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Senate Passes Infrastructure Bill Sans Amendment to Add $50B in Defense-Related Spending
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Senate Passes Infrastructure Bill Sans Amendment to Add $50B in Defense-Related Spending

The Senate on Tuesday approved a one trillion dollar infrastructure package but an amendment to the bill that would add $50 billion in defense infrastructure spending was blocked from receiving a vote.

Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.; Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.; and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., introduced the amendment to the infrastructure bill.

The amendment would have established a $50.2 billion Defense Infrastructure Fund. The measure proposed $25.35 billion for shipyard improvements, $4.5 billion for military depot modernization, $4 billion for training and test ranges, $2.5 billion for 5G deployment to military bases, $4 billion for facilities sustainment, restoration and modernization and $2 billion for high priority military construction projects.

Defense News reported that Shelby introduced a similar amendment to the budget resolution but the Senate turned down the defense infrastructure proposal in a 53-46 vote.

“These infrastructure projects are absolutely critical to our national security, they impact millions of jobs across the country, both military and civilian,” Shelby said ahead of the Senate vote.

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Sasha Baker Nominated DOD Deputy Undersecretary for Policy
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Sasha Baker Nominated DOD Deputy Undersecretary for Policy

The White House has chosen Sasha Baker, senior director of strategic planning at the National Security Council (NSC) and a special assistant to the president, for the position of deputy undersecretary for policy at the Department of Defense.

Baker previously worked as national security adviser to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and as deputy chief of staff to former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter under the Obama administration, the White House said Tuesday.

She served on the House Armed Services Committee’s (HASC) oversight and investigations subcommittee earlier in her career and joined the civil service through the Presidential Management Fellows program.

Her government career also includes prior roles as a budget analyst and special assistant to the director in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The former Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs fellow holds a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.

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OMB Seeks to Ensure Critical Software Security With New Memo
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OMB Seeks to Ensure Critical Software Security With New Memo

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued a memorandum that provides agencies 60 days to identify critical software platforms that are in use or in the process of procurement and one year to implement security measures designated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology for the use of all critical software.

Shalanda Young, acting director of OMB, wrote in the Tuesday memo that agencies should focus on software applications that provide several services including identity, credential and access management, web browsers, endpoint security, network protection and remote scanning.

OMB will also give agencies 12 months to integrate security measures for additional categories of software identified for each subsequent phase.

The agency said subsequent implementation phases will address additional software categories, including applications that control access to data, cloud-based and hybrid software and software components in operational technology.

The memo directs NIST to publish updates to the definition of critical software and related security guidance as necessary. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency should also release a list of critical software categories for inclusion in each phase of the implementation of NIST’s guidance for security measures as necessary.

OMB issued the memo in compliance with the cybersecurity executive order issued in May.

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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Samuel Walsh to Rejoin DOE as General Counsel After Senate Confirmation
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Samuel Walsh to Rejoin DOE as General Counsel After Senate Confirmation

Samuel Walsh, an attorney who previously served as deputy general counsel for energy policy at the Department of Energy (DOE), received Senate confirmation by voice vote to serve as DOE's general counsel.

Walsh spent more than six years at DOE in legal roles before he joined Washington, D.C.-based law firm Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis as a partner, the department said Tuesday.

He started his career at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit as a law clerk and later worked at Hogan Lovells' energy group as an associate.

Walsh holds a bachelor's degree from Yale College, a master's degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School.

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State Department Appoints Former Diplomat Amos Hochstein to Energy Security Advisory Role
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State Department Appoints Former Diplomat Amos Hochstein to Energy Security Advisory Role

Amos Hochstein, a former diplomat and executive at a natural gas company, has been appointed senior adviser for Energy Security at the State Department.

He will be responsible for implementing risk reduction measures in connection with the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline system that links Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea as the U.S. aims to establish an integrated strategy to help secure the global energy supply chain, the State Department said Tuesday.

Hochstein previously served as an executive vice president at Houston-based Tellurian, where he led marketing of liquefied natural gas to Asia, the Middle East, South America and Europe.

His career also included time as deputy assistant secretary for energy diplomacy at the State Department, EVP of international operations at Cassidy & Associates and policy and staff director at the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

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Navy Concludes Gerald R. Ford Carrier’s Shock Tests; Capt. Brian Metcalf Quoted
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Navy Concludes Gerald R. Ford Carrier’s Shock Tests; Capt. Brian Metcalf Quoted

The U.S. Navy has completed full ship shock trials of the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, concluding four months of tests that aimed to verify the ship's shock resistance against explosives and other forces.

USS Gerald R. Ford underwent its third explosive event, where the ship resisted a 40,000-pound underwater blast off Jacksonville, Florida's coast, the Navy said Sunday, the same day as the test.

The explosive event follows two previous ones, which also subjected the ship to underwater blasts of the same base magnitude. Blast distances got closer to the ship as testing progressed.

“These shock trials have tested the resiliency of Ford and her crew and provided extensive data used in the process of validating the shock hardness of the ship," said Capt. Brian Metcalf, manager of PMS 378, the Navy’s future aircraft carrier program office.

Rear Adm. James Downey, the Navy's program executive officer for aircraft carriers, said each blast was choreographed to the smallest detail with coordination between the ship's crew, other platforms involved and environmental scientists.

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Flight Software Now Installed on Space Launch System Rocket; David Beaman Quoted
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Flight Software Now Installed on Space Launch System Rocket; David Beaman Quoted

NASA has installed software designed to facilitate the flight and guidance of the Space Launch System rocket, which will lift the Orion spacecraft for future exploration missions.

Engineers from the agency's Alabama-based Marshall Space Flight Center are running tests and providing final checkout support to help the software achieve certification, NASA said Tuesday.

The software, which engineers installed upon SLS's assembly at Kennedy Space Center, is designed to help the rocket fly and steer across both launch and ascent phases. The Orion-SLS combo will undergo more tests between assembly completion and launch.

“The mission certification and performance certification tests are the next step for the rocket’s software on the path to launch and flight ahead of Artemis I," said David Beaman, systems engineering and integration manager for SLS.

The Artemis I mission, scheduled for late 2021, will have an uncrewed Orion spacecraft perform a lunar flyby. The application software for the mission's corresponding flight computer also completed tests at the system integration laboratory within Marshall.

NASA seeks to revive manned space exploration through the Artemis program.

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Space Force to Demonstrate New SmallSat Transport Tech
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Space Force to Demonstrate New SmallSat Transport Tech

The U.S. Space Force is working on a couple of efforts to transport small satellites and corresponding payloads to space, Space News reported Monday.

USSF plans to launch the Space Test Program 3 mission later this year to demonstrate the Long Duration Propulsive ESPA (LDPE), which will host multiple small satellites.

LDPE uses the ring-shaped, Northrop Grumman-made EELV Secondary Payload Adapter to accommodate and carry small payloads to orbits. The service branch’s Space and Missile Systems Center believes LDPE has the potential to enable frequent smallsat launches.

The other effort, known as Tetra, would produce smallsats designed to launch on LDPE and host a variety of payloads.

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AFLCMC Develops IDIQ Contract to Speed Up FMS Competition Process; Lt. Col. John Kosobud Quoted
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AFLCMC Develops IDIQ Contract to Speed Up FMS Competition Process; Lt. Col. John Kosobud Quoted

A small team from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) has developed an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract designed to speed up and enhance the competition process for Foreign Military Sales (FMS).

The $950 million Engineering  Assessment, Procurement, Integration and Contractor Logistics Support (EPIC) aimed at awarding nonstandard aircraft systems to FMS customers, features a pool composed of vendors that underwent competition, the AFLCMC said Monday. 

“It gives FMS partners a more streamlined approach to acquiring ISR capabilities in a competitive environment since each request is competed for by the 22 vendors in the pool,” said Lt. Col. John Kosobud, chief of the FMS nonstandard aircraft division.

He noted that the contracting timeframe is reduced on average from 18 months to six months, unlike in the traditional system where it could take 24 months to get on contract. 

The contract is awarded by the AFLCMC’s Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Special Operations Forces Directorate and is intended for non-programs of record. 

The U.S. Air Force on May 28th awarded the IDIQ contracts to 22 companies to obtain contractor logistics and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support for the FMS program.

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NSWC Carderock Awards Systems Planning and Analysis–Envisioneering Prime Contract; CEO William Vantine Quoted
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NSWC Carderock Awards Systems Planning and Analysis–Envisioneering Prime Contract; CEO William Vantine Quoted

Systems Planning and Analysis–Envisioneering (E-SPA), a  joint venture between Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc. and Envisioneering Inc., was awarded a $4.56 million prime contract from the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock to provide research, development, test and evaluation services to the Advanced Propulsor Management Office. 

This is a great win under our DTIC IAC MAC vehicle and provides an excellent opportunity for the E-SPA Joint Venture to provide high-quality services to the COLUMBIA Propulsor Program,” said Dr. William Vantine, president and CEO of SPA. 

Work will be performed at multiple Naval Sea Systems Command locations, including Carderock, MD, and the Naval Foundry and Propeller Center in Philadelphia to develop and provide new scientific and technical information, including tools for the tracking, analysis, and forecasting of costs across multiple submarine platforms. 

E-SPA’s responsibilities focus on cost and construction trend analysis for COLUMBIA Class submarine propulsor program.

This work is awarded as a task order on the Defense Technical Information Center Information Analysis Center Multiple Award Contract (DTIC IAC MAC).

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