The Fed Mission Success Round Up: Contracting, Cybersecurity, Modernization, and More in Federal Agencies

Weekly News Round Up
Written By Fareeha Khan

Welcome to the Fed Mission Success News Round Up brought to you by Makpar. Each week, we will provide a summary of actionable news and insights to help aid in overall mission success for Federal agency IT decision-makers and influencers.

HBCUS Could Be One Key to Improving Equity in Federal Contracting and Technology

From expanding contracting opportunities for small, disadvantaged businesses to building out a more diverse Federal workforce, Federal agencies are increasingly aiming to partner with minority-serving institutions to ensure their equity goals are effective.

NASA Chief Calls Out The 'Plague' Of Cost-Plus Contracts

The space agency is hoping to increasingly use competitions among top vendors and fixed-price contracts as a new way of conducting business--and cutting steep costs for major projects.

GSA Agrees to Resolve Polaris Small Business Concerns Raised in Pre-Award Protest

The General Services Administration has agreed to resolve a bid protest filed in late March over solicitations issued as part of the $15 billion Polaris procurement.

VA Rolls Out New Website to Streamline Contracting, Innovation

The Department of Veterans Affairs has a new digital one-stop shop for contractors looking to work with the VA. The new Pathfinder site will help vendors that haven’t worked with VA before get certified through SAM.gov. But the site will also pre-filter to show only VA-specific solicitations.

NIST Gives Agencies New Guidance to Prepare for Next Solarwinds-Like Hack

The National Institute of Standards and Technology published updated guidance meant to help agencies and organizations protect against cyberthreats in the supply chain, a major focus of the Biden administration’s cybersecurity executive order last year. The revised publication on cybersecurity supply chain risk management gives acquirers and users of software and other technologies key practices, processes and controls to consider as they look to protect against such threats that can emerge from that tangled web of global suppliers and manufacturers from which companies develop technology products.

White House Sounds Alarm on Threat From Quantum Computers

Hoping to move the world to better encryption before quantum-powered codebreaking tools arrive, the White House ordered Federal agencies to ponder their security protocols and to jumpstart efforts to work with industry on new ones.

How GSA is Remaking USA.gov

The work to reimagine USA.gov as the virtual "federal front door" to all government services is underway at the General Services Administration, with more details forthcoming this summer. GSA is developing a roadmap to make the website into a central gateway to government services, benefits and programs. Getting that done is going to involve re-doing content on the site, creating new tools and looking at how to offer more actual services on the USA.gov, as opposed to directing people from USA.gov to other websites that actually house whatever service someone is looking for, like filing a tax return or getting a passport. 

VA Eyes CX, RPA in HR Modernization Plan

The Department of Veterans Affairs is preparing for next steps in the modernization of its human capital management system, HR Smart, with a focus on integrating emerging technology along the way. 

IRS Looks to Automate How It Processes Paper Tax Returns to Tackle Its Backlog

The IRS, having struggled with a backlog of mail and paper tax returns since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, is calling on industry to help tackle its paper problem. The agency’s Enterprise Digitalization and Case Management Office (EDCMO) is asking vendors how it can digitize more than 100 million pieces of mail it receives every year.

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Fareeha Khan
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