When DOD rolled out its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program in 2020, it was designed to secure the Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in systems used by contractors in Defense Industrial Base that support business and warfighting efforts. Initially, an independent accreditation body was to certify a group of third-party assessment organizations. The plan ran into a number of obstacles as industry organizations questioned...

For almost three decades, governments at all levels have been working to improve the way they deliver services and benefits and engage with their customers---both internal and external. Efforts from past administrations focused on modernizing infrastructures and improving digital delivery, as well as gathering feedback from the public on how well the services were delivered. The Biden Administration has made customer experience one of its thre...

Just as technology has been constantly changing and evolving, so has DOD’s strategy for the best way to modernize the tools it provides to the warfighters and their business support services. In 2018, the agency released a strategy to use cloud technology, which has been revised over the intervening years to reflect the cancellation of the JEDI contract and the adoption of DOD’s Software Modernization Strategy. The new strategy set...

Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) and Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management (C-SCRM) are factors that all federal agencies are required to contend with. Security concerns, cyber incidents, hardware and software product integrity and availability continue to be of critical importance. In response to these complex challenges, The White House, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Institute for Standards and...

Government lives on a sea of data. Navigating those waters has always been a challenge, a challenge that is getting more demanding by the day as the volume of data generated by agencies deepens and widens. The federal government’s Federal Data Strategy released two years ago was aimed at assisting agencies’ big data journey over the next 10 years. The last two years have forced agencies to adapt to growing data needs quickly and ef...

With more cloud-based services and solutions built to support agencies with their missions, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) assures that these offerings match the government’s rigorous security and compliance requirements. In the 4th annual GovForward™ event, FedRAMP leaders, government executives, and industry experts will convene to discuss Capitol marketplace priorities, FedRAMP’s outlook fo...

With cyberattacks on the increase at all levels of government, The White House issued a new executive order at the end of January that requires agencies to have a zero trust architecture in place by the end of FY 2024. The Office of Management and Budget followed with a memorandum (M-22-09) that laid out the requirements agencies must meet and the deadlines for completing the tasks outlined in the document. OMB identified five areas of focus--...

Data has been critical to managing the pandemic—from federal, state and city health departments to hospitals and universities maintaining dashboards on case counts and agencies across the country evaluating policy decisions. But data’s vital role in government at all levels and in education extends beyond tracking infections and case counts. Data drives improved decision making for agencies improving citizen services, managing tran...

The nation’s defense systems and capabilities are challenged as never before-- on the ground, in the air, on the seas, in cyberspace and real space. The military must rise to those challenges on all those fronts to ensure the nation is secure. Information technology remains warfighters’ and defenders’ powerful primary tool for their jobs. From cloud computing, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, to machine learning and...

Most people in government would confirm that cybersecurity is their #1 priority right now. A hybrid work environment with its enlarged attack surface and a continuing escalation in the number and sophistication of attacks put the systems and the data that resides on them at an uncomfortable level of risk. The administration is providing new policy guidance with an executive order on cybersecurity that emphasizes Zero Trust architecture, new gu...