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White House Unveils Plan to Transform Capabilities for Pandemic Readiness
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White House Unveils Plan to Transform Capabilities for Pandemic Readiness

The White House has launched a plan to transform U.S. capabilities when it comes to preparing for and responding to future pandemics and other biological threats

The plan outlined in the document American Pandemic Preparedness: Transforming our Capabilities establishes a set of opportunities and needs across five key pillars to protect the country against high consequence biological threats, the White House said Friday.

These key areas are transforming medical defenses; ensuring situational awareness; strengthening public health systems; building core capabilities; and managing the mission.

For the first key pillar, the U.S. should expand and improve the availability of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics during or before a pandemic.

The plan, which is part of a biodefense and pandemic readiness strategy, also aims to build up core capabilities in the areas of personnel protective equipment, biosafety and biosecurity, stockpiles and supply chains and regulatory improvement.

The move is the latest in a string of efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and improve readiness against future health emergencies and biological threats. In January, President Biden reinstated the National Security Council Directorate on Global Health Security and Biodefense and ordered a review of U.S. biopreparedness policies.

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Tech Leaders Call on DOD to Accelerate Commercial Tech Adoption; Eric Schmidt Quoted
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Tech Leaders Call on DOD to Accelerate Commercial Tech Adoption; Eric Schmidt Quoted

Technology industry executives are urging the Department of Defense (DOD) to increase the adoption of commercial technologies to maintain its military advantage over Russia, China and other near-peer competitors, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

“The government is not prepared,” Eric Schmidt, chair of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) and former CEO of Google, said in an interview. “There are so many examples where digital technology would completely change the way the systems work.”

In March, the commission issued a 756-page report citing the need to further advance public-private partnerships and offering several recommendations, such as purchasing commercial software and software and accelerating tech-focused recruitment, training and research efforts.

DOD also needs to overcome hurdles with regard to procurement processes and bureaucracy and Schmidt said he believes such challenges could be addressed.

“What I’ve observed about the government bureaucracy is you go in, and you push—and if you push really hard, you can really make something happen," said Schmidt.

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Pentagon Seeks Input on Barriers Facing Small Businesses
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Pentagon Seeks Input on Barriers Facing Small Businesses

The Department of Defense has released a notice in the Federal Register asking small businesses to share insights on the barriers they face in contracting with DOD.

DOD said Wednesday it will use industry feedback to inform the development of its small business strategy and seek ways how to utilize small companies’ capabilities to further build up domestic supply chains, improve competition and advance equity and inclusion in the department’s procurement efforts.

The Pentagon is seeking insights on various topics, including government business practices that might deter small companies from providing goods and services in support of DOD requirements; business practices and regulations that strain the relationship between small businesses and DOD; use of past performance data during source selection and information collection processes; and contracting timelines and the impact of such timelines on small businesses, according to the notice.

Public comments are due Oct. 25th.

The request for comments came a week after Kathleen Hicks, deputy DOD secretary and a 2021 Wash100 Award winner, announced that the department is committed to looking at administration barriers facing small companies seeking to do business with the Pentagon and will initiate measures to address those challenges where it can.

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Col. Timothy Sejba: Space Tech Prototyping Contracts Could Reach $1B During 2021
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Col. Timothy Sejba: Space Tech Prototyping Contracts Could Reach $1B During 2021

Col. Timothy Sejba said the U.S. Space Force expects to award nearly $1 billion in prototyping contracts for the first year of the branch's new other transaction agreement with the Space Enterprise Consortium, Defense News reported Thursday.

USSF selected National Security Technology Accelerator in January to act as the manager of “SpEC Reloaded" and administer up to $12 billion in prototype development funds over a 10-year period.

Sejba, who serves as program executive officer for space development, described the consortium as "a foundational tool" that allows organizations within the Department of Defense to rapidly seek industry proposals and issue awards nearly 40 percent faster than some traditional Federal Acquisition Regulation-based contracting methods.

He told Defense News that 80 percent of the 441 SpEC members reported by the USSF's Space and Missile Systems Center in December 2020 were nontraditional contractors and nearly 60 percent of consortium awards went to such companies.

The U.S. Air Force established the program in November 2017 and USSF sought feedback from industry in August 2019 on the recompete of the consortium management agreement.

“To see where we’ve gone, starting off with just [a] $100 million OTA ceiling and just a couple dozen small businesses and traditionals — last count we were just shy of 600 companies that are a part of the Space Enterprise Consortium,” Sejba said, according to the publication.

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VMware Names Kit Colbert as Chief Technology Officer; Raghu Raghuram Quoted
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VMware Names Kit Colbert as Chief Technology Officer; Raghu Raghuram Quoted

Kit Colbert, who has been with VMware since 2003, has been named the Palo Alto, California-based technology company’s next chief technology officer, VMWare announced on Wednesday. 

In his new role, Colbert’s expertise will inform VMware’s technical future, and the new CTO will helm the company’s transformation to a cloud and subscription-centric Research and Development (R&D) organization. 

In addition, he will oversee the VMware Engineering Services team, the Design/UX team and the company’s ESG commitments in addition to advancing the company’s R&D efforts.

“It is with great pleasure that we welcome Kit into the position of CTO at VMware,” said Raghu Raghuram, who was appointed to chief executive officer of VMware earlier this year. “Kit’s passion, proven technological savvy and excellent leadership capabilities will be instrumental in advancing our innovation engine and research and development efforts.” 

Formerly the company’s Cloud CTO, Colbert has spent his career with VMware creating and developing innovative, foundational technologies for the company’s now multi-billion dollar product lines and businesses. 

Notably, Colbert was responsible for creating, developing, and delivering the vMotion and Storage vMotion features in VMware vSphere, a server virtualization product designed to help companies increase their operational efficiency, control hardware costs, accelerate service delivery and improve security. 

In his nearly two decades at the company, Colbert has been an integral part of the VMware’s technical operations and has served many roles including general manager of VMware’s Cloud-Native Apps business, CTO for VMware’s End-User Computing businesses and lead architect for VMware’s vRealize Operations Suite.

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National Academy of Public Administration Creates Center to Foster Intergovernmental Collaboration; Matthew Chase Quoted
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National Academy of Public Administration Creates Center to Foster Intergovernmental Collaboration; Matthew Chase Quoted

National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) has created a center that will promote partnerships between executives across all levels of government in the U.S.

The Center for Intergovernmental Partnerships (CIP) will foster collaborative, intergovernmental efforts to address issues faced by the country, NAPA said Tuesday. CIP will initially help agencies manage funds from the CARES Act and other programs that support COVID-19 pandemic response.

The center and its partners will assess the state of coordination between the different levels of government and determine practices that promote the transparency of national recovery efforts. CIP will also create a new information source to augment intergovernmental systems.

“America’s county officials are excited to join the Academy to keep the flame of our nation’s unique intergovernmental system alive for future generations,” said Matthew Chase, CEO and executive director for the National Association of Counties.

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Farooq Mitha: DOD to Reduce Entry Barriers for Small Businesses
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Farooq Mitha: DOD to Reduce Entry Barriers for Small Businesses

Farooq Mitha, who leads the Department of Defense's Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP), said his team is working to reduce the barriers that make it difficult for small businesses to work with the military.

He said DOD seeks industry input on the challenges faced by small businesses, as the department develops a small business engagement strategy, DOD News reported Tuesday. DOD also plans to streamline the entry points through which small businesses can engage with DOD, including the business.defense.gov website.

“We're also looking to increase the connective tissue between these programs so that businesses don't have to go to 10 different places to get 10 different opportunities,” he said, emphasizing how DOD wants to boost the consolidation and coordination of small business programs.

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Macquarie Capital-Backed Dovel Technologies to be Acquired By Guidehouse; CEO Damon Griggs Quoted
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Macquarie Capital-Backed Dovel Technologies to be Acquired By Guidehouse; CEO Damon Griggs Quoted

Macquarie Capital announced Wednesday that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell its portfolio company, Dovel Technologies to Guidehouse, leading provider of strategic advisory and technology services, for an undisclosed amount in a transaction expected to close in the fourth quarter of the 2021 fiscal year.

Damon Griggs, chief executive officer of Dovel said, “We are excited by the opportunity to join the Guidehouse platform given our complementary capabilities and strategically correlated missions to improve, protect, and save lives.”

He continued, “Together, Dovel and Guidehouse will create a powerful, technology-driven organization, characterized by deep industry expertise and leading technical know-how. Our companies are aligned with similar cultures and strong core values.”

Dovel’s expertise in implementing leading-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, cloud adoption, digital modernization and technology infrastructure optimization, particularly in the domain areas of public safety, health and human services, will augment Guidehouse’s offerings to further their mission of creating the next generation global consultancy.

“Through the integration of our two firms, our employees will experience an innovative and collaborative environment with expanded growth opportunities, while our combined clients will access a wider array of expertise, tools, and technologies to support their most important initiatives. We look forward to this new chapter together,” Griggs added.

Guidehouse will welcome Dovel’s management team and staff in the acquisition, adding 1,800 individuals to the combined employee base. Guidehouse and Dovel’s partnership is expected to generate over $2 billion in annual revenue.

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Doug Schroeder: DOD-Formed Group Reviews Small Satellite Investments
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Doug Schroeder: DOD-Formed Group Reviews Small Satellite Investments

Doug Schroeder, oversight executive at the Defense Department's research and engineering office, said a group of DOD representatives has identified more than 100 small satellite investment programs across the U.S. Air Force, Army, Space Force and Marine Corps, Breaking Defense reported Tuesday.

He told an audience at the SATELLITE 2021 event that service branches mostly invested in satellite systems that could potentially support remote sensing and communications activity.

According to Shroeder, companies should consider pursuing DOD's Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) approach because the process works to accelerate the transition of a technology project from the development stage to the initial operational capability.

He added that more than 200 proposals have been submitted to the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve, a funding vehicle created by DOD in June to encourage joint warfighting concept development across service branches.

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Philip Duffy Rejoins OSTP to Serve as Climate Science Adviser
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Philip Duffy Rejoins OSTP to Serve as Climate Science Adviser

Philip Duffy, former president and executive director of the Woodwell Climate Research Center, has returned to the Office of Science and Technology Office as a climate science adviser.

He will work in OSTP's climate and environment division and brings his experience from initiatives that sought to address the socioeconomic impacts of climate change, the White House said Sept. 1st.

At the Woodwell Climate Research Center, Duffy oversaw the organization's collaboration with indigenous groups, social justice organizations and under-resourced communities, as well as business and finance leaders, to examine how to manage climate change risk in work and livelihoods. 

He worked as an author and review editor at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, where he represented the U.S. government at the approval sessions for IPCC reports and coordinated the federal government’s review of the Fifth Assessment Report. 

In the 1990s and 2000s, he served as a research scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he worked on issues related to drought, water scarcity and wildfire. Duffy was a senior policy analyst at OSTP and senior adviser for the U.S. Global Change Research Program during the Obama administration, 

The White House noted that his new appointment comes at a crucial time, following the Aug. 9 release of the IPCC report and ahead of the upcoming 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties in November.

Philip Duffy Rejoins OSTP to Serve as Climate Science Adviser

As climate change continues to pose challenges in the environment and communities around the world, find out how the nation's defense and national security agencies are leveraging data analytics for their climate adaptation approaches. Join the Potomac Officers Club's “Bolstering Climate Resilience for National Security" forum on Sept. 14 at 1 p.m. ET. Register here.

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