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House Committee Chairs Urge Federal Agencies to Observe Data Preservation Measures
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House Committee Chairs Urge Federal Agencies to Observe Data Preservation Measures

More than 50 federal agencies have received communications from top House Democrats requesting their compliance with record and document preservation requirements as the representatives prepare for the presidential transition, Government Executive reported Tuesday.

Leaders of the lower chamber’s 21 committees asked agency heads to observe federal law-mandated measures for collecting, retaining and preserving all documents, communications and other records.

In their letters to 53 agencies, the House committee chairs emphasized the government’s obligation to save and archive any Congress-requested information “in a manner that is easily retrievable.”

Agency officials were asked to ensure that potentially relevant information must be returned from individuals who have access to it, and that deleted but potentially important electronic data must be recovered and preserved.

“[Agencies must] remind all relevant individuals…that any federal records sent or received using a nonofficial account must be forwarded to the agency for proper archiving,” the letters read.

The departments of Defense (DoD), Homeland Security (DHS) and Energy (DOE), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) were some of the letter recipients.

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Gen. John Raymond Unveils Priorities in Planning Guidance for Space Force
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Gen. John Raymond Unveils Priorities in Planning Guidance for Space Force

Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, chief of space operations at the U.S. Space Force and a 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, laid out in a planning guidance his five priorities for organizing the new military branch and one of those is to establish a lean and agile service, C4ISRNET reported Monday.

“This planning guidance is going to be absolutely critical to us as we develop that force design going forward,” Raymond said Monday during a media roundtable.

The other four priorities are developing joint warfighters in world class teams, delivering new capabilities at operationally relevant speeds, expanding cooperation to enhance prosperity and security and creating a digital service to accelerate innovation.

To advance its fifth priority, the Space Force will implement digital engineering standards for acquisition programs, such as adopting model-based systems engineering and digital twins and expanding its use of DevSecOps and Agile software development approaches to speed up the development of new capabilities and improve acquisition outcomes.

Raymond said the service will continue initiatives into 2021 and shift its focus in the second year.

“I think our weight of effort shifts from just inventing to integrating that force broadly across the department, across the Joint Staff, across all of our service partners, intelligence community, allies and partners … and then with commercial industry,” he noted.

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Navy to Fine-Tune Commercially Procured UAS for Cargo Transport Missions; James Tomasic Quoted
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Navy to Fine-Tune Commercially Procured UAS for Cargo Transport Missions; James Tomasic Quoted

The U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) has purchased a prototype of a Skyways unmanned air system and will adapt the platform to autonomously transport military cargo to ships.

NAWCAD intends to configure the vehicle, dubbed Blue Water Maritime Logistics UAS, to help Military Sealift and Fleet Forces Command address ship cargo resupply requirements, the Naval Air Systems Command said Monday.

Skyways’ Group 3 platform was one of two drones down-selected from more than 65 offerings that the warfare center evaluated last year. The Texas-based company won the industry competition following a system demonstration at NAWCAD’s inaugural Advanced Naval Technology Test Exercise.

The center plans to bring the platform to the Atlantic Test Ranges for fleet experimentation over the next year after fine-tuning the Blue Water system.

“Results of the technical feasibility and technology demonstration efforts conducted will be shared and used to discuss transition to support fleet initiatives,” said James Tomasic, co-lead and experimentation engineer for Blue Water at NAWCAD.

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VA Officials Share Insights on Initial Cerner EHR System Deployment; Pamela Powers, Dominic Cussatt Quoted
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VA Officials Share Insights on Initial Cerner EHR System Deployment; Pamela Powers, Dominic Cussatt Quoted

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) implemented Cerner’s electronic health record system at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Washington, in October and VA officials said the initial go-live went smoothly, Federal News Network reported Monday.

“Today I’m happy to report that the first installment of this new system went extremely well,” Pamela Powers, acting deputy secretary at VA, told reporters Monday. “As we transition to the new health record in Mann Grandstaff and nearby rural clinics, veterans receive seamless care. No veteran’s treatment suffered as we moved to the new system.”

Powers said VA employees in Spokane used Cerner’s Millennium EHR platform to place more than 23,000 orders for admissions, medications and clinical tests during the first five days of deployment.

“We had very few tickets from an infrastructure and end user device perspective. … For a couple days we were able to get the total open infrastructure and end user device tickets down to zero,” said Dominic Cussatt, deputy chief information officer at VA. “There were no major critical IT issues that happened during go live and the system seems to be performing well a couple weeks out.”

John Windom, executive director of VA’s office of electronic health records modernization, said an after-action group will gather feedback from end users in Spokane to help inform future deployments of the new EHR system.

“We continue to assess our risk portfolio, our methodologies and our strategies, and we will refine them, especially as we move to the entire enterprise with deploying this solution,” Windom said. “I can tell you a lot of things worked.”

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New Navy-USMC Partnership Aims to Support Southern Command; Rear Adm. Don Gabrielson Quoted
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New Navy-USMC Partnership Aims to Support Southern Command; Rear Adm. Don Gabrielson Quoted

U.S. 4th Fleet, also known as U.S. Southern Command's (USSOUTHCOM) naval component, has partnered with the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) south forces to establish a collaborative framework in support of USSOUTHCOM's mission.

Rear Adm. Don Gabrielson, U.S. 4th Fleet's commander, and Brig. Gen. Phillip Frietze who leads USMC's south forces, placed their signatures on the Joint Force Maritime Component Commander Maritime Campaign Support Plan to formalize the partnership, USMC said Monday.

“This integrated maritime campaign support plan codifies how our team will support the USSOUTHCOM Campaign Plan,” Gabrielson said.

The new support plan would guide Navy-Marine Corps collaboration within USSOUTHCOM's assigned region through 2024. The signing took place aboard the USS Wichita littoral combat ship at Florida-based Naval Station Mayport.

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DoD to Issue Mission Engineering Guide for Defense Acquisition Community
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DoD to Issue Mission Engineering Guide for Defense Acquisition Community

The Department of Defense (DoD) will release a guide on mission engineering principles for the defense acquisition community by the end of the month, National Defense Magazine reported Monday.

Sandy Magnus, deputy director for engineering at the office of the DoD undersecretary for research and engineering, told the publication in a prior interview that the guide comes as part of the Pentagon's efforts to standardize systems engineering methods across the department.

She noted that the DoD intends to break down missions into components to understand how system-of-systems work to “understand those rig issues so we know we're investing in the right things."

The guide comes as the DoD is working to establish the proposed joint all-domain command and control system, said Magnus.

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NuWave Solutions, AFS Partner on Subcontract to Support ONI; Brian Frutchey Quoted
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NuWave Solutions, AFS Partner on Subcontract to Support ONI; Brian Frutchey Quoted

NuWave Solutions has been awarded a subcontract to work with Accenture Federal Services (AFS) on the Information Warfare Research Project (IWRP) to support the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), NuWare reported on Tuesday.

“The Accenture / NuWave team will help ONI provide decision superiority by improving the sensitivity to a commander’s risk tolerance and mission priorities. By creating cloud-native, the Navy will benefit from robust resiliency and edge operations support,” said NuWave EVP, Brian Frutchey.

Under the subcontract, NuWave will help Accenture create a distributed environment for adversary characterization assessments by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) assessments with analyst inputs.

“Integrating automated AI into operational intelligence assessments requires a data and processing environment flexible enough to manage changing details about provenance and confidence. In early phases we demonstrated the power of this solution and look forward to scaling to an elastic, Navy enterprise,” Frutchey added.

The subcontract adds to NuWave’s history of delivering anticipatory intelligence and advanced data analytics. The company has leveraged AI and machine learning (ML) methodologies to streamline the Data-to-Decision lifecycle faster than traditional practices.

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Novetta Receives 2020 HIRE Vets Gold Medallion Award; Tiffanny Gates Quoted
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Novetta Receives 2020 HIRE Vets Gold Medallion Award; Tiffanny Gates Quoted

Novetta has been recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Labor, Eugene Scalia, as a 2020 HIRE Vets Gold Medallion Award recipient, the company reported on Tuesday.

“We are extremely proud to have received a Gold Medallion Award for the third year in a row,” said Novetta president, CEO, and U.S. Navy veteran Tiffanny Gates. Gates is also a two-time Wash100 Award recipient. “It recognizes our commitment to hiring veterans and helping the nearly 33% of our workforce who are veterans develop meaningful, long-term careers.”

Novetta offers a veteran-focused program, NovettaVETS, that supports veteran staff as they transition from the military to the civilian workforce. The program provides mentorship and leadership coaching through dedicated human resources personnel.

NovettaVETS advocates for internal awareness of veteran concerns, and raises funds to support veteran charities. During the annual NovettaVETS Summit, the company recognizes and thanks veteran employees, as well as raises funds to support veteran charities.

While this year’s summit has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic,  Novetta still raised over $7,000 for the Fisher House Foundation via a company-wide, virtual trivia challenge.

In addition, Novetta participates in the DoD SkillBridge Program and partners with MSSA for Veterans and Hiring our Heroes to further support military personnel within the GovCon sector.

About Novetta

Novetta delivers scalable advanced analytic and technical solutions to address challenges of national and global significance. Focused on mission success, Novetta pioneers disruptive technologies in machine learning, data analytics, full-spectrum cyber, open source analytics, cloud engineering, DevSecOps, and multi-INT analytics for Defense, Intelligence Community, and Federal Law Enforcement customers. Novetta is headquartered in McLean, VA with over 1,300 employees across the U.S.

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Dept. of Treasury Seeks Feedback on Planned Updates to Terrorism Insurance Program
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Dept. of Treasury Seeks Feedback on Planned Updates to Terrorism Insurance Program

The Department of the Treasury plans to update technical aspects of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program (TRIP) in line with legislation aimed at addressing terrorism-related disruptions and stabilizing the private market following terrorist attacks.

The Treasury said in a Federal Register document that the TRIP comes as part of efforts to comply with the TRIP Reauthorization Act of 2019.

Proposed modifications include updates to TRIP certification procedures as well as the program’s website. In addition, the Treasury seeks to clarify how the department calculates “property and casualty insurance losses” and “insured losses” to include cyber insurance matters.

The Federal Insurance Office will also be tasked to conduct research on the planned TRIP updates, according to the document. The Treasury is seeking feedback from the general public, particularly on captive insurers and TRIP certification issues.

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Curtiss-Wright’s PacStar Business Wins Contract to Support US Army Modernization Network
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Curtiss-Wright’s PacStar Business Wins Contract to Support US Army Modernization Network

PacStar, which was recently acquired by Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions, has been awarded a five-year contract to support U.S. Army network modernization efforts, under Project Manager Tactical Network (PM TN), the company reported on Tuesday.

“IQ-Core Software will help integrate NetOps with cyber and mission operations, equipping the Army with a unified approach for unmatched visibility, control, and situational awareness of tactical networks,” said Lynn Bamford, president, Defense and Power Segments, Curtiss-Wright Corporation.

Under the contract, PacStar will deliver more than 9,000 licenses of its IQ-Core Software to enable secure, tactical and distributed network management. The company’s efforts will enable the U.S. Army to advance network operations visibility and control.

“We remain committed to delivering best-in-class battlefield NetOps solutions, and we are thrilled to continue our work with the U.S. Army for the deployment of IQ-Core Software across PM Tactical Networks,” Bamford added.

IQ-Core Software is a comprehensive management software application that will deliver unprecedented Network Operations Center (NOC)-to-node management capabilities for enhanced battlefield NetOps.

IQ-Core Software will also integrate with on-the-move communications capabilities to enable network management for an expanded range of tactical devices. IQ-Core Software will increase visibility, reduce complexity and lower expenses.

“PacStar is proud to continue to support the U.S. Army with this deployment to deliver enhanced communications capabilities for the PM TN,” said Peggy Miller, senior general manager, PacStar. “IQ-Core Software’s ability to increase network visibility and deliver simplified network management at a low cost will help the Army with invaluable communications modernization.”

Curtiss-Wright closed the $400 million, cash acquisition of PacStar in early Nov. 2020. The combined firm plans to integrate PacStar’s software and hardware offerings with Curtiss-Wright’s commercial off-the-shelf data processing and management platforms to support the U.S. military’s modernization efforts.

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