The Department of Energy (DoE) has moved the vast majority of its workforce – 85 percent – to telework to help stem the spread of COVID-19, a DoE official confirmed to MeriTalk. […]
The Small Business Administration (SBA) transitioned to telework “without missing a beat,” quickly implemented new programs, and scaled to adjust to a mass number of new users amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic thanks to prior IT modernization and cloud transitions, per CIO Maria Roat. […]
The Department of the Interior (DOI) has tripled its remote work numbers amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic as agencies were instructed to maximize telework. […]
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has been on maximum telework mode since March 15, an OPM spokesperson told MeriTalk, adding “on any given day approximately 90 percent of the workforce is teleworking.” […]
The novel coronavirus pandemic has touched many aspects of business in the United States, including how we communicate with our colleagues. […]
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has taken social distancing directives to heart and achieved a 100 percent employee telework rate, the agency told MeriTalk. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeing a “dramatic jump” in use of its virtual mental healthcare services as the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic makes it difficult for veterans to travel to VA facilities for care. […]
Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. asked House and Senate leaders to include in the next Federal coronavirus relief bill a lengthy list of protections for the Federal and government contractor workforces, including measures to further promote telework. […]
With nearly a month of quarantine under our belts, hopefully, everyone has settled into the new normal of teleworking. As our offices have moved into our homes, many have gained some new four-legged coworkers – and we want to see them! […]
Federal Communications Commission Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has made access to broadband “no longer a luxury.” […]
The General Services Administration’s (GSA) release of Federal website standards in December 2019 was intended to aid agency compliance with the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA), but Larry Gillick, chief of web and digital strategy at the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Production and Conservation Business Center, raised concerns with unintended consequences of the standards. […]
House lawmakers on Jan. 8 passed two telecommunication bills promoting United States leadership in 5G infrastructure and systems. […]
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai proposed Dec. 4 to create a $9 billion fund to support the deployment of 5G wireless services in rural portions of the U.S. The proposal would require approval from a majority of the full five-member commission, with a vote likely sometime in 2020. […]
A bill introduced last week by Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., would direct that the Federal government spend $100 million per year for five years on a program to provide mobile broadband “hotspot” devices to schools and libraries. […]
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., chairman of the House Government Operations Subcommittee, said today he would consider adding compliance with the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act’s (IDEA) website modernization standards to the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act scorecard produced twice a year by the House Oversight and Reform Committee. […]
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai announced today that he expects major phone companies to implement the Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using Tokens and Secure Telephony Identity Revisited standards this year. The standards, known as SHAKEN/STIR, are caller ID authentication standards which will help combat robocalls. […]
Grant Seiffert is the Wireless Infrastructure Association’s (WIA) new VP of workforce development and executive director of the Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program, WIA announced on April 23. […]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said on April 17 he will vote to deny an application by China Mobile Ltd. to provide service in the U.S., citing security-related reasons similar to those that led Congress to bar the Federal government from doing business with China-based network equipment maker Huawei. […]
Americans for the first time are accessing government websites and resources more often with mobile devices than with desktop computers, General Services Administration (GSA) Innovation Portfolio Director Jacob Parcel said at the GovLoop conference today. […]
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and both houses of Congress joined together on Thursday to reintroduce the Help Americans Never Get Unwanted Phone calls, or HANGUP Act. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that beginning this summer veterans will be able to access their personal medical data using the Health Records feature on their iPhones. […]
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Ala., the new chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, is pushing for a hearing on 5G wireless deployment and said the STREAMLINE Small Cell Deployment Act could be a good jumping off point for the hearing, according to a Politico report. […]
The 4Competition Coalition, an alliance of companies and interest groups opposed to the Sprint/T-Mobile merger, announced Monday that five new organizations have joined its ranks. […]
The House Rural Broadband Caucus announced Thursday that Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., will serve as co-chair of the Caucus. […]
Patrick Halley has joined USTelecom as its new senior vice president of Advocacy and Regulatory Affairs. […]
On Monday, the Senate unanimously passed the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI) Act. The READI Act will “ensure more people receive relevant emergency alerts on their mobile phones, televisions, and radios, explore new ways of alerting the public through online video and audio streaming services, track and study false alerts when they occur, and improve the way states plan for emergency alerts,” according to a press release from the bill’s sponsor Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. The bipartisan legislation was also championed by Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss. […]
Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., will introduce new legislation this week to “address cyber vulnerabilities created by the adoption of Internet-connected devices,” and specifically cyber threats of internet of things (IoT) devices owned and used by the Federal government. […]
The budding emergence of fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks is being preceded by the usual advance guard of hype that comes with any new stage of wireless development. But while some of the promises being thrown around by service providers won’t take shape for several years, if at all, 5G will provide tangible benefits that government agencies could start planning for now. […]
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos highlighted the success of the Department of Education’s mobile applications during a speech on Tuesday, pointing to their convenience and ability to reach citizens in an effective manner. […]
The International Telecommunication Union–a United Nations agency for information and communications technology–announced the re-election of Houlin Zhao of China as ITU Secretary-General. […]