The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a total of $100,000 to six companies that built artificial intelligence-based information technology applications to help former military personnel manage their health.

The 2020-2021 AI Tech Sprint, hosted by VA’s National Artificial Intelligence Institute, drew 44 participants from the commercial and academic sectors, the department said Monday.

VA plans to conduct further evaluation of winning tools from the three-month prize competition and said it will consider implementing the innovations at pilot sites before a potential nationwide rollout.

“The short timeline and mentoring allow VA to partner with industry leaders without any roadblocks to develop the health care solutions of the future — not just for those giving the care, but those who will benefit from it most,” said Rafael Fricks, lead for the AI Tech Sprint.

Behavidence won the $50,000 grand prize for its smartphone app that works to monitor veterans’ digital behavior patterns and flag users at a higher risk for suicide.

SoKat Consulting, which developed a chatbot that is compatible VA’s Blue Button repository of medical records, secured $25,000 as the second-place winner and General Dynamics Information Technology received the third-place award of $10,000 for a skin lesion classification algorithm.

JumpStartCSR, the HIVE Lab at George Washington University and Ouva won $5,000 each through the sprint. The department is scheduled to start the next round of its AI competition later this year.

The board overseeing the $1 billion Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) has started assessing just under 100 proposals from agencies, including four proposals from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal News Network reported Monday.

DHS Chief Information Officer Eric Hysen said those proposed projects seek to modernize data sharing across DHS components and other agencies and improve the processing of non-citizen arrivals at the southern border; make the experience of travelers more secure and seamless at U.S. airports; improve data access and analysis for some DHS components in conjunction with the agency’s chief data officer and enhance threat information sharing with local and state law enforcement agencies to address domestic extremism and violence.

“As we are looking at all of these efforts and the long list that we are still working on below that, we are looking at this in a way that is a little different from how DHS at least viewed the TMF in the past,” Hysen said at a Professional Services Council-sponsored conference.

“What we are trying to do very deliberately is not just use the TMF as an opportunity to look at our big list of unfunded modernization programs that we just need one vendor and we already have a whole plan for. But really to look at common problems and challenges across the department and set up systems and structures that will allow us to move together. We think we can get a lot more done if we modernize in common aligned ways across DHS components and systems,” he added.

Hysen said the department’s goal is to focus on systems that will help facilitate the delivery of services to citizens and he expects DHS to continue to file TMF applications in the coming months.

In May, the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced the launch of an updated repayment model for TMF that provides agencies more flexibility in paying back awarded funds for cybersecurity, digital services and other IT modernization projects.

Skyward, a Verizon company, announced on Thursday that the company signed a potential three-year Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to test cellular-connected drones.

The MOA titled “Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)—Cellular Technologies to Support UAS Activities” will enable Skyward and the FAA to research the capabilities of cellular communication networks for command and control (C2) within the National Airspace System.

“Cellular-connected drones play a critical role in enabling tomorrow’s safe, reliable, and secure drone operations,” said Matt Fanelli, director of Strategy and Operations at Skyward, a Verizon company.

Skyward and Verizon will also be using the data and information collected in the course of the MOA to inform its discussions on C2 and beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations in the FAA’s Advisory and Rulemaking Committee as well as universal traffic management (UTM), and one-to-many operations.

“We are thrilled to be laying this foundation with the FAA and are confident that our efforts will help inform technical standards from which industry regulations authorizing low-risk BVLOS and one-to-many operations will flow,” Fanelli added.

The MOA will also inform regulations regarding spectrum used in the C2 link between the drone operator and drone. The MOA will also facilitate information sharing between the FAA and Skyward, leveraging Verizon’s wireless network expertise, as the parties continue to explore how wireless networks can support drone operations.

The U.S. Census Bureau is assigning technology teams to help other agencies establish their own data sprint programs, Federal News Network reported Friday.

Drew Zachary, director of the Census Bureau's Opportunity Project, told Federal News Network she is leading the development of a new work model that would allow partner agencies to adopt a do-it-yourself approach as the bureau supports larger efforts.

The Minority Business Development Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Treasury compose the bureau's partners under the effort.

Similarly, the bureau is also extending its support to data programs of local government agencies including New York City’s office of the chief technology officer.

Mieke Eoyang, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, said the Pentagon wants to help its industrial partners bolster their own cybersecurity efforts, DOD News reported Friday.

Eoyang said at the Defense One Tech Summit that defense contractors must apply multi-factor authentication, get help from cyber companies or implement other cybersecurity best practices to boost cyber resiliency.

“We are trying to figure out how to make it easier for [contractors] to understand what kinds of better security practices are out there and what they can do to protect themselves,” she said.

The Department of Defense takes part in government-wide efforts to address ransomware and is willing to offer related insights in partnership with law enforcement and intelligence entities, Eoyang stated.

Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, have presented a bill that aims to fortify the federal government's workforce of cyber professionals.

The Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Expansion Act would establish two cyber training programs: one with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the other with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Hassan's office said Friday.

The program with the VA would grant U.S. veterans the opportunity to undergo cybersecurity training. The other program would establish cyber apprenticeships at CISA.

“This bipartisan bill will also help address the workforce challenges in the veteran community by standing up a cyber-training program at the VA to help veterans secure good-paying, stable jobs,” Hassan said.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is working on a catalog of bad cyber practices that pose risks to organizations supporting critical infrastructure and national critical functions.

CISA said the use of end-of-life or unsupported software and default, fixed or known passwords and credentials in support of NCFs and critical infrastructure increases risks to national security, public health and safety and economic security.

The agency described the first two listed practices as “egregious in internet-accessible technologies.”

“While these practices are dangerous for Critical Infrastructure and NCFs, CISA encourages all organizations to engage in the necessary actions and critical conversations to address Bad Practices,” according to the CISA notice.

The agency’s move comes in response to recent cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.

Eric Goldstein, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, said in a recent interview that a new executive order provides the agency with new authorities to counter cyberattacks, including the development of a common playbook for cyber incident response.