The Fed Mission Success Round Up: IT Modernization, New Federal Contracts and Cybersecurity Roles, Gender and Racial Equity in Federal Policies

Monday May 24, 2021

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.

Senate Democrats Introduce Bill to Help State and Cities Modernize IT Systems

The State and Local Digital Service Act of 2021 would authorize $120 million annually for up to seven years for state and local digital service grants and tech-planning grants of between $200,000 to $3 million per year from the General Services Administration.

Centers of Excellence (COE) Help DHS Combat Bio Threats, Domestic Terrorism

Monitoring social media activity is nothing new for the Department of Homeland Security. However, the COE can help find more efficient ways to comb through the mountains of data generated by tweets, posts, images and videos, etc.

Latest Small Business Tech Grants Include Airborne AI, VR Training

Recent Department of the Air Force Small Business Innovation Research contracts include technology research and development projects ranging from artificial intelligence to edge computing to augmented reality.

Defense IT Agency Awards $217M Cyber Contract to ASRC Federal

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has awarded a $217 million cyber support contract to ASRC Federal. Under details of the contract, ASRC’s communications division will provide cyber, cloud and other IT services to the agency over the next five years.

CISA Official Promotes an Emerging Cybersecurity Role in Wake of New Executive Order

Recent attacks highlighting the foundational role of software in critical services—a dynamic encapsulated by the term “infrastructure is code”—are boosting calls for a new cybersecurity workforce component: a chief product security officer.

Here Are the Pioneering Women who Will Be on New Quarters

Beginning in 2022, women’s faces will appear on quarters for the first time, and the public will help choose who will be minted.

The Biden-Harris Administration Wants to Address Racial Equity – Focusing on Customer Experience Can Help

Too often, we see well-intended government efforts fall short of their purpose because solution architects overlook key customer characteristics. Most importantly, these failures disproportionately impact racial minorities and other underrepresented communities.

From the Makpar Blog …

In case you missed it, here are our latest blog posts:

• Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with Asian Immigrant Contributions to Tech

• Tips for Remote Agile Scrum Ceremonies: How to Optimize for Success

• Agile Transformation

• Increasing Federal IT Efficiency: How to Streamline the ATO Process Leveraging DevSecOps

• Tackling the Challenges of Big Data for Federal Agencies

• How Agencies Can Score Quick Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) Victories

• PODCAST: How the Federal Government can Overcome Barriers to Agile Transformation

• CIO-SP4 BPA, BIC MAC, and POLARIS Contracts to Drive Further Government Innovation

• Makpar Applauds Appointment of First Native American U.S. Cabinet Member

• The Cybersecurity Framework That Keeps You and Your Family Safe as You Access Your IRS Records for Stimulus Checks

• Data Security Win: Virginia is Second State in U.S. to Pass Data Protection Legislation

• How Decentralized Decision Making Can Help Federal Agencies Adopt a More Agile Practice

• 4 Ways to Migrate a Workload to the Cloud for Federal Government Agencies

• PODCAST: The SolarWinds Breach Points to Need for Cyber Fundamentals

• In Response to The SolarWinds Breach: The Need to Return to Cybersecurity Fundamentals.

• Is the Product Owner the Most Important Role in Government Agile Development?

• Cloud Migration Primer for Federal Agencies

• Breaking Down Cultural Barriers to Cloud Adoption for Federal Government Agencies

• Cybersecurity Best Practices for Federal Agencies, Small/Medium Businesses, and Individuals

Makpar has over a decade of experience providing high-level strategic and project management services, focused on cybersecurity and cutting-edge technologies. Please contact us here for more information about how we can enhance mission success for your agency.