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Tetra Tech JV Wins FEMA Contract to Support Disaster Resilience
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Tetra Tech JV Wins FEMA Contract to Support Disaster Resilience

A Tetra Tech-led joint venture (JV) has been awarded a five-year, $50 million contract from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to increase resilience and reduce the costs of recovery efforts in disaster-stricken communities, Tetra Tech reported on Monday. 

“Tetra Tech has supported disaster response and mitigation activities in more than 3,000 communities in some of the most hazard-prone areas of the United States,” said Dan Batrack, Tetra Tech chairman and CEO.

Under the single-award contract with FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Technical Assistance Program, Tetra Tech will help communities plan for and recover from increasingly frequent and intense natural disasters.

The company’s team will provide essential technical support services for effective hazard mitigation programs to reduce damages due to flood, earthquake and wildfire events, as well as increase community resilience throughout FEMA regions 5, 6 and 7. 

The Tetra Tech JV will leverage innovative technologies to collect data, assess damaged properties and prioritize disaster-impacted areas to enable FEMA to direct resources to support rapid recovery and increased community resilience to future events. 

The team’s technical specialists will streamline collection, analysis and presentation of key findings using unmanned aerial systems, enhanced field-enabled software tools, predictive models and customized management dashboards. The tools will help FEMA prioritize missions. 

“Using our Leading with Science approach, we apply emerging technologies and advanced analytics expertise to help communities recover faster from natural disasters and become more resilient,” Batrack added. 

About Tetra Tech

Tetra Tech is a leading provider of high-end consulting and engineering services for projects worldwide. With 20,000 associates working together, Tetra Tech provides clear solutions to complex problems in water, environment, infrastructure, resource management, energy, and international development. We are Leading with Science to provide sustainable and resilient solutions for our clients.

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Jacobs Launches ‘Pavy’ Cloud Platform to Improve Asset Management
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Jacobs Launches ‘Pavy’ Cloud Platform to Improve Asset Management

Jacobs has launched Pavy, a proprietary cloud-based platform, that will provide advanced asset management of airfields, the company reported on Wednesday. Pavy completed a successful trial period, and will now be integrated into airports to manage airfield pavements.

"With Pavy, our new cloud-based platform, airports around the globe can better plan pavement investments and prioritize critical interventions," said Jacobs People & Places Solutions Senior Vice President Europe and Digital Strategies Donald Morrison. 

Jacob’s Pavy is a customizable platform that will advance airport control by enabling strategic, data-led decisions about airfield investment. Pavy will enable airports to leverage their data to build stronger business cases for additional funding requests. 

"Pavy, along with Jacobs' consultation support, aims to provide optimized CapEx spend profiles, client decision support and contribute in future airfield pavement planning,” said Heathrow Airport senior engineer Louise Batts.

By showing where investment will be needed over 5-year periods, Pavy provides a strategic decision enabler by connecting engineering and finance teams to help balance costs, risk and performance.

“Immediate feedback and basic scenario forecasting combined with visual plans, gives Pavy an opportunity to change the field of Airfield Pavement Asset Management. The work Jacobs has done here, and the future of Pavy is really exciting," Batts added. 

About Jacobs

At Jacobs, we're challenging today to reinvent tomorrow by solving the world's most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing, turning abstract ideas into realities that transform the world for good. 

With $13 billion in revenue and a talent force of more than 55,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of professional services including consulting, technical, scientific and project delivery for the government and private sector.

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DCS Wins AFLCMC Task Order to Provide ISR Capabilities; Randy Washington Quoted
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DCS Wins AFLCMC Task Order to Provide ISR Capabilities; Randy Washington Quoted

DCS Corporation has been awarded a  five-year, $48 million task order to support the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance and Special Operations Forces (ISR/SOF) Directorate's Global Hawk Division under the Air Force's EPASS program, the company reported on Tuesday. 

Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft with an integrated sensor suite. The Global Hawk provides persistent near-real-time coverage using imagery intelligence, signals intelligence, and moving target indicator sensors. 

"DCS is excited for the opportunity to provide support to the Air Force's remotely piloted Global Hawk fleet of aircraft," DCS president and chief operating officer Randy Washington stated. "Our history of providing ISR expertise positions us well to support the Global Hawk mission, delivering the technical excellence and quality for which DCS is known."

Under the contract, DCS will deliver services across acquisition, engineering, scientific, research, finance and administrative support. The company will support U.S. Air Force aircraft research, development, production, life cycle acquisition and sustainment activities as well as Foreign Military Sales (FMS) support.

Full contract performance began at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB), Ohio, and Robins AFB, Georgia. Subcontractors on the award include Abacus, Imagintel, MAG Aerospace, Sumaria, and WBB.

About DCS Corporation

DCS is a 100% employee owned, mid-sized company that offers advanced technology, engineering, and management solutions to Government agencies in the Department of Defense and national security sector. 

The transformative ideas, commitment to quality, and entrepreneurial spirit that characterize our employee-owners allow us to ensure the success of each customer's mission and actively contribute to the well-being of the Nation.

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Amentum Selected for $95M TRSS IDIQ Contract; Jill Bruning Quoted
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Amentum Selected for $95M TRSS IDIQ Contract; Jill Bruning Quoted

Amentum has been selected for the seven year, $95 million, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) Tenant Renovation for Secure Spaces (TRSS) contract vehicle, the company reported on Tuesday.

“Amentum is looking forward to supporting the Army Corps of Engineers through the task orders we secure under TRSS,” said Jill Bruning, executive vice president and general manager of Amentum’s IS4 strategic business unit and 2016 Wash100 Award recipient.

Under the multiple award contract vehicle, Amentum will compete for firm, fixed-price task orders to conduct facility renovations and repairs of U.S. diplomatic facilities worldwide.

“We’re excited to apply our 30-plus years of experience successfully performing secure renovations at U.S. facilities around the world,” Bruning added.

Amentum has recently expanded it’s defense offerings with the acquisition of DynCorp International. The purchase has accelerated Amentum’s growth into key new markets, such as contractor logistics support, intelligence solutions, and training, John Vollmer, Amentum CEO and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, reported.

Amentum entered the DynCorp acquisition on Sept. 24. Following the announcement, ExecutiveBiz followed up with Vollmer to gain additional insights on how the purchase would shape Amentum’s strategy and offerings.

ExecutiveBiz: What are some of the initiatives Amentum will pursue in new markets once the acquisition is complete?

“Some of the primary markets that both companies plan to emerge in are asset management, critical infrastructure and supply chain management. That is a market for the federal marketplace, not just the Department of Defense (DoD), but also the Department of Energy (DoE) and other federal agencies as well.”

To read John Vollmer’s full Executive Spotlight, visit blog.executivebiz.com.

About Amentum

Amentum is a premier global technical and engineering services partner supporting critical programs of national significance across defense, security, intelligence, energy, and environment. We draw from a century-old heritage of operational excellence, mission focus, and successful execution underpinned by a strong culture of safety and ethics. Headquartered in Germantown, Md., we employ more than 34,000 people in all 50 states and 105 foreign countries and territories. Visit us at amentum.com to explore how we deliver excellence for our customers’ most vital missions.

U.S. Army Plans Missile Defense, Space Tech R&D Contract
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U.S. Army Plans Missile Defense, Space Tech R&D Contract

The Army Contracting Command has indicated its intent to award Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory a sole-source, $92.5M indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for research and development services to the military branch's Applied Science, Systems Engineering and Space Science Support program.

A SAM notice posted Thursday lists the following eight core competencies under the military branch's ASSESSS program:

  • Strategic systems test and evaluation
  • Submarine security and survivability
  • Space science and engineering
  • Combat systems and guided missiles
  • Theater air defense and power projection
  • Information technology
  • Simulation, modeling and operations analysis
  • Mission-related and public-service oriented research, technology development, test, evaluation and system analysis

 

Scope of work includes fundamental technology research, technology insertion planning and execution, risk mitigation strategy development, hardware and software modeling, engineering analysis and quantification of research impact.

The proposed single-award IDIQ has a 12-month base period of performance and four one-year option periods.

In the same notice, ACC said the command is exploring potential sources of missile defense, space science and systems engineering support necessary to accelerate transition of new technology to soldiers.

Interested parties can submit written statements of capability until Dec. 8.

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Air Force Reorganizes Groups Within 688th Cyberspace Wing; Col. Joshua Rockhill Quoted
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Air Force Reorganizes Groups Within 688th Cyberspace Wing; Col. Joshua Rockhill Quoted

The U.S. Air Force is reorganizing several components of the 688th Cyberspace Wing to form a single group to oversee network and security operations, C4ISRNET reported Monday. 

Col. Joshua Rockhill, commander of the 26th Cyberspace Operations Group, said the new entity will serve as the lead integrator for security incidents at the tactical level and work with local network defenders to collect alerts and produce automated responses.  

“Our sense is [the reorganization] will be a significant improvement, but the experiment will bear the out,” Rockhill said. “We think this approach across people, process and tech is going to help the 688th Cyber Wing do its part to enable a digital future.” 

The 26th Cyber Operations Group, 690th Cyberspace Operations Group and the 38th Cyberspace Engineering Installation Group are the units the service is reorganizing as part of an experiment to establish a single cell.  

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Inspector General Report: State Dept. Faces Persistent Information Security Challenges
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Inspector General Report: State Dept. Faces Persistent Information Security Challenges

The State Department’s office of inspector general has released a report saying the agency has initiated steps to improve its information security program but continues to face significant issues and control weaknesses that increase its vulnerability to cyber threats and attacks. 

An audit conducted in fiscal year 2020 showed that the State Department lacked an organization-wide data security program as highlighted by security weaknesses identified across eight focus areas, including contingency planning, continuous monitoring and risk management. 

Of the 265 workstations, the inspector general’s office found that information systems security officers audited only 16 of those workstations between August 2018 and July 2019. 

“Failure to perform required ISSO responsibilities leaves Department networks vulnerable to potential unauthorized access and malicious activity,” the report reads. The document also uncovered issues with user access controls and records management. 

In addition to information security, OIG also looked at six other management and performance challenges the State Department faced in FY 2020: protection of people and facilities; financial and property management; oversight of contracts, grants and foreign assistance; promoting accountability through clear lines of authority and internal coordination; workforce management and operating in contingency and critical environments.

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Lt. Gen. Dennis Crall Offers Update on Joint All-Domain C2 Strategy
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Lt. Gen. Dennis Crall Offers Update on Joint All-Domain C2 Strategy

Lt. Gen. Dennis Crall, director for command, control, communications and computers on the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Joint Staff, said the strategy for the Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiative is approximately 80 percent complete and is expected to lay out nine to 11 lines of effort to help come up with a lexicon for multidomain combat systems and doctrines, Federal News Network reported Monday. 

Crall said the strategy will formulate objectives for JADC2 around three areas, including collecting data from every platform on the battlefield and accelerating the transmission of data to warfighters for use in decision-making. 

He said the Department of Defense does not want to rely excessively on proprietary technology platforms for JADC2 and is not interested in vendor lock-in arrangement. 

“We’re looking at things that really are open, easy to see, easy to adjust, easy to manipulate, and truthfully work well with other things,” Crall said. 

“And industry has asked us, ‘Would DoD please lead and tell us what those standards, attributes, interfaces and architectures are?’ And that’s precisely what we’re building in the annexes that go with the strategy document for JADC2. So that will soon be revealed — exactly what these inputs and outputs look like from a mission engineering perspective,” he added.

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House Committee Proposes DHS Reform
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House Committee Proposes DHS Reform

A House panel responsible for overseeing the execution of Department of Homeland Security activities proposed legislation to increase DHS transparency and accountability.

The House Homeland Security Committee said Friday the DHS Reform Act of 2020 would restrict the appointment of interim officials in order to ensure leadership continuity and create an associate secretary position to manage law enforcement functions at the department.

"For DHS to effectively secure the nation from the diverse threats that it faces, Americans must have confidence that the Department is operating in accordance with the law and respects constitutional protections," said Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.

The bill would also authorize a five-year term for the department's management undersecretary and mandate the formation of a rotational program between the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Coast Guard Academy.

Twelve Democratic House lawmakers co-sponsored the legislation.

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Idaho National Laboratory Takes Part in Cybersecurity Manufacturing Consortium
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Idaho National Laboratory Takes Part in Cybersecurity Manufacturing Consortium

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has joined a $111 million public-private consortium led by the  University of Texas at San Antonio that aims to help manufacturers and supply chains adopt secure and energy-efficient approaches.

The Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII) plans to invite 59 member institutions and introduce secure return of investment efforts to the manufacturing market as part of a five-year agreement between UTSA and the Department of Energy (DOE), INL said Thursday.

As a member, INL will work with industry to protect digital automation platforms in manufacturing facilities and manage CyManII's cybersecurity portfolio.

The laboratory will also oversee national road mapping efforts to organize the member institutions' assets and capabilities and address various technology concerns.

CyManII will devise a strategy that covers a national effort for education and workforce development as well as the security of automation processes as well as the supply chain network.

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