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Perspecta Set to Be Acquired by Veritas Capital in $7.1B All-Cash Acquisition; Mac Curtis, Ramzi Musallam, Stu Shea Quoted
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Perspecta Set to Be Acquired by Veritas Capital in $7.1B All-Cash Acquisition; Mac Curtis, Ramzi Musallam, Stu Shea Quoted

Perspecta, a leading U.S. government services provider, announced on Wednesday that the company has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Veritas Capital in a $7.1 billion all-cash acquisition. The transaction has been approved by Perspecta’s Board of Directors and is expected to close in the first half of the 2021 fiscal year. 

“Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Perspecta. Having considered all opportunities available, the Perspecta Board of Directors is confident this transaction offers the most compelling value creation for shareholders,” said Mac Curtis, chairman and CEO of Perspecta as well as a six-time Wash100 Award recipient. 

Once the translation is complete, Perspecta will be combined with Peraton, a leading provider of highly differentiated communications capabilities under Veritas, to create a leading government technology combination that delivers end-to-end capabilities in IT and mission support and serves as the strategic partner of choice across a diverse array of federal government customers.

“Perspecta brings highly skilled talent and differentiated technology expertise across a broad range of customers in the government markets which will complement our offerings and enhance our ability to drive innovation,” said Stu Shea, president and CEO of Peraton and fellow four-time Wash100 Award winner. 

To date, Veritas Capital holds approximately 14.5 percent of Perspecta’s outstanding shares. Perspecta stockholders will receive $29.35 per share in cash, which represents a premium of 49.7 percent to the Company’s unaffected closing stock price of $19.60 on Nov. 6th, 2020. 

“As a long-time investor in Perspecta and its predecessor companies for over a decade, we have always recognized Perspecta for its market differentiation, leading-edge IP, and focused execution in the government technology space,” said Ramzi Musallam, CEO and managing partner of Veritas, who is also a five-time Wash100 Award recipient. 

About Perspecta

At Perspecta (NYSE: PRSP), we question, we seek and we solve. Perspecta brings a diverse set of capabilities to our U.S. government customers in defense, intelligence, civilian, health care and state and local markets. 

With offerings in mission services, digital transformation and enterprise operations, our team of nearly 14,000 engineers, analysts, investigators and architects work tirelessly to not only execute the mission, but build and support the backbone that enables it.

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Avaya Advances AI Capabilities to Improve Customer Experience; Eric Rossman Quoted
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Avaya Advances AI Capabilities to Improve Customer Experience; Eric Rossman Quoted

Avaya has made its OneCloud CCaaS and OneCloud CPaaS portfolios available with Avaya AI Virtual Agent Enhanced, the company reported on Wednesday. The company’s AI Virtual Agent will deliver human-like automation features that will work to improve customer experience and contact center efficiency.

The company’s new AI capability will leverage Google Cloud Dialogflow CX, and is part of Avaya’s ongoing integration of Google Cloud’s Contact Center AI (CCAI). The combination of Avaya AI innovation and Google Cloud CCAI will deliver enhanced experience for users by uniting automated and assisted experiences throughout a customer’s interaction with the contact center.

“Avaya and Google Cloud are delivering AI innovation that is making organizations more agile, more responsive and more capable of meeting the needs of today’s ‘everything customer’,” said Eric Rossman, Avaya VP of Technology Partners and Alliances.

Avaya Virtual Agent Enhanced will improve customer experience through more natural and context-driven interactions. The adoption of enhanced virtual agents, delivered by Avaya and Google Cloud, will also drive more effective customer interaction.

Avaya OneCloud CCaaS contact center solutions will support customer experience centers to better connect and support touch points across the customers’ missions, including voice, video, chat, messaging, and social. The company will leverage AI, insights, knowledge and resources to improve customer and employee experience.

Avaya OneCloud CPaaS will enable organizations to build the experiences and communications-enable apps by delivering workflow integration. The company will support these apps with integration to Google Cloud Dialogflow CX. Avaya OneCloud CPaaS will help build applications faster, supporting SMS, MMS, voice, messaging, and digital channels.

“Our strength in delivering AI continues to drive growth in our cloud solutions, and is making a real difference for our customers,” Rossman added.

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Lockheed Martin Reports Q4, FY 2020 Financial Results; James Taiclet Quoted
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Lockheed Martin Reports Q4, FY 2020 Financial Results; James Taiclet Quoted

Lockheed Martin Corporation has reported fourth quarter and full year 2020 results on Tuesday. The company’s fourth quarter 2020 net sales were $17.0 billion, compared to $15.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019. 

“In concert with our resilient operational performance, we delivered strong financial results on behalf of our shareholders and contributed to our communities through the production of PPE, accelerated payments to small and medium businesses, and elevated charitable contributions to support a range of important local and national services," said Lockheed Martin president and CEO James Taiclet.

Lockheed Martin’s net earnings from continuing operations in the fourth quarter of 2020 were $1.8 billion, compared to $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019. The company reported $1.8 billion cash from operations in the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019. 

The company’s net sales in 2020 were $65.4 billion, compared to $59.8 billion in 2019. Net earnings from continuing operations in 2020 were $6.9 billion, compared to $6.2 billion in 2019. Lockheed Martin’s cash from operations in 2020 was $8.2 billion, compared to $7.3 billion, in 2019. 

Notably, Lockheed Martin entered into an agreement to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings for $56 per share in cash, which is expected to be reduced to $51 per share after Aerojet Rocketdyne pays a pre-closing special dividend to its stockholders on March 24, 2021.

The purchase represents a post-dividend equity value of approximately $4.6 billion, on a fully diluted as-converted basis, and a transaction value of approximately $4.4 billion after the assumption of Aerojet Rocketdyne's projected net cash balance.

"We also initiated an enhanced strategic vision for Lockheed Martin designed to accelerate the adoption of leading edge networking and related technologies into our national defense enterprise, while enhancing the performance and value of our major platforms to our customers,” Taiclet added.  

The acquisition will enable Lockheed Martin to integrate Aerojet Rocketdyne's propulsion systems into its products, generate cost and revenue synergies and improve efficiencies in Aerojet Rocketdyne's production operations. 

The transaction will also enable customers incorporating Aerojet Rocketdyne products to offer timely, innovative and affordable solutions, and reduce the prices paid by the U.S. Government for systems it buys. “We intend to maintain our momentum as we enter 2021 in all of these dimensions for the benefit of our customers, communities and shareholders," Taiclet concluded. 

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HHS Releases Artificial Intelligence Strategy
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HHS Releases Artificial Intelligence Strategy

The Department of Health and Human Services has unveiled an enterprise strategy to advance the development and application of artificial intelligence across common mission areas in an effort to meet the evolving needs of U.S. citizens.

The HHS AI Strategy calls for the department to establish an AI council to help communicate the department’s AI vision and ambition and implement the enterprise strategy and strategic priorities with regard to the technology.

The HHS AI Council will specifically set and carry out priorities, cultivate partnerships with public and private entities, provide governance support and sponsor a community of practice comprised of AI practitioners.

Nextgov reported a chair and co-chair will lead the AI Council as it implements the strategic priorities in the document. Oki Mek, recently named chief AI officer at HHS, said he will serve as the council’s co-chair and the chair will be a senior official who will report directly to the HHS secretary.

Operating and staff division leaders across the department will comprise the rest of the council.

“AI Council members should be deeply familiar with the mission and operations of their respective Op/StaffDiv and have demonstrated experience with or interest in artificial intelligence,” Mek said. “The composition of the AI Council should include a variety of both technical and non-technical perspectives.” 

The council will identify and back priority initiatives within four key focus areas: develop an AI-ready workforce and strengthen AI culture; encourage health AI innovation and research and development; democratize foundational AI tools and resources; and promote ethical, trustworthy AI use and development.

“This strategy lays the foundation upon which the AI Council can use to drive change across the Department by encouraging the application of AI to promote advances in the sciences, public health, and social services—improving the quality of life for all Americans,” the document reads.

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Gen. James Dickinson Backs Plan to Transfer Space Traffic Control to Commerce Department
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Gen. James Dickinson Backs Plan to Transfer Space Traffic Control to Commerce Department

Army Gen. James Dickinson, commander of U.S. Space Command (SPACECOM), said he supports a plan for the Department of Commerce (DOC) to take over space traffic management responsibilities to enable Space Command to focus on monitoring space activities that have an impact on national security, SpaceNews reported Tuesday.

Dickinson said his command and the department have been collaborating in the past two years to come up with a plan for the transition. He also cited the country’s need for an equivalent of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that would be responsible for ensuring safety in the space domain.

Dickinson said he supports the transfer of space traffic control to the Department of Commerce “where it can be better managed,” he said.  That would allow Space Command to focus on tracking space activities that affect national security.

“Our orbital regimes are becoming much more congested,” he said Tuesday during a Mitchell Institute virtual event. “Most of it is either space debris or commercial activity. And as we look to the future that’s only going to get more congested.” 

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Senate Confirms Antony Blinken as Secretary of State
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Senate Confirms Antony Blinken as Secretary of State

The Senate confirmed Antony Blinken, former deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration, to lead the State Department in a 78-22 vote on Tuesday, The New York Times reported.

During his confirmation hearing, Blinken said he plans to review U.S. policy toward North Korea and take a tougher approach to Russia and China.

He also shared his views on the Iran nuclear deal and Abraham Accords, which led to the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco to open diplomatic relations with Israel, as well as plans to advance multiculturalism within the diplomatic corps.

Blinken also intends to assess or reverse are the terrorist designation against Houthi rebels in Yemen, low cap on refugee admissions and U.S. relations with Taiwan. he co-founded WestExec Advisors, a consulting group that works to evaluate the nation’s foreign and national security policies.

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Biden Administration Unveils New OPM Appointees; Chris Canning Quoted
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Biden Administration Unveils New OPM Appointees; Chris Canning Quoted

President Biden's administration has named several appointees at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) as part of its efforts to develop a diverse federal workforce. OPM Chief Management Officer Kathleen McGettigan has assumed the role of acting director and will continue her duties until the Senate confirms a permanent director, the agency said Monday.

Chris Canning will serve as OPM's chief of staff, while Curtis Mejeur will perform duties as senior adviser to the director for technology and delivery.

"President Biden made a promise to the American people that he would assemble diverse and talented teams that look like America, and today he continues to fulfill that promise," said Canning.

Eighty-five percent of the initial OPM appointees identify as women, people of color or members of the LGBTQ community, while 80 percent of the agency's employees work outside Washington, D.C.

The other appointees are:

  • David Marsh, senior adviser to the chief of staff
  • David Padrino,  executive director, office of human capital data management and modernization
  • Jane Lee, senior adviser to the director
  • Jason Tengco, White House liaison
  • Jim Cho, deputy Director, congressional, legislative and intergovernmental affairs
  • Lynn Eisenberg, general counsel
  • Margot Conrad, executive director, chief human capital officers council and senior adviser to the director
  • Mini Timmaraju, senior adviser to the director
  • Robert Shriver, associate director, employee services
  • Shelby Wagenseller, press secretary
  • Tanya Sehgal, special Counsel and senior adviser
  • Theodora Chang, special assistant to the director
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Army to Field, Develop Comms Tech for Future Network Capability
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Army to Field, Develop Comms Tech for Future Network Capability

The U.S. Army seeks to further develop its network capabilities with the planned fielding of new communications equipment across multiple brigade combat teams.The service branch said Monday it will continue integrated tactical network development after the completion of handheld and man-packable radio tests for Capability Set 21st, a package of modern network technologies.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, operating in Vicenza, Italy, will receive the next CS21 delivery as one of four initial fielding brigades. Brig. Gen. Robert Collins, head of the Army's Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical or PEO C3T, said the Army will distribute CS21 kits to five more brigades in fiscal year 2022.

The Germany-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment will be the first of five to receive the next batch of kits.

“As we are getting ready to pivot to multi-domain operations, we realize the importance of not only having a tactical, capable force, but also having our expeditionary signal battalion enhanced and [continuing] to refresh our ESBs,” Collins said at a virtual conference of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's Northern Virginia Chapter.

The Army will also continue to develop Capability Set 23, a prototype technology package designed to boost network convergence, resiliency and capacity. CS23's further development will build on CS21 and future Project Convergence exercises.

Maj. Gen. Pete Gallagher, director of the Army's Network Cross-Functional Team, said the service wants to become a multi-domain capable force by 2028 with the help of CS23.

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Brig. Gen. Jeth Rey to Lead Army Network Cross-Functional Team
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Brig. Gen. Jeth Rey to Lead Army Network Cross-Functional Team

Brig. Gen. Jeth Rey, J-6 at the U.S. Central Command, is slated to succeed  Maj. Gen. Peter Gallagher as director of the U.S. Army's network cross-functional team at an undetermined date, C4ISR reported Monday. Rey will transfer from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland once he assumes his position.

N-CFT has been established to handle the modernization of the service branch's tactical network. The team helped the Army roll out a capability set process that involved the biannual development and delivery of new tactical network tools under Gallagher's leadership.

According to the report, the team is currently planning Capability Set 23th, which is set to undergo preliminary design reviews in April 2021. 

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NIWC Atlantic Rolls Out Risk Mgmt Framework for Cloud, Data Center Authorization
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NIWC Atlantic Rolls Out Risk Mgmt Framework for Cloud, Data Center Authorization

The Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic (NIWC Atlantic) has updated its assessments and authorizations procedures to implement a risk management framework to improve cybersecurity across the U.S. Navy.

The Navy said Monday that NIWC Atlantic’s Command Information Office is working with Naval Information Warfare Systems Command’s information office to implement RMF and create “entry criteria” for the validation and testing of security controls.

NIWC Atlantic seeks to maintain authorizations for cloud hosting and data center services by simplifying A&A schedules and monitoring progress in the authorization process.

Brianeisha Eure, command information systems security manager at NIWC Atlantic, said the command unit has over 50 authorization packages encompassing network and hosting support, video services, telephony and command support.

She noted that the modified procedures seek to test security controls at the A&A team level before they are inherited by other teams. Matthew Colburn, RMF lead at NIWC Atlantic, said the modified review process helped speed up validation from six months to 2.5 weeks.

The initiative also helped reduce the amount of expired software and authorization packages by 80 percent, NIWC Atlantic noted.

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