Page 3 - FCW, May 30, 2016
P. 3

Trending 3of the top 50 U.S. computer science
programs require a cybersecurity course for graduation
Senators press OMB for A-130 update
The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee have pressed the Office of Management and Budget on when it will release an update to a key IT management policy for the executive branch.
In a letter to OMB Director Shaun Donovan, Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) emphasized the importance of finishing the update to the policy, known as Circular A-130, in a timely manner.
OMB has indicated it will release the final version of the policy this sum- mer, but the senators want a specific release date and want OMB to brief their staffs on the document’s status within a month.
Circular A-130 is the overarching framework for federal IT policy. It cov- ers a wide range of topics, including acquisition, information governance, investment planning and control, work- force planning, records management, open data, privacy and security.
However, the document has not been updated since October 2000, and calls for revising Circular A-130 date back to at least 2005, the senators said, citing an FCW story.
In March, Carol Bales, a senior policy
analyst at OMB, said the agency was set to release a final draft for inter- agency review, with the public release of a revised document on track for sometime this summer. “We are near- ing the end of the process,” she said at the time.
Bales added that officials had made significant revisions based on the more than 1,200 comments received during a public review period last fall.
Although she said most of the cir-
ogy. The revised document also carves out areas of responsibility for OMB and the Department of Homeland Security in protecting federal networks.
Johnson and Carper wrote that the old Circular A-130 “remains an obsta- cle to the full adoption of [a] modern, automated approach to cybersecurity across government.”
The circular currently requires agen- cies to audit the security controls for major applications at least every three
“The world has changed during the time [A-130] been around, and we just
want to make sure that OMB is
mindful that time is passing.”
cular’s content is “pretty much intact” since the last revision, Bales added that there have been no changes regarding personally identifiable information, and that the document remains “very heavy” on security and privacy.
In addition, proposed changes take into account the centralized budget authorities under the Federal IT Acqui- sition Reform Act, the new emphasis on shorter software development cycles and the push to upgrade legacy technol-
— SEN. TOM CARPER (D-DEL.)
years, the senators said, arguing that the paper-laden process is neither cost- effective nor in line with other federal policies.
“The A-130 has been around for a while, and the world has changed dur- ing the time it’s been around, and we just want to make sure that OMB is mindful that time is passing,” Carper told FCW.
— Sean Lyngaas and Aisha Chowdhry
FCW CALENDAR
6/8-9 Acquisition
ACQUIRE — FCW’s new conference and expo —
offers training sessions on project management, IT acquisition, professional services and more. Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and astronaut Mark Kelly are among the keynote speakers. Washington, D.C. acquireshow.com
6/8-9 Workforce
The Women in STEM Summit will explore effective hiring,
talent development and executive leadership in IT and related fields. Speakers include NASA’s Gale Allen and Google’s Melody Meckfessel. San Francisco. is.gd/FCW_women_stem
6/20-21 Cloud
The AWS Public Sector Summit offers two days of
sessions on acquisition, architecture, DevOps, security and enterprise solutions in the Amazon Web Services ecosystem.
Washington, D.C.
is.gd/FCW_AWS_DC
May 30, 2016 FCW.COM 3
ZAID HAMID


































































































   1   2   3   4   5