One of the missions of government offices of inspector general (OIG) is to detect and root out fraud. The type of misuse of government funds can range from disaster recovery, procurement, labor racketeering, unemployment insurance, and tax fraud, to name a few. The pandemic has raised the bar on fraud prevention, and this discussion will feature a team of experts from two agencies who have played pivotal roles during this period of social dist...

Theodore Roosevelt said, “No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” This adage was true over 100 years ago and it still just as true today. In the public sector, the definition of “customer” includes all individuals, businesses, and organizations that interact with agencies, including their employees. By focusing on these stakeholders and optimizing these interactions, agencies gain public trus...

The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) is a unified cybersecurity standard designed to reduce the theft of Controlled Unclassified Information from companies in the defense industrial base. But the impact doesn’t stop there. Major contracting shops such as the General Services Administration are adopting the maturity model for contracts outside of DoD. With 171 controls spread across 17 categories, the CMMC is the most st...

Across the nation, women in government technology are raising their voices to build a government fueled by a diversity of perspectives. Over the last 20 years, more women are not only sitting at the table, but are also thriving as change agents in the drive to bring technology modernization and innovation to support their agency’s mission. This panel will discuss the path to successfully leading in challenging times. The discussion will...

New and potentially ‘game-changing’ technologies such as advanced robotics, autonomous transport devices, blockchain, virtual and augmented reality, and wearable devices, will inevitably change the way government works. These transformative technological innovations are reshaping and disrupting the way government agencies deliver the mission and how the military forces preserve our homeland. Join AFFIRM on Wednesday, December 16 at...

The last few months have seen the devastating results of hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and wildfires that have impacted the technology that underpins government, educational institutions, and citizens. To be effective, rescue organizations must rely on communications and data, and when lives or livelihoods are threatened, the stakes are high; vital government data and information must be robust with an ironclad disaster recovery plan and the l...

The Office of Management and Budget recently released interim regulations outlining the pathway agencies can pursue to bar companies from Federal contracting when they constitute a supply chain security risk. Connections to adversarial foreign governments represent an unacceptable risk of espionage through back doors placed in their products or by the companies routing data to home countries where foreign laws may make it easier to access them...

Federal agencies are facing ever more sophisticated adversaries and threats that place our privacy, our economy, and our Nation at risk.These cyber threats are diverse and include the prevalence of malicious actors who operate globally at will; the growth of risks from the Internet of Things, and increasingly complex networks, all elevating the security and resilience of cyberspace to a critical homeland security imperative. Exacerbating these...

According to the Office of Personnel Management’s 2019 Status of Telework in the Federal Government Report to Congress, workforce participation in telework hovered at 22%, mostly on an off again, on again basis for the last few years. Few if any employees were engaging in full time telework, until the pandemic. The tide is turning for a gradual return to the office, and agency leaders are assessing how telework has enhanced employee pro...

How many times have we heard that we are living through unprecedented times? COVID-19 has put unique and extraordinary challenges on government -- and on government workers. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could tap Abraham Lincoln's leadership lessons from the Civil War? Legendary abolitionist Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery to become a national leader of the abolitionist movement. How did he come to be a transformational leader? The AFF...