More mature 10x program selects 22 new projects

The General Services Administration’s 10x technology investment program will fund 22 Phase 1 projects based on new priorities set last year, the agency announced Tuesday.

Housed within the Technology Transformation Services, 10x selected the projects from a pool of 250 internal submissions to fit three themes: rebuilding public trust, environmental protection and promoting equity.

The announcement comes as 10x nears completion of two Phase 4, public-facing technologies.

“We’re moving from shipping prototypes to shipping live products,” Will Cahoe, project coordinator for 10x, told FedScoop. “And I think this is a testament to how we’ve matured as a program over the last couple of years.”

The 10x program was developed to “crowdsource ideas from federal employees and turn them into real products that improve the public’s experience with the federal government.”

Phase 1 in the 10x process is the “investigation” phase and consists of a two-week sprint in which project teams determine if their ideas are worthwhile by considering legal and regulatory hurdles, consulting experts in the space, and ensuring similar government projects aren’t already ongoing.

A public trust project being evaluated currently would aggregate all agency Freedom of Information Act responses in one place.

Environmental projects address climate change, national parks and conservation issues, with one currently looking to ameliorate sewage spills into public water resources. That project also crosses into the equity space because it would identify underserved communities that are affected.

The equity theme aligns with the Biden administration’s priority of racial equity in the president’s American Rescue Plan and asks who’s left behind by government services. Translation products, as well as those supporting everyone from rural and tribal populations to former inmates, fall in this category.

Phase 2 is a six- to eight-week “discovery” phase, where project teams decide if there’s a solution to the problem identified in Phase 1. Some remain undecided, but 10x has nine definite Phase 2 projects — one of which is a COVID-19-inspired effort to provide contact tracing for GSA buildings in the event of another public health crisis.

In Phase 3 “development” begins with engineers being tasked to build a minimum viable product, potential partner agencies being identified and an end goal of solving one problem for one active customer. 10x has four Phase 3 projects, the latest of which kicked off Monday.

The Combating Bias in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Implementation project is ahead of schedule in that the product is already live. A suite of digital tools helps data and program professionals identify different types of bias — possibly racial or gender-based — within datasets that will ultimately power AI pipelines.

10x is collaborating with the Census Bureau on the project.

“My understanding is that the Census Bureau is going to be on the forefront of using this new technology because they’re really a data agency,” Cahoe said. “They have so much data, and a lot of the census open data is what’s going to be used to power these kinds of AI implementations across government.”

Phase 4 attempts to “scale” solutions to as many users as possible and identify alternative funding to keep products sustainable when the 10x seed money dries up.

Of 10x’s two Phase 4 projects, Site Scanner is just ending.

There are a lot of mandates for .gov websites, and the Site Scanner platform delivers customizable scans keeping agency web managers abreast of accessibility, uptime and downtime, related security certificates used, and required data files listed. The product is live, additional scans continue to be added and TTS will manage the platform within its Digital Analytics Program portfolio.

The other Phase 4 project is DevOps for Privacy Offices, which created a live dashboard empowering such offices to respond to security issues with people’s personally identifiable information (PII). The dashboard, which resides within TTS’s Identity Management portfolio, could eventually help implement the Creating Advanced Streamlined Electronic Services for Constituents (CASES) Act and allow people to see what agency systems hold what PII of theirs.

10x’s phased approach to innovation investment mitigates risk by increasing the funding and time devoted to projects as they advance, which only a third do from phase to phase.

“We do not view closing down projects as failures,” Cahoe said. “We view it as a success because one of the great value propositions of 10x is that we can save money and prevent duplication.”

The funding for 10x comes out of the Federal Citizen Services Fund (FCSF), just like other programs within the TTS Solutions office: the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, USA.gov, U.S. Web Design System, and Data.gov. While the FCSF received $150 million in the American Rescue Plan Act, 10x won’t see a funding increase because it’s funded specifically out of a smaller pot called the Digital Services Fund.

That dollar cap means 10x is at its hiring limit currently, but it did launch a new website Tuesday detailing its work. And the program could always receive more funding during the budget process, as consistent as that funding has been throughout 10x’s life.

“Are we going to be getting a bump next year? I couldn’t tell you,” said Nico Papafil, 10x director. “I hope we do.”

Frank Kendall picked as Air Force secretary

Frank Kendall — the last head of defense acquisition in the Obama administration before the position was reformed — is President Biden’s pick to be secretary of the Air Force.

The White House announced Biden’s intent to nominate Kendall to the role Tuesday.

During his most recent tenure in government, Kendall served as undersecretary of defense for acquisitions, technology and logistics between 2011 and 2017. In an earlier stint at the Department of Defense, he was deputy director of defense research and engineering, before leaving to serve as Raytheon’s vice president of engineering.

Kendall, an Army veteran who is a lawyer and engineer by training, has been an outspoken critic of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), the DOD’s new requirements for contractors to verify their cybersecurity compliance with third-party assessments. Kendall could have some sway in how one of the most tech-savvy military services implements the program.

“If they keep charging on ahead, it will blow up,” Kendall told FedScoop about the program last summer.

Kendall will not be the only senior Air Force civilian leader critical of CMMC. CIO Lauren Knausenberger has expressed skepticism over the program’s efficacy and potential to scare off startups and emerging technology companies from working with the department.

“I have mixed feelings on it personally,” she said in April. “I think if we lock it down so that we are not going to do business with certain people because they don’t meet [CMMC], I think that limits our options.”

Kendall will also oversee the Air Force’s many major emerging technology programs in its broad technology portfolio. One of the highest tech priorities for the service, the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), will rely on attracting artificial intelligence companies to support the program that aims to create an Internet of Things-like concept for war.

As secretary over the greater Department of the Air Force, Kendall will also be the top civilian in charge of the new Space Force. The newest branch of the military has been focused on advanced technology and securing satellite communications, efforts that will likely draw on Kendall’s engineering background for oversight.

Key Democrats on the hill have already voiced support for Kendall. House Armed Services Chairman Rep. Adam Smith of Washington quickly applauded the president’s decision to nominate Kendall.

“Frank Kendall is exactly the kind of public servant we need at the helm of the Air Force at a time when the service is navigating so many unique challenges, including effective acquisition to meet our nation’s future threats,” Smith said in a statement.

Kendall now faces Senate confirmation.

DOD expands rollout of new EHR

The Military Health System expanded access to the Department of Defense’s new electronic health record system, adding facilities in 12 new states and bringing 10,000 clinicians on to the system, the contractors leading the system’s rollout announced Tuesday.

This most recent launch wave of MHS GENESIS, as it’s referred to, brought the system online at facilities in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, the Leidos Partnership for Defense Health announced Tuesday.

“The staff at these locations worked tirelessly to adopt a new electronic health record system, while continuing to battle a global pandemic,” said Holly Joers, acting director of the Program Executive Office Defense Healthcare Management Systems (PEO DHMS), said in a release. “We applaud their focus on the mission and partnership in this important transformation.”

The pandemic caused initial delays for the system’s expansion but MHS was able to get back on track for its scheduled rollout, Joers previously said. The program is now live in more than 600 military treatment facilities with more than 41,000 active users, according to Leidos.

“We are gaining momentum and improved efficiency with each Wave deployment,” said Liz Porter, Leidos Health Group president. “Our team continues to be impressed by the hard work and dedication demonstrated by the staff at each of these locations. They are the driving force behind our success to date.”

MHS GENESIS is part of a massive multi-billion-dollar program to ensure that the DOD’s and Department of Veterans Affairs’ EHRs are compatible and interoperable. They’re both being developed on the same Cerner Millennium-built cloud system.

The VA, however, has faced a much bumpier rollout of its modernized EHR, bringing it online at just one medical center so far. Since then, the department has paused the program while new leadership reviews its progress as facilities have struggled to train new users on the system and overcome technical challenges that have resulted in delays in pharmacy deliveries and medical care.

More than two-thirds of federal employees teleworked during pandemic’s peak

New data from the Office of Personnel Management’s annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey confirmed what we all have heard anecdotally: Federal agencies pivoted quickly to support a massive surge in teleworking employees during the peak of the pandemic.

At the pandemic’s peak, 74% of federal workers teleworked at least part of the week, with 59% of respondents saying they did so every day and 10% saying they did three or four days per week. Prior to the pandemic, just 3% of federal workers teleworked on a daily basis, per the data of the 2020 FEVS report, released Monday.

For those who didn’t telework during this time, 16% claimed it was because their job required them to be physically present, like law enforcement officers and other federal security agents.

“The federal workforce is made up of dedicated and hardworking individuals who are motivated by the opportunity to make a positive impact through their public service,” OPM Acting Director Kathleen McGettigan said in a statement. “Despite the unprecedented workplace challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, federal workers adapted quickly to their new realities, continuing to work on behalf of the American people, taking on additional and sometimes new work to ensure critical services have been available to the public.

While the pandemic surely presented the possibility of disruptions, federal employees stayed positive and engaged, with 87% believing they produced high-quality work during the past year. And overall, engagement across the government was up from 68% in 2019 to 72% last year.

“The 2020 survey shows that federal employees were remarkably resilient during a historically difficult year,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service. “It is important for federal leaders to understand the effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the workforce and the opportunities it presents, to listen to employee concerns and reimagine the future of work in the federal government.”

While the topline trends on federal telework appeared mostly good, it wasn’t without challenges. While 72% of employees said they needed and received expanded tech collaboration tools to perform their jobs, 15% said they needed expanded IT support and didn’t get it, and 14% said they didn’t get the training they needed for remote work applications and tools.

The report’s authors conclude that the data can be used to inform future discussions about the planning of the federal workforce, especially now that “changes in management practices and policies in responses to the pandemic have driven widespread speculation about how workplaces might look and function post-pandemic.”

“Sweeping changes to agency designs, for example, have meant a substantial portion of Federal employees have worked in technology-mediated contexts, completely remote from traditional worksites,” the report says. “Such changes have profound implications for management of the workforce, with typical questions centering on performance management. Next steps should include review of OPM FEVS results by decision-makers at all levels to identify how workplace innovations can be retained to foster and support an agile workforce capable of performing despite any external disruptions.

Former federal CIO applauds additional TMF funding

Former Federal Chief Information Officer Suzette Kent is overjoyed by — and a bit envious of — the recent $1 billion injected into the Technology Modernization Fund under the American Rescue Plan Act.

The money will help agencies quickly implement IT solutions addressing challenges that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kent said. Agencies will be looking to manage risk, leverage data and apply modern technologies at both the component and enterprise levels based on lessons learned, she told FedScoop, ahead of her speech at OnSolve Nexus 2021.

A champion of funding the TMF, Kent never saw the amount of money available now for cybersecurity, employee management and shared services projects in her time as federal CIO from February 2018 to July 2020.

“In a way I’m jealous; I am thrilled that it is funded because the mechanism works and agencies need to drive change,” Kent said. “As the TMF Board looks at the projects that agencies bring to them, those projects are supposed to be about pandemic response, use of new and emerging technologies, improved use of data, and leapfrogging for modernization.”

Congress approved the $1 billion TMF appropriation in the American Rescue Plan Act passed in March and not just for IT modernization projects. Cyber projects will likely feature prominently as well.

The exponential increase in remote work during the pandemic has also increased agencies’ cyberattack surfaces exponentially and driven a move to zero-trust security architectures to shore up their environments.

That’s in addition to “back-to-back-to-back supply chain disruptions” and an active hurricane season that left agencies looking to use data and artificial intelligence capabilities to address such challenges, Kent said.

The Biden administration would be wise to fund solutions addressing technology and behavioral changes due to the pandemic and subsequent rise in remote work, Kent said.

Agencies are “generally as effective” having shifted to remote work, Kent said. But they may push for a return to the office, or else supplement remote work with technology solutions like design platforms, in instances where it still posed challenges.

“The training for certain employees and how they’re supervised and managed isn’t structured enough that it works really well in a distributed environment,” Kent said. “So maybe there are types of roles that have more of an apprenticeship model or you need hands-on training — access to certain kinds of facilities that just don’t don’t fit well in a simulation.”

The Army’s first software factory fully up and running

The Army took another step toward getting more code-savvy soldiers in its ranks by embedding its first cohort of developers at its software factory located at the Austin Community College.

The factory will help produce both new applications for Army usage and train soldier-coders to find ways to enhance operations through technology. The software factory’s office space opened in mid-April and is located near the headquarters of Army Futures Command, which houses the factory.

Before the physical location opened, the first cohort started work remotely in December.

The Army recently issued an other transaction agreement contract to VMware to help set up the office, according to a service spokesperson. The factory is intended to eventually be self-sustaining without the need for contractor support.

“This is the first time that we have a soldier-led [software] factory,” said Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Now some of the services, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, have little software factories and little incubators, but none have been organized, led and driven primarily by troops, by soldiers.” Milley was referring to other military services’ similar factories and software acquisition-focused units, like the Air Force’s Kessel Run.

Milley was joined by Gen. John Murray, commander of Army Futures Command, and other leaders in Austin for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new office space.

“It has everything to do with modernization, seeing the future and being able to prevent a great power war,” Milley said of both the factory and the broader push across the Army to use tech more. “It’s to prevent great power war. It’s to maintain great power peace. It’s to maintain cutting-edge and overmatch against any potential adversary.”

Leaders across the Army have said they want the service to transform from the “Industrial Age” to the “information age” and using software is a key part of that. Similarly, under another modernization mission, Project Convergence, the Army has relied on getting code-savvy soldiers in the field to connect weapons systems to increase their targeting speed.

Navy conducting major exercise in Pacific with unmanned systems

The Navy is conducting a major exercise in the Pacific that integrates unmanned and crewed systems, using artificial intelligence to pilot vehicles above, at and below sea level.

The Pacific is conducting the Fleet Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem 21 (IBP21) exercise in San Diego. It is the first of its kind and comes after some initial cross-ocean, autonomous vessel testing, but not in concert with crewed ships like in IBP21.

The Navy is touting the exercise as a major step toward proving new “unmatched” capabilities and marking a transition to a hybrid force structure.

“We are not yet where we want to be,” said Rear Adm. Lorin Selby, chief of naval research. “But we are getting closer. As our potential adversaries go all-in on unmanned platforms, we must and will maintain a dominant force that can meet and defeat any challenge.”

The Navy has some support in Congress for its transition to a networked force of crewed and unmanned systems, but some remain skeptical. The department released its unmanned “Campaign Framework” in March to mixed reviews, with retired naval officer Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., saying it lacked needed detail.

“I am not alone as a member of Congress who really doesn’t understand where the Navy is going with this,” she said in a March hearing.

The Navy has pushed forward despite the initial criticism, adding that it will continue to test and develop the technology and strategies behind using more unmanned systems in the fleet.

“Our goal is to operationally integrate and continuously improve the types of intelligent and autonomous technologies that Pacific Fleet is testing right now,” said Jason Stack, Office of Naval Research’s technical director and autonomy lead. “We will do this ethically and responsibly by always ensuring our Sailors and Marines can exercise the appropriate levels of human judgement over our machines. This will be our enduring competitive advantage.”

The Navy said the test event includes medium displacement unmanned surface vehicles (MDUSV) and long-endurance unmanned aeural systems (UAS). The platforms can be used for surveillance, anti-submarine warfare and other missions, according to the Navy.

One of the MDUSV’s used is the “Sea Hunter,” which made a self-piloted journey from San Diego to Hawaii and back in 2019. Other systems, including aerial ones, will be included in the network of systems, the Navy said.

All of the military’s testing of autonomous systems is rooted in its new operational construct, Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2). It’s a way of approaching warfare where instead of siloed commands with decisions being made at individual service levels, the forces of the military are combined through an Internet of Things capability. Leaders hope the technology will allow communications and the command and control of forces to integrate and use real-time data.

CDM program manager Kevin Cox to depart

Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Program Manager Kevin Cox is leaving to become deputy chief information officer at the Department of Justice.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which houses the CDM program, doesn’t have an announcement on Cox’s final day or replacement yet, according to a spokesperson.

Cox has been instrumental in steering the CDM program, as it helps civilian agencies adopt tools feeding cybersecurity risk data to agency and federal dashboards for maximum visibility across the enterprise.

“Kevin has done a tremendous job advancing the CDM program over the last four years,” said Eric Goldstein, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA. “We are thankful for his service to CISA and continued service to the federal government.”

The move to DOJ is a return for Cox, who previously served as the department’s deputy chief information security officer.

MeriTalk first reported Cox’s pending departure from CISA.

Senators urge ‘flexibility’ administering Technology Modernization Fund

A group of Democratic senators is the latest to urge the administrators of the Technology Modernization Fund to increase staffing levels, adjust project selection criteria and reconsider repayment terms for agencies.

In a letter sent to the Office of Management and Budget, General Services Administration, and TMF Board, the lawmakers encourage the organizations to use the “flexibility” of the Modernizing Government Technology Act to quickly replace outdated systems and improve cybersecurity.

Congress appropriated $1 billion to the TMF in the American Rescue Plan Act passed in March, but the tech industry soon raised concerns the project approval process would need to be streamlined to meet the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is widely acknowledged that our federal government needs to make significant and urgent investments in replacing outdated and insecure legacy IT systems,” reads the letter, sent by Sens. Mark Warner, Va., Chris Van Hollen, Md., and Gary Peters, Mich. “Over the past year of the pandemic however, in which we’ve seen more than 565,000 deaths in the U.S. and devastating degrees of economic hardship, added demands have at times overwhelmed our government’s ability to continue providing effective customer service and critical benefits to Americans.”

The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee reported IT infrastructure is a “top challenge” in February, given the government’s increased reliance on telework and the subsequent broadening of agencies’ cyberattack surfaces. Services like the processing of pandemic relief applications have suffered as a result.

TMF Board cyber, financial management and acquisition experts can “rapidly” evaluate TMF project proposals by bolstering their ranks and prioritizing the most critical, cost-saving ones, according to the letter.

The reimbursement requirement of agencies may also need to be reduced or discarded in the short term.

“We encourage you to take steps to ensure that agencies are able to rapidly and effectively respond to pressing needs, including by significantly adjusting or removing reimbursement requirements for portions of the funding,” reads the letter. “We continue to believe that repayment of funds to the TMF helps ensure its long-term viability, but the magnitude of the current challenges presents an urgent need.”

The lawmakers stressed the need for “clear and transparent guidance” from OMB, GSA and the TMF Board on selection criteria and repayment for the benefit of agencies and Congress.

The TMF Board has awarded more than $125 million to 11 modernization projects to date addressing program operability and cybersecurity.

DOD zero-trust strategy coming this year, CIO says

The Department of Defense plans to release a zero-trust architecture strategy 2021, acting CIO John Sherman announced Thursday, adding to a growing list of new zero-trust-related documents to come this year from the DOD.

While few details were shared about the nature of the strategy, Sherman stressed that reaching a zero-trust framework to improve the cybersecurity of DOD networks is pivotal. A strategy could set in motion changes to how the department establishes its security posture by organizing networks around the zero-trust principles of segmenting a network and limiting users’ access to only the data they need.

“I think we are at one of these inflection points here,” Sherman said during the Billington  CyberSecurity Defense Summit. “Our current approaches are not going to take us into the future here.”

Zero trust is a security architecture that treats every user like an outsider — giving them literally zero trust and limiting their access to roam about a network to minimize damage from an inevitable breach of a system’s perimeter. DOD officials have also teased a reference architecture guide being produced by the Defense Information Systems Agency and the National Security Agency.

The recent SolarWinds breach, where Russian hackers infiltrated networks through the software supply chain, has given government IT officials new motivation to shift to a zero-trust framework. It’s unclear if zero trust would have stopped the Russians’ hack of several government networks and thousands of private companies, but within a zero-trust model, they would not be able to move laterally to access data or be able to hide for long (or so security specialists hope).

While DOD already has some “defense in depth” measures in place, Sherman was emphatic that fully implementing the technical, cultural and strategic changes are security imperatives.

“We have robust security…we have a lot of the pieces here,” he said.

Sherman added that by the time DOD fully implements zero trust, it may already have a new moniker. But it’s the guiding principles of segmenting a network and limiting movement internally that are critical. The strategy, which should be finalized this year, is likely to address technical and practical issues involved in zero trust based on how much Sherman emphasized the change in user and administrator culture for zero trust to work.

“This is not about technology, it’s about strategy,” he said.