Senate panel takes big step to help end hold on nearly 370 military nominations

• Government agencies are close to implementing new software security requirements for contractors. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has released a new draft of the Secure Software Development Certification Form. And the proposal would require everyone from the chief executive officer to the chief operating officer to sign on the dotted line. The form is part of the Biden administration’s efforts to ensure federal agencies use securely constructed software. Once the documentation is complete, the agency must require the vendor to sign the form before using the software. This draft form is open for comments until December 18th.
• A recent Inspector General report cited cybersecurity concerns in the new Postal Service health care market and scrutinized steps the Office of Personnel Management is taking to create the Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) program. This is a parallel system to the health care market for all other federal employees. The IG report warned that some cybersecurity best practices were not implemented before OPM launched some of its systems. The IG said this increases the risk of a major cyber incident, and further alerting this situation increases the risk to OPM’s other IT systems.
• A Senate committee has taken a major step toward clearing backlogs of approximately 370 military nominations. The Senate Rules and Administration Committee voted 9-7 to allow senators to approve multiple nominees with a single vote. This basic idea is common practice in the Senate, but until now it required unanimous consent and one senator could object and halt the process. A new resolution would change that, but the new approach would require a floor vote from at least 60 senators. This is in response to Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s decision to block military candidates after he opposed a Pentagon policy that provided paid leave and travel compensation to service members seeking abortions.
• The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) takes an important first step toward standardizing acquisition data by outlining six focus areas in a new draft circular under the Better Contracting Initiative launched by the Biden administration last week. ing. This circular establishes a new acquisition data management policy that promotes high-resolution acquisition. The idea is to give agents easy access to data when purchasing goods and services. To that end, OFPP is building knowledge and data banks, developing standard data sharing processes, and implementing centralized data management to improve agencies’ access to tools and resources for acquisition-related decision-making. We want to establish a strategy. Comments on the draft circular and the acquisition framework are expected to be submitted by January 16.
• The White House has temporarily filled its top cyber position. Drennan Dudley is now acting director of the National Cyber ​​Bureau after Kemba Walden resigned from the position on Friday. Mr. Dudley is the acting national cyber director for strategy and budget. Before joining the Biden administration, Mr. Dudley served for many years as a professional staff member on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Her time as acting director may be short-lived. The Senate could vote on whether to nominate Harry Corker to head the National Cyber ​​Bureau after he returns from Thanksgiving break.
• The Department of Defense announced its 2023 Strategy to Improve Capabilities to Operate in the Information Environment as part of supporting the integrated deterrence force outlined in the 2022 National Defense Strategy. The new strategy is designed to help the Department of Defense quickly and seamlessly synchronize operations across the information environment. The 2023 Strategy has four focus areas, including people and organizations, programs, policies, and governance and partnerships.
• Costs are increasing due to deferred maintenance on federal buildings. The Comptroller’s Office found that the costs of these deferred projects increased by more than 80% in his five years. This represents an additional cost of more than $22 billion. GAO he investigated deferred maintenance projects across four agencies. These include the General Services Administration, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, and Department of Health and Human Services.
• The Chief Financial Officers Council (CFO Council) has launched a campaign to hire summer interns through the Pathways program. These accounting and budgeting interns will participate in a variety of financial, budgeting, and accounting tasks, including capturing, editing, summarizing, and extracting budget and program data for narrative information and quantitative data. The internship initiative is part of the council’s efforts to modernize the federal finance workforce and is open to the first 500 applicants. The CFO Council will hold two briefings on December 1st and December 8th. Applications for the internship program are due by December 18th.

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