The CIO Council has announced that it re-established its workforce committee to address challenges CIOs are facing putting together an effective workforce.
Department of Transportation CIO Richard McKinney and Nuclear Regulatory Commission CIO Darren Ash will lead the committee, and have been tasked with driving council workforce initiatives aimed at identifying people with needed critical skills and talents; Hiring the right people at the right time;Retaining high performing people;Training and maintaining a skilled, diverse workforce;Assuring the right balance of contract and federal workers in a blended workforce; and, Ensuring the government is staffed with the best cybersecurity professionals, accounting to the council.
It said that in the near term, the Cyber Workforce Subcommittee currently in the Information Security and Identity Management Committee and the IT Workforce Community of Practice will come together under the leadership of the workforce committee’s co-chairs, who will leverage working relationships with the CHCOC and OPM to highlight and address federal IT workforce issues.
DHS Pulls Award to HP for Biometric ID, Sticking with XTec
DHS has terminated a contract it had awarded to HP to develop facial and iris recognition technology as part of the HSPD-12 ID program, which requires federal employees and contractors to carry biometric ID badges for access to federal information systems and federally controlled facilities.
XTec Inc., which had been working with DHS since 2009 as part of HSPD-12, had filed a protest after HP was awarded a $103 million Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract. DHS declined to fight the protest and decided to reconsider the award, and did so in favor of XTec. The contract – HSHQDC-14-D-00002 – includes a base period of one year and nine one-year option periods and a total ceiling value of $102.8 million, and the place of work will vary among contractor facilities, DHS headquarters, component sites and others, according to a notice on the FedBizOpps website.