The Senate today unanimously passed the Federal Rotational Cyber Workforce Program Act of 2019 today, moving the legislation one step closer to establishing a cyber workforce that can move between Federal agencies as needed. […]

Over the past couple of years, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Critical Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA) has been asking itself several questions to increase cross-agency governance for cybersecurity and supply chain management. […]

In releasing a batch of letters on priority open recommendations, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlighted IT and cybersecurity issues at the Departments of Education (Ed), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Treasury, and the Office Personnel Management (OPM). […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) on how to use artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for natural language processing (NLP) to gain insights into complex language in government policy. […]

A group of 19 House Democrats–many from districts close to Washington–asked leaders of the House Appropriations Committee in a letter dated today to put the brakes on a Trump administration plan to shift government functions currently performed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to the General Services Administration (GSA).  […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will increase the authority CIOs have over direct hiring decisions, according to a post on Federal Register. […]

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced winners for Part 1 of its Career Compass Challenge, with five white papers selected to win a $5,000 award each. […]

After reviewing 24 Federal agencies that cover work in IT, cybersecurity, or cyber-related projects, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a report today that six of these agencies did not accurately categorize the work roles of their work positions and that 22 assigned non-IT roles to about 19 percent of their IT positions. […]

Democratic members of Congress from the Washington D.C. area sent a letter to the heads of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Tuesday asking when the White House plans to implement the 1.9 percent annual pay raise for Federal civilian workers included in the spending bill passed in February that avoided a further partial government shutdown. […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has closed Federal offices in the Washington D.C. metro area on Wednesday due to inclement weather. […]

The Consolidated Appropriations Act–the bill negotiated by Democrats and Republicans in Congress that could fully fund several Federal agencies and avert another partial government shutdown–features a variety of funding for IT modernization projects at multiple agencies, according to the joint explanatory statement released with the bill: […]

A group of three Democratic representatives from the Capital region sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Tuesday, asking for an update on back pay for Federal workers amid reports of discrepancies. […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced today that Clare Martorana would replace a retiring David Garcia as CIO. […]

The Office of Personnel and Management (OPM) released a request for information on January 30 looking for vendors to help it implement a “one-stop shop” portal for comparing and enrolling in Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) plans. The RFI is open for questions until February 15, and open for responses until March 11. […]

In anticipation of winter weather affecting the evening commute, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has announced a two-hour early departure for Federal personnel in the Washington D.C. area today, with an option to take unscheduled leave to stagger departure times. […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Sunday posted back-to-work guidance for Federal agencies and employees that were furloughed and/or required to work without pay during the partial government shutdown that began Dec. 22 and ended late Friday with congressional and White House approval of a continuing resolution to restart shuttered operations through Feb. 15. […]

A group of D.C.-area senators expressed their concern over guidance from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that asks federal employees affected by the shutdown to continue paying dental and vision insurance premiums. […]

Federal employees who scheduled “use-or-lose” annual leave at agencies affected by the partial government shutdown can have that time restored, according to a new memo released Thursday by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). […]

After approval of some new amendments to exempt financial data and smaller agencies, H.R. 4174–the OPEN Government Data Act–passed both the House and the Senate on Friday and headed to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law. […]

The Trump administration’s latest update of its recent activities to fulfill its CAP (cross-agency priority) goal action plan for shifting agencies’ attention to higher-value work shows that agencies working on the plan–including officials from the Office of Management Budget and the Department of Housing and Urban Development–have a busy 2019 schedule to advance the effort. […]

The Government Accountability Office recommended in a Nov. 20 report that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) improve its website and take more steps to share “innovations in performance management” with other Federal agencies. […]

Margaret Weichert, acting director at the Office of Personnel and Management (OPM), addressed the challenges ahead for the Federal workforce and emphasized the need for action in the near future, but promised that OPM would continue its current path after a series of leadership changes. […]

The White House on Friday announced the appointment of Margaret Weichert as acting director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), replacing Jeff Pon at the helm of the agency. […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will in the coming weeks release a new regulation that will allow the Federal government to directly hire cybersecurity personnel, significantly slimming a lengthy hiring process that has bogged down the Federal government. […]

The Government Accountability Office released a report Wednesday that says the Federal government needs to provide more reliable data on employee misconduct, and suggested that Federal managers need better training to ensure that inappropriate employee behavior is dealt with appropriately. […]

A bipartisan group of Federal lawmakers on Monday filed an amicus brief in support of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)–the largest Federal government employee union–who recently sued President Trump over his Federal workforce executive orders (EO) issued on May 25. […]

While the White House’s proposal to reorganize the functions of many Federal agencies made the biggest headlines today with major steps like the proposed merger of the Departments of Education and Labor, the lengthy proposal document released today also touches on a host of other significant issues including the Federal cybersecurity workforce, delivery of government services to citizens, and handling of background checks for Federal Employees. […]

Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report Thursday that found many Federal agencies are not entirely up to speed in classifying members of their cybersecurity workforce, although many of them have traveled well down the road toward compliance. […]

Federal agencies are facing a tall order in cleaning up their cybersecurity practices in the wake of some tough love dished out by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in a risk assessment and action plan released May 30. Agencies need to streamline processes, better share information, and finds ways of getting a better return on their cyber investments, all of which can be harder than it sounds. […]