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82 Defense Department laboratories are performing certified clinical COVID-19 testing
DOD’s telework surge could become permanent
OMB issues
The emphasis on telework in response to the COVID-19 pandemic could have a lasting impact on the Defense Department’s work culture, officials said.
“There will be some permanency to what we have here,” DOD CIO Dana Deasy said at a media briefing in April. “There is going to be an enhanced teleworking capability that will be sustained at the end of COVID-19.”
He added that although “the department has always been telework- ready long before the pandemic,” full- time telework was the exception and not the rule, which meant the department had to quickly educate employees about tools and best practices.
In late March, DOD launched the Commercial Virtual Remote environment to handle the deluge of teleworkers. CVR is based on Microsoft Teams and enables video, voice and text communications. It now has 900,000 user accounts, with 250,000 added in a single day, officials said at the briefing.
In addition, about 2,000 DOD personnel have received additional devices to work remotely, with virtual internet service provider connections increasing 30%. Call capacity at the Pentagon has expanded by 50%, and the Defense Information Systems Agency’s
endpoint capability has seen a threefold increase.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Navy’s telework capacity grew 150% to 250,000 workers, and there are plans to bring the total to 500,000 remote workers. The Marine Corps expanded its virtual private network capacity to accommodate 60,000 simultaneous workers, an 80% increase.
All that remote activity is creating a surge of data, and it’s still unclear what will happen to information generated in CVR after the crisis is over. Concerns about cybersecurity and data protection have risen in tandem with the expansion of telework and are further compounded by a lag in implementing cyber hygiene initiatives.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Bradford Shwedo, Joint Staff CIO, said DOD has seen a “surge of spearphishing related to COVID-19” across the department.
Essye Miller, DOD’s principal deputy CIO, first noted the uptick in cyberattacks in March when the department began accommodating mass telework. Officials encouraged employees to practice good cyber hygiene, including not streaming commercial services on DOD’s network.
— Lauren C. Williams
The Office of Management and Budget issued guidelines reminding agency heads that the recent COVID-19 relief and stimulus law supports continued pay to idled contractors who are not eligible for telework.
Section 3610 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act authorizes agencies to modify affected contracts to reimburse paid leave, including sick leave, so that contractors can keep their employees or subcontractors in a ready state.
The April 17 guidance from Michael Rigas, acting deputy director for management at OMB, came a day after a consortium of trade groups sent a letter requesting “implementation guidance to ensure that all federal agencies understand the acquisition tools available and have a consistent approach to ensuring resilience across the total force as our nation weathers this crisis.”
Rigas’ memo tells agencies to consider keeping contractor employees in a ready state by reimbursing the companies’ paid leave. Contractors who might be unable to perform their work remotely could “face unprecedented hardships” because of COVID-19, the memo states.
OMB also included guidance on tracking payments under the provision to prevent double-dipping and making sure contracts are appropriately modified to reimburse allowable paid- leave costs.
The memo also advises contracting offices to work closely with their small and disadvantaged business utilization offices to ensure that small-business contractors understand the resources that are available to them, including loan programs outside Section 3610 policies.
— Mark Rockwell
guidance on paying
idled contractors
IT resources for COVID-19 response
Many technology firms are offering free or discounted services to government and nonprofit organizations on the front lines of the coronavirus battle. FCW’s sister publication, GCN, has compiled
a list of those opportunities, along with other solution-specific coverage of the COVID-19 crisis.
See GCN.com/portals/covid.aspx for more information.
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