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Report: GAO Helped Federal Agencies Generate $77.6B in FY 2020 Savings
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Report: GAO Helped Federal Agencies Generate $77.6B in FY 2020 Savings

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report saying it helped the federal government saved $77.6 billion in spending in fiscal year 2020. The figure represents a return of $114 for every dollar Congress invested in GAO. , the agency said in the FY 2020 Performance and Accountability Report published on Monday. 

GAO said it has helped agencies make 1,132 improvements in government operations. Some of those improvements are the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) efforts to improve communications with law enforcement authorities over drone safety and the Veterans Health Administration’s implementation of a tool to facilitate reporting of safety and quality concerns related to medical providers. 

When it comes to its support to the legislative branch, GAO released 586 reports, made 1,459 new recommendations, accepted 550 requests for work from 90 percent of standing committees in Congress and issued 59 testimonies before lawmakers on various topics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 Census, the country’s fiscal health and disaster preparedness.

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Navy Rear Adm. Jeffrey Hughes Nominated as Deputy CNO for Warfighting Development
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Navy Rear Adm. Jeffrey Hughes Nominated as Deputy CNO for Warfighting Development

Rear Adm. Jeffrey Hughes, commander of the Navy Personnel Command, has been nominated to serve as deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting development within the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller announced the nomination and Hughes’ possible promotion to the rank of vice admiral, the Department of Defense said Friday.

Hughes, who also serves as the deputy chief of naval personnel based in Millington, Tennessee, joined the service in 1989 as a naval aviator. His more than three decades of experience includes leading the Helicopter Maritime Strike Wing of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and heading the Navy Recruiting Command and the Expeditionary Strike Group 2.

He assumed his current post in March 2018. The military officer is a recipient of the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit and Meritorious Service Medal, among other recognition.

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Gen. Charles Brown: Air Force Likely to See Major Changes in FY 2023
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Gen. Charles Brown: Air Force Likely to See Major Changes in FY 2023

Gen. Charles “C.Q.” Brown, chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, said he expects to see major changes in the service’s inventory in fiscal year 2023 once the military branch completes force planning exercises and shapes the budget request based on the findings, Defense News reported Friday.

“And so there are some things we will take a look at as we work through [FY]22. It won’t be as big as some of the things we already proposed in [FY]21. And as we look at [FY]23, this is where I’m really focused,” Brown told the publication in an interview.

He said the FY 2021 budget request will likely include small changes to the service branch’s inventory.

“We are going to retire some [aircraft in FY22], but it’s not a huge amount,” Brown said.

Brown issued a document titled “Accelerate Change or Lose” in August 2020 that outlines his plan to transform the service in order to prepare for a future fight against countries like Russia and China. When asked about the military branch’s progress in advancing that vision, he said he believes the service “could go a little bit faster.”

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OMB Issues Guidance for Agencies to Accept Digital Requests for Records
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OMB Issues Guidance for Agencies to Accept Digital Requests for Records

The Office of Management and Budget on Thursday released a memo providing guidance for agencies to start accepting digital requests for disclosure of records protected under the Privacy Act of 1974.

“Modernizing these processes across the Federal Government is important to facilitating transparency and enabling access to Federal programs through seamless and secure digital service delivery,” the memo states.

The document, which was issued in accordance with the Creating Advanced Streamlined Electronic Services for Constituents Act of 2019, directs agencies to offer a digital service option for individuals to request records within a year.

Under the memo, agencies should facilitate remote identity-proofing and authentication process for individuals requesting access to records, publish the templates for access and consent forms on their websites’ privacy program pages and accept the consent and access forms from people who are authenticated and identity-proofed remotely via digital channels.

“Agencies are responsible for modernizing supporting information systems and digitizing any existing processes to ensure that a digital service option is offered in addition to paper-based or in-person options,” the memo reads.

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Peter Ranks: DoD Information Enterprise Office Explores Intersection of DevOps, Cybersecurity
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Peter Ranks: DoD Information Enterprise Office Explores Intersection of DevOps, Cybersecurity

Peter Ranks, deputy chief information officer for Information Enterprise at the Department of Defense (DoD), said his office will help DoD track its cybersecurity progress when implementing DevOps software development practices, FCW reported Sunday.

He told the publication that DoD put out models for creating DevOps pipelines and is working on instrumentation that will allow personnel to measure software product quality.

Ranks pointed to the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) as an example of a department component that can leverage Platform One, the U.S. Air Force’s DevSecOps managed services program.

DoD designated the program as one of its enterprise service providers for DevSecOps in May in a move to take security measures into consideration throughout the software development process.

The report noted that Ranks’ office is looking to provide DevSecOps model implementation guidance intended for cyber professionals.

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Stuart McGuigan: State Dept’s New Task Force Looks to Apply IT Lessons Learned During Pandemic
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Stuart McGuigan: State Dept’s New Task Force Looks to Apply IT Lessons Learned During Pandemic

Stuart McGuigan, chief information officer at the State Department, said a new “reimagine taskforce” completed a 90-day sprint to explore ways on how the agency could apply lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic to address information technology challenges, Federal News Network reported Friday.

“We can’t lose our agile and iterative approach to learning and continuous improvement,” McGuigan said Friday during an ACT-IAC event. “What things do we find remain barriers to effective flexible workforces that, with a little focus, we can remove and prioritize those more than maybe they’ve been prioritized in the past.”

The State Department had invested in cloud platforms prior to the pandemic and McGuigan said the move enabled the agency to improve identity management, provide remote employees access to emails and virtually onboard 430 personnel.

Michael Mestrovic, deputy CIO at the State Department, said the agency’s bureau of information resource management adopted an Agile approach to develop and field 10 applications during the pandemic’s early phases, which helped the agency repatriate U.S. citizens overseas.

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DOE Funds Computing Projects for Domestic Manufacturing
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DOE Funds Computing Projects for Domestic Manufacturing

The Department of Energy (DOE) will award $4.2 million in funds to support 14 projects that will utilize supercomputing resources from national laboratories to reinforce domestic manufacturing efforts.

Industry researchers will use simulation, modeling and data analysis to help manufacturers enhance material productivity and energy efficiency as part of the High Performance Computing for Manufacturing program, DOE said Friday.

The awardees will secure up to $300 thousand in grants while industry partners are required to contribute 20 percent for their teams' project funding.

Alex Fitzsimmons, deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency at DOE, said the government has made the usage of high-performance computing resources a priority to potentially address national concerns.

Click here to view the list of awardees.

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Navy Eyes Consolidation of Info Warfare Ops; Vice Adm. Jeffrey Trussler Quoted
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Navy Eyes Consolidation of Info Warfare Ops; Vice Adm. Jeffrey Trussler Quoted

The U.S. Navy plans to conduct tabletop exercises and implement artificial intelligence and machine learning as part of efforts to centralize the service branch’s information operations under a single component, C4ISRnet reported Saturday.

Vice Adm. Jeffrey Trussler, director of naval intelligence and deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, told attendees at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event that the Navy needs to take advantage of the radio-frequency spectrum as well as physical environments before losing the information advantage.

He noted that the Navy is rethinking its distributed maritime operations in response to authority delegation needs.

“Windows of opportunity might be very short. The ability to take advantage, when we talk about the information age, it’s all about speed, it’s about the precision of information you get,” said Trussler.

“It also requires the speed of decision. It’s not just accumulating a lot of great information. If you don’t act on it in an appropriate amount of time, that decision advantage you may have with the information … it may just go away,” he added.

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Army Looks to Deploy ‘Iron Dome’ Missile Defense Batteries by Year’s End; Bruce Jette Quoted
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Army Looks to Deploy ‘Iron Dome’ Missile Defense Batteries by Year’s End; Bruce Jette Quoted

The U.S. Army plans to field two Rafael-built Iron Dome air-defense weapon systems at Fort Bliss, Texas, by the end of 2020, Breaking Defense reported Friday. The Army designated Iron Dome as Interim Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2 and intends to use the battery to defend against cruise missiles.

The first Iron Dome battery powers the Theater High-Altitude Air Defense weapon system, which works to defeat long-range aircraft and missiles. The second battery is slated for construction under the Air Defense Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Bruce Jette, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology and a 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, told Breaking Defense that the service is encouraging Rafael to supply Tamir short-range missiles for an exercise next year to test battery ammunition for IFPC Increment 2.

The Israel-based company intends to work with Raytheon Technologies in an effort to expand the former's U.S. footprint, according to the report.

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Dave Dacquino of Serco Challenges GovCon Executive Community to Support DOL Veteran Apprenticeship Pilot Program
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Dave Dacquino of Serco Challenges GovCon Executive Community to Support DOL Veteran Apprenticeship Pilot Program

Dave Dacquino, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Serco Inc. and 2014 Wash100 Award recipient, and Doug Wagoner, president and CEO of LMI, have announced a challenge for fellow CEOs in the government contracting (GovCon) sector.

Dacquino and Wagoner co-authored a letter on Monday, along with Chris Brady of GDMS and Haywood Talcove of LexisNexis Special Services, who are both 2020 Wash100 Award recipients.

The letter urges notable leaders in the industry to participate in the Department of Labor’s Veteran Apprenticeship Pilot Program. The program aims to hire transitioning service members (TSMs). The two have aimed to have at least 200 veterans hired through the Apprentice Program.

The program will enable TSMs to leverage military technical skills and adapt them to the needs of civilian workplace through paid on-the-job training. DOL’s program builds upon the department’s efforts to expand access to apprenticeship opportunities and secure careers.

As part of the pilot, DOL has an apprenticeship program which has a team of apprenticeship placement counselors to provide one on one assistance to TSMs and spouses with finding and applying to apprenticeship programs.

To support this effort, your company can join the network of apprenticeship employers by providing industry-driven, high-quality career pathways to the TSMs and spouses. If you are interested in this DOL program, please either contact the apprenticeship pilot team at VETSapprenticeship@dol.gov or Michael.H.Anderson@serco-na.com.

The full contents of the outreach letter can be found below:

GovConExec CEOs CHALLENGE – SIGN UP YOUR COMPANY FOR VETERANS APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM

Having recently honored our veterans during Veterans Day, we are asking for your company’s support for the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Apprenticeship Pilot Program that assists transitioning veterans with joining the civilian workforce. As CEOs, we see this as a great program to find talented and mature employees and to support our commitment as employers and fellow Americans to employ our Veterans. We are challenging GovConExec CEOs to commit to hiring transitioning service members through this Apprenticeship Program. It is our goal to have at least 200 veterans hired through the Apprentice Program by GovConExec companies.

The DOL Apprenticeship Program creates pathways into high-quality civilian careers for transitioning service members (TSMs) of the military.  The program allows TSMs to take the technical skills they learned while in the military and adapt them to the needs of civilian workplace through paid on-the-job training.  This pilot builds upon the DOL efforts to expand access to apprenticeship opportunities to help more Americans secure meaningful careers.

As part of the pilot, DOL has an apprenticeship program which has a team of apprenticeship placement counselors to provide one on one assistance to transitioning service members and spouses with finding and applying to apprenticeship programs.  The program is embedded at eight military installations. The apprenticeship placement counselors work in conjunction with employers to identify suitable apprenticeship opportunities across the United States.

Your company can join the network of apprenticeship employers by offering your industry-driven, high-quality career pathway to the transitioning service members and spouses. The transitioning military community boasts a proven strong work ethic, retention rates that out-perform those of their civilian counterparts and can diversify your workforce and enhance your workplace culture.

Already, over 100 companies have signed up to offer apprenticeship programs with great success.  We   encourage you to participate in this increasingly important program.  The process is flexible and can be tailored to your exact hiring needs. For example, Amazon’s Software Development Engineer Apprentice to learn the latest cloud computing technologies, Lockheed Martin’s Engineering apprenticeship, Wells Fargo Business Support Consultant Military Apprentice for introduction into the financial market, DCI Technology Solutions’ apprenticeship for digital marketing,  Excel Electric’s electrician apprenticeship, and Calibre Systems’ automotive technician apprenticeship.

For filling your IT career positions, there is a new program from SkillStorm to train and provide IT professionals at all levels.  The SkillStorm training program has hundreds of veterans interested in joining the program – you only need to commit to a number of openings you wish to fill and identify the specific IT skills desired.

This program enables transitioning service members, spouses as well as current veterans to start working in Level 1 helpdesk roles after 4 weeks of training, and through the training and mentorship program which runs for 3 years, achieve a technology certification in enterprise level software applications at the end of the year 3 period.  For more information on the innovative SkillStorm IT apprenticeship program, please reach out to Rick Dunham at RDunham@skillstorm.com.

GovConExec will publicly acknowledge your support of our veterans and their spouses if, by the end of the year, you commit to hiring veterans through an apprenticeship program.

We want to thank you for your interest and commitment to serving those that have selflessly served our country.

David J. Dacquino Haywood Talcove

Chairman and CEO CEO

Serco, Inc. LexisNexis Special Services Inc.

Chris Brady Doug Wagoner

President President and CEO

General Dynamics Mission Systems LMI

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