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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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AFS Wins $90M Contract to Support USAF ERP Capabilities; Vince Vlasho, Susan Lawrence Quoted
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AFS Wins $90M Contract to Support USAF ERP Capabilities; Vince Vlasho, Susan Lawrence Quoted

An Accenture subsidiary, Accenture Federal Services (AFS), has been awarded a $90 million Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Initiative+ (MROi+) contract to help the U.S. Air Force develop an integrated capability for planning, scheduling and conducting depot maintenance, the company reported on Tuesday. The contract has a four and a half-year performance period.

"We look forward to once again working with the Air Force as it continues to forge the way ahead in bringing commercial solutions to modernize depot business operations. MROi+, as part of Common Services, is a key element to the Air Force cloud enterprise strategy going forward." said Susan Lawrence, AFS managing director of the Armed Forces Sector and previous Wash100 Award recipient. 

Under the contract, AFS will also expand Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) capabilities across logistics and other business domains. The company will develop and implement ERP applications to manage integrated depot maintenance and Air Force working capital fund financials.

The solutions will be developed by AFS within the Oracle Enterprise Business Suite and include Complex Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul, Discrete Manufacturing, Production and Scheduling, Inventory and Advanced Supply Chain Planning.

“We are excited to help the Air Force modernize its maintenance and logistics systems that will have a direct impact on enhanced force readiness. Having access to accurate, consistent, and timely data, along with improved business processes, will result in a higher number of mission capable aircraft,” said Vince Vlasho, who leads AFS’ Defense portfolio.

AFS was also recently awarded a contract to establish a new cloud-based common infrastructure for Air Force ERP systems. Vlasho recently spoke with ExecutiveBiz, regarding AFS' recent contract win, stating, “one of the highlights that we’re really proud of is that we not only talk the talk, but also we walk the walk. We bring our commercial capabilities to these clients and we will deliver on the most complex DoD challenges.”

To read Vince Vlasho's full Executive Spotlight, visit Executivebiz.com. 

About Accenture Federal Services

Accenture Federal Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Accenture LLP, is a U.S. company with offices in Arlington, Virginia. Accenture’s federal business has served every cabinet-level department and 30 of the largest federal organizations. Accenture Federal Services transforms bold ideas into breakthrough outcomes for clients at defense, intelligence, public safety, civilian and military health organizations. 

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BWXT Subsidiary Completes TRISO Nuclear Fuel Line Restart Project; Joel Duling Quoted
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BWXT Subsidiary Completes TRISO Nuclear Fuel Line Restart Project; Joel Duling Quoted

BWX Technologies’ subsidiary, BWXT Nuclear Operations Group, has completed the TRISO nuclear fuel line restart project and has begun fuel production at its Lynchburg, Va. facility, the company reported on Tuesday.

“The restart of our TRISO line positions BWXT as the only company in the U.S. that is currently executing production contracts for TRISO fuel,” said Joel Duling, president of the Nuclear Operations Group. “I’m very proud of our team for blending new, innovative ideas with our extensive history and experience in fuel development and manufacturing.”

The company manufactures fuel across four commercial and government business lines. BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada currently manufactures approximately half of the fuel that powers the commercial reactor fleet in Ontario.

BWXT subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services is the only provider of nuclear fuel for the U.S. Navy, and the company’s Uranium Processing and Research Reactors operation is the only North American supplier of research reactor fuel elements for colleges, universities and national laboratories.

BWXT is the only U.S. company to manufacture irradiation-tested uranium oxycarbide TRISO fuel using production-scale equipment. The company announced in June that it had secured a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho National Laboratory.

Under the contract, BWXT will expand its TRISO manufacturing capacity and produce a demonstration quantity of the fuel. The project is jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Operational Energy Capabilities Improvement Fund Office and NASA, with overall program management provided by the DoD’s Strategic Capabilities Office.

BWXT was also awarded a contract with the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to demonstrate capability to manufacture TRISO nuclear fuel to support the continued development of the Transformational Challenge Reactor in March.

About BWXT

At BWX Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: BWXT), we are People Strong, Innovation Driven. Headquartered in Lynchburg, Va., BWXT provides safe and effective nuclear solutions for national security, clean energy, environmental remediation, nuclear medicine and space exploration. With approximately 6,700 employees, BWXT has 12 major operating sites in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, BWXT joint ventures provide management and operations at more than a dozen U.S. Department of Energy and NASA facilities.

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Correction to Our Previous Edition
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Correction to Our Previous Edition

GovConDaily incorrectly reported on Monday that Christopher C. Miller had been confirmed by the Senate as the Acting Secretary of Defense to assume the responsibilities of recently terminated Mark Esper. In fact, Mr. Miller has not been confirmed by the Senate for that role of SecDef. Rather, Mr. Miller was previously Senate confirmed as the head of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. 

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NSWC Dahlgren Division to Establish New Facility for Environmental Testing; Shawn Schneider Quoted
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NSWC Dahlgren Division to Establish New Facility for Environmental Testing; Shawn Schneider Quoted

Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) operates three facilities for environmental testing, and plans to add a new one next year.

The division's next laboratory will provide multi-axis vibration testing that would allow engineers to simultaneously trial the three axes of a weapon or computer system intended for naval use, Naval Sea Systems Command said Monday.

"Not only are we engineering the right tests, but we’re also going out and making sure the current military standards are right," said Shawn Schneider, a vibration subject matter expert at the division.

He added that his team is doing more research to surpass existing standards and challenge the norm. The team develops products based on needs of the warfighter, the front-end consumer and the country's citizens who rely on national security, Schneider noted.

NSWCDD’s existing environmental testing facilities are located at the Potomac River Test Range and the Explosive Experimental Area.

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NASA Tests Propellers for X-57 Maxwell Electric Plane; Nick Borer Quoted
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NASA Tests Propellers for X-57 Maxwell Electric Plane; Nick Borer Quoted

NASA has tested the propeller technology designed to boost the X-57 Maxwell, the space agency's first X-plane completely powered by electricity.

NASA said Monday that it ran the tests through a low-speed aeroacoustic wind tunnel facility to know how the propellers would perform in certain flight conditions, such as those with wind speeds exceeding 90 knots.

Empirical Systems Aerospace provided the prototype propeller assemblies designed for use in low-speed flight scenarios. Maxwell's final configuration will use 12 of the propellers. The two-week testing was done at the Virginia-based Langley Research Center.

"The X-57 project is using these tests to determine the as-built performance versus our models, so that we have high confidence in the performance of these propellers when we get to flight," said Nick Borer, who leads the Advanced Concepts Group at Langley’s aeronautics systems analysis branch.

Borer added the data would inform the aircraft's design review required for flight hardware production.

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DHS OIG Report: FEMA Should Address Data Quality Issues in New System for Flood Insurance Program
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DHS OIG Report: FEMA Should Address Data Quality Issues in New System for Flood Insurance Program

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) office of inspector general has issued a report saying the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA) has experienced improvements after it modernized the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) system but still needs to address data quality issues in its new NFIP platform.

DHS OIG said in a Nov. 2nd report the transition to the new PIVOT system has helped FIMA speed up processing of policies and claims transactions, improve policyholder address validation and enhance reporting capabilities.

However, data reliability issues continue to exist. To address these issues, the inspector general recommended that the deputy associate administrator for insurance and mitigation develop a strategy to improve data quality in the PIVOT system by making vendors accountable for rectifying transaction errors.

FIMA should also integrate a data quality evaluation into its PIVOT operational reviews and come up with a strategy to inform stakeholders of the data issues in the historical NFIP data and publish warnings with regard to the use of those data.

The report said FEMA concurred with all those recommendations.

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William Bookless Named Acting NNSA Administrator
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William Bookless Named Acting NNSA Administrator

William Bookless, principal deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), assumed the role of acting administrator of NNSA after Lisa Gordon-Hagerty stepped down from the post.

NNSA said Friday Gordon-Hagerty, who received Senate confirmation in February 2018 to serve as head of NNSA, also resigned as undersecretary of energy for nuclear security.

Bookless brings more than 35 years of nuclear security experience to the role. He spent more than three decades at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California as a senior physicist.

He previously served as a senior adviser to the NNSA administrator for policy and as assistant laboratory director for policy and planning at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York.

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NSWC PHD, USACE Celebrate Modernization, Renovation Effort
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NSWC PHD, USACE Celebrate Modernization, Renovation Effort

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Port Hueneme Division (PHD) held an event to mark the conclusion of a modernization and renovation project for a building slated for occupation by NSWC PHD’s air dominance department.

The partnership incorporated open-seating desks, carpet and vinyl floor installation, a new kitchenette, refurbished bathrooms and a data closet into the 2.5K-square foot building as part of the $747,000 project, Naval Sea Systems Command said Thursday.

The team installed 3D building numbers and a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system onto the facility’s roof. USACE and NSWC PHD also worked with OCS Construction Services to repair the building’s exterior wheelchair ramp.

NSWC PHD initially constructed the building as a base support administration facility in 1985.

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