Page 8 - FCW, May 30, 2016

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Vendors object to Halvorsen’s Windows
10 support
A group of software vendors has written to Defense Secretary Ash Carter to pro- test what it says is Defense Department CIO Terry Halvorsen’s unprecedented recommendation that DOD personnel adopt Microsoft Windows 10 for per- sonal use.
Halvorsen’s “recommendation cannot be fairly characterized as anything other than a commercial endorsement,” wrote Ken Wasch, president of the Software and Information Industry Association.
Halvorsen has been bullish about Windows 10’s virtues but said he does not formally endorse the product.
“If you’re using a computer at home and you’re not on Windows 10, you’re doing yourself an injustice,” Halvorsen said in a call with reporters that SIIA cited in its letter. “So you ought to be moving to Windows 10.”
SIIA’s letter to Carter asks Halvor- sen to publicly correct his remarks and claims that his comments “have already caused competitive harm.”
“Mr. Halvorsen was talking about Windows for those who are current users,” a Pentagon spokesperson told FCW.
Defense officials have set a depart- mentwide goal of having all DOD IT systems upgraded to Windows 10 by Jan. 17, 2017. Officials say the move will bolster security and cut costs.
Microsoft has touted the Penta- gon’s deployment of Windows 10 as an “unprecedented move for a cus- tomer with the size and complexity of the DOD.”
Among the many companies that are members of SIAA is 1105 Media, which owns FCW. Other members include Apple, CenturyLink and Cisco Systems.
1,457 electronic surveillance requests were approved by the U.S. Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court last year
GSA unifies tech groups into ‘third service’
8 May 30, 2016 FCW.COM
— Sean Lyngaas
Three technology groups at the Gen- eral Services Administration have been combined to offer agencies a one-stop shop for building and buying IT.
The reorganization joined the 18F innovation shop with the Office of Citi- zen Services and Innovative Technolo- gies (OCSIT) and the Presidential Inno- vation Fellows program to create the Technology Transformation Service. The new entity is in the mold of the Federal Acquisition Service and the Public Buildings Service — two orga- nizational pillars at GSA.
“This new service will provide both the foundation for our government’s digital transformation and also part- ner with other agencies to assist them in their own attempts to transform,” GSA Administrator Denise Turner Roth said in a May 3 blog post announcing the reorganization. The changes took effect that day.
Federal CIO Tony Scott said the new organization would “strengthen the way federal agencies develop, buy
and share cutting-edge solutions.” GSA plans for the Technology Trans- formation Service to focus on emerg- ing technology. The Federal Acquisition Service retains its leading role in IT acquisition, especially where commod- ity IT products and services are con- cerned, and the Office of Government- wide Policy continues to drive policy across agencies. Internally, GSA’s IT shop and CIO will continue to run IT operations and strategy. The CIO’s office will serve as a “test bed for many emerging technologies,” a GSA press
release states.
The Federal Risk and Authoriza-
tion Management Program also falls under the Technology Transformation Service.
Phaedra Chrousos shifted from her role as associate administrator of OCSIT and 18F to become commission- er of the new service, while 18F Execu- tive Director Aaron Snow stepped into the deputy commissioner role.
— Adam Mazmanian
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