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DHS, Partners Test Air Domain Awareness Tech for Border Security; Shawn McDonald Quoted
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DHS, Partners Test Air Domain Awareness Tech for Border Security; Shawn McDonald Quoted

The Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology (DHS S&T) Directorate is testing technologies designed to secure the U.S.-Canada border's airspace.

S&T said Thursday it partnered with the U.S. Coast Guard,  U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) to establish testing standards and demonstrate various air domain awareness technologies in Limestone Hills, Montana.

These technologies include radio frequency detectors, electro-optical and infrared cameras and radars. Montana's National Guard, Mitre and the Northern Plains UAS Test Site also supported the test, wherein unmanned aircraft systems flew in a testing environment with domain awareness technologies. 

“S&T is excited about this opportunity to conduct these air domain awareness demonstrations and test these unique technologies, sensors and capabilities in realistic environments,” said Shawn McDonald, S&T program manager.

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New Deltek Report Shows Increase in AI Spending & Implementation in Federal Agencies; Christine Fritsch Quoted
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New Deltek Report Shows Increase in AI Spending & Implementation in Federal Agencies; Christine Fritsch Quoted

Christine Fritsch, a principal research analyst on Deltek’s federal market analysis team, recently published an article providing insights from the company’s Federal Artificial Intelligence Landscape 2022 report, which examined current and future federal AI influences and priorities.

Deltek’s report predicts the continued expansion of AI in federal agencies based on a variety of budgetary, policy, acquisition and workforce factors. 

“It’s safe to say that in both the short- and longer-term government spending on AI technology is going to remain a significant part of agencies’ strategic planning,” Fritsch wrote.

The report’s three key recent trends include the acceleration of federal AI spending, the growth of AI-related small businesses in the federal sector and the increase of AI legislation and policy.

Federal spending on AI rose 50 percent from FY 2018 to FY 2020, positioning artificial intelligence as the fastest growing investment area. For small AI businesses, obligations grew from $129 million in FY 2018 to $356 million in FY 2020, which is a growth of 177 percent. 

Additionally, federal agencies including Congress and the White House have developed directives and executive orders that call for bolstering AI capabilities in the federal government.

Fritsch also noted that AI technology has the potential to transform key industries including national security, transportation, agriculture and healthcare. 

She expects that as agencies continue to experience increasing mission complexity and data volume, these influences will drive IT and AI spending and innovation in the federal government.

The new report from Deltek marks a shift in federal spending from last year's trend of cloud-based services.

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NSF Awards New Research, Seed Grants via Future Manufacturing Program; Sethuraman Panchanathan Quoted
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NSF Awards New Research, Seed Grants via Future Manufacturing Program; Sethuraman Panchanathan Quoted

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has invested $31.5 million in 22 new projects that will explore biological materials and develop cybersecurity and sustainability approaches for the manufacturing sector.

Forty universities and two companies secured grants under NSF's Future Manufacturing initiative to develop new systems and skilled professionals that could support production work, the agency said Thursday.

“With fundamental, convergent research and a diverse future workforce, we can overcome scientific, technological, educational, economic and social barriers and equitably grow manufacturing capacity and jobs across the nation,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "This is about making the leap to the next generation of manufacturing capabilities where the U.S. can lead the world."

The projects will cover biological, cyber and green manufacturing research areas. Grantees come from 18 states that include five jurisdictions covered by NSF's Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.

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Jesse Salazar: US Agencies, Allies Play Crucial Roles in Supply Chain Resilience
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Jesse Salazar: US Agencies, Allies Play Crucial Roles in Supply Chain Resilience

Jesse Salazar, deputy assistant secretary for industrial policy at the Department of Defense (DOD), said that federal agencies’ efforts to address supply chain resiliency challenges reflect a whole-of-government approach, DOD News reported Thursday.

He noted at the ComDef2021event that DOD is working with five other agencies to examine the domestic supply chain’s reliance on other countries as part of a report mandated by President Biden’s Executive Order 14017.

The White House expects the interagency report to be complete in February. U.S. allies and partner nations that support the Pentagon’s military weapons programs also play a key role in building a resilient supply chain, according to Salazar.

He added that a DOD-wide working group aims to help the department identify organizational factors that limit its supply chain visibility and to develop risk mitigation strategies.

Jesse Salazar: US Agencies, Allies Play Crucial Roles in Supply Chain Resilience

ExecutiveBiz, sister site of ExecutiveGov, will host a virtual event on Oct. 26 about securing the supply chain. Visit the EBiz Events page to register for the “Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations” forum.

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GovCon Expert McAleese: Gen. Mark Milley, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Testify on Afghanistan Withdrawal
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GovCon Expert McAleese: Gen. Mark Milley, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Testify on Afghanistan Withdrawal

Consulting firm McAleese & Associates has issued a report outlining key takeaways from hearings held by Senate and House Armed Services Committees on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

Jim McAleese, founder of McAleese & Associates and a three-time Wash100 winner, reported that Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified that he recommended maintaining 2,500 to 3,500 U.S. advisory troops plus 5,000 NATO forces in Afghanistan, saying this would have allowed U.S., NATO and Afghan National Security Forces to keep the Taliban at bay “for an indefinite period of time” and force a negotiated political settlement.

Milley, a four-time Wash100 Award winner, told lawmakers that the emergency noncombatant evacuation operation was necessarily limited to defense of the Kabul airport and that military leaders unanimously recommended adhering to the Aug. 31 withdrawal date to minimize risk to U.S. forces, the remaining U.S. citizens and to the mission.

"That is exactly what we assessed that if we stayed past the 31st, the risk of force, U.S. military casualties, the risk to the mission, the ability to executive and continue to execute a [noncombatant evacuation], and most importantly the risk to the American citizens that are still there was going to go to … very high levels,” Milley told Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., during the Senate panel’s hearing Tuesday.

Defense Secretary and 2021 Wash100 Award winner Lloyd Austin also testified saying the total U.S. military equipment captured by the Taliban from Afghan forces is less than $15 billion to $20 billion and that all U.S. military equipment had been successfully retrograded by July.

Austin noted that Afghan troops’ military equipment accounted for only 20 percent of the total U.S. funding for ANSF from 2002 through 2021.

Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, joined Milley and Austin during the hearings and testified that the “go-to-zero” decision to pull out U.S. troops from Afghanistan demoralized Afghan forces while strengthening approximately 75,000 Taliban fighters.

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FAA Seeks Info on Professional IT Services Sources for Enterprise Services Center
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FAA Seeks Info on Professional IT Services Sources for Enterprise Services Center

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a request for information to identify vendors that can provide information technology-related professional services for its Enterprise Services Center (ESC) in support of the latter’s short-term IT project needs. 

FAA plans to review industry responses to help inform the acquisition strategy for a multiple-award task order contract that could be used to provide support to ESC, according to a sources sought notice posted Monday.

Under the proposed MATOC, the agency intends to select five contractors that have knowledge and experience in robotic process automation and other IT areas in relation to PRISM/Delphi hardware and associated software and infrastructure. 

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) designated ESC as one of the four shared services providers of financial management information system-related services to the Department of Transportation and other federal agencies. 

ESC oversees all Oracle applications development and programming through Oracle system administration, program extensions and security administration, among others, and carries out all Delphi functional activities.

FAA listed potential PRISM/Delphi projects that could be supported by the proposed contract. These include ESC PRISM upgrades; enterprise data warehouse/business intelligence support using Oracle business intelligence applications, implementation of OMB treasury mandates into Oracle federal financials and zero trust architecture implementation.

Interested stakeholders should provide a capability statement and respond to a list of questions, including available acquisition sources that could support the requirement and their experience with Scaled Agile framework or SAFe for software development and Oracle Federal Financials e-Business Suite 12.x or higher.

Responses are due Oct. 19th.

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Clare Martorana: Federal Government Advances 3 Ways to Improve Citizen Service Delivery
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Clare Martorana: Federal Government Advances 3 Ways to Improve Citizen Service Delivery

Federal Chief Information Officer Clare Martorana said the U.S. federal government is pursuing three approaches to improve the way it delivers services to citizens and one of those is operating as an enterprise to facilitate service delivery.

Martorana wrote in a blog post published Thursday that she is advancing the first approach by encouraging agency CIOs to understand the needs of citizens, team up with technologists and organize around services and users to enhance the delivery of services to customers.

The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) board announced seven new awards worth $311 million combined to help federal agencies advance zero trust adoption, improve interagency collaboration and advance other information technology transformation efforts.

Martorana said the latest TMF awards reflect the government’s efforts to protect data and privacy, enhance the authentication experience for government services users, improve the security of shared services and drive data sharing and digital collaboration across the federal enterprise.

She noted that the federal government is also advancing efforts to improve cybersecurity, including the implementation of zero trust strategy to protect digital assets from sophisticated cyberthreat actors. Another approach to improving citizen services delivery is building a diverse IT workforce.

Martorana called on early-career and senior technologists to start their government career and improve agencies’ way of delivering services to citizens by participating in the U.S. Digital Corps and the U.S. Digital Service.

Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations

ExecutiveBiz, sister site of GovConDaily and part of the Executive Mosaic digital media umbrella, will host a virtual event about securing the supply chain on Oct. 26. Visit ExecutiveBiz.com to sign up for the “Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations” event.

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Texas A&M Research Station Gets $96M Army Contract to Study Hypersonic, Autonomous Platforms
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Texas A&M Research Station Gets $96M Army Contract to Study Hypersonic, Autonomous Platforms

The U.S. Army has awarded Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) a $96 million cost-no-fee contract to conduct research on hypersonic systems.

The research organization under the Texas A&M University System will also study networked autonomous vehicles as part of the five-year cost-no-fee contract, the Department of Defense said Thursday.

Army Contracting Command received one bid for the project through an online-based solicitation and estimates work to conclude by Sept. 28, 2026.

TEES is chartered by the State of Texas to advance innovations in education, technology and research that will help the industry and economic development of the region.

The institution collaborates with the Texas A&M University College of Engineering to integrate basic and applied research capabilities.

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GovExec Acquires Professional Development Academy; CEO Tim Hartman Quoted
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GovExec Acquires Professional Development Academy; CEO Tim Hartman Quoted

GovExec announced on Thursday that the leading information services and insights company has acquired Professional Development Academy (PDA), a development and training platform for state, local and federal leaders. 

The transaction marks the company’s tenth acquisition since its inception in March 2020. GovExec’s ninth and most recent previous deal was the acquisition of Market Connections earlier this month.

“GovExec believes in providing public sector leaders with the full suite of tools they need to advance their careers and fulfill their government mission,” said GovExec CEO Tim Hartman, noting that the strategic acquisition of PDA will enhance the company’s professional development offerings.

Hartman continued, explaining that PDA’s knowledge-based platform and deep enrollee engagement gives GovExec “additional insights that fuel our rich business intelligence tools, expand the opportunities to provide knowledge-based training to state and local, federal and defense leaders, and build custom content that helps the entire public sector ecosystem level up and operate more efficiently.” 

Founded in 2014, PDA leverages their dynamic learning management platform to foster collaboration and engagement between frontline and mid-level leaders, resulting in improved performance and higher organizational value for their customers.

The academy’s digital platform has served over 7,000 users to date, and PDA will leverage the transaction with GovExec to scale its capabilities and expand into new public sector markets. PDA will serve as a companion offering to Government Marketing University, which GovExec acquired in July.

PDA co-founder, Dr. Tim Rahschulte will serve as PDA’s executive vice president, and co-founder Bob Dethlefs will serve as a senior advisor.

The transaction was completed with financial support from Growth Catalyst Partners, and financial terms have not been disclosed.

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NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Completes Design Review; Enters Flight Hardware Assembly, Testing Phase
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NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Completes Design Review; Enters Flight Hardware Assembly, Testing Phase

NASA’s ​​Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a next-generation observatory intended to shed light on the dark energy and dark matter cosmic puzzles, has concluded its developmental engineering stage after passing the critical design review.

According to Julie McEnergy, the Roman Space Telescope senior project scientist, the team will move forward to building and testing the observatory after completing the groundwork, NASA said Wednesday. 

The next phase will entail the assembly and testing of flight hardware through 2024 and after which, the team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center will conduct the system integration review and merge the Roman observatory. 

“Finally, we’ll test the whole observatory in environments that simulate launch and our orbit to make sure Roman will work as designed,” said Jackie Townsend, deputy project manager for the Roman Space Telescope.

The space agency indicated that astronomers are prospecting Roman to navigate the vast space, explore the infrared universe and unveil rocky worlds in and beyond the regions that have liquid water. 

NASA is eyeing to launch the mission no later than May 2027. 

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