/
Adm. Daryl Caudle Is New Chief of Naval Operations After Senate Vote
Published on
Adm. Daryl Caudle. Caudle is chief of naval operations following Trump's nomination and an affirmative Senate vote.

Adm. Daryl Caudle, a decorated lifelong Navy officer and engineer, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate late Thursday as the new chief of naval operations, DefenseScoop reported.

Adm. Caudle is a native North Carolinian whose prior posts have included commander of Submarine Forces, Submarine Force Atlantic and Allied Submarine Command, before taking on his most recent role as commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command in Dec. 2021.

The best place to learn about the U.S. Navy’s most pressing priorities and acquisition plans is Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Navy Summit on August 26. This highly anticipated GovCon conference will feature keynote speeches from CIO Jane Rathbun and two of Caudle’s deputy chiefs of naval operations, Vice Adm. Brad Skillman and Vice Adm. Karl Thomas, among many other distinguished guests. Save your spot now to stay competitive in the industrial base; tickets are going fast.

What Will Caudle Focus On as CNO?

As CNO, Caudle succeeds Adm. Lisa Franchietti, who was relieved from her position by President Trump in February sans justification. Trump in turn nominated Caudle who is widely seen as an acceptable and qualified pick. (Adm. James Kilby has been serving as CNO in an acting capacity in the interim.)

When she was still in office, Franchietti laid out the CNO Navigation Plan, which Caudle told the Senate Armed Services Committee when questioned that he would support. The plan includes focus areas of unmanned systems, AI and methodologies for data deterrence and potential information warfare with adversarial powers in the Indo-Pacific.

Adm. Caudle is a four-star whose recognitions include the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, four Defense Superior Service Medals, four Legions of Merit and the Meritorious Service Medal.

For more information on Adm. Caudle and what he plans to do as CNO, stay tuned for a longer article later this week on Potomac Officers Club’s website; sign up for the GovCon Daily newsletter to get it (and all the latest federal contracting news) delivered right to your inbox.

AI, unmanned systems and information warfare will all be central topics at the 2025 Navy Summit, from Potomac Officers Club. Catch fascinating panel discussions on these subjects and more on Aug. 26 at the Hilton McLean in Tysons Corner, Virginia.

Adm. Daryl Caudle Is New Chief of Naval Operations After Senate Vote
//
Leonardo, Elbit, QinetiQ Book Army FALCONS Phase 0 Agreements
Published on
Army logo. The U.S. Army is working with industry on the FALCONS program

The U.S. Army’s Product Manager Ground Sensors, or PM GS, has awarded other transaction authority agreements to Leonardo DRS, Elbit America and QinetiQ as part of Phase 0 development of the Future Advanced Long-range Common Optical/Netted-fires Sensor, better known as FALCONS, program.

PM GS said Friday that Phase 0 will have a 12-month period of performance, with each vendor receiving $2 million.

FALCONS Phase 0 Details

Under the agreement, the companies will perform preliminary system model development, system specification review and technology maturity assessments and receive soldier feedback on their proposed platforms.

“This initial phase will allow the Army and our industry partners to collaboratively establish the FALCONS prototype’s foundation before bending any metal,” explained Lt. Col. Ryan Welch, product manager for ground sensors at the Army. “During Phase 0, the Army will be able to set the conditions for a prototype development phase that will maximize competition and ensure an incredible warfighting capability is affordable and delivered to our Soldiers.”

What Is the FALCONS Program?

FALCONS will connect military scouts and fire supporters, facilitating coordination and shortening the kill chain. The platform will be equipped with the Army’s third-generation Forward-Looking Infrared, or 3GEN FLIR, system, which allows troops to see enemy forces through darkness, smoke, rain, snow or fog.  

FALCONS is expected to replace the Long Range Advanced Scout Surveillance System, or LRAS3, a platform that has been in operation since the start of the Iraq War.

//
Senators Propose Bipartisan Bill to Establish National Strategy for Migrating to Quantum Computing Cybersecurity
Published on
Post-quantum cryptography. A new bill calls for a coordinated strategy for migrating to quantum-safe security

Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., have introduced the National Quantum Cybersecurity Migration Strategy Act to ensure that the U.S. government is ready to face emerging cybersecurity threats posed by advancements in quantum computing. The proposed legislation calls for a coordinated national strategy to guide agencies to transition their systems to quantum-resistant cryptography.

“It’s critical that the federal government be prepared for any threat posed by quantum,” said Peters. “My bill would help keep Americans safe by ensuring we have a quantum cybersecurity migration strategy to remain ahead of our adversaries and protect Americans’ personal data.”

What Is the National Quantum Cybersecurity Migration Strategy Act?

Under the bipartisan bill, the Economic and Security Implications of Quantum Science, or ESIX, will guide the development of a national cyber migration strategy and identify which systems should be prioritized for quantum-safe encryption. ESIX, which is part of the National Science and Technology Council, will also be tasked with establishing standardized performance measures for migration efforts and defining what makes a cryptographically relevant quantum computer.

In addition, the proposed legislation would launch a pilot program requiring all federal agencies to transition at least one high-impact system to quantum-proof protections.

“Quantum computing is a rapidly advancing and promising technology, but it also poses new cybersecurity threats. The United States must be prepared for these cybersecurity challenges and remain the world leader is quantum technology,” commented Blackburn. “The National Quantum Cybersecurity Migration Strategy Act would ensure the federal government creates a road map to protect sensitive data and national security from emerging data security threats fueled by quantum computing.”

//
SEC Launches AI Task Force to Boost Operations
Published on
SEC logo. SEC launched the AI Task Force and appointed Chief AI Officer Valerie Szczepanik as head.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has created a task force dedicated to the responsible use of artificial intelligence to bolster innovation and operations.

The SEC said Friday that Chief AI Officer Valerie Szczepanik will spearhead the AI Task Force, which is designed to streamline the commission’s AI adoption and facilitate collaboration across the agency. The new task force will oversee the entire AI lifecycle, address potential obstacles, and prioritize AI applications for maintaining governance. 

SEC Chairman Comments on the AI Task Force

“The AI Task Force will empower staff across the SEC with AI-enabled tools and systems to responsibly augment the staff’s capacity, accelerate innovation, and enhance efficiency and accuracy,” said SEC Chairman Paul Atkins. “By ingraining innovation into our culture SEC-wide, we will further our mission to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation,” he added.

Valerie Szczepanik’s Career Highlights

Szczepanik was most recently the director of the SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology. She was also the senior adviser for digital assets and innovation and an associate director in the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, an assistant director in the Division of Enforcement, and a special assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

“The AI Task Force will aim to centralize and align efforts to advance AI-enabled transformation across the entire Commission. I look forward to accelerating work already underway in the SEC’s divisions and offices to build enterprise capacity for AI innovation and implement AI solutions that are trustworthy, effective and mission enhancing,” said Szczepanik.

/
CBRE Gov & Defense Books O&M Support Contracts for Navy Medical Facilities in Japan
Published on
CBRE logo. CBRE awarded two task orders for Japan-based U.S. Navy medical facilities support.

CBRE Government & Defense Services has secured two task orders from the U.S. Navy to provide operations and maintenance services for medical treatment facilities in Japan.

CBRE Gov & Defense Books O&M Support Contracts for Navy Medical Facilities in Japan

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 GovCon International Summit on Oct. 16 to gain insights on global defense, technology and strategic partnerships from top government, DOD and industry leaders.

Boosting Healthcare Support in the Indo-Pacific Region

The McLean, Virginia-based public sector arm of the real estate company told ExecutiveGov that the awards, issued under the Army Corps of Engineers’ Operations and Maintenance Engineering Enhancement program, cover the delivery of integrated operations, maintenance, repair, and facility management services to medical facilities in Japan that provide healthcare to U.S. military personnel and their families. This includes the Navy Medicine Readiness Training Unit Iwakuni, Iwakuni Veterinary Clinic and Educational and Developmental Intervention Services, the U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka, and associated locations at the Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Camp Fuji, Commander Fleet Activities Sasebo and Hario Family Housing.

The contracts have a four-year performance period, beginning August 1, with a base year expected to be completed by July 31, 2026. The contracts will run through July 31, 2029, if all three 12-month option periods are exercised.

Remarks From CBRE’s Patrick Roddy

“We bring proven capability, regional experience and a deep understanding of federal healthcare facility requirements, positioning us to deliver consistent, high-quality performance in support of Navy readiness,” said Patrick Roddy, CBRE Government & Defense Services sector president.

/
Senate Panel OKs $852B FY26 Defense Appropriations Bill
Published on
The Pentagon. A Senate panel approved the fiscal year 2026 defense appropriations bill.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday voted 26-3 to pass a bill that would appropriate $851.9 billion in discretionary defense funding for fiscal year 2026.

Weapons Systems Procurement

The committee said Thursday the proposed FY 2026 Defense Appropriations Act would allocate $171.3 billion for weapon systems procurement and $140.5 billion for platform research, development and testing.

The measure includes a $280 million increase in funding for F-135 spare engines and an additional $500 million for F-35 sustainment spare parts; an additional $216 million for drone and counter-drone tech capabilities; $4.6 billion more for air and missile defense efforts; and a funding increase of $5.2 billion to purchase additional munitions across the services.

Senate Panel OKs $852B FY26 Defense Appropriations Bill

Attend POC’s 2025 Navy Summit on Aug. 26, and hear experts discuss the service branch’s spending priorities, latest tech advancements and more. Reserve your spot now!

Navy Procurement, R&D Funding

The bill would provide $70.8 billion for the U.S. Navy’s procurement efforts and $27.4 billion for the service’s R&D initiatives.

The proposed legislation would provide a total of $29.3 billion in funding for shipbuilding efforts. The Columbia-class submarine program would receive an additional $1.3 billion, and the Virginia-class submarine program would receive $1.9 billion.

The Senate panel also approved a $1.4 billion budget increase for the Navy’s sixth-generation strike fighter program and an additional $100 million to advance the development of a hypersonic air-to-surface missile, called Multi-Mission Affordable Capacity Effector, for the service’s fixed-wing aircraft.

Space Force Procurement 

U.S. Space Force would get $3.6 billion in procurement funding and another $15.1 billion for R&D initiatives. 

The measure would provide $500 million in additional funding for the continued development of the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 3 Transport Layer and allocate $256 million more for classified space control initiatives.

Under the bill, efforts to transition the commercial procurement of tactical ISR to the Space Force would secure a $50 million funding increase.

/
NASA Seeking Industry Partners to Accelerate Development of New Space Tech
Published on
Space. NASA wants to collaborate with industry on new space technologies

NASA wants to team up with industry to develop advanced space technologies for future commercial or government use. The space agency on Wednesday issued an announcement of collaboration opportunity, or ACO, to solicit partnership proposals.

Managed by the Space Technology Mission Directorate, the ACO gives industry partners access to NASA subject matter expertise, facilities, software and hardware to accelerate and enhance capability development.

According to NASA, the ACO will be open for five years and will serve as an umbrella opportunity for topic-specific appendices that would be released every six to 12 months to address evolving needs. For the 2025 appendix, proposals are due on Sept. 24.

The agency will host a webinar to discuss the collaboration opportunity on Aug. 6 at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Interested parties may submit questions and comments ahead of the webinar.

NASA’s Industry Partnerships Over the Years

NASA has been collaborating with industry for years. Since 2015, the agency has been involved in approximately 80 ACO projects.

Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1, or MK1, lunar lander is one example of an ACO project. The space technology company founded by Jeff Bezos secured multiple ACOs to mature the lander’s design. NASA provided Blue Origin with technical assessments and supported testing of the technology at multiple centers to advance the development of the lander’s stacked fuel cell system.

NASA also worked with SpaceX on propellant transfer methods between two Starship spacecraft in low Earth orbit. The agency worked with SpaceX engineers to conduct in-depth computational fluid analysis of the proposed methods. Data from the analysis and from previous NASA research and development enabled SpaceX to identify and mitigate risks with orbital propellant transfers.

/
Oracle, Other Health Companies Pledge to Create Patient-Centric Digital Ecosystem
Published on
Health IT. Companies commit to a patient-centric digital health ecosystem at a White House event

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., head of the Department of Health and Human Services, and other government and healthcare technology leaders have committed to delivering a patient-centric digital health ecosystem.

At an event hosted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at the White House, over 60 companies pledged to collaborate and deliver results that benefit the public in the first quarter of 2026. Meanwhile, 11 health systems and providers said they will support patient use. Seven electronic health record companies pledged to facilitate data exchange.

According to Kennedy, bureaucrats and entrenched interests have made health data inaccessible to patients, preventing them from taking better control of their health..

“We’re tearing down digital walls, returning power to patients, and rebuilding a health system that serves the people,” he added. “This is how we begin to Make America Healthy Again.”

What Was the White House Health IT Event?

The event, called Make Health Tech Great Again, was attended by healthcare and technology firms, such as Oracle, Apple, Amazon, Google, Anthropic and OpenAI.

In a press release, Seema Verma, executive vice president and general manager at Oracle Health and Life Sciences and a Wash100 winner, thanked the administration for leading efforts to remove “the walled gardens that have thwarted true healthcare data interoperability.” 

“We look forward to working across the healthcare ecosystem to deliver a secure, interoperable, standards-based and [artificial intelligence]-enabled medical records system that will foster medical breakthroughs and support better outcomes and experiences for patients and the medical professionals that care for them,” she commented.  

CMS Interoperability Framework

One of the event’s agenda is the introduction of the CMS Interoperability Framework, which promotes information-sharing between patients and providers. According to CMS, 21 networks have already committed to meet framework requirements and become CMS Aligned Networks.

Involvement in the framework is voluntary and is open to any network.

New Health IT

At the event, 30 companies also committed to delivering real-world health outcomes through technologies that utilize secure digital identity credentials to access medical records from CMS Aligned Networks.

The technologies will include a tool for diabetes and obesity management; a conversational AI assistant for checking symptoms or scheduling appointments; and a platform that can replace paper forms with digital check-in methods.

//
University of Dayton Research Institute Wins $98.5M Air Force Contract to Develop Counter-Targeting Capabilities
Published on
UDRI Logo. The Air Force tapped UDRI for a counter-targetting research effort.

The University of Dayton Research Institute, or UDRI, has booked a potential $98.5 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to conduct research focused on improving counter-targeting capabilities, the Department of Defense said Thursday.

Air Force Contract Terms

The cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract supports the development and refinement of emerging technologies in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and counter-targeting and counter-ISR capabilities. Under the terms of the contract, an initial task order valued at $22.7 million will be obligated. The funds will be sourced from the 2025 budget allocated for research, development, test, and evaluation. The Air Force Research Laboratory Wright Research Site in Ohio is the contracting activity. The contract was competitively bid and one offer was received. The work is scheduled for completion by July 31, 2030 and will be conducted in Dayton, Ohio.

Air Force Research Laboratory Contract

In April 2019, UDRI landed a contract valued up to $46.7 million to support the Air Force Research Laboratory in upgrading materials and processes for production and maintenance. Under the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, AFRL will set aside $508K in fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation activities for the initial task activities. The work will be conducted in Dayton Ohio and is expected to be completed in May 1, 2026.

///
CISA Announces Availability of Malware, Forensic Analysis Platform
Published on
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency logo. CISA released the Thorium malware and forensic analysis platform.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has released a new open-source malware and forensic analysis platform designed to help analysts automate large-scale threat detection.

Developed in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, the platform, called Thorium, allows users to integrate custom, commercial and open-source analysis tools and enables automated, customizable analysis workflows, CISA said Thursday.

CISA Announces Availability of Malware, Forensic Analysis Platform

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Homeland Security Summit to learn more about the latest in U.S. homeland security programs, efforts and strategic initiatives.

Thorium Accelerates Malware Analysis

Cybersecurity teams can also filter tool results using tags and full-text search; use strict group-based permissions to control access to submissions, tools and results; scale with hardware using Kubernetes and ScyllaDB to meet workload requirements; and import and export tools for ease of sharing across cyber defense teams.

The platform can ingest over 10 million files per hour and run more than 1,700 jobs per second, while maintaining a fast results query. Thorium is now publicly available through GitHub.

“The Thorium framework underscores CISA’s focus and commitment to provide valuable services and resources at scale that help government and critical infrastructure protect against cyber threats and strengthen their cybersecurity,” said Jermaine Roebuck, CISA associate director for threat hunting. “By publicly sharing this platform, we empower the broader cybersecurity community to orchestrate the use of advanced tools for malware and forensic analysis.” 

1 … 113 114 115 116 117 … 2,704