The General Services Administration (GSA) will auction off 9.45 bitcoin valued at $520,000 as part of its four-day cryptocurrency sale that will start on Friday, April 23rd.

GSA said Wednesday the bitcoins will be divided into 10 lots as part of the commission-free bidding that will run through April 26 on the GSA Auctions website. The upcoming event will be GSA's third cryptocurrency auction. 

The agency held its first bitcoin auction in mid-March followed by another cryptocurrency sale later that month. To date, GSA has put 7.5401 bitcoin up for sale for a total cost of $450,567.

Interested stakeholders should register in order to place an offer for the bitcoins. The winning bidder should have a digital wallet to receive the cryptocurrency and should make the payment through wire transfer by April 28th.

The Department of Energy will coordinate with electric utility companies and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency over the next 100 days to beef up defenses against threat actors that target U.S. power systems.

DOE said Tuesday that its cybersecurity, energy security and emergency response office will aim to develop tools intended to help industrial control system operators monitor, detect and respond to malicious cyber activity.

“It’s up to both government and industry to prevent possible harms—that’s why we’re working together to take these decisive measures so Americans can rely on a resilient, secure and clean energy system,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Earlier this year, President Biden implemented a 90-day suspension of Executive Order 13920 his predecessor signed in May 2020 to restrict U.S. procurement and use of interconnected electrical equipment from foreign adversaries.

The department invoked the authority of an emergency declaration last year after issuing the December 2020 Prohibition Order that banned the importation of bulk-power systems that support critical defense facilities.

DOE on Tuesday revoked the prohibition order to give way to the creation of new strategies in fortifying the energy sector cybersecurity before EO 13920 expires on May 1.

As part of the 100-day initiative, DOE is seeking ideas from companies, academic institutions, research laboratories and federal agencies on how to secure the supply chain for energy systems.

If you’re interested in cybersecurity, check out GovCon Wire’s Defense Cybersecurity Forum coming up on May 12. Click here to learn more.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will launch an industrial partnership that grants DARPA contractors access to technology made by other companies, FedScoop reported Wednesday.

DARPA will use its Toolbox Initiative to procure products from computing technology providers in support of contracted companies tasked to develop new systems. Contracted companies may also use Toolbox for intellectual property rights of other corporations, without the need for complex arrangements. 

DARPA-contracted performers would access these rights via non-production licenses. DARPA plans to host industry days and launch an internal marketing campaign for Toolbox this fall.

“I want the DARPA performers to have the same benefits as commercial industry,” Serge Leef, program manager at DARPA's Microsystems Technology Office, told FedScoop.

The Space Development Agency (SDA) has chosen a multiple tranche development approach for its global satellite constellation systems for the Department of the Defense (DOD). No SDA satellites are flying yet, but the SDA has already requested industry feedback on how the Agency should upgrade its communications standards for its second generation of satellites. C4isrnet reported the story on Wednesday. 

“The whole idea is to be able to move data as rapidly as possible to get that tactical information directly to the warfighter,” commented Derek Tournear, SDA Director and 2021 Wash100 Award recipient.“The transport layer consists of hundreds of satellites that form a resilient optically interconnected mesh network that will pass data directly to existing tactical data links.

 “So what that means to the warfighter is the following: I can now move data from a targeting cell that could be located CONUS or ideally that targeting cell will actually form a target onboard on the satellites and I can send that data down directly to an existing tactical data link on a weapons platform or on a weapon itself,” Tounear added. 

SDA’s constellation will eventually be composed of hundreds of primarily low-Earth-orbit satellites. The constellation’s foundation will be its transport layer, a mesh network on-orbit connected through optical inter-satellite links. 

The transport layer will allow the DOD to move data through space rapidly and will be the glue that will connect the services’ various Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control networks.

SDA will launch its first set of 28 satellites (Tranceh zero) in 2022, and Tranche one will have around 150 in 2024. SDA is requesting industry feedback on how to build these first couple tranches of satellites in a manner that is upgradable and integrable to future more advanced satellites in Tranche two, three and beyond. 

The advanced satellites of the latter Tranches, according to Tournear, needs to be able to communicate with each other and be but also “satellite to air, satellite to ground and satellite to air and maritime assets, we had to start to look and say, ‘Okay now we really need to look at the optical comm standard and say, what is industry doing?”

SDA is expected to order its tranche one transport layer satellites this summer. Responses to the optical communications information request are due April 30.

Visit Wash100.com to cast a vote for Derek Tournear as the most significant executive of consequence to the GovCon sector. Cast your TEN votes TODAY to advocate your favorite leaders in the federal and government sectors. The elite leader with the most votes by April 30th will be recognized by the GovCon community as the industry’s most influential member.

Danielle Metz, the Department of Defense's deputy chief information officer for information enterprise, said she wants to change how organizations view the role of a CIO, Nextgov reported Tuesday.

Metz, who went from an acting role to a permanent one this year, said in an interview that CIOs help organizations formulate strategies with regard to networks, data centers and technical debt. She said CIOs have a wider, information-centric job compared to the misconception that they are in charge of just laptops and computers.

The deputy CIO also talked about progress of the Fourth Estate Network Optimization effort, which aims to update the capabilities, user guidance and security of networks. Metz said her team has awarded a few contracts, including a large one with the DoDNet software catalog.

“This is where DISA is able to purchase all of what we call common use IT: think laptops, video teleconferencing, collaboration, capabilities, etc.,” she said about DoDNet.

Battelle is expanding its long-standing commitment to increasing diversity and fostering inclusion within Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) careers by investing $200,000 over two years to provide students from Bowie State University and Morgan State University research opportunities as they progress from the classroom to employment. It is the first phase of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Consortium, a Battelle program established to build meaningful, long-term collaborative relationships with the country’s leading HBCUs.

“Battelle recognizes the critical importance of representation in STEM,” said Battelle Vice President of Philanthropy and Education Wes Hall. “With the creation of the Consortium, we seek to equip students with the workplace experiences and personal networks that they need to successfully pursue employment in scientific fields.”

The HBCU Consortium initially will be seeded by student externship opportunities that will evolve to include joint seminars, mentorship opportunities, participation on thesis committees and research collaborations and employment at Battelle. Students from Bowie State in Bowie, Maryland and Morgan State in Baltimore, Maryland will be the first to work with Battelle scientists and engineers and within the government programs Battelle supports. The intention is to expand the program to other HBCUs in the future.

Adm. Charles Richard, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), has assured members of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) that the U.S. nuclear command, control and communications (NC3) network is secured and resilient but added that cybersecurity must be part of its priority investments to ensure its defense against cyberattacks in the long-term, Breaking Defense reported Tuesday.

He said during a SASC hearing that the command is currently enhancing the NC3 system as part of larger U.S. nuclear force structure modernization plans.

"I have to get it out of legacy modes of operation in order to pace this threat going in the future," added Richard. The STRATCOM head and other officials consider cybersecurity as an NC3 network modernization requirement. In support of the effort, the NC3 Next initiative has four focus areas to ensure that technologies being integrated into the network are up-to-date.

"The first focuses on programs of record encompassing budget and acquisition lifecycle processes… The second assesses demonstrations, experiments and tests aimed at enhancing discovery and development of innovative technology approaches to transform existing NC3 programs and operations," he said.

The third focus aims to streamline enterprise guidance by reviewing and revising tactics, techniques and procedures as well as policies and postures.

"The fourth expands the use of critical technology enablers such as artificial intelligence, digital engineering, and modeling and simulation,” Richard said.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recommended that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) initiate steps to come up with reliable cost and schedule estimates for the Financial Management Business Transformation (FMBT) program using best practices outlined in GAO’s cost estimating and schedule assessment guides.

GAO made the recommendations after it found that VA did not fully meet certain best practices for the development and management of schedule and cost estimates for the FMBT program, according to a report publicly released Tuesday.

The FMBT initiative seeks to replace VA’s aging financial and acquisition systems with a single integrated platform. The congressional watchdog said its assessment showed that the department has met IT management best practices for Agile project management, program governance, defect management and testing.

“Reliable cost and schedule estimates provide a road map for project execution and are critical elements to delivering large-scale IT systems. Without reliable estimates, VA management may not have the information necessary for informed decision-making,” the GAO report reads.