Processing....

Executive Gov

Digital News Coverage of Government Contracting and Federal Policy Landscape
Sticky Logo
  • Home
  • Acquisition & Procurement
  • Agencies
    • DoD
    • Intelligence
    • DHS
    • Civilian
    • Space
  • Cybersecurity
  • Technology
  • Executives
    • Profiles
    • Announcements
    • Awards
  • News
  • Articles
  • About
  • Wash100
  • Contact Us
    • Advertising
    • Submit your news
    • Jobs
Logo
Government Technology/News/Space
NASA Announces Winners of Competition for Lunar Ice-Digging Tech
by Nichols Martin
Published on August 19, 2021
NASA Announces Winners of Competition for Lunar Ice-Digging Tech

NASA has named the 13 winners of a $500,000 prize competition that sought technologies and ways to dig through the moon's icy regolith, in response to the need for water in future lunar exploration missions.

The space agency said Thursday its Break the Ice Lunar Challenge was championed by Florida-based Redwire Space, which won $125,000 for a two-rover ice-digging system. The competition began in November 2020 and aims to support future resource needs of NASA's Artemis exploration program.

Redwire's Lunar Transporter or L-Tran, a low-mass transportation rover, would deploy the Lunar Regolith Excavator or L-Rex, which is designed to dig through large amounts of lunar ice. L-Tran would then deliver the gathered ice and regolith.

Colorado School Of Mines and Austere Engineering won the competition's second and third places, respectively, for their own ice excavation systems.

“The system concepts developed as part of this challenge will enable sustainable lunar surface operations, paving the way for us to convert lunar ice to vital resources and decreasing our supply needs from Earth," said Monsi Roman, program manager for Centennial Challenges at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

NASA also awarded $25,000 each to the following runner-up teams:

  • AggISRU from Texas A&M University in College Station
  • Aurora Robotics from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks
  • Lunar Lions from the Columbia University Robotics Club
  • OffWorld Robotics
  • Oshkosh Corporation
  • Rocket M
  • Space Trajectory from South Dakota State University
  • Team AA-Star
  • Team LIQUID
  • Terra Engineering
Artificial Intelligence/News
NAIRR Task Force Extends Deadline for Roadmap Public Comments; Erwin Gianchandani Quoted
by Carol Collins
Published on August 19, 2021
NAIRR Task Force Extends Deadline for Roadmap Public Comments; Erwin Gianchandani Quoted

The deadline for public comments on the implementation plans for the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) has been extended for one month to take in more diverse perspectives, a task force official told FedScoop Wednesday. 

Erwin Gianchandani, cochair of the team responsible for creating the NAIRR roadmap and representative of the National Science Foundation (NSF), said the timeline will help them maximize the responses and discuss the ideas during the task force’s deliberations. 

The Congress, through the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, ordered the NAIRR task force to develop a blueprint for a shared AI research infrastructure. The facility is intended to support researchers and students in the AI field and enable them to access educational tools, data and computational resources. 

“Given that we want to hear from as many folks as possible—we’d really like a broad and diverse set of perspectives among the responses—we felt it best to extend the RFI response date by a month,” Gianchandani said. 

The task force will be accepting input from stakeholders on how the NAIRR can strengthen the principles and practices of AI research and development until Oct. 1, according to the Federal Register notice on request for information.

Government Technology/News
Sehlke Consulting Named to Inc. Magazine’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies List; CEO Chad Sehlke Quoted
by William McCormick
Published on August 19, 2021
Sehlke Consulting Named to Inc. Magazine’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies List; CEO Chad Sehlke Quoted

Sehlke Consulting announced on Thursday that the company was named to Inc. Magazine’s 5000 list, the highly prestigious annual ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies.

“Although 2020 held many twists and turns, we experienced our largest revenue growth year,” said Chad Sehlke, CEO & founder of Sehlke Consulting. “We are known for our commitment to precision-inspired performance through innovative technologies, and subject matter expertise driving best-value solutions. 2020 proved no exception to this, resulting in a 58% increase in revenue.

Among the 5,000, the average median three-year growth rate soared to 543 percent, and median revenue reached $11.1 million. Together, those companies added more than 610,000 jobs over the past three years.

“Although there was much less travel to clients this year, we found creative solutions and technology-driven ways to stay in close contact with our clients and partners,” Sehlke added. “Since 2013, Sehlke has averaged 101% in year-over-year revenue growth. We are proud of what our employees around the world continue to accomplish!”

Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000.

“Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement. Building one in the crisis we’ve lived through is just plain amazing,” says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. “This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people.”

About Sehlke Consulting

Our Mission and culture of integrity offers comprehensive and leading solutions in Financial Management, Acquisition Management, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and National Security and Defense Programs. Our Corporate commitment is to provide our clients with precision inspired performance through innovative technologies, and subject matter expertise driving best-value solutions.

Acquisition & Procurement/Government Technology/M&A Activity/News/Wash100
Accenture Federal Services Completes Acquisition of Novetta; Tiffanny Gates, John Goodman Quoted
by William McCormick
Published on August 19, 2021
Accenture Federal Services Completes Acquisition of Novetta; Tiffanny Gates, John Goodman Quoted

Accenture Federal Services (AFS) has completed its recent acquisition of Novetta, a McLean, Virginia-based advanced analytics company.

“Our combined company brings the scale and power of Accenture Federal Services’ digital capabilities together with Novetta’s ability to solve the government’s toughest mission challenges with precision,” said Accenture Federal Services CEO and four-time Wash100 Award recipient John Goodman. “We look forward to delivering the next generation of solutions that today’s missions and times demand.”

With the acquisition, AFS adds a new National Security portfolio to its business to be led by Novetta President and CEO Tiffanny Gates.

The acquisition adds approximately 1,300 people, including software developers, data scientists, and specialists in machine learning, cyber, cloud, and information exploitation to AFS’ 11,000 person workforce.

This portfolio will provide the highly specialized, mission solutions that clients turn to for expertise in the converging domains of analytics, intelligence expertise, cloud engineering, and cyber.

“I’m tremendously excited about my role as senior managing director of this new segment of Accenture Federal Services’ business,” said Gates, a three-time Wash100 Award winner. “Our disruptive technologies combined with Accenture Federal Services’ ability to deliver federal innovation at scale are highly complementary and will play a major role in meeting our clients’ mission needs.”

About Accenture Federal Services

Accenture Federal Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Accenture LLP, is a U.S. company headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Accenture’s federal business has served every cabinet-level department and 30 of the largest federal organizations. Accenture Federal Services transforms bold ideas into breakthrough outcomes for clients at defense, intelligence, public safety, civilian and military health organizations.

Executive Moves/News
Jay Bonci Assumes CTO Role With U.S. Air Force
by Mary-Louise Hoffman
Published on August 19, 2021
Jay Bonci Assumes CTO Role With U.S. Air Force

Jay Bonci, a 14-year veteran of Akamai Technologies, has started his new work as chief technology officer at the Department of the Air Force.

“My part of the mission is to empower and accelerate those on the ground by providing a cohesive enterprise architecture and service delivery strategy," Bonci wrote Tuesday in a LinkedIn post announcing his 

The new DAF CTO said he believes the department needs to identify a solid digital foundation that could support commodity information technology functions and weapon systems throughout the department.

He will be responsible for overseeing technology programs for the Air Force and Space Force in his new position and will work within the department's Office of the Chief Information Officer.

Bonci most recently served as senior director of public sector engineering at Akamai. Before that, he was director of the company's managed content delivery network offering for the government sector for more than five years and also held software engineering roles during his career there.

Industry News/News
Mitre Unveils Action Plan to Strengthen Biopharma Industrial Base; Monique Mansoura Quoted
by Jane Edwards
Published on August 19, 2021
Mitre Unveils Action Plan to Strengthen Biopharma Industrial Base; Monique Mansoura Quoted

Mitre has released an action plan outlining policy, financing and program recommendations to sustain and strengthen a biopharma industrial base as part of efforts to improve national security.

The 10-point action plan seeks to address weaknesses in the biopharma industrial base during the COVID-19 pandemic, the nonprofit organization said Wednesday.

“A lack of a sustainable biopharma industrial base, including critical infrastructure and a trained workforce, has contributed to the supply chain issues experienced during COVID-19,” said Monique Mansoura, executive director of Mitre’s global health security and biotechnology.

“We can build upon the positive actions that the government and industry have demonstrated for COVID response and create a stronger foundation to ensure an adequate and sustained supply of medical countermeasures, essential medicines, and medical supplies at sufficient scale and speed,” Mansoura added.

The action plan includes defining specific strategic goals of capacity and capability for biopreparedness mission; promoting agile program management and transparent accountability across the ecosystem through metrics, sustained practice for bio-incidents and enhanced program management; and developing a portfolio budgeting approach that provides sufficient flexibilities to meet industrial base mission objectives.

Government Technology/News
GAO: DOD Should Define Specific Roles for New Nuclear Enterprise Oversight Entity
by Jane Edwards
Published on August 19, 2021
GAO: DOD Should Define Specific Roles for New Nuclear Enterprise Oversight Entity

The Government Accountability Office has recommended that the Department of Defense document roles and responsibilities and communications approaches for the office of the secretary of defense nuclear transition review (SNTR), a new entity that DOD created in January to oversee the nuclear enterprise.

GAO made the recommendation after it found that DOD failed to define specific responsibilities for the SNTR and how the new organization will facilitate communications with other entities, according to a report published Wednesday.

The congressional watchdog found that the Pentagon has made progress implementing recommendations from 2014 and 2015 reviews of its nuclear forces. 

However, the department still needs to provide guidance to its components when it comes to assessing the outcome and process metrics and milestones for the remaining recommendations in the 2014 nuclear enterprise review to determine if they are appropriate for assessing implementation progress.

DOD should also “document guidance that identifies the means for monitoring long-standing issues including the associated metrics and information sources” with regard to the health of the nuclear enterprise, the report reads.

Cybersecurity/News
DOE Issues Progress Report on Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Initiative
by Jane Edwards
Published on August 19, 2021
DOE Issues Progress Report on Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Initiative

The Department of Energy announced several efforts that have been initiated since the launch of the Biden administration’s Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Initiative in April.

DOE said Monday some of those efforts include the introduction of the 100-day Electricity Subsector Action Plan, adoption of technologies by at least 150 electric utilities to further enhance the security of ICS and operational technologies and creation of a set of evaluation considerations for ICS monitoring technologies.

The department added that it is working with the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council to further advance the administration’s initiative and is providing analytical and technical support to smaller utilities in an effort to provide them financial assistance needed to field ICS/OT monitoring technologies, offer training to utility workers and conduct risk assessments.

DOE also released an updated version of the Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model to help utilities evaluate and improve the cybersecurity of their operational and information technology infrastructure.

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.

Government Technology/News
Col. Daniel Holland: Army Looks to Mount Attritable Sensor on High-Altitude Platform
by Mary-Louise Hoffman
Published on August 19, 2021
Col. Daniel Holland: Army Looks to Mount Attritable Sensor on High-Altitude Platform

The U.S. Army is seeking new sensor technology that can fly on a balloon or a glider plane at an altitude of at least 60,000 feet and facilitate target jamming, C4ISRNET reported Wednesday.

Col. Daniel Holland, capability manager for electronic warfare at the Army, said at AFCEA's TechNet Augusta event that the service is considering the idea of integrating a light payload on a high-altitude platform to place effects on a target using electronic attack or radio frequency-enabled cyber mechanisms.

The branch refers to the concept as High-Altitude Extended-Range Long Endurance Intelligence Observation System (HELEIOS) and aims to test HELEIOS through Project Convergence, a series of exercises slated to take place at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona this fall.

“The idea is blanketing the deep area with low-cost attributable sensors to enable deep sensing and deep effects,” Holland was quoted as saying.

The Army awarded other transaction agreements to Raytheon Technologies and L3Harris Technologies in June to develop sensor prototypes for first phase of the Multi-Domain Sensing System program.

HELEIOS will serve as a component of the MDSS suite, according to the report.

Government Technology/News
State Department Eyes Cloud Service Providers for Enterprise IT Modernization
by Mary-Louise Hoffman
Published on August 19, 2021
State Department Eyes Cloud Service Providers for Enterprise IT Modernization

The State Department is conducting market research to identify potential vendors that could migrate its legacy information technology applications to multiplatform, multitenant cloud infrastructure.

A sources sought notice posted on SAM.gov indicates the department is looking at enterprise application platform-as-a-service (aPaas) offerings for its cloud migration effort. The plan includes procuring software IT services via a utility-based model and implementing no code/low code systems, the notice states.

The department is eyeing Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP)-compliant cloud service providers to help transform its IT portfolio through aPaas approach as part of efforts to accelerate software development, deployment, configuration and update processes.

Interested businesses can submit responses to the request for information until Aug. 23rd.

Previous 1 … 1,101 1,102 1,103 1,104 1,105 … 2,704 Next
News Briefing
I'm Interested In:
Wash100 Vote Now
Recent Posts
  • NOAA Seeks Proposals for Commercial Microwave Sounder Data Under CDP Program
  • Army’s 3rd Group Converts MICO Into Multidomain Operations Company
  • DOW Partners With Boeing, Lockheed to Boost PAC-3 Seeker Production
  • NRC Selects Matt Pociask as General Counsel, Michael Franovich as Research Director
About

ExecutiveGov, published by Executive Mosaic, is a site dedicated to the news and headlines in the federal government. ExecutiveGov serves as a news source for the hot topics and issues facing federal government departments and agencies such as Gov 2.0, cybersecurity policy, health IT, green IT and national security. We also aim to spotlight various federal government employees and interview key government executives whose impact resonates beyond their agency.

Read More >>

RSS ExecutiveBiz
  • AI Sovereignty Is Key to National Security, Says AMD Global AI Leader
  • Redhorse Secures DOW Acquisition Digitization Prototype OTA
  • RTX BBN Unveils Tool for Covert Network Validation
  • Vantor to Provide NGA With Orbital Intelligence Under New Luno B Contract
  • Oracle Launches Unified AI Data Platform to Accelerate Federal Mission Outcomes
  • Nava Appoints Kelly Feeney as VP of Operations & Automation
RSS GovConWire
  • SpaceX Awarded $178.5M Space Systems Command Task Order for SDA-4 Launches
  • Tanium’s Melissa Bischoping: Agentic AI Could Help Strengthen Federal Network Resilience
  • Boeing Secures $900M Air Force Contract for T-38 Avionics Support
  • Paul Tierney Returns to Dataminr as Head of Public Sector
  • Godspeed Capital Invests in GALT Aerospace to Meet JADC2 Tech Demands
  • USSOCOM Issues $2.7B RFP for SOF Global Services Delivery Contract
Executive Gov

Copyright © 2025
Executive Mosaic
All Rights Reserved

  • Executive Mosaic
  • GovCon Wire
  • ExecutiveBiz
  • GovCon Exec Magazine
  • POC
  • Home
  • Acquisition & Procurement
  • Agencies
    • DoD
    • Intelligence
    • DHS
    • Civilian
    • Space
  • Cybersecurity
  • Technology
  • Executives
    • Profiles
    • Announcements
    • Awards
  • News
  • Articles
  • About
  • Wash100
  • Contact Us
    • Advertising
    • Submit your news
    • Jobs
Go toTop