The State Dept. has issued a "notice of funding opportunity" (DRLA-DRLAQM-18-005) for a $2M campaign to "promote an open, interoperable, secure and reliable global Internet."
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The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, which is behind the effort, wants to further its goal to push for "fundamental freedoms, human rights, and the free flow of information online by supporting civil society to advocate for rights-respecting policies and practices with governments, commercial enterprises and technical bodies."
The Bureau said sectors of the global information and communication technology business face governmental pressure to curtail human rights via online censorship, network shutdowns and data localization requirements.
It wants proposals to empower local Internet freedom, business and human rights advocates to promote reforms geared to the United Nations' guiding principles on business and human rights.
Proposals are due Sept. 25. User/password can be obtained at www.grantsolutions.gov.
Erik Hotmire has rejoined the Securities and Exchange Commission as chief external affairs officer and director of the Office of Public Affairs.
California seeks a firm to handle a $3.5M marketing/ad program to promote awareness of, and increase sign-ups in, its job corps program. 
The National Highway Safety Administration has awarded its public education to Stratacomm following a competitive re-compete process.
Congress wants the FTC to probe whether TikTok violated child privacy laws when it launched a last-ditch lobbying blitz to defeat the bill requiring its owner, ByteDance, to divest it.
Jeffrey Nesbit, who served as communications director for former vice president Dan Quayle, is named assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
