The red cups are at Starbucks, so I guess we're in the holiday season! Personally, I'm just counting down the days until its socially acceptable to watch A Christmas Story incessantly. Until then, here’s the Weekly Washington Headlines and Technology (WHAT) blog for the week:
Key Takeaway: Senate Committee Moves DATA Act Forward
Yesterday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee marked up the DATA Act, a bill which would standardize the tracking federal funds based on the lessons learned under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and make information more accessible through USASpending.gov. While this bill has made more progress than most, chances for passage are up in the air as Congress continues to move legislation at a glacial pace.
NASCIO and allies have previously had concerns regarding the DATA Act (see our letter and testimony), as previous versions propose significant new reporting burdens on states without any additional funding. However, the Senate version eliminate most of those concerns.
Perhaps most importantly, it removes from the Act the ability of OMB to expand a pilot program to test reporting standards for federal fund recipients to a full-blown roll-out at its own discretion. It also significantly extends the timeline for implementation, which should allow states to better adjust, as well as provide federal entities and recipients time to craft a plan for data standardization. For various initial (and in some cases skeptical) reviews: click here, here, and here.
Other Buzz:
OMB Grant Guidance Timeline: While far from certain, from our discussions it seems OMB is hoping to release its final grant guidance reform prior to the end of the year.
ACA Concerns and Accusations Fly: There have been a number of hearings on the efforts to repair healthcare.gov and ensure security of the data hub and other platforms. Out of all the noise, what do State CIOs need to know? Probably most importantly, end-to-end security has been questioned, which could impact state exchanges.
FirstNet Developments: Barry Boniface, a veteran of the telecommunications industry (bio here), will join the FirstNet Board in place of Bill Keever, whose one-year term ended. In addition, the FCC adopted rules that clear the way for the creation of devices that will work on the FirstNet spectrum band - more here.
Your Weekly Techbytes:
Obama Calls for IT Procurement Reform
White House Plans a Single FOIA Portal
Los Angeles Creates Command Center to Combat Cyberattacks
Boosting Innovation by Rethinking Government Procurement
Governments Struggle with Financial Policies for Tech Devices
Google Nudges Cities for More Data
Automated Collision Prevention is Almost Here