With help from Cristiano Lima, Leah Nylen and Benjamin Din
Editorâs Note: Morning Tech is a free version of POLITICO Pro Technology’s morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the dayâs biggest stories.
Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.
â Beyond the ban: Hereâs what to watch for in the Facebook Oversight Boardâs ruling on whether to reinstate former President Donald Trumpâs account.
â Tai in the crosshairs: All eyes are turning to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai as she weighs whether to include techâs liability shield in future trade agreements.
Quick Hits The
Office of Management and Budget is seeking public comment on the implementation of the Biden Administration s day-one executive order titled Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. OMB s request includes a section on federal procurement. Under the order, agencies will need to assess opportunities to direct more procurement and contracting dollars to underserved individuals and communities so that a broad cross-section of American businesses can share in the jobs and opportunities created by federal buying activities, the comment request states. OMB is looking for suggestions on making the federal procurement system more equitable and how to measure equity and inequity in contracting decisions at the prime and subcontracting levels.
Get Permission
The Biden administration will prioritize cybersecurity in its $1 billion IT modernization grant program for federal agencies, which will be overseen by the General Services Administration and the Office of Management and Budget.
In March, Congress allocated $1 billion for federal IT modernization project grants as part of the American Rescue Plan - the $2 trillion economic relief package signed by President Joe Biden. That measure also includes $650 million in funding for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to address security issues (see:
Grants disbursed by GSA and OMB under the new Technology Modernization Fund will focus on projects that address cybersecurity improvement as well as other shortcomings in IT systems. The two agencies also will take into consideration projects that deal with improving public-facing federal services and cross-agency collaboration programs.