FCW Insider: Nov. 9

The midterm elections may be over, but the Department of Homeland Security is maintaining a ‘heightened’ security posture. Matt Leonard reports that while DHS found "nothing significant to report" in terms of digital interference, the National Risk Management Center will continue to monitor until all results are finalize.

DHS is pushing forward on a successor to the EAGLE II contract vehicle. Mark Rockwell reports that the so-called EAGLE III offer will be published before the end of the year.

A new audit from the Department of Treasury’s Inspector General found a number of IT security flaws around the agency’s management of collateral national security systems. Derek Johnson writes that substantial elements of Treasury’s information security program were “not effective.”

The Department of Health and Human Services, the Navy’s Military Sealift Command, the Arizona Department of Transportation and CACI International won Best in Class honors at the Nov. 8 Government Innovation Awards dinner. Troy K. Schneider has the details.

Twenty Rising Stars were also recognized at the event. Those early-career winners include:

* Senior Airman Christopher DeForge is a data whiz who is leveraging machine learning and other cutting edge tools to tease out better insights for the Air Force’s 45th Intelligence Squadron.

* Daisy James drove the agile efforts that enabled Customs and Border Protection to reimagine the Global Online Enrollment System -- one of CBP’s most popular public-facing services -- and evolve it into the cloud-based Trusted Traveler Programs.

* The Office of Management and Budget’s Taylor Roberts has had a hand in virtually every major governmentwide cybersecurity initiative over the past year.

* TCG Scrum Master Jeremiah Burch was integral to the reinvention of ITdashboard.gov, working stakeholders from across government to ensure all core user needs were met.

* Sunil Sadasivan is helping the Department of Veterans Affairs slash its backlog of appeals by veterans seeking disability benefits. As the senior engineering lead for Nava Public Benefit Corp., Sadasivan is both modernizing regional VA offices’ caseflow and giving veterans more visibility into how the appeals process works.

All 20 Rising Stars are profiled on FCW.com.

Quick Hits

*** CACI was not the only Industry Innovator honored at the Government Innovation Awards dinner. Washington Technology profiles 25 firms that are developing new technologies to improve government operations.

*** GCN, meanwhile, has the details on all 36 Public Sector Innovation winners.

*** And nominations for the 2019 Federal 100 awards are now being accepted.