GovConJudicata Weekly Debrief (4/13–17)

This week's Weekly Debrief covers several interesting topics, including a CMMC update, possible tech upgrades in next COVID stimulus bill, how the intel community is dealing with COVID-19, and DoD IG finds no interference from White House in JEDI.

COVID-19

• FCW – COVID-19 outbreak may delay audits for DOD's cyber certification

• ​"The coronavirus pandemic could alter the Defense Department's timeline for starting required cybersecurity audits. Katie Arrington, the chief information security officer with the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, said the first audits for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification and pathfinder projects could be delayed up to a month due to the coronavirus pandemic."

• MilitaryTimes –Veterans Affairs patient deaths from coronavirus have increased five-fold since April 1

• ​"The official tally of coronavirus cases in the Veterans Affairs’ health system topped 4,400 on Wednesday, and the death count rose to 272."

• FedScoop – Federal CIOs directed to tag coronavirus announcements for search engines

• ​"The White House has directed federal chief information officers to help prioritize particular information about the coronavirus in internet search results by incorporating new standard tags into all relevant webpages starting Wednesday."

IT Modernization

• NextGov – Groups Urge Congress to Fund Federal Tech Upgrades in Next COVID Stimulus Bill

• ​"The next stimulus package—expected to infuse trillions of dollars into the U.S. economy—must include significant and targeted funding for federal, state and local technology upgrades, according to a group of federal IT-focused advocacy groups."

Defense

• GovExec – Weird Hours, Contractor Concerns: How the Intelligence Community Is Grappling with Coronavirus

• ​"Like any other vital institution, the U.S. intelligence community is grappling with the disruptive effects of the coronavirus — including unconventional working hours and uncertainty among the employee and contractor work forces."

• C4ISRNet – Congressmen demand answers after Pentagon issues GPS warning

• ​"The chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has teamed up with the chairman of the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee to demand answers from the Federal Communications Commission on whether reallocating a band of spectrum will damage the Global Positioning System, or GPS, as the Pentagon claims."

• FedScoop – The White House did not influence JEDI award, inspector general says

• "The Department of Defense personnel who evaluated proposals for the $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract were not pressured by the White House to award the deal to Microsoft, as far as the department’s inspector general can tell."

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