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Trump Administration Threatens to Make Employees Work Without Pay Over Border Funding Shortfall

Government Executive | June 27, 2019

The Trump administration is threatening to force federal employees to work without pay if Congress fails to act quickly in providing an emergency funding boost for operations on the southern border, saying the office in charge of housing migrant children is on the verge of running out of funds. The Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement will soon run out of funding for its unaccompanied children program, the agency has warned, forcing it to operate as if a government shutdown were in place. The administration has also cautioned that it could cut off funding for contract shelters where the children are held.

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Tidelift Public Sector Momentum Increases as Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management Becomes Top Government Priority

Businesswire | May 30, 2023

Tidelift, a provider of solutions for improving the security and resilience of the open source software powering modern applications, today announced that it has been awarded three U.S. government contracts worth over $3.5 million, and is expanding its public sector organization in response to increased demand for innovative solutions that help the U.S. government improve its cybersecurity supply chain risk management (C-SCRM) capabilities. High-profile software supply chain vulnerabilities including Log4Shell and SolarWinds have dramatically increased attention on the need for improved software security, both in the public sector and beyond. In the U.S., this effort began in May, 2021 with White House Executive Order 14028: Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity, and since then a variety of policy and legislative initiatives around cybersecurity have gained traction. In September, 2022, the U.S. government’s Office of Management and Budget released memorandum M-22-18 on Enhancing the Security of the Software Supply Chain through Secure Software Development Practices. M-22-18 formalizes the guidance provided in the NIST Secure Software Development Framework and NIST Software Supply Chain Security Guidance documents as the government requirements for developing secure software, and mandates federal government agencies comply with these guidelines. This memorandum sets aggressive deadlines for compliance with specific dates for both government agencies and organizations selling software to the government to comply with NIST guidelines. Among other stipulations, it requires that any organization selling software to the government must self-attest that their software is compliant with the NIST SSDF by June 2023 for critical software or by September 2023 for all other software. More recently, the National Cybersecurity Strategy sets a new precedent for software security liability, with the government intending to hold software producers liable for damages caused by preventable security vulnerabilities and offer liability protections to organizations that can show they follow secure software development practices. Tidelift awarded three U.S. government contracts worth over $3.5 million In addition to efforts like those mentioned above, the U.S. government is increasingly investing directly in improving open source software security. Tidelift was recently awarded three separate innovation research awards as part of the U.S. government SBIR program. The SBIR program is designed to help U.S.-based businesses invest in their technical potential, while stimulating technology innovation and meeting specific research and development needs. Through these SBIR Phase II awards, Tidelift is working with the Department of the Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to help spur innovation in the systems and processes the U.S. government uses to improve open source software security and cybersecurity supply chain risk management. This investment will help Tidelift expand its industry-leading open source software management solution, including increasing its ability to partner with even more open source maintainers to validate their components meet important security, maintenance, and licensing standards required by government and industry users, and pay these maintainers for this critical work. It will also help the U.S. government better address the requirements and deadlines emerging from Executive Order 14028, memorandum M-22-18, and the NIST Secure Software Development Framework, especially when it comes to the open source components in use in government applications. Tidelift is also helping address new requirements around software bills of materials (SBOMs) that U.S. government agencies are beginning to understand, interpret, plan for, and deploy. Along with Tidelift producing an SBOM from every application build, the company is actively working upstream with open source maintainers to validate and improve security, maintenance, and licensing metadata for their projects and capture this data using the TACOS (Trusted Attestation and Compliance for Open Source) attestation framework. "The United States Air Force, and the Government as a whole, are among the largest consumers of open source software. With the increasing requirements around Software Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) and Software Bills of Materials (SBOM) initiatives, we are excited to partner with Tidelift to enhance cybersecurity resilience outcomes for open source software dependencies that support our most critical work," said Robert "Devo" DeVincent, Chief Software Officer, Air Force 309th Software Engineering Group. Tidelift expands public sector organization to meet growing demand Tidelift has named Matthew Arnow, a long-time veteran of Tidelift, to lead the newly expanded public sector team. Matthew heads up the team with extensive experience working with government and public sector clients. “Tidelift looks forward to working more closely with our government and public sector customers and prospects to improve the resilience of our mission-critical open source infrastructure,” said Matthew Arnow, head of public sector for Tidelift. “Our unique approach of working directly with the maintainers behind thousands of important open source projects will help public sector customers comply with U.S. government security directives and meet necessary government and industry standards.” Tidelift partners with Carahsoft to support public sector expansion Tidelift has also partnered with Carahsoft, the leading government reseller partner, to help more quickly and effectively address the number of large public sector opportunities. “Over the past year, we’ve seen increased demand from our customers for solutions that help improve open source software security and supply chain resilience,” said Natalie Gregory, vice president, Carahsoft. “We look forward to working with Tidelift and our reseller partners to deliver open source software supply chain risk management solutions to our government customers.” About Tidelift Tidelift, a 2022 Gartner Cool Vendor, helps organizations effectively manage the open source behind modern applications. Through the Tidelift Subscription, the company delivers the tools, data, and strategies powering an inclusive and organization-wide approach to improving the health and security of the open source software supply chain. Tidelift enables organizations to move fast and stay safe when building applications with open source, so they can create more incredible software, even faster. https://tidelift.com/

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Surfacide® Awarded U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Contract

Surfacide | March 20, 2023

Surfacide, an industry leader in UV-C low-level disinfection technology, announced today that it has been awarded a Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). This contract will allow government customers and federal agencies to easily procure Surfacide's Helios® UV-C disinfection systems for their healthcare facilities. As a GSA Schedule Contractor, Surfacide has met all the requirements to sell to the federal government, making the federal purchasing process faster and more cost-effective for government agencies. Government buyers will now be able to access Surfacide products through GSA Advantage!, the government's premier online shopping superstore. The Surfacide Helios system is the only patented, low-level UV-C disinfection solution to use a trio of light emitting 'robots' simultaneously, significantly reducing bacteria and virus on colonized surfaces. The Helios system provides UV-C energy to more exposed areas than single devices—boosting power, dosage and efficacy in a single cycle. The system can be easily moved and configured within different high-impact areas of a hospital or clinic such as patient rooms, patient bathrooms, ORs, outpatient/ambulatory surgery, burn units, labor & delivery, isolation rooms, etc. "As a GSA Schedule Contractor, we now have the stamp of approval stating that we've met all the requirements to sell to the federal government, giving us a huge benefit in the federal purchasing process," said Gunner Lyslo, CEO & Founder of Surfacide. "We're proud to have been awarded this GSA MAS contract and are excited to provide our innovative UV-C disinfection technology to government customers more efficiently." Surfacide is rapidly growing and has become widely adopted in the VA space. After seeing the benefits of Surfacide's scientifically-proven technology, more and more VA facilities are transitioning from single emitters to Surfacide's patented triple-emitter Helios System. About Surfacide Founded in 2010, Surfacide is a UV technology and infection solutions company producing scientifically proven, hospital-grade UV devices. Surfacide's award-winning Helios® System is the world's only patented, triple emitter 'robotic' UV light solution to rapidly reduce bioburden and pathogens. A trusted partner in infection prevention, Surfacide has been deployed in over 600 leading hospitals, nursing homes, dental offices, fire stations, prisons, police stations, commercial office spaces, hotels and public venues worldwide. Surfacide LLC is proud to be American-made and manufactured in Waukesha, WI.

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Second Front Systems and Snowflake Announce Partnership

Prnewswire | April 26, 2023

Second Front Systems, a public-benefit software company focused on accelerating the delivery of mission-critical software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to government, is collaborating with Snowflake to offer a comprehensive DevSecOps capability to organizations serving the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community markets. "Second Front™ is proud to be partnering with Snowflake, the leader in the data cloud industry. This collaboration expands the impact of both company's solutions and positions us to jointly enable secure, streamlined delivery of innovative technology to the DoD, Intelligence Community, and beyond," said Tyler Sweatt, Chief Revenue Officer of Second Front. "By combining components of Data Cloud and the Game Warden® platform, SaaS companies can leverage a best-in-breed offering that positions them for both initial adoption and long-term success with the federal government." Snowflake enables every organization to mobilize their data with Snowflake's Data Cloud. Customers use the Data Cloud to unite siloed data, discover and securely share data, and execute diverse analytic workloads. Wherever data or users live, Snowflake delivers a single data experience that spans multiple clouds and geographies. "Snowflake is excited to be collaborating with our partner and mission-driven innovator, Second Front. Our combined technologies create a unique solution that better serves the federal government by reducing friction around access to and adoption of cutting-edge technologies," said Winston Chang, Snowflake's Global Public Sector CTO. "Working directly with Second Front on this DevSecOps initiative positions Snowflake to continue enabling data as a strategic asset in a variety of relevant national defense workloads." Second Front will continue to expand its partnerships with other defense innovation enablers like Snowflake, AWS, and Carahsoft in order to provide our commercial customers the best available solutions for delivery to the DoD and Intelligence Community market. About Second Front Systems Second Front Systems (2F) fast-tracks government access to disruptive, commercially-proven software as a service (SaaS) applications for national security missions. Leading software providers—ranging from publicly traded defense contractors to startups—and government agencies trust 2F's Game Warden DevSecOps platform and secure cloud hosting environment to accelerate their delivery and harness the cloud revolution at scale. Founded by former U.S. Marines, this public benefit, venture-backed software company is driven by firsthand experience of the dangers outdated technology poses in combat. For more information, visit https://secondfront.com/ About Snowflake Snowflake enables every organization to mobilize their data with Snowflake's Data Cloud. Customers use the Data Cloud to unite siloed data, discover and securely share data, and execute diverse analytic workloads. Wherever data or users live, Snowflake delivers a single data experience that spans multiple clouds and geographies. Thousands of customers across many industries, including 573 of the 2022 Forbes Global 2000 (G2K) as of January 31, 2023, use Snowflake Data Cloud to power their businesses. Learn more at snowflake.com.

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CYBERSECURITY

Tidelift Public Sector Momentum Increases as Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management Becomes Top Government Priority

Businesswire | May 30, 2023

Tidelift, a provider of solutions for improving the security and resilience of the open source software powering modern applications, today announced that it has been awarded three U.S. government contracts worth over $3.5 million, and is expanding its public sector organization in response to increased demand for innovative solutions that help the U.S. government improve its cybersecurity supply chain risk management (C-SCRM) capabilities. High-profile software supply chain vulnerabilities including Log4Shell and SolarWinds have dramatically increased attention on the need for improved software security, both in the public sector and beyond. In the U.S., this effort began in May, 2021 with White House Executive Order 14028: Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity, and since then a variety of policy and legislative initiatives around cybersecurity have gained traction. In September, 2022, the U.S. government’s Office of Management and Budget released memorandum M-22-18 on Enhancing the Security of the Software Supply Chain through Secure Software Development Practices. M-22-18 formalizes the guidance provided in the NIST Secure Software Development Framework and NIST Software Supply Chain Security Guidance documents as the government requirements for developing secure software, and mandates federal government agencies comply with these guidelines. This memorandum sets aggressive deadlines for compliance with specific dates for both government agencies and organizations selling software to the government to comply with NIST guidelines. Among other stipulations, it requires that any organization selling software to the government must self-attest that their software is compliant with the NIST SSDF by June 2023 for critical software or by September 2023 for all other software. More recently, the National Cybersecurity Strategy sets a new precedent for software security liability, with the government intending to hold software producers liable for damages caused by preventable security vulnerabilities and offer liability protections to organizations that can show they follow secure software development practices. Tidelift awarded three U.S. government contracts worth over $3.5 million In addition to efforts like those mentioned above, the U.S. government is increasingly investing directly in improving open source software security. Tidelift was recently awarded three separate innovation research awards as part of the U.S. government SBIR program. The SBIR program is designed to help U.S.-based businesses invest in their technical potential, while stimulating technology innovation and meeting specific research and development needs. Through these SBIR Phase II awards, Tidelift is working with the Department of the Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to help spur innovation in the systems and processes the U.S. government uses to improve open source software security and cybersecurity supply chain risk management. This investment will help Tidelift expand its industry-leading open source software management solution, including increasing its ability to partner with even more open source maintainers to validate their components meet important security, maintenance, and licensing standards required by government and industry users, and pay these maintainers for this critical work. It will also help the U.S. government better address the requirements and deadlines emerging from Executive Order 14028, memorandum M-22-18, and the NIST Secure Software Development Framework, especially when it comes to the open source components in use in government applications. Tidelift is also helping address new requirements around software bills of materials (SBOMs) that U.S. government agencies are beginning to understand, interpret, plan for, and deploy. Along with Tidelift producing an SBOM from every application build, the company is actively working upstream with open source maintainers to validate and improve security, maintenance, and licensing metadata for their projects and capture this data using the TACOS (Trusted Attestation and Compliance for Open Source) attestation framework. "The United States Air Force, and the Government as a whole, are among the largest consumers of open source software. With the increasing requirements around Software Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) and Software Bills of Materials (SBOM) initiatives, we are excited to partner with Tidelift to enhance cybersecurity resilience outcomes for open source software dependencies that support our most critical work," said Robert "Devo" DeVincent, Chief Software Officer, Air Force 309th Software Engineering Group. Tidelift expands public sector organization to meet growing demand Tidelift has named Matthew Arnow, a long-time veteran of Tidelift, to lead the newly expanded public sector team. Matthew heads up the team with extensive experience working with government and public sector clients. “Tidelift looks forward to working more closely with our government and public sector customers and prospects to improve the resilience of our mission-critical open source infrastructure,” said Matthew Arnow, head of public sector for Tidelift. “Our unique approach of working directly with the maintainers behind thousands of important open source projects will help public sector customers comply with U.S. government security directives and meet necessary government and industry standards.” Tidelift partners with Carahsoft to support public sector expansion Tidelift has also partnered with Carahsoft, the leading government reseller partner, to help more quickly and effectively address the number of large public sector opportunities. “Over the past year, we’ve seen increased demand from our customers for solutions that help improve open source software security and supply chain resilience,” said Natalie Gregory, vice president, Carahsoft. “We look forward to working with Tidelift and our reseller partners to deliver open source software supply chain risk management solutions to our government customers.” About Tidelift Tidelift, a 2022 Gartner Cool Vendor, helps organizations effectively manage the open source behind modern applications. Through the Tidelift Subscription, the company delivers the tools, data, and strategies powering an inclusive and organization-wide approach to improving the health and security of the open source software supply chain. Tidelift enables organizations to move fast and stay safe when building applications with open source, so they can create more incredible software, even faster. https://tidelift.com/

Read More

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

Surfacide® Awarded U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Contract

Surfacide | March 20, 2023

Surfacide, an industry leader in UV-C low-level disinfection technology, announced today that it has been awarded a Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). This contract will allow government customers and federal agencies to easily procure Surfacide's Helios® UV-C disinfection systems for their healthcare facilities. As a GSA Schedule Contractor, Surfacide has met all the requirements to sell to the federal government, making the federal purchasing process faster and more cost-effective for government agencies. Government buyers will now be able to access Surfacide products through GSA Advantage!, the government's premier online shopping superstore. The Surfacide Helios system is the only patented, low-level UV-C disinfection solution to use a trio of light emitting 'robots' simultaneously, significantly reducing bacteria and virus on colonized surfaces. The Helios system provides UV-C energy to more exposed areas than single devices—boosting power, dosage and efficacy in a single cycle. The system can be easily moved and configured within different high-impact areas of a hospital or clinic such as patient rooms, patient bathrooms, ORs, outpatient/ambulatory surgery, burn units, labor & delivery, isolation rooms, etc. "As a GSA Schedule Contractor, we now have the stamp of approval stating that we've met all the requirements to sell to the federal government, giving us a huge benefit in the federal purchasing process," said Gunner Lyslo, CEO & Founder of Surfacide. "We're proud to have been awarded this GSA MAS contract and are excited to provide our innovative UV-C disinfection technology to government customers more efficiently." Surfacide is rapidly growing and has become widely adopted in the VA space. After seeing the benefits of Surfacide's scientifically-proven technology, more and more VA facilities are transitioning from single emitters to Surfacide's patented triple-emitter Helios System. About Surfacide Founded in 2010, Surfacide is a UV technology and infection solutions company producing scientifically proven, hospital-grade UV devices. Surfacide's award-winning Helios® System is the world's only patented, triple emitter 'robotic' UV light solution to rapidly reduce bioburden and pathogens. A trusted partner in infection prevention, Surfacide has been deployed in over 600 leading hospitals, nursing homes, dental offices, fire stations, prisons, police stations, commercial office spaces, hotels and public venues worldwide. Surfacide LLC is proud to be American-made and manufactured in Waukesha, WI.

Read More

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

Second Front Systems and Snowflake Announce Partnership

Prnewswire | April 26, 2023

Second Front Systems, a public-benefit software company focused on accelerating the delivery of mission-critical software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to government, is collaborating with Snowflake to offer a comprehensive DevSecOps capability to organizations serving the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community markets. "Second Front™ is proud to be partnering with Snowflake, the leader in the data cloud industry. This collaboration expands the impact of both company's solutions and positions us to jointly enable secure, streamlined delivery of innovative technology to the DoD, Intelligence Community, and beyond," said Tyler Sweatt, Chief Revenue Officer of Second Front. "By combining components of Data Cloud and the Game Warden® platform, SaaS companies can leverage a best-in-breed offering that positions them for both initial adoption and long-term success with the federal government." Snowflake enables every organization to mobilize their data with Snowflake's Data Cloud. Customers use the Data Cloud to unite siloed data, discover and securely share data, and execute diverse analytic workloads. Wherever data or users live, Snowflake delivers a single data experience that spans multiple clouds and geographies. "Snowflake is excited to be collaborating with our partner and mission-driven innovator, Second Front. Our combined technologies create a unique solution that better serves the federal government by reducing friction around access to and adoption of cutting-edge technologies," said Winston Chang, Snowflake's Global Public Sector CTO. "Working directly with Second Front on this DevSecOps initiative positions Snowflake to continue enabling data as a strategic asset in a variety of relevant national defense workloads." Second Front will continue to expand its partnerships with other defense innovation enablers like Snowflake, AWS, and Carahsoft in order to provide our commercial customers the best available solutions for delivery to the DoD and Intelligence Community market. About Second Front Systems Second Front Systems (2F) fast-tracks government access to disruptive, commercially-proven software as a service (SaaS) applications for national security missions. Leading software providers—ranging from publicly traded defense contractors to startups—and government agencies trust 2F's Game Warden DevSecOps platform and secure cloud hosting environment to accelerate their delivery and harness the cloud revolution at scale. Founded by former U.S. Marines, this public benefit, venture-backed software company is driven by firsthand experience of the dangers outdated technology poses in combat. For more information, visit https://secondfront.com/ About Snowflake Snowflake enables every organization to mobilize their data with Snowflake's Data Cloud. Customers use the Data Cloud to unite siloed data, discover and securely share data, and execute diverse analytic workloads. Wherever data or users live, Snowflake delivers a single data experience that spans multiple clouds and geographies. Thousands of customers across many industries, including 573 of the 2022 Forbes Global 2000 (G2K) as of January 31, 2023, use Snowflake Data Cloud to power their businesses. Learn more at snowflake.com.

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