Weekly Roundup: February 22-26, 2016

Articles from across the Web that we at the IBM Center for The Business of Government found interesting, February 22-26, 2016

John Kamensky

Customer Service Needs Improved.  Federal News Radio reports on a new study by the Partnership for Public Service, entitled Government for the People.  The report examined 12 agencies that have a high level of direct contact with citizens through a series of interviews with agency leaders, experts and employees. Researchers asked federal executives to self-assess the customer service experiences their organizations provide, and the results were out of sync with customer perceptions.”

Improving Customer Service via Artificial Intelligence.  In a related story, Federal News Radio, reports some good news about customer service: “The Education Department’s Federal Student Aid employees keep an eye on students headed toward default. In some states, people can register online for a replacement Social Security card. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has Emma, a virtual assistant with artificial intelligence, who helps applicants who are literally and figuratively lost in translation. . . . These agencies use information, administration and communication to improve customer service — models that all of the federal government should be following.”

Investing in Tech Upgrades.  Federal Computer Week writes that OMB director Shaun Donovan testified before the House appropriations committee on the Administration’s request for a $3.1 billion IT refresh fund and a $19 billion increase in cybersecurity spending. “If we are spending $90 billion on acquisition on Information Technology, and he's got a way to cut that in half, then that’s a good sign," subcommittee chair Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.) told FCW.

Category Management Managers. FedScoop reports: “The Office of Management and Budget has selected 11 federal procurement leaders to manage new governmentwide categories of federal acquisition, putting them in charge of streamlining and rationalizing $270 billion a year of buying, more than half of all U.S. government spending.”

More Business Acumen Needed. Brice Johnson, with the Army’s Management Staff College, writes in Government Executive that: “After personally reviewing feedback from 273 students across six courses in 2014 and 2015, some clear trends emerge. Overwhelmingly, 48 percent of senior Army civilians say they are least prepared to meet the business acumen qualifications. No other area of qualification elicited anywhere near that level of concern among students.”

Michael Keegan

Improper federal payments since 2004 now exceed $1 trillion. Reported improper payments are likely to increase as agencies improve their ability to ferret out overpayments and underpayments

VA’s struggles with MSPB open door for SES oversight changes. Senior leaders at the Veterans Affairs Department say the bill that was supposed to help them hold agency senior executives more accountable isn’t working. Agency leaders are considering changes to the VA Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014 (Choice Act).

DHS cyber official: Einstein key to the future of big data at agencies. The latest version of the Einstein intrusion and detection system would not have saved OPM from a massive hack. But Phyllis Schneck, the Department of Homeland Security's top cybersecurity official, told FCW she still has big plans for the multibillion-dollar program.

DOD official: Focus on tech transition, not gross spend. The Defense Department would be better off focusing on more quickly fielding new technologies rather than trying to outspend adversaries on new gadgets, Stephen Welby, a top defense official, told Congress on Feb. 24.

John Lainhart

Governments worldwide lost 307 million records to breaches in 2015. According to Gemalto's just-released Breach Level Index, more than 707 million records were compromised in 1,673 significant breaches worldwide last year, and 53 percent of those incidents involved identity theft. According to Government Computer News, not all those incidents targeted government, of course, but 307.1 million of the compromised data records came from the public sector.  That marked a 476 percent increase over 2014. U.S. targets in general drew the lion's share of attacks -- 1,222 of the 1,673 documented in 2015. See the Gemalto’s Breach Level Index.

FedRAMP wants to overhaul cloud authorizations. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program is postponing the launch of its high baseline standards while it tries to speed its sluggish authorization process.  According toFedRAMP Director Matt Goodrich, the FedRAMP program staff are working to speed up the process to under six months.  An examination of “pain points” revealed a heavy focus on documentation rather than the functionality and capability of cloud service providers, something Goodrich said will change. He stressed that agency officials are only interested in whether the cloud provider can serve their needs and whether they're "not risky." The overhaul will be reflected in a six-month update to the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program to be released in the next week or so, according to Goodrich.  "The reason we've delayed the high baseline is to align with the authorizations we're piloting at the high baseline as well as make sure we can align as closely with the DOD levels," Goodrich said.

IRS Phishing Scams up 400 percent, Agency warns.  According to NextGov, the Internal Revenue Service said there’s been a “400 percent surge” in phishing and malware attacks designed to defraud taxpayers this tax season. The numbers are ugly for taxpayers. As of mid-February, the IRS has already experienced 1,389 incidents, more than half way to eclipsing last year’s total of 2,748 incidents. The 1,026 incidents reported this January are four times the number of incidents reported in January 2015. The scams come via phone calls, text messages or emails and have been reported across every section of the country, according to the IRS. The scams vary, but the goal is to trick taxpayers into thinking the communications are official – either from the IRS or parts of the tax industry, including software companies.

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The Business of Government Radio Show.  What are the characteristics of a well-prepared, successful presidential transition? How does the 2008-2009 presidential transition represent a model to be followed by future incoming and outgoing administrations? What more can be done to enhance the presidential transition process? Join host Michael Keegan as he explores these questions and more with Martha Joynt Kumar,author of Before the Oath: How George W. Bush and Barack Obama Managed a Transfer of Power.

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.