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GSA’s Dave Zvenyach on Digital Services Unit’s Role in Assisted Acquisition, Government Service Transformation
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GSA’s Dave Zvenyach on Digital Services Unit’s Role in Assisted Acquisition, Government Service Transformation

Dave Zvenyach, director of the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Technology Transformation Services (TTS) unit, has said that TTS has been making progress in its programs and execution of assisted acquisition authorities.

Zvenyach, who also serves as deputy commissioner for the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), told Nextgov in an interview published Friday that TTS and the 18F digital services unit are partnering for assisted acquisition efforts to support agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children and Families.

The 18F unit also launched efforts to promote best practices through the De-risking Government Technology Guide under the 10x transformation program, according to Zvenyach.

He noted that TTS worked to drive partnerships with industry through cloud efforts including the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program. 

In addition, Zvenyach said that TTS’s work supporting the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force by creating a portal on USA.gov has enabled the public to leverage government information sources for COVID-19 inquiries.

"I think the perception around 18F is exclusively being focused about disruption, frankly, misses the point,” said Zvenyach.

“We're here as public servants. Our job is to work with agency partners and deliver exceptional experiences for the public. As long as we're doing that, I'm good. If we're not doing that, then we need to work.”

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USMC Seeks Network Activity Monitoring Concepts for Insider Threat Mitigation Pilot
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USMC Seeks Network Activity Monitoring Concepts for Insider Threat Mitigation Pilot

The U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) has released a solicitation seeking potential sources of user activity monitoring technologies that can help the Department of Defense (DoD) manage possible threats across its unclassified and classified networks.

The Marine Corps issued the sources-sought notice on the SAM.gov website Thursday as part of efforts to pilot a UAM tool that can continuously audit and observe the DoD’s network activity in line with the Marne Corps Insider Threat Program.

According to the draft performance work statement, USMC's insider threat initiative covers UAM activities on Marine Corps Enterprise Networks at the non-classified and secret internet protocol levels.

Data from UAM platforms will be integrated with information such as counterintelligence, law enforcement and human resources data to support visualization, investigation and defense against MCEN insider threats.

The UAM tool must also handle file and systems activity monitoring to enable early mitigation of insider threat behavior such as violent acts.

Responses to the solicitation are due on Mar. 19.

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Army Researchers Begin Field Testing of New Robotics Tech in Maryland
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Army Researchers Begin Field Testing of New Robotics Tech in Maryland

Army Research Laboratory (ARL) has begun to demonstrate its new autonomous robotics technologies at a facility on the Graces Quarters peninsula, which is located near Baltimore, Md.

The ARL Robotics Research Collaborative Campus, part of Aberdeen Proving Ground, is using 200 acres of ground that used to be a venue for munitions testing, the Army said Thursday.

The new facility will house artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomy research applicable to multi-domain operations.

"These data sets can be offloaded from the platform following testing for labeling, analysis, and incorporation into machine learning applications that iteratively improve on the ground platform’s ability to navigate environments like this in the future,” said Jeffrey Westrich, program manager for the campus.

Previously, the Army mostly used virtual and digitally simulated testing for these technologies. The service branch now has a venue for field testing with R2C2, which includes a site for military operations in urban terrain.

“The one-of-its-kind research campus was established to advance Army knowledge of autonomy and intelligent systems through basic and applied research of unmanned technologies that integrate artificial intelligence, autonomy, robotics and human teaming elements in complex environments,” Westrich added.

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SES Government Solutions to Deliver MEO Loopback Capability to DOD
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SES Government Solutions to Deliver MEO Loopback Capability to DOD

SES Government Solutions (SES GS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, in partnership with a U.S. government customer, has designed, developed and is fielding an O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) loopback capability, the company reported on Monday. 

The awarded task order is against the single-award Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) with DOD for Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) low-latency High Throughput Satellite (HTS) services. SES GS’ solution will improve mission-critical communications for Department of Defense (DoD) operations in remote locations in Southwest Asia. 

"As the need for secure communications and timely access to critical data on the battlefield increases, so does the need to have resilient and robust high-performance connectivity from any location," said president and CEO of SES GS, Brig. Gen. Pete Hoene, USAF (ret.). 

With SES GS’ loopback configuration, customers will have a high-throughput, low-latency capability without using a commercial gateway. The configuration will utilize an in-theatre hub and provide in-beam connectivity. 

The solution will be managed and controlled from an SES Network Operations Centre (NOC) via a Skala Network terminal. The loopback configuration will leverage two MEO beams in loopback mode across five sites, each providing up to 450 Mbps of capacity, connecting users to required points of presence.

The agile nature of the loopback solution-set will provide the ability to leverage MEO connectivity solutions, and will serve as a bridge to SES’s next-generation O3b mPOWER communications system.

"The growing threat within the region requires the troops to have access to near real-time decision-making intelligence at the tactical edge. This mission requires high-throughput, low-latency connectivity that only our O3b MEO constellation can provide flexibly. We understand this troops’ mission requirements in areas where there is no reliable terrestrial connectivity, and we're excited to bring innovative and secure solutions via satellite to solve their problems," Hoene added. 

Air Force to Retire 17 B-1B Planes; Gen. Tim Ray Quoted
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Air Force to Retire 17 B-1B Planes; Gen. Tim Ray Quoted

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) will move to decommission 17 of its 62 B-1B Lancer bombers to pave the way for fleet modernization efforts and help maintainers focus more on each of the remaining 45 aircraft.

USAF said it will keep four of the B-1B planes that are set for retirement in Type 2000 storage to maintain aircraft systems in a reclaimable condition.

“Due to the wear and tear placed on the B-1 fleet over the past two decades, maintaining these bombers would cost 10s of millions of dollars per aircraft to get back to status quo," said Gen. Tim Ray, commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command.

Ray added that the branch has been preparing for the B-21 Raider deployment.

Northrop Grumman won the contract to build USAF's B-21 Long Range Strike Bomber in October 2015 and aims to roll out the first aircraft in early 2022.

A 2018 Congressional Budget Office report stated that the service was looking to buy up to 100 bombers at a total cost of $80 billion in 2016 dollars.

CISA Releases FY21 Planning Guide for Emergency Comm Technical Assitance
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CISA Releases FY21 Planning Guide for Emergency Comm Technical Assitance

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has published a planning guide meant to help public safety officials and first responders improve interoperable communications to address issues caused by changes to emergency communications landscape.

The Emergency Communication Technical Assistance guide for fiscal year 2021 covers workshops for Statewide Communication Interoperability Plan; awareness webinars on cybersecurity, alerts and warnings, and grants for emergency communications; and review and development of governance and standard operating procedure.

The guide builds on the National Emergency Communications Plan that was updated in 2019 to highlight needs for better emergency communications capabilities and for a strategic plan for interoperable communications.

Technology and infrastructure, communication coordination, planning and procedures, and cybersecurity are four of six strategic goals set by the NECP. The plan also gives emphasis on governance and leadership, and training, exercises and evaluation.

CISA's Interoperable Communications Technical Assistance Program created this year's TA/SCIP Guide.

GAO: DHS Needs Policy to Document Basis for Extremism Prevention Grant Awards
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GAO: DHS Needs Policy to Document Basis for Extremism Prevention Grant Awards

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recommended that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) develop a policy to record the rationale for award decisions with regard to Countering Violent Extremism grant programs. 

DHS should also initiate steps to ensure that CVE grantees gather and submit project performance data to assess whether individual grant recipients and the overall program achieve the intended outcomes, GAO said in a report publicly released Friday.

DHS complied with the Office of Management and Budget guidance with regard to reviewing applications for its CVE grant program in 2016, but failed to document the rationale for its final award decisions.

“However, after DHS announced its selection of 31 applications for awards, it ran a new process resulting in revised selections, which was based on additional selection criteria not expressly listed in the grant announcement. While DHS officials explained to GAO how these additional criteria aligned with the grant announcement, these explanations do not appear in DHS's award documentation,” the report reads.

When it comes to data collection, the congressional watchdog found that the grant recipients did not gather the type of performance data DHS needed to assess the effectiveness of the grants.

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MDA Anticipates Next Generation Interceptor Contract Award This Month
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MDA Anticipates Next Generation Interceptor Contract Award This Month

The Pentagon is keeping the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) program on track by allowing the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to push ahead with its plans to award potential five-year design and development contracts to two defense contractors this month. 

NGI replaces the Redesigned Kill Vehicle program and seeks to modernize the ground-based missile defense platform to protect the U.S. from incoming missile threats. RKV was canceled in August 2019 due to technical issues. 

Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin are leading three industry teams that are competing for the two contracts. Northrop is collaborating with Raytheon Technologies, while Boeing is working with General Atomics’ electromagnetic systems. Lockheed has partnered with Aerojet Rocketdyne.

MDA “continues to adhere to established source selection processes as they evaluate each of the proposals and anticipates being ready for contract award this month,” Jessica Maxwell, a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense, said in an email. She added that DOD’s independent cost analysis unit should conclude its program estimate prior to the award.

MDA issued a solicitation for the NGI program in April 2020.

Biden Vows Commitment to NATO Alliance, Collaboration to Address Security Threats
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Biden Vows Commitment to NATO Alliance, Collaboration to Address Security Threats

President Biden said the U.S. remains committed to the transatlantic alliance and will work closely with partners in the European Union to address the shared security threats and other challenges, Military Times reported Friday.

“The transatlantic alliance is back. And we are not looking backward; we are looking forward, together,” Biden said Friday in a speech during the virtual Munich Security Conference. “The United States is fully committed to our NATO Alliance, and I welcome Europe’s growing investment in the military capabilities that enable our shared defense.”

He cited the role of the alliance in countering the Islamic State militant organization and the U.S. commitment to consulting with NATO allies when it comes to military missions in Afghanistan.

“We remain committed to ensuring that Afghanistan never again provides a base for terrorist attacks against the United States and our partners and our interests,” he added.

Biden said he has ordered to halt the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Germany and lift the cap on the number of U.S. forces that should be deployed to the European country.

In his speech, Biden highlighted the need to defend and strengthen democracy and the importance of transatlantic cooperation to address the threats posed by Russia, China and Iran.

He also cited the need to collaborate to address climate change by accelerating commitments to reduce emissions and strengthen global health systems to fight the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide and the resurgence of Ebola in Africa.

“We have to work together to strengthen and reform the World Health Organization. We need a U.N. system focused on biological threats that can move quickly to trigger action,” Biden added.

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US, Mexico Intend to Collaborate on Connectivity, Spectrum Management; Jessica Rosenworcel Quoted
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US, Mexico Intend to Collaborate on Connectivity, Spectrum Management; Jessica Rosenworcel Quoted

Jessica Rosenworcel, acting chairwoman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, met with Adolfo Cuevas, interim chairman of Mexico's telecommunications agency at a virtual event to discuss potential collaborative initiatives to address connectivity challenges facing both countries.

“It was a pleasure to meet with Interim Chairman Cuevas this afternoon and discuss the ways our two countries can best collaborate on the technology and connectivity challenges facing our respective citizens," said Rosenworcel. 

They also talked about how their respective agencies could manage the spectrum utilization along the border at various radio frequency bands and mitigate interferences, FCC said Friday.

During their meeting, the two telecom regulatory leaders also shared lessons learned from telecom and broadcasting system modernization efforts.

"I welcome the opportunity to strengthen relationships with our international partners to build a brighter, more digitally connected world,” Rosenworcel said.

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