The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) are prepping Federal agencies to start sending employees back to the office, as outlined in a memo released today. […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is asking Federal agencies to consider reimbursing paid leave to Federal contractors to keep them in position to mobilize in a timely manner, as needed to complete government missions. […]

While the sudden transition to mass telework may have created some initial hurdles for Federal agencies, Federal CIO Suzette Kent said that the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) IT modernization initiatives remain in full swing. […]

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has taken social distancing directives to heart and achieved a 100 percent employee telework rate, the agency told MeriTalk. […]

Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. asked House and Senate leaders to include in the next Federal coronavirus relief bill a lengthy list of protections for the Federal and government contractor workforces, including measures to further promote telework.  […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) is seeing rapid user ramp-up with its new Commercial Virtual Remote Environment (CVR), launched in late March to accommodate the massive shift to telework caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) issued a memo April 13 to supplement its existing COVID-19 coronavirus procedures, including restrictions to workplace access and information on collecting employee health information. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released interim Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) 3.0 guidance today focused on the rapid transition to telework as Federal agencies adjust their operations to combat spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. […]

Department of Defense (DoD) CIO Dana Deasy is leading a Telework Readiness Task Force to ease the agency’s transition to telework and improve cybersecurity, DoD spokesman Lt. Col. Robert Carver confirmed to MeriTalk. […]

One of the relatively few positive things about the last few weeks is how the Internet has been working well enough to accommodate tens of millions of new work-from-homers, students stuck at home, and everyone else as the pandemic sustains the imperative to work and interact online. […]

Humor is hard to find these days, but cracking a smile now and again is still important to good mental health. […]

Despite the impacts of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak on the job market and various transitions to telework, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is pressing on with online recruitment webinars.  […]

The $2 trillion COVID-19 coronavirus relief legislation, passed by the Senate late Wednesday night, includes far reaching Federal agency investments [link to Jordan’s story] to ramp up the government’s response to the pandemic, including funds for IT and telework infrastructure. The Senate legislation still requires approval by the House of Representatives, and President Trump’s signature. […]

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) announced March 23 that it renewed its antivirus software license agreement with McAfee, with the move coming amid increased employee telework caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. […]

Federal agencies and private sector companies alike are doing their part to slow the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus by switching to telework. For many employees, however, this is an unprecedented change. […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) told Federal agencies in a March 20 memo to work with their Federal contractors, “if they haven’t already, to evaluate and maximize telework for contractor employees, wherever possible” during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. […]

As the country settles in for the long haul of teleworking and social isolation, the goal becomes maintaining your sanity and staving off cabin fever. […]

A group of eight senators including all four from Virginia and Maryland asked the Trump administration in a March 19 letter to direct Federal departments and agencies to make publicly available their continuity of operations plans (COOP) in light of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a bulletin note from the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) on cybersecurity risks increasing with remotely accessible telework networks. […]

The Professional Services Council (PSC), a trade group representing the Federal contractor community, today called on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to issue “clear and comprehensive government-wide guidance” to provide maximum telework flexibilities for contactors. […]

As more Federal employees transition to telework to combat the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus, agencies are facing massive network strains. At the Department of Energy (DOE), they are considering staggering work schedules to spread out network traffic.  […]

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., along with 56 other House members, pressed ahead today with a demand to President Trump for an executive order mandating telework for all eligible Federal employees and contractors. […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in a memo dated March 15 asked Federal agency and department heads to offer “maximum telework flexibilities” to all current telework-eligible Federal employees in the National Capital Region (NCR). […]

The Office of Management and Budget released guidance dated March 12 to all heads of Federal departments and agencies to “maximize telework flexibilities” for the portions of the Federal workforce that are most at risk of severe illness from the COVID-19 coronavirus. […]

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent out a memo with additional guidance to Federal agencies on how to respond to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on March 7. […]

Three members of Congress representing big Federal government employee districts introduced legislation today that would protect telework availability for Federal employees. […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent a memo to Federal agency heads on March 3 with “preliminary guidance” to prepare the Federal workforce for the “potential impacts” of the COVID-19 coronavirus, including an emphasis on telework and Federal mission resilience. […]

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) urged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a July 15 letter to keep telework policies in place, and argued that reducing allowed telework could be a factor in many employees deciding to leave the department. […]

At MeriTalk’s FITARA Awards ceremony on Wednesday night, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s Government Operations Subcommittee, offered his views on what Congress needs to tackle next in Federal IT, and previewed three likely pieces of legislation. […]

Managers within some Federal agencies have demonstrated resistance to telework programs, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. […]