The Wrap: Extended Software Attestation Deadline; New Scorecard in Town; Personnel Moves

Welcome to The Wrap for Friday, June 9!

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From the newsroom at MeriTalk, it’s the quickest read in Federal tech news. Here’s what you need to know today:

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Extended Software Attestation Deadline

In today’s good news for agencies: the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced in a memo today that agencies no longer have to start collecting software security attestation forms from contractors starting June 12. The memo directs agencies to begin collecting attestations for critical software no later than three months after the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) common attestation form is finalized under the Paperwork Reduction Act. Agencies have six months from the form’s finalization to start collecting attestations for all third-party software. Today’s memo comes just three days before Federal agencies’ previous deadline to start collecting software security attestation letters that was set earlier this year.

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HHS Zero Trust Scorecard

Watch out FITARA Scorecard, there’s a new scorecard coming to town. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is rolling out a zero trust scorecard across the agency’s different operating divisions to accelerate zero trust security adoption and drive strategy across HHS. At ACT-IAC’s Health Innovation Summit on June 8, Jennifer Wendel, the deputy CIO at HHS, explained that the scorecard will help the CIOs in the agency’s numerous operating divisions to move at their own pace in their unique zero trust journeys. “We don’t want to stop them from going to the next level, but we need to identify where are those areas from a zero trust perspective that we have to focus on,” Wendel said. “This scorecard is going to help us determine what those gaps are, and then it’s going to help us drive strategy from a priority perspective.”

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U.S. Principal Deputy CTO Steps Down

This week, U.S. Principal Deputy Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Alexander Macgillivray announced that he is stepping down from his post at the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Macgillivray assumed the leadership role after President Biden appointed him in December 2021. Macgillivray served in a similar role – Federal deputy CTO – for two and a half years under the Obama administration. His last day in the position was June 8. “It was a huge privilege to get to work here again as part of the Biden Administration. I am extremely grateful and more than a little sad that my time is up,” Macgillivray tweeted.

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GSA’s CHCO Heads to IRS

Speaking of personnel moves, things are also shaking up at the General Services Administration (GSA) and the IRS. GSA Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) Traci DiMartini is heading to the IRS to serve as its human capital officer, spokespeople at both agencies confirmed to MeriTalk. DiMartini is leaving her role at GSA effective June 16. Jeff Lau will serve as the acting chief human capital officer “while the search for a new, permanent CHCO is underway,” according to a GSA spokesperson. DiMartini has served as GSA’s CHCO since 2020, helping to guide the agency’s workforce of 12,000 civil servants – made possible by a heavy reliance on technology. At the IRS, she will oversee a much larger workforce as the agency had nearly 80,000 full-time equivalent positions in fiscal year 2022.

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Agency IG Vacancies

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is urging President Biden to promptly nominate candidates to fill inspector general (IG) vacancies at the Department of State, the Department of Treasury, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In a June 5 letter to the president, Rep. Comer said the vacant IG positions weaken the impact of the agency IG offices because temporary leadership is not well-suited for long-term planning and decision-making. So, how long have these positions been vacant? To date, the State Department IG position has been vacant for over 1,100 days with no nominee, the USAID IG position has been vacant for over 850 days, and the Treasury Department IG position has been vacant for almost 1,500 days.

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Once again, let’s “call IT a day,” but we'll bring you more on Monday. Until then, please check the MeriTalk breaking news website throughout the day for the latest on government IT people, process, and policy.

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