A bill that would overhaul how the federal government purchases software has found itself in a familiar place: moving forward in the House while awaiting Senate consideration with just a few weeks left in the congressional calendar. The Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets (SAMOSA) Act advanced out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday, teeing it up for a vote in the full chamber. The SAMOSA Act, which would direct federal agencies to assess their software licensing practices and streamline future IT buying decisions to avoid duplicative purchases, was reintroduced in the House in September following the Senate’s move to do the same in July. The bill passed the House a year ago but stalled out in the upper chamber, despite backing from a host of software and IT trade groups, including the Computer & Communications Industry Association, the Alliance for Digital Innovation, NetChoice, OpenPolicy and the Software Information Industry Association. Congress has been trying to move forward with the SAMOSA Act since at least 2022. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., noted during Tuesday’s markup that the current iteration of the SAMOSA Act is “identical” to what passed the chamber last year.

In other news: The Small Business Administration may soon be forced to confront the flawed rollout of an online certification platform it launched late in the Biden administration.The House on Monday passed a bill that would require the SBA to implement nearly a dozen recommendations made in a Government Accountability Office report about the agency’s Unified Certification Platform for small business contracting assistance. The lawmakers behind the SBA IT Modernization Reporting Act — Reps. Gil Cisneros, D-Calif., and Brian Jack, R-Ga. — believe the legislation will help the agency avoid various pitfalls that plagued the UCP, helping it better develop and manage digital projects going forward. The UCP project was launched in 2023 with the goal of easing small businesses’ interactions with the SBA’s contract assistance programs. But deployment of the platform was delayed and applications for certification were paused in August 2024. The UCP went live two months later, but according to the GAO, work to migrate data and secure the system was incomplete. House Small Business Committee Chair Roger Williams said before Monday’s vote that the “failed … portal rollout resulted in delays, errors and cybersecurity risks, shutting out small businesses from the vital government contracting opportunities.”

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The Department of Heath and Human Services has been leaning into the use of artificial intelligence to drive better health outcomes for the American public, highlighted by the rollout of ChatGPT across the agency early this fall. In particular, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been a leader in generative AI adoption since 2023. And Travis Hoppe, CDC’s chief AI officer, believes AI innovation can continue to move the needle on public health operations. Hoppe joined me recently onstage at FedTalks to share the latest on CDC’s AI journey, how the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan is guiding the agency’s implementation and what’s next.

The National Nuclear Security Administration is looking for information on potential AI uses for its mission, following an executive order to establish an integrated AI platform that will fuel scientific discovery. In a request for information posted to SAM.gov on Monday, the Department of Energy subcomponent that oversees the nation’s nuclear stockpile said it’s exploring the use of the budding technology, and specifically requested information about its use in classified environments, best practices for data curation, and how to approach developing and enhancing AI models, among other things. The request comes just a week after the Trump administration launched the “Genesis Mission,” aimed at scientific discovery through AI. That effort will not only create an AI platform for such discovery, but it will also depend on the country’s existing research and development infrastructure, including DOE and its national labs. To further the Genesis program, NNSA said it’s proactively exploring the use of AI for its “critical operations to accelerate nuclear weapons development timelines, ensuring our deterrent remains responsive, effective, and state-of-the-art against evolving global threats.”

Software company SAP inked a new agreement with the General Services Administration to offer federal agencies access to its services at significantly discounted rates, deepening its longstanding partnership with the federal government. The GSA announced the OneGov deal Tuesday, stating that the agreement offers up to 80 percent discounts on SAP’s database, cloud, and analytics services. The agency estimated this will lead to $165 million in savings for federal agencies. Specifically, agencies will be able to access products related to SAP’s database and data management services with an 80 percent discount. SAP’s cloud services, including SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP Analytics Cloud and HR Payroll, will be offered at a 35 percent discount, GSA said.

Also in this episode: Databricks VP of Public Sector Todd Schroeder joins SNG host Wyatt Kash in a sponsored podcast discussion on why agencies are prioritizing the use of AI that works across existing data environments, saving time and infrastructure costs. This segment was sponsored by Databricks.

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The Defense Department’s Blue UAS program maintains an ever-expanding index of commercial drones that are meant to be devoid of components from adversary nations including China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea, and endorsed for speedier purchasing by U.S. military buyers. This list of compliant options is growing rapidly in late 2025 as the government moves to incentivize the adoption of more affordable U.S.-made drone products for modern military operations, and simultaneously reduce the nation’s reliance on foreign supply chains. Blue UAS also marks a key feature of the second Trump administration’s plan for “unleashing American drone dominance.” However, multiple sources told DefenseScoop this month that the majority of the unmanned aerial systems cleared through this effort have motors that are sourced in China. One former senior defense official who was granted anonymity to speak freely said: “It’s a big enough problem that we should do something. If you don’t have motors, you can’t fly a drone.” They added: “And I think if you had to pick the top three [Chinese components that are currently in Blue UAS-approved platforms], it would be the motors, the batteries and the electric speed controllers — if you want to call them, like, ‘dumb’ parts.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is asking the Trump administration to detail any plans it has to subsidize AI companies, alleging that OpenAI might be positioning itself for such relief, despite denials by its leadership. Warren’s Tuesday letter comes as the ChatGPT owner has faced questions in recent weeks about the health of its finances and whether it’s becoming so enmeshed in the U.S. economy that the federal government should or would prevent its failure — in other words, whether it’s become “too big to fail.” The speculation was enough to elicit a response from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who earlier this month pushed back on the theories in a social media post and said the company should not be bailed out in the event of failure. Yet, Warren is still seeking information about any potential plans by the government to “prop up” the company, arguing OpenAI’s decisions paint a different picture. Warrend wrote: “While Mr. Altman has claimed that the company is not looking for a ‘bail out,’ OpenAI’s actions suggest that it may be pursuing a deliberate strategy to entangle itself with the federal government and the broader economy so the government has no choice but to step in with public funds. We have seen this before: take on enough debt, make enough risky bets, and then demand a taxpayer bailout when those bets go south so the economy does not crash.” The letter was addressed to White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks and Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios, and asks for assurances that the administration will not bail out OpenAI or any of its competitors should they fail.

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President Donald Trump appears to be eyeing an executive order that would target individual state efforts to rein in artificial intelligence and initiate several actions aimed at preempting those laws. A draft order viewed by FedScoop includes plans to establish an AI litigation task force to challenge state AI statutes, restrict funding for states with AI laws that the administration views as “onerous,” and launch efforts to preempt state laws via the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and legislation. In response to a FedScoop inquiry about the six-page draft order, which was also marked “deliberative” and “predecisional,” a White House official said that until announced officially, “discussion about potential executive orders is speculation.” The document comes as long-discussed desires by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans to preempt state AI laws and clear the field for AI companies appear to be coming to a head. Republican lawmakers are again planning to include a state AI law moratorium in the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act, and Trump, in a Tuesday social media post, voiced clear support for a federal standard to be included in the NDAA or another bill.

The Defense Department’s CTO has revised its list of critical technology areas — reducing the number of research-and-development priorities by more than half. The Pentagon announced on Monday that the 14 critical technology areas established during the Biden administration will be trimmed to just six categories. In a video shared on LinkedIn, Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael emphasized that the shortened list will steer the department’s efforts to efficiently deliver the emerging capabilities that warfighters need. Michael said Monday in a statement: “When I stepped into this role, our office had identified 14 critical technology areas. While each of these areas holds value, such a broad list dilutes focus and fails to highlight the most urgent needs of the warfighter. 14 priorities, in truth, means no priorities at all.” The focus areas in the updated catalog include applied artificial intelligence (AAI); biomanufacturing; contested logistics technologies (LOG); quantum and battlefield information dominance (Q-BID); scaled directed energy (SCADE); and scaled hypersonics (SHY). Since its creation, the Pentagon’s outline of critical technology areas has included the most pressing challenges and capabilities needed for modern warfare. The list serves as a guide for where the department should focus its investment, research and development efforts.

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Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search engine, is ramping up its push for government use, inking a new deal with the General Services Administration to offer its product for just 25 cents per agency. GSA announced the deal with Perplexity on Wednesday, emphasizing that the product will be offered directly through the agency’s Multiple Award Schedule rather than through a government reseller, a first-of-its-kind agreement. The move aligns with GSA’s OneGov initiative, which aims to work directly with technology vendors to cut prices and streamline contracting. Under the deal, Perplexity’s Enterprise Pro for Government will be available on GSA’s MAS for a quarter to agencies over an 18-month term. In doing so, Perplexity also received prioritized authorization under FedRAMP, the government’s primary security review program that approves cloud-based technologies for federal use. Perplexity is only the second company to do so, joining OpenAI, which received prioritized authorization in September. According to GSA, Perplexity’s Enterprise platform was also streamlined through the FedRAMP 20x pilot, which is focused on simplifying the cloud services approval process and reducing the timeline from months to weeks. Perplexity’s platform uses large language models from other companies, such as Anthropic’s Claude or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to conduct real-time internet searches and generate summaries for users. GSA noted Perplexity’s platform has optional connections to common agency systems like Microsoft’s OneDrive, Outlook or SharePoint.

The Department of Health and Human Services is exploring how artificial intelligence can support caregivers with the launch of a new $2 million prize competition for AI caregiver tools. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the “Caregiver Artificial Intelligence Prize Competition” at an event Tuesday for National Family Caregivers Month, stating the agency is calling on engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs to use AI to “make caregiving smarter, simpler and more humane.” Kennedy said: “Many caregivers work around the clock, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, taking care of their loved ones with lifelong disabilities, dementia or chronic illness. Too many lose their income, their job, their aspirations and ambitions for themselves and even their own health in the process.” The HHS’s Administration for Community Living (ACL) emphasized that the direct care workforce is facing increased shortages, leaving family caregivers to fill the void. According to an AARP report published in July, nearly 1 in 4 adults provided ongoing care for an adult or child with a complex medical condition or disability. These caregivers spend, on average, about $7,200 a year in out-of-pocket caregiving expenses, the report found. The competition will seek tools that benefit the professional care workforce or personal caregivers. Developers could be awarded up to $2 million for the products.

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storically tumultuous year for federal employees didn’t dim the public’s pre-shutdown view of government services, according to a new survey that largely credited tech adoption for the positive perceptions. The 2025 American Customer Satisfaction Index Federal Government Study, released Tuesday, found citizen satisfaction with federal government services at a 19-year high with a score of 70.4 on a 0-to-100 scale, a 1% jump from 2024. The survey of 6,914 randomly chosen respondents was conducted before the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, but ACSI’s director of research emeritus emphasized that the results still “reflect real momentum in improving how citizens experience federal services.” Forrest Morgeson, an associate professor of marketing at Michigan State in addition to his role at ACSI, said that the introduction of AI is making a large impact, and such advancement “signal a future where government services can be more responsive and accessible to all.” Many of the highest-ranking federal agencies in customer satisfaction were lauded for their implementation of technologies, including USDA, the State Department and the Small Business Administration.

The National Institutes of Health didn’t ensure that the entity housing personal health information of over 1 million people — including biosamples — implemented proper cybersecurity protocols, according to an internal watchdog. In a report publicly released Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General made five recommendations for the security of the All of Us program — a database of diverse health information from 1 million participants that’s meant to aid research — after finding weaknesses. According to the report, while the award recipient operating the program’s Data and Research Center implemented some cybersecurity measures, NIH failed to ensure other controls were addressed. The report found that NIH didn’t ensure that the awardee, which wasn’t identified, appropriately limited access to the program’s data and didn’t communicate national security concerns related to maintaining genomic data — or data relating to DNA. It also failed to ensure that weaknesses in security and privacy were fixed within a timeline outlined in federal requirements. The audit was initially conducted by the inspector general due to the threats that cyberattacks and the potential exposure of sensitive information can pose to the agency’s programs. The watchdog’s objective was to scrutinize the access, security and privacy controls of the program.

Also in this episode: HPE Networking Chief AI Officer Bob Friday joins SNG host Wyatt Kash in a sponsored podcast discussion on how agencies can leverage cloud and AI to build more automated, secure and mission-ready networks. This segment was sponsored by HPE.

U.S. officials are moving to deputize state and local law enforcement partners for counter-drone activities ahead of the 2026 World Cup in an attempt to address a gap in legal authorities. While certain federal officials have been given the authority to counter unmanned aircraft that pose a credible threat to specified locations, that same authority has not yet been extended by Congress to state and local officials. So, as U.S. cities look to enhance the security of their skies ahead of the World Cup matches they’re slated to host, the federal government is moving to train and deputize law enforcement in those areas so they, too, can participate in counter-drone efforts. Details of those plans were shared at an event last week on drone mitigation co-hosted by the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup, Commercial Drone Alliance, and DroneResponders. former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, who represents the 11 U.S. cities hosting World Cup matches on behalf of Hogan Lovells, told reporters: “There are some technical issues about who has the capacity to do counter-drone technology — who can operate that equipment.” Working with the FBI, he said, the White House is requiring officials to be trained, and “in effect, they become deputized, they become federal agents for this limited purpose.” While Coleman said it “would be cleaner” and easier to do it via legislation, he told reporters “the public should understand that we have the capacity to ensure that the folks who need to operate the equipment will be able to do it.” Through a recently launched FBI training program known as the National Counter-UAS Training Center, state and local law enforcement officers will be educated and then granted authority by the Department of Justice for counter-drone work. That schoolhouse located in Alabama was ordered under President Donald Trump’s executive order on drone mitigation and graduated its first class in recent weeks.

Days after deploying America’s newest and largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean to target what the Trump administration alleges are drug-trafficking boats from Venezuela, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unveiled a large-scale military and surveillance operation in the region that will commence later this month. “Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood — and we will protect it,” Hegseth wrote in a social media post last Thursday night. Venezuela launched a major military mobilization campaign this week in response to the U.S.’ unusual surge of weapons and Navy assets to its Southern Command area of responsibility. Last Tuesday, Hegseth deployed America’s most advanced aircraft carrier — the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) — and its strike group to Southcom, following an order from President Donald Trump. Tension has risen between Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro this year, continuing to escalate in recent months. The U.S. has conducted multiple deadly strikes in the region Southcom covers since early September against vessels Hegseth has accused online of smuggling drugs from Venezuela.

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The Army is initiating massive organizational reforms for how it buys new weapons and capabilities in an effort to drastically shorten procurement timelines and promote innovation, according to top service officials. Announced Friday, the Army’s acquisition portfolio overhaul will consolidate the service’s program executive offices (PEOs) responsible for buying new weapons into six new offices called “portfolio acquisition executives” (PAEs). The plan also creates a new office dedicated to rapidly injecting and scaling emerging technologies into Army formations. The transformation comes after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced his intent to revamp acquisition processes across the entire Pentagon on Nov. 7, as well as an April directive from Hegseth that called on the Army to consolidate many aspects of the service — including its procurement organizations. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told reporters Wednesday ahead of the announcement that the new structure aims to mimic best practices from private industry, creating a new system that accepts risk and streamlines capability delivery.

The Defense Department’s civilian employees whose pay was impacted by the record-setting government shutdown and lapse in appropriations that ended this week are expecting to receive their missed paychecks retroactively. However, questions are swirling about the Pentagon’s plans as it reopened Thursday — including the timeline for that out-of-cycle backpay process, whether it will arrive in the form of lump sum payments, and more. According to a new policy memorandum from the White House Office of Personnel Management issued Wednesday after President Donald Trump signed legislation to fund the government: “Federal employees who did not receive pay because of the lapse in appropriations that began on October 1, 2025, must receive retroactive pay at the employee’s standard rate of pay for the lapse period as soon as possible after the lapse ends,” pursuant to the U.S. Code. That guidance applies explicitly to the department’s personnel affected by the lapse who were either furloughed or performed excepted work activities. Service members and some DOD civilians designated “essential” reported to work during the shutdown — but only military officials were paid. More than 1 million federal employees reportedly missed one partial and two full paychecks during this shutdown, which caused serious financial strain for public servants across the nation. Several reports surfaced this week regarding when the Pentagon might begin processing paychecks and how soon they could start to arrive. The DOD did not appear to publicly release final, comprehensive guidance with details on its workforce repayment schedule and plans.

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After 43 days, the longest federal government shutdown in history has ended. President Donald Trump signed the legislative spending package into law late Wednesday night after the House passed it 222-209. While the reopening of the government is certainly a step in a positive direction, it comes with lingering questions. First and foremost on that list is whether much of the government will be right back facing the threat of a second shutdown come the end of January, when the continuing resolution is set to expire for a large block of federal agencies. However some agencies, like the Department of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the legislative branch, will receive full appropriations through fiscal 2026 as lawmakers on the subcommittees that oversee them were able to pass full funding bills as part of the package. On top of that, though the government’s doors are officially back open for business, there will be some lag in getting key services back online and returning workers to their posts. Issues that were key during the 43-day saga like air travel operations and SNAP benefits will take some time to return to normal. As will paying federal employees who were furloughed without pay during the shutdown. And, it’s not clear yet what the end of the shutdown could mean for federal employees who were removed from their jobs via reductions in force since Oct. 1.

The congressional package that reopened the government placed a caveat on funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Electronic Health Record system, putting new pressure on the agency to resolve its yearslong challenges with the rollout. The bill to fund the VA through fiscal 2026 will dish out $3.4 billion for the EHR rollout, but the full amount is contingent on the agency updating Congress on the revised timeline and cost estimates. The provision, tucked into the 394-page spending package, would withhold 30% of the funding until July of next year and gives the agency secretary until June 1 to hand over the requested information. This information includes an updated life-cycle cost estimate for the EHR Modernization program, based on the VA’s announcement earlier this year to accelerate deployments in nine facilities. The Senate also requested a facility-by-facility deployment schedule for all facilities expected to receive the EHRM program, along with the projected federal VA staffing levels and required resources. The secretary is also expected to certify that all VA facilities using the EHR have exceeded or met health care performance metrics and certify that the department has at least four consecutive, successful site deployments without delays or patient harm. It comes after Senate staff was informed in 2023 that the rollout of the EHR system was linked to six cases of “catastrophic harm,” including four deaths. Later that year, the Biden administration paused the EHR rollout.

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Senate Democrats are ratcheting up pressure on the White House over artificial intelligence data centers and the surging utility costs that have accompanied their nationwide buildout. In a letter sent Monday to Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, five senators blasted the Trump administration for the “sweetheart deals” it has made with Big Tech companies on data centers, and its “reckless abandonment” of consumers as their electricity bills soar. The letter, which was led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., states: “​​Since his second inauguration, President Trump has cozied up to Meta, Google, Oracle, OpenAI, and other Big Tech companies, fast-tracking and pushing for the buildout of power-hungry data centers across the country.” According to the letter — which was also signed by Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont — national power consumption from data centers could jump from 5% to 12% within three years, and even the White House noted in its AI Action Plan that “technological advancements of AI are increasing pressures on the grid.” At the same time, the second Trump administration has seemingly traded in the all-of-the-above approach to energy sources pursued during the president’s first term for a decidedly anti-renewables bent that the senators said has “supercharged this cost-of-living crisis by making it harder to increase and diversify sources of household electricity sources.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ push to modernize decades-old systems faced a technical issue earlier this year, delaying education benefits payments for tens of thousands of students at the start of the school year. A group of veterans’ service organizations, including the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), highlighted the issue this week, telling reporters that the technical glitch occurred in August, when the VA began converting benefits claims from its legacy system to a new processing system for Chapter 35 Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance. The VA launched its initiative to modernize the GI Bill process in 2022, and the Digital GI Bill platform was set to be fully operational by April 2024 but faced its own delays last year. A part of the multi-billion-dollar initiative involves overhauling multiple legacy systems, including those related to the education benefits process. Ashlynne Haycock-Lohmann, the director of government and legislative affairs at TAPS, told FedScoop in an interview that the veterans’ service community welcomes the changes to decades-old systems, but the timing around the school year could present risks.

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