A new congressional task force on defense supply chain vulnerabilities has been created to prepare legislative solutions to include in the annual defense policy bill. The task force’s co-chairs Reps. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. announced the formation of the task force on Wednesday in response to President Biden’s recent order for detailed supply chain analysis.

The co-chairs reported they would work closely with the Department of Defense and defense officials to evaluate defense supply chains' weaknesses. “This is built to be [ready] in the three months leading up to the real meat and potatoes of (drafting the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act), so that we aren’t waiting another year,” commented Slotkin. 

The coronavirus pandemic illustrated fragilities in America’s defense, commercial, and especially medical supply chains. This greatly worried many defense officials and government leaders. Slotkin was particularly concerned when Chinese authorities delayed a shipment of medical supplies last year. 

The task force has made no recommendations yet. However, lawmakers stressed the need to evaluate U.S. dependencies on foreign imports such as semiconductors, rare-earth minerals and battery technology with uses in the defense and commercial sectors. Also, lawmakers will study any medical supply chains that might be vulnerable.

Possible solutions to supply chain problems might involve reshoring critical U.S. manufacturing through competitive incentives for businesses. Another possibility is to make future vital supply chain purchases from historically strong U.S. allies such as the United Kingdom. 

“The trick is really just finding that right balance between what capabilities we absolutely must be able to make in the USA, what we can buy from our close allies and what we can afford to source from broader networks of partners,” added Gallagher. 

The task force will operate for three months and has the option to continue for another three months. Apart from the co-chairs, the members are Reps. Donald Norcross, D-N.J.; Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.; Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J.; Don Bacon, R-Neb.; Michael Waltz, R-Fla. and Stephanie Bice, R-Okla.

Joseph Evans, a principal director at the Department of Defense (DOD), has said the department is continuing 5G prototyping efforts and that there are plenty of partnership opportunities for industry, DOD News reported Tuesday.

Evans, who serves as principal director for 5G at the Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E) within the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for R&E (USD R&E), said at a National Defense Industrial Association conference that international allies can also benefit from 5G partnerships with the DOD.

"This is the same technology that's going to connect our warfighters and our weapons systems," he noted.

5G has transformational benefits in areas such as internet of things, unmanned vehicles and sensors, according to Evans.

James Trebes, principal director for directed energy under the USD R&E, said at the same event that the DOD is funding a multiphase effort to produce 300-kilowatt lasers with industry partners.

The DOD will begin manufacturing 500-kW lasers for up to 36 months following the 300-kW weapons’ delivery within two years, he noted. He added that the DOD is also closely tracking offensive strike technologies and adversaries' missile capabilites.

Paul Lopata, principal director for quantum science, said the DOD is also conducting basic research on quantum computing. The department has been researching the subject over the past two to three decades, he noted.

Deltek, the leading global provider of software and solutions for project-based businesses, announced the esteemed winners of the 2020 Deltek Global Partner Awards Program on Tuesday.

The Deltek Global Partner Awards Program seeks to recognize innovation and achievements of its partners that represent the program’s systems integrators, value-added resellers, independent software vendors, accounting firms and consulting firms.

“2020 has been a year like no other and Deltek’s deep partner network enabled thousands of customers to quickly pivot and strengthen their businesses during these uncertain times,” said Jonathan Eisner, vice president of Global Partner Sales and Alliances.

Deltek has recognized the following nine partners:

Global Systems Integrator Partner of the Year – Baker Tilly

GovCon Partner of the Year – Infotek Consulting

North America Reseller Partner of the Year – Full Sail Partners

International Reseller Partner of the Year – Silversoft

Services Excellence Partner of the Year – Central Consulting Group

Customer Satisfaction Partner of the Year – BDO

Top New Customer Acquisition Partner of the Year – ConstructConnect

New Partner of the Year – Tangram

Excellence in Marketing Innovation Partner of the Year – Premier Consulting & Integration

“It is an honor to recognize the outstanding achievements and innovation of these partners. We look forward to a fantastic and successful 2021 with our Deltek Project Nation partners as we continue to expand this program around the world,” Eisner added.

About Deltek 

Better software means better projects. Deltek is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for project-based businesses. More than 30,000 organizations and millions of users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek for superior levels of project intelligence, management and collaboration. Our industry-focused expertise powers project success by helping firms achieve performance that maximizes productivity and revenue.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recommended that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review its Data Center Optimization Initiative guidance and revise how it measures server utilization to better address server efficiency.

GAO made the recommendation after it reviewed the data center inventories of 24 participating agencies in OMB’s DCOI and found that agencies used “widely varying definitions” of underutilization and failed to report actual server use as a result of OMB’s move to revise the server utilization metric in June 2019, according to a report published Thursday.

The congressional watchdog also found that since May 2019, agencies have excluded from their inventories about 4,500 data centers after OMB made a change to the data center’s definition.

Based on data submitted, almost all of the 24 agencies met or planned to reach their goals for data center closures and cost savings for fiscal year 2019 and FY 2020. 

“As of August 2020, the agencies reported that they expected to achieve 230 data center closures, resulting in $1.1 billion in savings, over the 2-year period,” the report states.

The Federal Communications Commission has announced Key Bridge Wireless as a certified spectrum access system administrator in the 3.55-3.7 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service band.

Key Bridge received the FCC certification after the commission’s wireless telecommunications bureau and the office of engineering and technology reviewed the company’s initial commercial deployment report in consultation with the Department of Defense and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, FCC said Tuesday.

The certification authorizes Key Bridge to make its spectrum access system available for commercial use for a term of five years and operate in the contiguous U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico. 

Jessica Rosenworcel, acting chairwoman of FCC, said the new certification brings the number of spectrum access database administrators supporting the CBRS 3.5 GHz band to six.

McLean, Virginia-based Key Bridge supplies spectrum administration and sharing systems and services to government, military and commercial customers.

Jacqueline Tame, acting deputy director for the Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), said JAIC is focusing on projects that will have the most potential impact on the military and its readiness and those areas include logistics and test and evaluation, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

“We have had real interest in the last several months in particular in the joint logistics enterprise,” Tame told FNN.

JAIC is working with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), U.S. Transportation Command and other entities that use inventory management, supply chain management and other business practices to facilitate the delivery of people, weapons systems and other needs.

“You can easily see where the intersections of the biggest return on investment are going to be with their work with logistics and moving materiel,” Tame said. 

“The technology is actually pretty mature in these areas where there’s an abundance of data in some of these back office areas. That’s one of the ways in which we’re really mapping the landscape of DoD from a missions and mission needs perspective and targeting those areas where we think AI applications and helping to instantiate AI is going to scale the most quickly or the most robustly,” she added.

JAIC and the Pentagon’s test and evaluation office are working together to build a test framework and further advance AI adoption.

“That test and evaluation framework for AI has actually showed us that there are some sort of gaps right now in the way in which we procure those services, whether they be, data labeling services, or the actual customer evaluation services themselves,” Tame said.

JAIC is also advancing work on the tactical edge and Tame said a solid data infrastructure is needed to facilitate the flow of information.

The Potomac Officers Club will hold its 3rd Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 30 to foster discussions on how to advance AI technology at speed and how private-public partnerships are key to maintaining the competitive advantage within the tech race. To register for this virtual summit and view other upcoming events, visit the Potomac Officers Club Events page.