Page 8 - Federal Computer Week, January/February 2019

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loans. Other vendors — all longtime incumbents in the student loan-process- ing business — joined in the lawsuit.
On Jan. 15, FSA cancelled and replaced the disputed solicitation and, in a filing the next day, asked the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to dismiss the lawsuit.
The procurement “is a complete mess,” said Colleen Campbell, associ- ate director for postsecondary educa- tion at the Center for American Prog- ress. But she added that a new system is needed because users are not getting a complete picture of their options, and on the back end, servicers do not have enough transparency into loans to cre- ate accurate risk models. Furthermore, data systems are clunky and do not play well with each other.
“People don’t realize just how bad it is,” she said.
An Education Department spokes- person told FCW that changes were made to the objectives for several components after the first phase of the solicitation and that the agency “still expects to implement major improve- ments associated with Next-Gen FSA by mid-2019.”
The replacement procurement con- sists of three solicitations:
• An enhanced processing solution that seeks to modernize the experience for existing customers and provide a common platform for various legacy systems.
• A business process operations con- tract for the personnel and systems to support loan processing from applica- tion through repayment or default.
• An optimal solution platform designed to be an agile, cloud-based system of the future.
FSA plans to issue awards to multiple vendors on each solicitation, with peri- ods of performance as long as 15 years.
— Adam Mazmanian
10PB
of audio and video — some 2 million files — are stored in the Library of Congress’ National Audio-Visual Conservation Center
Senators reintroduce bill to share cyber talent
Four senators have reintroduced legislation that would make it easier for cyber specialists in the federal government to lend their expertise to other agencies.
The Federal Rotational Cyber Workforce Act was originally introduced in September 2018 by Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and referred to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where it was reported on favorably. Peters is now the ranking Democrat on the committee, and Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) have signed on as cosponsors of the reintroduced bill.
“The federal government faces mounting cybersecurity threats,” Peters said. “This bipartisan legislation will help ensure that the federal government has the skilled workforce in place to combat emerging threats and help federal employees cultivate new skills and expertise in this in-demand field.”
A legislative report issued last year said the bill would complement the Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Assessment Act of 2015 and initiatives launched under the Office of Management and Budget’s reorganization
plan. The latest version of the legislation would empower the Office of Personnel Management to develop an operational plan for the program and create a list of rotational cyber workforce positions based on areas where agencies have identified a need. Federal employees could apply for a detail to another office or agency for up to 14 months, pending approval from their managers.
Johnson has said that finding ways to boost the federal government’s cybersecurity workforce will be one of the committee’s top priorities in the new Congress.
A recent survey of 150 federal IT officials by OneLogin found that nearly half (48 percent) believe they do not have adequate cybersecurity staff to protect their systems and networks from cyberattacks. In addition, a study released in January by a group of researchers whose work was supported in part by the Senior Executives Association states that a “weakening in the capacity of the government’s workforce and its organizational structures is plainly evident [and is causing] a perceptible loss of collective resilience to detect and respond to adverse events.”
— Mark Rockwell
PIF
@InnovFellows
Congrats to Presidential Innovation Fellows Clara Tsao, Stephen Winchell, and Gil Alterovitz for your #Fed100 Awards! Thanks to @FCWnow for this tremendous recognition of your innovative work across government agencies. t.co/YJNAdMzeca #CivicTechService
9:58 AM - 6 Feb 2019
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January/February 2019 FCW.COM