Former IRS contractor employees retained access to facilities, systems and equipment

• Contractor employees at the IRS still had access to facilities and systems even after they stopped working for the agency. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) flagged 1,800 contracted employees listed as active but were no longer assigned to an ongoing contract. Only about 13 of them still had active access to IRS networks and 17 didn’t return IRS computers assigned to them.
  (Former contractor employees retained access to IRS facilities, systems, and equipment - Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration)
• Agencies have more time to use an easier way of recruiting professionals in the scientific, technical, engineering and math fields. The Office of Personnel Management has extended a direct hire authority for federal STEM positions through the end of 2028. The special authority lets agencies appoint applicants to career federal positions while forgoing some steps of the government’s hiring process. The STEM direct hire authority will also now include higher-level criminal investigation positions on the General Schedule.
  (STEM direct hire authority extension - Office of Personnel Management)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs has seen hundreds of major problems with its new Electronic Health Record since its launch nearly four years ago. More than half of those major incidents happened after the VA put all future rollouts of its Oracle-Cerner EHR on hold. Major incidents have collectively impacted the new EHR for more than 1,900 hours, or nearly 80 days. Those incidents include incomplete functionality and total outages. Employees and leaders at VA medical facilities said the new EHR is making it harder for them to provide health care to veterans.
  (New VA EHR saw 826 ‘major' incidents since its launch - Federal News Network )
• Demand for the Army’s recently deployed generative AI (GenAI) platform is surging. Earlier this month, the Army deployed generative AI capability to its secure cloud cArmy. Developed by Ask Sage, the platform allows soldiers and civilian employees to apply OpenAI models to existing Army data. The new software is already helping the Army with software development, acquisition, cybersecurity and even aviation safety. Demand for the technology is growing quickly. The Army is now focused on building a strong foundation for GenAI adoption service wide, including having cost containment strategies and clear processes to help soldiers integrate GenAI into their work more strategically.
  (Army's new AI platform to help with contracting and cybersecurity - Federal News Network)

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• Five years after the Office of Management and Budget issued its Cloud Smart policy, agencies still haven't fully implemented all five requirements outlined in the memo. New data from the Government Accountability Office shows agencies continue to struggle with having standardized service level agreements (SLAs) for cloud services and then putting those SLAs in place with vendors. GAO also found 11 of 18 agencies didn't have continuous visibility of high-valued assets stored in the cloud. Among the recommendations auditors made was for the CIO Council to collect and share examples of SLAs and other contract language to ensure cloud asset visibility.
  (Agencies need to address key OMB cloud procurement requirements - Government Accountability Office)
• A top energy regulator is pushing for new requirements to protect U.S. power grids from cyberattacks. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week proposed cyber supply chain standards for bulk power systems. The proposal would direct the North American Electric Reliability Corporation to require grid operators to monitor their cyber supply chain risks. It would also set new network monitoring security requirements for bulk power systems. Comments on FERC’s proposed rules are due before November 19th.
  (FERC acts to improve reliability by closing supply chain cyber risk management gaps - Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)
• The Department of Homeland Security's FirstSource III contract vehicle is facing a new set of delays. Just when DHS thought it was ready to move forward with its small business contract vehicle, it gets pulled back into the protest void. Eleven small businesses filed complaints with the Government Accountability Office over being left out of the initial awards. DHS chose 30 companies on September 10th under the IT value added reseller category. The protests focus on everything from alleged improper evaluations to failure to consider price as part of the best value trade off to making awards to companies not registered in SAM.gov. GAO has until December 30th to decide the protests.
  (DHS FirstSource III protests - Government Accountability Office)
• The Space Force wants to take advantage of commercial satellites that can operate in geostationary orbit. The Space Systems Command’s commercial space office will have a pool of vendors for the effort called “Maneuverable GEO” as soon as next year. The office, led by Col. Richard Kniseley, undertook a similar initiative last year for its Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO) Satellite-Based Services program, selecting 15 vendors to compete for the contract. While there has been a significant focus on Low Earth Orbit satellite development in recent years, Geostationary Orbit satellites still play a crucial role for communications, weather monitoring and military applications.
  (Space Force to focus on maneuverable GEO satellite services - Air & Space Forces Association)
• The Commerce Department is looking to make strategic investments in quantum technologies. Commerce’s new supply chain tools are helping drive the agency’s investments in quantum computing. The agency rolled out its “SCALE” supply chain data program earlier this month. Deputy Secretary Don Graves said the goal is to make sure supply chain choke points don’t hamper U.S. innovation. “We can't be in a place where a country holds us hostage because we don't have access to critical input, critical components for our supply chain,” Graves said. Commerce also announced new export controls for quantum technologies earlier this month.
  (Commerce’s ‘SCALE’ supply chain tool helps bolster quantum investments - Federal News Network)

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