a position that helps decide which U.S.-made technology products cannot be exported to foreign countries, ensures treaty compliance, and promotes continued U.S. strategic technology leadership. […]
A House Appropriations subcommittee late Monday approved the just-released Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill for fiscal year (FY) 2022. […]
Legislation to establish a Blockchain Center of Excellence (CoE) within the Department of Commerce was reintroduced in the House on May 25. […]
For government agencies and other organizations that face the daunting task of modernizing their IT systems to meet new and developing requirements, the greatest technical risk they face is maintaining the status quo. […]
Numerous Federal agencies are springing into action in response to the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline Company, a major supplier of fuel to the northeastern U.S. that temporarily shut down pipeline operations after disclosing the attack on May 7. […]
A bipartisan group of senators has reintroduced the Rural STEM Education Act, which would provide Federal support for STEM training in rural schools and instruct the director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide grants to support training for rural STEM teachers. […]
The Department of Commerce’s Business Application Solutions (BAS) program – which aims to modernize the agency’s legacy financial systems – needs to develop a business practice reengineering plan and align its change effort processes with best practices, the agency’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) said in a management alert. […]
President Biden intends to nominate Robert Santos as the next director of the U.S. Census Bureau, the White House announced Tuesday. […]
As the Census Bureau prepares for its planning of the 2030 Census, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending that the Bureau assess data collection challenges. […]
Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Bobby Rush, D-Ill., the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and chair of the Energy Subcommittee, respectively, sent a letter on March 12 to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo urging the department to address the country’s need for increased leadership in the innovation and deployment of emerging technologies. […]
The secretaries of Homeland Security and Commerce will work together on the one-year review of information and communications technology (ICT) industrial base supply chains ordered by President Biden earlier this week. […]
In a letter to Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, nominee for secretary of commerce, Republican Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Ben Sasse, R-Neb., requested that the Department of Commerce keep the pressure on Chinese telecommunications company, Huawei, during the Biden administration. […]
President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Gina Raimondo as his Secretary of Commerce and Don Graves as Raimondo’s Deputy Secretary at the Department of Commerce (Commerce). […]
The Department of Commerce Office of the Inspector General (OIG) announced last month that it will be conducting a review of the department’s cyber threat data sharing capabilities, pursuant to the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 which set up structures for sharing threat data with government and private sector entities. […]
After months with no movement and a weekend full of deal-making, Congress is expected to pass a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package as part of a broader Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) omnibus spending bill. The relief includes a new round of Payment Protection Program (PPP) funding, money for broadband deployment and emergency use, and money to remove banned Huawei and ZTE equipment. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a new report that four Federal agencies it examined are making progress on establishing data governance policies, but still have more work to do on some key milestones including assessing data and infrastructure maturity, and staff data literacy. […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the Census Bureau to make a series of late-stage adjustments to the census design and these changes have opened risks to the “quality of data that the Bureau provides for apportioning congressional representation among the states.” […]
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the American Competitiveness on More Productive Emerging Tech Economy (COMPETE Act) and the Consumer Safety Technology Act (H.R. 8128), both now move to the Senate for consideration. […]
The 2020 decennial census is breaking new ground in several ways – it is the first census to be conducted primarily online, and it has been supported by the cloud. Alongside those advancements, a Census Bureau official explained last week that the 2020 census will mark the first major implementation of a new privacy regime. […]
In the September 2020 President’s Management Agenda (PMA) updates, two Federal agencies focused on rural broadband expansion reported they are meeting key milestones. […]
With the White House and Department of Defense recently announcing that additional mid-band spectrum will be made available to be shared with industry, the Federal government’s spectrum manager called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to do its part to ensure the partnership occurs smoothly. […]
Nearly two years into an ambitious overhaul of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cyber Security Center (NCSC), brighter horizons are in sight for the agency in the form of improved cyber analytics capabilities. From the start, NOAA took a holistic approach to the NCSC transformation that encompasses people, process, and technology – in equal parts. […]
While many agencies are looking to modernize their legacy systems or digital government services, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is undertaking a more unique modernization project – automating the identification of beluga whales. […]
In August, the Census Bureau announced that it would be delivering appointment data by the statutory deadline of December 31, 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic causing delays. Compressed timeframes, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), could present challenges to monitoring ongoing IT risks, among other issues. […]
While much attention has been focused on the Census Bureau’s ongoing 2020 decennial survey, another bureau operation whose impact will stretch well beyond then has proceeded with much less recognition – a training program to modernize the way employees deal with data. […]
The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) has recommended that the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) within the Department of Commerce be selected to conduct Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Traffic Management (STM) duties, including IT and data-related aspects of those functions. […]
As the final weeks of the nation’s first census conducted primarily online conclude, a Census Bureau official said the website of the 2020 decennial survey has experienced no downtime during peak operations as a result of a move to the cloud. […]