Federal science and health officials plan to create a research agency within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop technologies that could help detect, prevent and treat cancer, infectious diseases and other illnesses, GCN reported Friday.

NIH Director Francis Collins, Eric Lander, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and other officials wrote in a commentary published in the journal Science that they intend to use the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as an inspiration to establish the proposed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).

ARPA-H would work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies “to identify critical needs and opportunities and to partner on complex projects that interact, for example, with public health infrastructure or medical regulation,” the authors wrote.

They said the current administration requested $6.5 billion in funds for fiscal 2022 to establish ARPA-H, which should be led by a director for a single five-year term and “create breakthrough innovations that serve an entire ecosystem and all populations.”

“For ARPA-H to accomplish its goals, it will need to be provided by Congress with certain authorities parallel to those provided to DARPA, including the authority to recruit, attract with competitive pay, and quickly hire for a set term extraordinary [program managers],” they wrote.

An $80 million funding initiative by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will focus on creating a diverse talent pipeline for public health informatics and technology, HHS officials told Government Matters in an interview aired Sunday. 

Lisa Lewis, deputy national coordinator of operations in the Office of National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology, said the department aims to provide health IT training for approximately 4,000 individuals nationwide through the PHIT Workforce Program.

Elise Sweeney Anthony, executive director of HHS' policy office, noted that the program is eyeing minority-serving institutions to identify candidates capable of forming and participating in consortiums.

“They would essentially be providing training, certificate or degree-level programs focused on those two fields: public health informatics and public health technology from a diverse perspective,” Anthony added.

ONC plans to award 30 cooperative agreements for a four-year performance period, with individual awards not exceeding $10 million. According to the office, around $75 million of the program budget will be subject to conditions such as funding availability and milestone completion while the remaining $5 million will be allocated for the program’s administration.

The department expects to bring together workforce from local, state and tribal entities, including public health agencies and on-ground clinics. She added that HHS aims to ensure that efforts can continue after the four-year agreement period. 

“We know from COVID-19 that there is a demonstrated importance that is needed regarding data to response efforts … and identifying where health disparities may exist,” Anthony told GovMatters.

Leidos announced on Friday that the company has been awarded a potential 13-year, $950 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) prime contract from the U.S. Air Force to provide solutions for a broad spectrum of aviation requirements. 

"This award underscores Leidos' strong performance leveraging decades of operation and technical integration expertise for the Air Force," said Mike Chagnon, senior vice president and operations manager for Leidos. "We look forward to supporting the Air Force and its mission to maintain multi-domain dominance."

Leidos will support the Air Force's Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance & Special Operations Forces (ISR/SOF) Directorate (WI), Sensors Division (WIN) Non-Standard Foreign Military Sales (FMS) branches. 

The Leidos team will bring a cadre of professionals and tools from across the industry to improve both U.S. and allied ISR capabilities. Leidos will also provide full aircraft and ISR sensor integration, procurement of hardware and spares, sustainment support and inspections for airworthiness/configuration.

A communications technology team at Hanscom Air Force Base has demonstrated a new technology designed to bolster data sharing in the airborne battlefield.

The U.S. Air Force said Thursday that its Aerial Networks Division partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory to form the Tactical Data Link Enhancements Team, which tested the new Heimdall tactical data link.

Heimdall uses new data link methods to help pilots perform and communicate better in highly contested environments.

“What our system does is provide the Air Force with an advanced capability not only for the aircraft of the future but the aircraft of today," said Michael McAuliffe, program manager for the Tactical Datalinks and Gateways Branch.

A modified F-15C Eagle equipped with the technology flew to Holloman AFB in New Mexico then met with aircraft from Eielson AFB and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

Flight tests took place at White Sands Missile Range in N.M.  and over the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex. Aircraft deployed from Alaska were participating in the Northern Edge 21 exercise.

The U.S. Marine Corps has broken ground on a Quantico, Virginia-based site where the service branch will establish a modern wargaming center.

USMC said Thursday it conducted the groundbreaking ceremony for the future Marine Corps Wargaming and Analysis Center in May, with Lt. Gen. Eric Smith, deputy commandant for Marine Corps Combat Development and Integration, as the host.

The future 100,000-square-foot facility will house computer-based exercises that train troops in simulated warfare scenarios.

“This facility will include a complex set of modeling and simulation, visualization, immersive and analytical tools to enhance wargaming activities,” said Sharleene Prieur, acting WGC program manager at Marine Corps Systems Command.

Prieur said she expects USMC to complete the center's construction by summer 2023 and begin wargaming activities in 2024. The facility is expected to have its full range of equipment by 2025.

Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command awarded Clark Construction Group an $81.3 million contract to build the facility.

The Biden administration has expressed its support for a $1.2 trillion framework that seeks to make investments in transportation, power, broadband and water infrastructure while building resilience to climate change.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework intends to establish a network of electric vehicle chargers, expand rail and transit networks across the U.S., create an infrastructure financing authority and prepare the country’s infrastructure for impacts of extreme weather conditions and cyberattacks, according to a White House fact sheet released Thursday.

The plan would earmark $312 billion for transportation, including EV chargers, roads, bridges and public transit, and $266 billion for other infrastructure, including power, water and broadband networks.

The framework also proposes measures to finance infrastructure investments. These include reducing the IRS tax gap, redirecting unused unemployment insurance relief funds, extending expiring customer user fees, allowing states to sell or buy unused toll credits for infrastructure and repurposing unused relief funds from 2020 emergency relief legislation.

“President Biden remains committed to the comprehensive agenda laid out in the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan,” the White House document reads. “He will work with Congress to build on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework in legislation that moves in tandem, and he is encouraged that both the House and Senate are working on budget plans that would do so.”

If you're interested to know about the national security implications of climate change and how data analytics can inform agencies’ climate adaptation strategies, then check out the Potomac Officers Club's Bolstering Climate Resilience for National Security Forum coming up on Sept. 14. To register for this forum and view other upcoming events, visit the POC Events page.