Weekly Roundup May 6, 2016

GAO: FEMA needs framework to improve IT systems. The Federal Emergency Management Agency needs to develop a governing framework for the oversight and modernization of IT investments, and needs to address holes in its tech workforce, according to a Government Accountability Office report released May 5. Not doing so limits the agency's ability to adequately respond to major disaster, GAO said. New White House guidance charts future of shared services. The Obama administration is looking to make sure its advances on shared services becomes a permanent fixture of government Commerce, PTO launch new data training program, patent portal . “The Department of Commerce must make data part of every bureau’s institutional muscle memory,” Deputy Secretary Bruce Andrews said during the Commerce Data Advisory Council’s annual meeting in New York May 6. That effort starts with creating a data-driven workforce. The department launched the Commerce Data Academy pilot project in February. The program offers four courses in agile development, Excel, HTML and CSS and storytelling with data. Andrews has been thrilled with the reception; roughly 3,500 Commerce employees have signed up for training so far. Donald Trump needs a transition leader. Presidential transition work is happening earlier than ever before, with the Partnership for Public Service taking a leading role and a new law requiring the White House and individual agencies to pick transition leaders six months before the election -- by May 8. David Eagles, director of presidential transition work at the Partnership for Public Service, told FCW that the General Services Administration has been working with the Trump campaign "very closely." John Lainhart FBI Official: In Recovering from Cyberattacks, the ‘Who’ Isn’t So Important. Faced with a cyberattack, members of the FBI’s investigative team is less concerned with the perpetrator’s identity than they are in blocking the intrusion, according to one FBI official. “We don’t have to have attribution completely figured out to take action,” said Donald Freese, director of the FBI’s National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force, during Akamai's Government Forum in Washington on Thursday. Homeland Security Wants to Standardize Requirements in ‘Cyber’ Jobs. Federal jobs involving cybersecurity might soon have a standard set of requirements. The Homeland Security Department is working on a general definition for “what a cybersecurity job looks like,” including the qualifications for that specialty, according to Eric Goldstein, a senior counselor within DHS’ Office of Cybersecurity and Communications. John Kamensky 18F Gets Embedded in GSA. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/05/18f-becomes-a-permanent-part-of-the-government/481260/utm Make or Buy? Decision Isn’t Easy. http://federalnewsradio.com/tom-temin-commentary/2016/05/make-buy-decision-never-settled/ OMB Spring Guidance to Agencies for FY 2018 Budget. http://www.govexec.com/management/2016/05/omb-agencies-craft-transition-materials-not-new-budget/127971/?oref=river https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2016/m-16-10.pdf GSA Grows a Third Leg.http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/129918 Shared Services Playbook on the Way. http://fedscoop.com/shared-services-playbook-coming-in-june OMB Outlines Its Progress, Next Steps in Shared Services. http://1.usa.gov/1UzQz7O Minister of Happiness in Dubai – Could We Use One? http://www.thenational.ae/uae/government/happiness-is-a-serious-job-uaes-minister-of-happiness-embraces-new-role * * * * * The Business of Government Radio Show -- Pamela Dyson, Chief Information Officer at the SEC. What is the Securities and Exchange Commission’s IT strategy? How is the SEC modernizing its Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) system? What is it doing to expand its data analytics capabilities to better meet its mission? Join host Michael J. Keegan as he explores these questions and more with Pamela Dyson, Chief Information Officer at the SEC. Broadcast Schedule: The show airs Monday at 11 a.m., and Friday at 1 p.m. on Federal News Radio 1500AM WFED If you can't wait, though, you can listen to (or download) this week's program and all our previous interviews at businessofgovernment.org.