FCW Insider: October 21, 2021
The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.
Congratulations to the 2021 Rising Stars
These early-career leaders already are having an outsized impact on government IT.
White House looks to boost federal employee union participation
The Office of Personnel Management is directed agencies to more regularly give new and longtime feds more information about their union eligibility and guidance about how to join.
A 60-year-old IRS IT system won't finish modernizing until 2030
The Internal Revenue Service's plan to modernize its key source for individual tax data has seen multiple cost and schedule changes since it started in 2009.
FLRA faces backlogs, staffing woes
The agency has been without a general counsel for years, leaving it unable to resolve charges of unfair labor practices, but the Senate is poised to confirm new leadership.
Quick Hits
*** The U.S. Army released its digital transformation strategy Oct. 20, outlining the service's goals for shifting the culture around how the service buys, employs, and handles technology to prepare for multidomain operations in the coming decade. The document outlines three objectives -- modernization, reform, and talent and partnerships -- with 13 lines of effort, which include syncing the Army's IT networks and infrastructure, increasing IT investment accountability via financial analytics, and strengthening partnerships through better data, systems and software interoperability.
Raj Iyer, Army CIO, previewed the strategy last week during a conference, calling for significant IT policy reform, from requirements to budgeting to talent management. In a statement announcing the document's public release, Iyer said the strategy is “about how we can fundamentally change how we operate as an Army through transformative digital technologies, empowering our workforce, and re-engineering our rigid institutional processes to be more agile.
*** Laurie Locascio, the Biden administration's nominee to lead the National Institute of Standards and Technology, had her confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday. Locasio, who had a long career at NIST as a lab director, division chief and acting deputy director, said in questioning that she would prioritize the cybersecurity of the internet of things and efforts to implement the May 2021 executive order on cybersecurity.