An analysis from Censeo Consulting Group says an increase in the minimum wage for federal contract workers as directed by an executive order will have a minor impact on government contract spending but will likely result in agencies reviewing and modifying 30,520 contracts.

“We project that analyzing and modifying these contracts will add 450,000 additional hours to the workload of contracting offices, which is the equivalent of over 240 additional full-time roles,” the Censeo report states.

In late April, President Biden signed an executive order that will require government contractors to raise the minimum wage of employees working on federal contracts from $10.95 to $15 per hour by 2022.

The departments of Defense (DOD), Veterans Affairs (VA), Agriculture (USDA) and State are among the agencies that will be the most impacted by the executive order.

The report estimates the new policy’s impact on federal spending to be between $1 billion and $2 billion and recommends that agencies take several measures to prepare for the EO, including segmenting contract portfolio by delivery location and spend category to determine contracts most likely to be impacted, developing a policy and process for addressing such contracts and analyzing vendor price structures to identify contracts that will need modifications.

The University of Maryland and the U.S. Army have signed a five-year cooperative agreement that will focus on exploring artificial intelligence systems and approaches to implement autonomy across different operating domains.

Academic research teams at University of Maryland campuses in College Park and Baltimore County will participate in 18 initial projects with the Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory to help the service branch develop AI and autonomous technology platforms, ARL said Wednesday.

Researchers will work to build common development and testing infrastructure that features a virtual environment to demonstrate collaborative autonomy.

They also aim to formulate methods for human-machine coordination in battlegrounds and to advance self-driving vehicles that apply computer vision, remote sensing and modern robotics tools for terrain navigation. 

“No matter how autonomous we think a system is, a human operator will interface with it at some level," said Derek Paley, a UMD professor and director of the Maryland Robotics Center. 

"The goal is to migrate the dangerous, dirty, and dull work to the autonomous platform,” added Paley, who serves as lead researcher on the agreement.

Under the agreement, the Army will give collaborators access to the service branch's Robotics Research Collaborative Campus located near Middle River, Maryland, to conduct demonstrations.

Join GovCon Wire’s AI: Innovation in National Security Forum to hear from public and private sector representatives as they discuss the use of emerging technology to stay ahead of global adversaries. Visit the events page on GovCon Wire to register for this virtual forum.

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) office of inspector general (OIG) called on DHS to improve data collection and management activities after it found that persistent data quality issues hamper the department’s daily use of some of the diverse and largest databases to support decision-making processes and mission operations.

OIG assessed 135 reports between fiscal years 2017 and 2019 and identified 70 data quality issues classified into four categories: data access, data accuracy, data completeness and relevance and data availability, according to a summary report released Monday.

The inspector general’s office also identified 82 internal control deficiencies that hindered the accuracy, confidentiality and availability of the department’s data. Those deficiencies were grouped into five categories: security and technical controls; program and operational oversight; guidelines and processes; system design and functionality; and training and resources.

According to the report, the department has enhanced its information security program and come up with strategies and plans to improve data quality and management but needs continued improvement to address internal control deficiencies associated with data quality issues.

“Only then can the Department be assured it captures reliable and accurate data to accomplish its mission responsibilities,” the report states.

Darlene Costello, acting assistant secretary of the U.S. Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, said the Department of Defense (DOD) and space companies “have their best people” working to counter China’s attempts to steal and compromise intellectual property data, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

She told the Senate Armed Services Committee’s subpanel on strategic forces Wednesday that the Air Force is working with the space industry to implement security measures against potential breaches.

“We have gotten much better, and continue to challenge our industry partners and work with them on our cybersecurity and our intellectual property,” Costello added.

Costello noted that companies offer incentives to protect their intellectual property.

“Industry doesn’t want that going out the door either, so that’s a shared interest on our part and they are actively working it,” she said.

If you want to know more about the latest updates about the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, then check out Potomac Officers Club’s CMMC Forum coming up on June 16th.

CMMC Accreditation Body Chairman Karlton Johnson will serve as the keynote speaker for the Forum to provide his overview and vision of the CMMC Rollout as well as the top priorities for the board and how industry feedback will help to improve the vision behind how the organization develops for the first 100 days.

To register for this virtual forum and view other upcoming events, visit the POC Events page.

The U.S. Navy has declared the initial operational capability of a Raytheon Technologies-made system designed to guide aircraft landing on naval carriers and amphibious assault ships.

The Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) achieved IOC on May 4 and is now ready to facilitate aircraft landings on naval ships, Naval Air Systems Command said May 18th.

“JPALS has reached a historic milestone, which supports our requirement to deliver, operate and maintain a Navy with a focus on our core roles of sea control and power projection,” said Cmdr. Jeff Dugard, who leads the Naval Airspace and Air Traffic Control Standards and Evaluation Agency.

The system's IOC declaration results from a long series of developmental work that commenced in 2008 and comes almost a year earlier than scheduled.

JPALS can now help F-35C units land on nuclear aircraft carriers in any weather condition. The system has been used on amphibious assault ships since 2016 under an early operational capability.

The Department of the Air Force came up with four options to guide the data-sharing activities of both the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force, Breaking Defense reported Tuesday.

The department developed these options based on the results of the Data and Infrastructure Architecture Summit, which commenced in March and ran for two weeks.

Leaders of the Air Force Department will assess the options and decide in June 2021 on which to execute. The department's Chief Architect Integration Office will then develop a minimum viable product based on what Air Force leadership decides on.

“The main premise behind all courses of action is to develop an enterprise data platform,” said Taylor Flaxington, lead design engineer for the Air Force Department.

Booz Allen Hamilton announced on Wednesday that it is partnering with Databricks to drive business value by unifying data and artificial intelligence (AI) to meet federal agencies’ data challenges and advance their missions.

“Combining Booz Allen’s deep technical expertise and mission knowledge with Databricks’ rich Lakehouse Platform will deliver truly powerful AI insights and outcomes for defense, federal civilian and intelligence agencies as they face the most urgent national data challenges,” commented John Larson, senior vice president with Booz Allen Hamilton.

“The accelerated collaboration, scale and data-driven insights that this partnership brings will add tremendous value for our federal clients as they leverage these advanced capabilities to serve our national priorities,” added Larson.

The partnership between Booz Allen and Databricks will create three critical applications that are vital resources for data-driven insights and decision-making. Including scalable enterprise AI operations, fraud, waste and abuse detection and mitigation and genomics data processing.

Booz Allen will deliver scalable machine learning workflows to accelerate AI initiatives beyond the lab to deploy them to the enterprise and enable trusted, machine-led insights in real-time. The partnership will leverage AI as a powerful tool for detecting patterns and anomalies in massive amounts of data, such as those processed by healthcare and financial organizations.

As to the genomics data processing application, the companies will use AI to bring develop computing power to help agencies unlock value from data to improve insights.

“The ability to uncover actionable insights from data has never been more important as enterprises look to adapt, innovate and better prepare for the future in an uncertain world,” said Howard Levenson, general manager of Databricks Federal.

“We’re excited to be working with Booz Allen as they leverage the power of Databricks’ Lakehouse Platform to help organizations solve their toughest problems with data. We look forward to seeing the value this partnership delivers for our joint customers,” Levenson added.

Clare Martorana, the new federal chief information officer, said the government is looking to update its digital services and cybersecurity through allocations of a $1 billion fund, FCW reported Tuesday. These digital transformation efforts would use the Technology Modernization Fund's (TMF) boost mandated by the American Rescue Plan Act.

The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) hosted a conference where Martorana talked about how the new TMF funds can help agencies bolster cybersecurity and adopt modern technologies.

“Making data shareable, adopting common standards and improving data management is just going to be mission-critical for many years to come,” Martorana stated. Agencies interested in using the funds may submit proposals through June 2nd.

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (NASDAQ: CMTL), a world leader in secure wireless communications technologies, announced today that during its third quarter of fiscal 2021, its New York-based subsidiary, Comtech PST Corp., which is part of Comtech’s Government Solutions segment, was awarded an additional $1.6 million contract for RF microwave solid-state amplifiers from a major domestic prime contractor, adding to an initial $1.7 million contract awarded earlier this fiscal year.