CivicActions

Evolving Digital Procurement with Jonathan Mostowski We recently spoke with Jonathan Mostowski, a founding architect of the Digital IT Acquisition Professional (DITAP) program and author of…

We recently spoke with Jonathan Mostowski to reflect on the program’s evolution and its growing impact on federal procurement. Read on to hear how DITAP is preparing students to meet the moment.

medium.com/civicactions...

CivicActions-Accessibility CivicActions Accessibility site is an open project for our team members and those who work for digital inclusion.

Accessibility Tip of the Week: Focus on focus states. It is often difficult for keyboard-only users to know where they are on the page. Make focus states very obvious. tinyurl.com/a11yCA #a11y #keyboardOnly

Drupal: A Digital Public Good for a Better Digital Future Drupal isn’t just powerful open-source tech — it’s officially recognized as a Digital Public Good, meaning it’s built to serve people and planet. In this piece, Mike Gifford shows how Drupal’s values ...

We’re proud to share a great article by CivicActioner @ox.ca, published in The Drop Times:

👉 www.thedroptimes.com/50678/drupal...

#Drupal #OpenSource #Accessibility #CivicTech #FOSS #GovTech #CivicActions"

CivicActions-Accessibility CivicActions Accessibility site is an open project for our team members and those who work for digital inclusion.

Accessibility Tip of the Week: Blend your testing methods. Use tests that can be automated with your continuous integration (CI), tests that can be leveraged by editors and tests to gather site wide errors. tinyurl.com/a11yCA
#a11y #accessibility

3d rendering of drupal logo

✅ 27 Drupal contributions—and July isn’t even over.
At CivicActions, we don’t just use Drupal—we help shape it. Our developers, designers, and accessibility experts contribute directly to the core ecosystem, sharing improvements that benefit everyone.

www.drupal.org/civicactions

Free and Open Source Software Is COTS: Affordable, Efficient, and Proven - GovLoop Government is prioritizing technology solutions that encourage speed, savings and innovation. Open source software — a type of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution — aligns with that approach.

Open source is COTS—and gov should treat it that way.
Aaron Pava & @ox.ca Mike Gifford make the case on GovLoop for why #FOSS qualifies as commercial, off-the-shelf—and why it should be the default.

www.govloop.com/community/bl...
#FOSS #COTS #GovTech

CivicActions-Accessibility CivicActions Accessibility site is an open project for our team members and those who work for digital inclusion.

Accessibility Tip of the Week: Test with Microsoft Edge's Immersive Reader mode. It's useful to see that your design holds when elements seen as extras are removed. Also, the speech-to-text feature is a great way to proof for better readability. tinyurl.com/a11yCA #a11y #accessibility

ICYMI: Mike Gifford @ox.ca, Open Standards & Practices Lead at CivicActions, joined Oliver Davies on his podcast to talk about web accessibility.

Listen to the podcast: www.oliverdavies.uk/podcast/32-w...

#WebAccessibility #CivicActions #A11y #InclusiveDesign #FOSS

Cheat Codes for Successful Procurement Exclusively for public servants and policymakers

Save the Date: CivicActioner Mike Gifford @ox.ca will be speaking at Cheat Codes for Successful Procurement, a virtual event hosted by Apolitical.

🔗 apolitical.co/events/aug-2...

#GovProcurement #PublicService #CivicTech #FOSS #CivicActions #OpenContracting #DigitalGovernment"

CivicActions-Accessibility CivicActions Accessibility site is an open project for our team members and those who work for digital inclusion.

Accessibility Tip of the Week: Test to produce errors! Errors need to be accessible, just like the rest of the page. This includes forms, 404 pages, and even page load notices. This information also is relevant to people with disabilities. tinyurl.com/a11yCA #a11y #accessibility

Using SBOMs To Keep a Government Website More Secure By Scott McGee, Senior DevSecOps Engineer

In his latest Medium post, Senior DevSecOps Engineer @Scott McGee shares how we’re using Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs) to strengthen the security of government websites.

medium.com/civicactions...

Disability pride flag with red, yellow, white, blue, and green stripes across a charcoal background. The Disability Pride Flag is designed to show that disability spans borders between states and nations. It is set against a black field, mourning the victims of ableist violence. It is crossed with a diagonal band, cutting across the barriers that have separated disabled people from society. The band is comprised of stripes of red (physical), gold (neurodivergence), white (invisible & undiagnosed), blue (psychiatric) and green (sensory).

This July, we come together at CivicActions to celebrate Disability Pride Month! July marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. Below is the Disability Pride Flag. #DisabilityPrideMonth #a11y #Accessibility

We're excited to share a new addition to the Open Requirements Library: Section 508 Compliance for Website Maintenance and Enhancement. Check it out and let us know would you think!

🔗 github.com/CivicActions...

#a11y #section508 #GovTech #procurement #accessibility #FOSS

A man stands at a lectern and gives a presentation to a room of people. the text on the slide behind him reads "The 20th international conference on open repositories. twenty years of progress, a future of possibilities"

We're at #OpenRepos2025 in Chicago! It's all about #OpenData making data accessible.

or2025.openrepositories.org

#DKAN #OpenScience #DigitalPublicGoods #GovTech #FOSS

Continuing to Do Good in Civic Tech During Challenging Times Exygy's Civic Tech Panel

ICYMI: Last month, @exygy.bsky.social hosted a powerful conversation on continuing to do good in civic tech during challenging times, featuring a panel of leaders including CivicActioner Liz Tupper. Check it out!

www.exygy.com/blog/continu...

YouTube video by The Exchange Shifting the mindset around digital accessibility

ICYMI: CivicActioner @ox.ca joined BC Digital Trust’s John Jordan for a Global Accessibility Awareness Day talk on digital accessibility. Mike shared insights on the economic + social impacts of digital exclusion.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAws...

#Accessibility #a11y #GAAD #OpenSource #FOSS

Excited to see our client Oak Ridge National Laboratory represented at Open Repositories 2025 next week! Olga Kuchar will share how they are transforming the Constellation data repository to support the future of open data. #OpenData #OR2025 #FOSS

or2025.openrepositories.org

Open Is More Secure: The Case for Open Source in Government Cybersecurity As federal agencies race to modernize, adopting zero trust architectures and cloud-first policies, one foundational truth is becoming…

As federal agencies modernize with zero trust and cloud-first strategies, one truth is becoming clear: free and open source software (#FOSS) isn’t a risk — it’s essential for real security.

Civicactioner Fen Labalme explains why in his latest blog post: medium.com/civicactions...

Aaron Pava with Andrea Fletcher, Jennifer Belman, and Remy DeCausemaker, seated for their panel at the code for america summit

Last week, it was great to see so many CivicActioners in DC at the Code for America Summit, sharing insights and advancing the work of digital public service!

#CodeForAmerica #OpenSource #DigitalPublicGoods #Medicare #GovTech #CivicActions

Mike Gifford, Henry Poole, and Bill Ogilvie pose in front of step and repeat at eGov2025 conference in Estonia

Great to see CivicActioners Mike Gifford, Henry Poole, and Bill Ogilvie engaging in an international dialogue on #FOSS and #GovTech at #eGov2025 in Estonia! 🌍💬 @ox.ca

CivicActions-Accessibility CivicActions Accessibility site is an open project for our team members and those who work for digital inclusion.

Accessibility Tip of the Week: Check for meaningful alt text. Too often alt text doesn't convey the same meaning as its corresponding image. Try to plainly describe the image and how it relates to the content. Learn more: accessibility.civicactions.com#A11yTip

#a11y #altText #accessibility

In the Open Requirements Library, CivicActions is creating and storing best practices for digital performance requirements, while reducing incumbent wiring, Q&A cycles, pre- and post-award protest and enabling new entrants to the gov marketplace.

Learn more: github.com/CivicActions...

We’ve been digging into the CSIS Government Open Source Software Policies Dataset and learning a lot about how governments across the world have embraced open source as a powerful lever for digital transformation.

github.github.com/government-o...

CivicActions-Accessibility CivicActions Accessibility site is an open project for our team members and those who work for digital inclusion.

Accessibility Tip of the Week: Check elements embedded with iframes. Often, iframes don't have titles associated with them. And automated accessibility tools typically skip them. tinyurl.com/a11yCA #a11y #iframe

Drupal and AI Powering the Next Generation of Government Digital

“Governments don’t have to start from scratch—they should leverage their existing Drupal websites. AI can make writing easier and improve accessibility. AI can make understanding rules easier.”
– CivicActioner Mike Gifford on Drupal and AI @mgifford.bsky.social

🔗 apolitical.co/solution-art...

CivicActioner @mgifford.bsky.social is presenting "Boosting Web Accessibility with Drupal CMS and AI" at DrupalCamp Ottawa on May 2!

This session promises practical knowledge for making Drupal websites more accessible for everyone.

Learn more: drupalcampottawa.com/en/session/b...

Digital IT Acquisition Professional (DITAP) certification program | CivicActions We are a Small Business provider of DITAP training. Learn how we help you gain the skills for successful digital service procurements.

“Learning isn’t just about what happens in the moment — it’s about making connections over time.“- @Erin Murphy on the DITAP curriculum refresh

The next program begins Fall 2025, learn more: civicactions.com/services/dit...

#DITAP #GovTech #Acquisition #DigitalGovernment #Procurement #GovCon

CivicActions-Accessibility CivicActions Accessibility site is an open project for our team members and those who work for digital inclusion.

#Accessibility Tip of the Week: Mix-up your testing tools. There is no perfect accessibility tool, nor is any one tool going to always provide the best results. Use a combination of automated tools. Some of the errors identified may be accessibility false positives. tinyurl.com/a11yCA #a11y

Leveling Up DITAP: Insights from Experience Institute’s Erin Murphy CivicActions is currently working on the Digital IT Acquisition Professional (DITAP) Program Refresh as part of a contract awarded by the…

"I’ve learned so much from the CivicActions team...It’s such a unique and complex space, and I’ve developed a deep respect for the role these professionals play—not just in acquiring goods and services, but in shaping how government serves the public."
medium.com/civicactions...

93 Building an accessible web 🌐 - Civic Tech Chat We’re joined by Mike Gifford, Open Standards and Practice Lead at CivicActions. We’ll dig deep into what it takes to build accessible web services and why th...

ICYMI: Podcast on Building an Accessible Web with Mike Gifford

CivicActioner @mgifford.bsky.social, Open Standards and Practices Lead, dives into how and why of building an accessible web on this recent episode of Civic Tech Chat.

civictech.chat/2025/02/buil...