Since the passing of the Federal Information Security Management Act in 2002 (FISMA), the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has been required to perform yearly audits on their agencies IT security programs. After the completion of the FY2012 audit for the General Services Administration, it appears the IT Security Program has some work to do. The audit released today uncovered three glaring security control deficiencies, majority seemingly the result of inattentiveness.

Appearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on September 13th was U.S. General Services Administration Acting Administrator, Dan Tangherlini. Tangherlini testified that changes GSA made within the past five months has projected to save more than $11 million by eliminating conferences and cutting travel. These cost savings measures are the byproduct of the Las Vegas scandal in which tax payers footed the bill for an $800,000 GSA employee conference.

Despite rumors of a looming fiscal cliff and a harsh reality for contractors, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the General Services Administration (GSA) are finalizing major IT acquisitions. These two technology contracts are expected to exceed $5 billion and $1.5 billion respectively. The VA is looking to award funding by September 30th and the GSA is releasing an RFI this week for continuous monitoring systems.

As our economy continues to struggle, there is now a direct pressure being placed on the Federal market place. What was once thought of as an unlimited market of selling opportunity is now scheduled to be forcibly reduced by 10% in FY 2013, thanks to the 'sequestration' measures mandating automatic cuts across the Federal government. During this time of Federal market constriction, it is even more critical to be smart about how an organization approaches Federal sales. The GSA reports that 1 out of every 3 new contract awardees does not earn any revenue in their first three years, and the number one reason for this failure to perform is a lack of strategic planning.

On July 6th, the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) published a new strategic IT plan that maps out a wide variety of their organizational goals, on-going project summaries, and accumulated statistics. It also includes new innovative technologies that they plan on taking better advantage of in upcoming years. DIR says their mission is to be limited, efficient, and completely accountable.

ADC Telecommunications Inc. will pay the United States $1 million to resolve allegations that the company submitted false claims to federal agencies when it sold telecommunications goods manufactured in countries prohibited by the Trade Agreements Act (TAA).