Pegasystems has partnered with StepChange Debt Charity to provide an online product that will enable citizens in debt to apply for financial relief from the organization, Pegasystems reported on Thursday.

"We've worked with StepChange for some time now and anticipated that their services would be vitally important in the wake of the financial crisis that was sure to follow the pandemic," said Kieran Tarrant, VP, UK & Ireland, Pegasystems. 

StepChange has launched its COVID Payment Plan (CVPP), a new online service providing short-term assistance for those who qualify for up to a year, to assist with the current debt crisis due to COVID-19.

The platform has been built on Pega Customer Service by Pega’s partner, Aaseya. CVPP will assess candidate suitability through an online portal suite of questions. CVPP has also leveraged Pega Chat to support online conversations between applicants and StepChange experts. The service can scale up to ten thousand concurrent users per hour. 

“We needed to quickly stand up a solution to assess eligibility and get help to people as fast as possible. We see a specific need to bridge the gap between how life was pre-COVID-19 and the new and unprecedented world we're currently facing.  To do that, we needed proven technology to build an online platform that can be rapidly deployed to meet the new need,” said Phil Andrew, CEO, StepChange.

StepChange will manage and help candidates pay their bills. StepChange has integrated the Pega Customer Service application to support its Pulse customer support system, which has provided advice to customers via online and telephone inquiries. The CVPP product will leverage components from the existing Pulse solution to support the launch.

"Some of the most meaningful and rewarding work we do is when we can see how technology helps in very difficult human situations. We're very grateful that, along with our partner, Aaseya, we could rapidly deploy a solution that is so very needed right now," Tarrant added. 

About Pega

Pega is the leader in cloud software for customer engagement and operational excellence. The world's most recognized and successful brands rely on Pega's AI-powered software to optimize every customer interaction on any channel while ensuring their brand promises are kept. 

Pega's low-code application development platform allows enterprises to quickly build and evolve apps to meet their customer and employee needs and drive digital transformation on a global scale. For more than 35 years, Pega has enabled higher customer satisfaction, lower costs, and increased customer lifetime value.

The Government Accountability Office has listed several practices the Missile Defense Agency could implement to address acquisition challenges with regard to the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system.

Those practices include using knowledge-based acquisition practices; involving stakeholders early and often; promoting oversight and competition; and conducting robust testing, GAO said in a report published Wednesday.

The Department of Defense has initiated steps to address some of the 17 open recommendations by GAO to help reduce risks and improve acquisition outcomes. An example of that is MDA’s collaboration with stakeholders on the acquisition strategy and requirements for the Next-Generation Interceptor program, resulting in the approval of the acquisition strategy for NGI in April .

MDA considers assuming responsibilities for GMD system development and integration and GAO found that the move could provide the agency greater direct control over the program’s performance, schedule and cost.

“However, the approach has some challenges that, if not addressed, could outweigh the benefits. For example, MDA may encounter challenges obtaining the technical data and staffing levels necessary to manage this complex weapon system, which could ultimately affect its availability or readiness,” the GAO report states.

Gen. Charles "C.Q." Brown, chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force (USAF), said facilitating data access and sharing is the most challenging task the service is facing as it advances the development of the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) as part of the Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) concept, Federal News Network reported Wednesday.

“If I had one key area that stands out to me, it’s how we move data,” he said Wednesday during a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event. “We have a lot of data. …You’ve got millions of files, and all the data is there, but it’s not organized.”

Brown elaborated that he is coordinating with Will Roper, the Air Force’s assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology and a 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, how to facilitate data publication to enable other services to access information when they need it.

“It’s less about connecting a specific platform to capability, but having the data out there,” Brown said. “You can always just publish your data and then those who want it can actually download and subscribe to help build their other picture a bit better.”

“We ought to have a standard that once one of us does it; it should be good for all of us,” Brown continued. “All we do is burn daylight and time and money to do extra checks. Part of that is how we do that so we can actually connect a bit faster.”

Six House lawmakers have launched a new caucus to advocate on behalf of the U.S. Space Force.

The House Space Force Caucus was formed by Reps. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo.; Kendra Horn, D-Okla.; Brian Babin, R-Texas; Jason Crow, D-Colo.; Michael Waltz, R-Fla.; and Charlie Crist, D-Fla., Lamborn’s office said Tuesday.

“The U.S. Space Force is a much-needed branch of our military, tasked with defending our country’s assets in space – and it’s crucial that as members of Congress, we continue supporting the advancement of this military branch for our security both today and in the future,” said Representative Waltz.

The caucus will serve as the chief advocate for new Service. The caucus will support Department of the Air Force and the Space Force to provide opportunities for members and  staff to learn about the role the U.S. Space Force has in maintaining American space power.

“Maintaining superiority in space is essential to protecting our national security and US interests around the world,” Horn said. “I look forward to working with the Air Force and Space Force leadership and my co-chairs to advocate for the importance of space priorities and the needs of our Space Force professionals.”

Lt. Gen. Clinton Hinote, head of the strategy office at the U.S. Air Force, said the Air Force and the U.S. Army will come up with a plan in the next 60 days to link the Project Convergence and the Advanced Battle Management System demonstrations and ensure data sharing to advance the Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept, C4ISRNET reported Tuesday.

“What the Army and the Air Force are agreeing to is, we’re going to be able to see their data, they’re going to be able to see our data. And as much as we can, we will come up with common standards,” Hinote said. “But even if we can’t come up with common standards, we realize that translators are going to be something that will be with us for a long time, and we will build the translators necessary to make sure we can share.”

Hinote said bridging the Air Force’s ABMS and Project Convergence of the Army will likely involve integrating new technologies from one service branch and testing if they can transmit data to the other military branch’s nodes during the experiment.

“The magic is going to happen in the flow of information, and then the development of that information into something that looks new” through the adoption of artificial intelligence, Hinote added.