/
SPA Receives 2020 HIRE Vets Medallion; Dr. William Vantine Quoted
Published on
SPA Receives 2020 HIRE Vets Medallion; Dr. William Vantine Quoted

The U.S. Department of Labor has recognized Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc. (SPA) with the 2020 HIRE Vets Medallion, the company reported on Wednesday. SPA received the Gold Award for large employers, recognizing the company’s commitment to recruit, hire and retain veterans.

“We are grateful to have so many veteran employees as members of the SPA team,” said Dr. William Vantine, SPA president and CEO. “They bring incredible value to our company through their skills, leadership and experience…all of which are essential to the high-quality and high impact solutions we provide to our clients protecting our Nation’s security.”

The Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing (HIRE) American Military Veterans Act is the only federal-level veterans' employment award that recognizes a job creators' commitment to hiring America's veterans. 

SPA has been recognized for their hire and retention of veterans, including the company’s efforts to establish employee development programs and veteran specific benefits to improve retention.

“We are honored that for the third year in a row, the Department of Labor has recognized SPA’s contributions in support of our nation’s veterans,” Vantine added. 

About SPA

Systems Planning and Analysis provides innovative and leading edge solutions integrating technical, operational, programmatic, policy, and business factors in support of important national security objectives. Our capabilities include: Advanced Analytics; Software Tool Development; System Engineering and Safety Analysis; Strategy, Policy and Compliance; Program and Acquisition Management. 

Our employees have expertise in many domains, including: Land, Undersea, Surface and Air Warfare Operations; Radar and Sensor Systems; Unmanned Systems and Counter Systems; Nuclear Deterrence Policy, Safety and Security; Defence Industrial Base; Space Systems; Ballistic Missile Systems; and Hypersonics.

//
DHS to Publish Guidance for PNT Resiliency, Security; Ernest Wong Quoted
Published on
DHS to Publish Guidance for PNT Resiliency, Security; Ernest Wong Quoted

The Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology (DHS S&T) Directorate has developed a framework on the security of position, navigation and timing systems when used to provide timing information for the power grid and communication networks.

The Resilient PNT Conformance Framework is intended to serve as a reference for infrastructure operators in selecting secure PNT equipment, DHS said Tuesday. S&T built the framework on stakeholder input and plans to have it publicly released before the year ends.

PNT systems present more attack surfaces as the number of PNT sources continues to increase. The directorate said isolation between PNT sources would help mitigate attacks.

“A key concept in the conformance framework is recognition that one-hundred percent perfect security does not exist,” said Ernest Wong, technical manager at S&T. “Therefore, while it’s important to prevent threats from entering our systems, it’s just as important to understand what happens when systems fail and how to recover from them," Wong added.

DHS provided an eight-page PDF that previews the framework's levels.

DHS to Publish Guidance for PNT Resiliency, Security; Ernest Wong Quoted

Potomac Officers Club recently hosted its Ensuring PNT Superiority on the Future Battlefield, to showcase the experts across the private and public sectors and how manage the reliance on PNT and how it has created an attractive point of attack which adversaries will increasingly target. 

If you missed the event, you can still register to watch the footage in Potomac Officers Club’s Event Archive.

//
DOE-Backed National Institute Seeks ‘Smart’ Manufacturing R&D Projects
Published on
DOE-Backed National Institute Seeks ‘Smart’ Manufacturing R&D Projects

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII) has earmarked $4 million for research and development of “smart” technologies that could be applied to real-world production settings and help address operational challenges.

CESMII plans to issue R&D awards with a potential six-month performance period each to industry and estimates selected projects will cost between $50,000 to $200,000, with participants shouldering at least 50 percent of the total cost, DOE said Monday.

The DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy financed the establishment of CESMII in 2016 as part of efforts to help domestic manufacturers adopt data analytics, sensors and control systems platforms.

“DOE's investments in smart manufacturing allow the American manufacturing sector to become more productive, more energy-efficient, and more competitive on a global scale,” said Alex Fitzsimmons, deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency.

//
PSC Report Forecasts Continued Rise in Federal AI, Cybersecurity Spending
Published on
PSC Report Forecasts Continued Rise in Federal AI, Cybersecurity Spending

A new Professional Services Council report projects continued rise in federal investments in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence initiatives, including robotic process automation and machine learning, FCW reported Tuesday. 

According to PSC's 2020 Vision Forecast report, federal spending on cybersecurity could increase approximately 3 percent, which could be driven partly by the initial launch of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program. 

The council’s report predicts spending on cloud platforms will remain flat, while DoD could see a 2 percent increase in its topline budgets. 

Greg Lobbin, a contractor who took part in the development of the PSC report, said DoD’s information technology budget could see a year-over-year growth of 2.2 percent through 2026.

PSC Report Forecasts Continued Rise in Federal AI, Cybersecurity Spending

Arrington will serve as the keynote speaker at the Potomac Officers Club’s Fall 2020 CMMC Forum on Nov. 17th. To register for the  Fall CMMC Forum on November 17th, as well as view upcoming events, visit Potomac Officers Club’s Event Page.

During the forum, you will hear from additional federal and industry leaders who will discuss the requirements and priorities of implementing the certification, including scoping of CMMC assessments, supply chain impacts and C3PAOs. 

/
Army Seeks to Collect Soldiers’ Initial Feedback on New Tech With Mixed-Reality Environment
Published on
Army Seeks to Collect Soldiers’ Initial Feedback on New Tech With Mixed-Reality Environment

The U.S. Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command has developed a mixed-reality environment to assess soldiers’ interactions with its automated targeting system as part of efforts to integrate their feedback earlier in the development process, C4ISRNET reported Monday. 

The Advanced Targeting and Lethality Aided System is an artificial intelligence-based platform designed to automate threat detection and enable the gunner to zero in on threats. 

“It gives us the opportunity…to get the soldiers in front of this system prior to it being here as a soldier touchpoint or using the live system so we get that initial feedback to provide back to the program, to get that soldier-centric design, to get their opinions on the system, be that from how the GUI is designed to some of the ways that the system would operate,” Christopher May, deputy director of the C5ISR Center’s Modeling and Simulation Division, said of the mixed-reality environment. 

The service has installed an ATLAS prototype at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, and plans to carry out a live-fire exercise to test the system.

/
House Committee Chairs Urge Federal Agencies to Observe Data Preservation Measures
Published on
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.

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

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

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

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

1 … 1,259 1,260 1,261 1,262 1,263 … 2,619