People

Senate Dems could block bills as feds are impacted by shutdown

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and a group of federal employees detailed the impact of the shutdown, calling for the Senate to pass funding bills and protections for federal employees.

Digital Government

How the shutdown affects open data

Developers rely on government data to build public-facing apps and services, and a lapse in appropriations can make things complicated.

Acquisition

House funding bill zeroes out IT modernization fund

The funding bill introduced by House Democrats to end the shutdown zeroes out a popular program among the federal IT community.

People

Shutdown 'perfectly timed to prevent people from joining government'

The federal workforce takes the brunt of the shutdown impact, but there's another group who may be dissuaded from joining government altogether: young prospective employees and students.

Acquisition

What's in store for rank-and-file feds and managers in 2019?

A change in the political control of the House of Representatives could mean more leverage for federal unions and a focus on workforce policies that both sides of the aisle can support.

Digital Government

Senate passes plan to invest $1.2 billion in quantum research

The Senate has cleared the way for the president to approve implementation of a 10-year plan to accelerate quantum computing research and development.

Modernization

Lawmakers irked by lagging CIO authorities

While applauding the best-ever progress made on the FITARA scorecard, oversight lawmakers are frustrated with slow progress in some aspects of IT modernization.

People

Agencies take a beating in 2018 Best Places to Work report

The federal government generally looks like a less enjoyable place to work than it did a year ago, and a dearth of effective leadership gets most of the blame.

Cybersecurity

OMB expands definition of high-value assets

The Office of Management and Budget is making sure all agencies develop plans to protect their most sensitive, most valuable cybersecurity assets, and designate an agency-level office or team to secure them.

Cybersecurity

Senate clears DHS info-sharing bill

The Senate cleared a bill to boost information sharing and data access at the Department of Homeland Security, sending it one step closer to the president's desk.

People

Top Oversight Dem urges OSC to rescind 'resistance' memo

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wants the Office of Special Counsel to rescind a memorandum cautioning feds against "resistance" and impeachment talk in the workplace.

Digital Government

Will Democrats revive the Office of Technology Assessment in 2019?

House Democrats have been backing a revival of the congressional tech consultancy in recent years. Now that they control the House, can the OTA make a comeback?

Acquisition

Census adds test on controversial citizenship question

Amid lawsuits and legal uncertainty, the Census Bureau announced plans to conduct a last-minute field test to measure the potential impact of the citizenship question on response rates and accuracy.

People

Public interest in records schedules booms

The National Archives and Records Administration is seeing a spike in comments on routine records dispensation notices.

People

OSC warns against anti-Trump 'resistance' chatter

A memo from a civil service protection office warns feds about possible Hatch Act violations arising from impeachment chatter or mentions of "resistance" while on the job.

Cybersecurity

OMB looks to retrain feds to fill cyber needs

The federal government is taking steps to fill high-demand, skills-gap positions in tech by retraining employees already working within agencies without a cyber or IT background.

Acquisition

OPM extends credit monitoring, expects new contract by year's end

The Office of Personnel Management says it expects to wrap up the re-compete award for its credit monitoring contract covering those whose data was breached as part of the OPM hacks.

People

MSPB to close 2018 without a quorum

After going nearly all of 2017 without a quorum, the Merit Systems Protection Board will likely not be able to address its growing backlog of nearly 1,600 cases in 2018.

Cybersecurity

Details still elusive on possible federal data privacy standard

As momentum for federal data privacy legislation continue to build, senators on both sides of the aisle are looking to the Federal Trade Commission as the enforcement entity for data protection.

People

Unions sue VA over move to curtail official time

Three federal unions are suing Department of Veterans Affairs for its plan to alter its collective bargaining deal to move more than 400 employees off of union work.