Yesterday, March 28th, the draft RFP’s for OASIS were released for public review and comment. Furthermore, on the OASIS Industry Community board it was stated that the General Services Administration (GSA) is tentatively planning an industry day on May 13th.

A recent article by Camille Tuutti examines the use of unencrypted communications networks used to transfer sensitive information by the Veterans Affairs Department. The use of these unsecured networks creates the potential for hackers and other pernicious internet users to identify router information in Veterans Affairs and therefore target the agency’s crucial mission systems. A review by the department’s Office of the Inspector General in May of 2012 discovered third parties had conducted unencrypted transfers of information. Although the companies involved signed waivers accepting the security risks associated with a transfer of sensitive information such as IP addresses and health records, this practice undoubtedly puts the entire Veterans Affairs system in jeopardy of a cyber attack.

In recent years, government agencies have been required to reduce costs and cut back on spending. There are many ways to accomplish this, such as increasing employee efficiency which saves both time and tax dollars. Increasing collaboration and communication among employees is imperative for all agencies in the US to enhance employee satisfaction and improve efficiency. This not only leads to long-term benefits of the employees, but also increases transparency for citizens and supports their mission of serving the public.

Since the launch of the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) during the end of July 2012, the General Service Administration has received widespread complaints concerning the system. Users have criticized SAM.gov for its frequent system errors, inefficient functions, untimeliness of registrations and most recently – breach in security. The system, which replaced the Central Contractor Registry (CCR) and the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA), was created with the intention of making the registration process easier to track and maintain for both Federal contractors and agencies. However, instead the system has perpetuated the feelings of frustration among not only its users, but also its creators.

As we dive deeper into the year 2013, we see now more than ever the workforce’s reliance on mobile devices. It has reached a scale so great that according to multiple technology research firms, before the end of this year, mobile devices will overtake personal computers as the most common tool to access the web.

The federal government FedRAMP program will not allow for any additional 3PAO’s to join the already approved 16 independent testing firms after March 25, 2013. The application process will be closed March 25th, and companies already in the process will not be able to resubmit any changes to their applications. These approved 3PAO’s are in place to review if the potential cloud providers, which want to offer their services to the government, meet the FedRAMP requirements. The 3PAO’s are responsible for saving the federal government an average $200,000 per cloud deployment by helping with the FedRAMP certification process. The pause to the vetting process is a result of the federal government’s desire to outsource the process. In an email sent by Jackeline Stewart, a spokeswoman for the General Services Administration, the planned privatization of the "accreditation function will result in a pause in accepting new applications." She also added the length of the hiatus depends on the time it takes to evaluate fair competition and then shift responsibilities. The target time to have the process back up and running is Fall 2013. Mike Hettinger, Public Sector Director for the Software and Information Industry Association, said "We have continually encouraged GSA to make sure that the FedRAMP program has enough bandwidth to handle the cloud service providers who want to go through the process. If, by privatizing, that will ensure enough bandwidth to go through the process, I am encouraged.” Hettinger continued to say, “I'm a little concerned about the gap between when GSA stops accepting third-party assessors and the fall when the private sector accreditation organization will be established. Having a gap probably has the potential to slow down the process."