TechWonk Blog Subsection
TechWonk Blog
-
Today the IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS), a division of 91快活林, published its State Cybersecurity Principals and Best Practices, a set of recommendations which encapsulates state and federal practices that have proven to be mature and effective in promoting a secure cyber environment at the state and local government level. The private sector owns and operates 85 percent of critical infrastructure [...]
-
The Senate takes up its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) this week, leading many in the federal contracting community to quickly analyze provisions that could affect federal contractors. From a proposed restructuring at the Department of Defense鈥檚 (DOD) Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (AT&L) branch, to a complete overhaul of the DOD鈥檚 Cost [...]
-
Tomorrow, lawmakers will be sitting down to hear about a brewing problem in the federal government: Uncle Sam鈥檚 addiction to outdated and antiquated legacy information technology (IT) systems that cost taxpayers an estimated 80 percent of the annual IT budget each year. It鈥檚 an issue the IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS), a division of 91快活林, and our member technology companies have advocated solutions [...]
-
With the federal government鈥檚 increasing reliance on information technology (IT) and software solutions as a central element to carrying out its mission and delivering services to citizens, the IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS) understands OMB鈥檚 efforts to address open source software. This week the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) closed the comment period on their draft Federal Source Code [...]
-
The IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS) recently sent a letter to the Arizona Department of Administration opposing its decision to include Most Favored Customer (MFC) language in future open bid opportunities. This restrictive contract clause is of major concern to the information technology (IT) industry because it substantially decreases competition, significantly increases procurement cycles, [...]
-
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), Chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services, has introduced his latest plan to increase acquisition agility and interoperability in programs at the Department of Defense (DOD), and while an iterative approach to true acquisition reform may be effective in the long run, too few steps may stall the momentum. The proposal, the Acquisition Agility Act, is a continuation [...]
-
ITAPS applauds the Virginia General Assembly and Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) for passing into law Senate Bill 150 to better balance the interests of the commonwealth of Virginia and the private sector when it comes to state information technology (IT) projects. The new law delays the evaluation of vendor exceptions to liability provisions until after the technical evaluation of the proposal has been [...]
-
Last week, the IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS) filed formal comments urging the state of Oregon to develop a template of contractual terms for Software-As-A-Service (SaaS) that would be forward-thinking and appropriate for this emerging technology. While the state happened to be Oregon, the message from ITAPS is one that pertains to any state 鈥� in fact, it could apply to all states. Commercial [...]
-
Members of the IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS) and the tech sector at large were pleased to learn that California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has vetoed AB 522, a bill that would have created a statutory mandate for the Director of the Department of Technology to develop a standardized contractor performance assessment report system to evaluate the performance of a contractor on certain technology contracts [...]
-
Despite the veto threat looming over it, there is reason to cheer that the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) came in ahead of the December timeframe observers have come to expect. More importantly, the conference report for the NDAA bill, H.R. 1735, that was passed by the House yesterday is chock full of forward-leaning provisions that change the way that the Department of [...]
- ...
- ...