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U.S. Military Addresses N95 Mask Shortage via 3D Printing; Maj. Daniel Williams Quoted
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U.S. Military Addresses N95 Mask Shortage via 3D Printing; Maj. Daniel Williams Quoted

U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity used 3D printing to address the U.S. health care workforce's demand for N95 respirators, DOD News reported Monday.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Daniel Williams, product manager for N95 respirator efforts at USAMMDA's Warfighter Expeditionary Medicine and Treatment Project Management Office, said his team leveraged internal expertise on medical product development to address the N95 shortage.

The team worked with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), U.S. Navy Underwater Warfare Center-Keyport, U.S. Coast Guard Academy and U.S. Forces Korea to manufacture the masks.

U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command's Additive Manufacturing Working Group verified the agreements, intellectual property concerns and regulatory requirements relevant to N95 respirator production.

Lastly, Army Combat Capabilities Development Command's Chemical Biological Center evaluated respirator prototypes to verify compliance with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

“It has been such an honor to work with such an amazing group of professionals, spanning the medical and non-medical communities, and a truly unique experience to see so many different specialties come together for a common goal,” Williams said in an interview.

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Amentum Named #1 Military Friendly Company for 2021; CEO John Vollmer Quoted
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Amentum Named #1 Military Friendly Company for 2021; CEO John Vollmer Quoted

Amentum announced on Tuesday that the company has been selected as the number one Military Friendly Company for 2021 as well as the top Military Friendly® Supplier Diversity.

“We could not be more proud to be recognized as the top Military Friendly Company for 2021,” said John Vollmer, CEO of Amentum and five-time Wash100 Award recipient. “We share many of the same values, including the importance of leadership and teamwork, discipline and dedication to mission success.”

“Our focus on the missions of our military customers, the leadership and teamwork of our 11,000 veteran employees, and the contributions of the military spouses at Amentum and the veteran-owned small businesses we partner with make us stronger as a company and drive our success every day, Vollmer added.”

About Amentum

Amentum is a premier global technical and engineering services partner supporting critical programs of national significance across defense, security, intelligence, energy, and environment. We draw from a century-old heritage of operational excellence, mission focus, and successful execution underpinned by a strong culture of safety and ethics.

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Siemens’ Teamcenter to Standardize Product Lifecycle Management Platform for U.S. Air Force; Tina Dolph Quoted
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Siemens’ Teamcenter to Standardize Product Lifecycle Management Platform for U.S. Air Force; Tina Dolph Quoted

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) has selected Siemens’ Teamcenter software to support the service branch’s digital acquisition and sustainment strategy for critical systems and technologies, the company announced on Tuesday.

“We are incredibly proud to support the Air Force with a toolset that supports their digital journey and fundamentally enhances the way they can field capability with greater speed and agility,” said Tina Dolph, president and CEO of Siemens Government Technologies and two-time Wash100 Award recipient.

Teamcenter, part of the Xcelerator™ portfolio from Siemens Digital Industries Software, is a modern, open and adaptable product lifecycle management (PLM) solution. By leveraging Xcelerator, the Department of Defense (DOD) as well as the aerospace and defense industry can integrate disparate program data and share product performance details anywhere and at any time.

“By providing the Air Force and other defense agencies with a robust enterprise PLM solution, time-sensitive and actionable data can be accessed across the earliest phases of a system lifecycle, resulting in lower operational costs, fewer down times, and overall improved readiness,” Dolph explained.

Siemens continues to work and support the Air Force as it revives and maintains product lifecycle management software applications through a $24.5 million contract through Jan. 2024.

About Siemens Government Technologies

Siemens Government Technologies is the wholly-owned, separate, cleared entity of Siemens whose mission it is to secure and modernize the largest infrastructure in the world, the U.S. Federal Government. It does so by being the leading integrator of Siemens’ innovative products, technologies, software and services in the areas of digital engineering and modeling, efficient and resilient energy solutions, and smart infrastructure modernization.

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Luanne Pavco Joins Avantus Federal as President of Avantus Services, Chief Delivery Officer; CEO Andy Maner Quoted
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Luanne Pavco Joins Avantus Federal as President of Avantus Services, Chief Delivery Officer; CEO Andy Maner Quoted

Luanne Pavco has been named president of Avantus Services as well as chief delivery officer for Avantus Federal, a NewSpring Holdings company, the company announced on Tuesday.

“I’m incredibly honored to join Avantus Federal to help advance the company,” former Wash100 Award winner Pavco said. “It is exciting to work alongside the industry’s most eminent leaders and grow the company to the next level of capability, client service and unsurpassed mission support.”

Pavco will take the helm of all aspects regarding the company’s delivery and customer efforts as well as overseeing Avantus’ Integrated Talent Management initiatives. She will report to CEO Andy Maner and continue to serve on the Avantus Board of Advisors.

Before assuming her new role, Pavco served as the general manager and member of Slalom Consulting’s executive team. She oversaw and set the company’s strategy for growth, and delivery excellence. Pavco also founded Slalom Federal and built the Public Sector through exponential growth and impact in less than three years.

She’s also held several senior executive leadership roles with Coopers & Lybrand, Price Waterhouse, and IBM Federal.

“Luanne has been invaluable to Avantus as a Board of Advisor and I am eager  for her to join our organization full-time,” said Avantus CEO Andy Maner. “We are doing important work at Avantus, and with Luanne  leading the charge as President of Avantus Services as well as our Chief Delivery Officer, she will help us continue to grow our company into a robust,  mission-ready hub.”

About Avantus Federal  

Avantus Federal, a NewSpring Holdings company, is a mission-focused services  and solutions company headquartered in McLean, VA. E3 Federal Solutions  and The Sentinel Company combined forces in 2018 and rebranded in 2020  to Avantus Federal. Avantus draws upon its heritage companies’ histories of  consistent growth and high performance in the federal services market.

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Gen. John Murray: Army’s Modernization Priorities to Remain in Place
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Gen. John Murray: Army’s Modernization Priorities to Remain in Place

Gen. John Murray, head of Army Futures Command (AFC) and a two-time Wash100 Award recipient, said the service’s six modernization priorities, including network and long-range precision fires, will stay the same and that he will continue fighting for funds to support large-scale experiments amid projections that defense budget will likely remain flat in the coming years, FedScoop reported Monday.

“We just cannot afford to pass up this opportunity,” Murray said of AFC’s work during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event Monday.

Murray mentioned network modernization plans in 2021 including AFC’s intent to bring to the tactical edge its U.S.-based network infrastructure in support of the command’s long-term goal to connect sensors to warfighters.

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Janet Yellen Confirmed as Treasury Secretary
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Janet Yellen Confirmed as Treasury Secretary

The Senate voted 84-15 Monday to confirm Janet Yellen, former chair of the Federal Reserve, as secretary of the Department of the Treasury (USDT), The New York Times reported.

Yellen’s confirmation made her the first woman to hold the top post at the Treasury. She is a labor economist who also served as vice chair of the Federal Reserve and chair of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton administration. 

As head of the Treasury, Yellen will help President Biden advance the potential $1.9 trillion COVID-19 pandemic relief package, implement the current administration’s tax proposals and oversee U.S. economic relations with other countries.

The report said Yellen plans to make changes to the department’s mission, such as using its authority to evaluate climate change’s economic risks and support clean energy technologies through incentives.

“It is the responsibility of the Treasury secretary to strengthen the U.S. economy, foster widespread economic prosperity and promote an economic agenda that leads to long-run economic growth,” Yellen said in her written response to lawmakers.

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Executive Order Directs Agencies to Buy Domestic Goods in Support of U.S. Manufacturers, Workers
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Executive Order Directs Agencies to Buy Domestic Goods in Support of U.S. Manufacturers, Workers

President Biden signed an executive order that directs federal agencies to purchase U.S-made products and services as part of efforts to support U.S. businesses, manufacturers and workers and strengthen the enforcement of Buy American laws.

The EO orders a centralized evaluation of agency waivers of Buy American provisions and requires the General Services Administration (GSA) to post waivers on a public website, the White House said Monday.

“This Executive Order fulfills President Biden’s promise to make Buy American real and close loopholes that allow companies to offshore production and jobs while still qualifying for domestic preferences,” the document reads.

The policy creates a new position – director of Made-in-America – at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to oversee the EO’s implementation, orders an increase in the domestic content threshold and directs agencies to use the Manufacturing Extension Partnership to establish connections with domestic suppliers. 

Agencies should also submit reports on how they implement Made in America laws and offer recommendations for achieving the administration’s objectives related to such regulations.

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DOE Unveils Funding Opportunity for Direct Air Capture R&D Projects
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DOE Unveils Funding Opportunity for Direct Air Capture R&D Projects

The Department of Energy (DOE) will invest up to $15 million in funds to support research and development projects for direct air capture technologies.

The funding opportunity seeks to validate approaches that could eliminate carbon dioxide from industrial processes, fossil fuel-based power plants and the Earth's atmosphere as part of the Carbon Capture Program, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) said Thursday.

Areas of interest under the funding opportunity include initial engineering design of carbon capture, storage and utilization systems as well as testing and validation of structured material systems and component designs for DAC technologies.

NETL will oversee the projects in behalf of DOE. DOE expects to award eight projects under the funding opportunity.

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Army Unpauses Testing of Newest Medium Tactical Vehicle
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Army Unpauses Testing of Newest Medium Tactical Vehicle

The U.S. Army has continued tests of its newest medium tactical vehicle, after lessons learned from issues encountered in a previous trial that took place May 2020, Defense News reported Thursday. The Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles' A2 variant underwent changes in terms of payload capacity, ride quality, underbody protection, electronic stability and suspension.

Wolfgang Petermann, project manager of transportation systems for the Army's Program Executive Office Combat Support and Combat Service Support, told Defense News that A2 entered shakedown testing in November 2020 and is expected to complete the phase this March.

Petermann's team tested 13 vehicle units across six variants, with seven units having produced positive results so far. Some variants resumed testing on Jan. 11. Oshkosh Defense holds a $476.2 million contract to deliver the latest FMTV variant.

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NASA’s Deep-Space Satellite Dish Goes Online
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NASA’s Deep-Space Satellite Dish Goes Online

NASA has added another antenna to its Deep Space Network (DSN) that will handle communications with space missions including the Perseverance rover that is slated to land on Mars in Feb. 2021. The agency said Saturday the Deep Space Station 56 (DSS-56) satellite dish has begun live operations and will serve as the first antenna to work with DSN across all communication frequencies.

DSS-56, which spans 34 meters, operates as an “all-in-one” dish and is meant to serve as a backup antenna for the inventory of satellite dishes located at the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex in Spain. Construction of the antenna began in 2017 in an effort to address frequency-band limits in the existing dishes at the Madrid location.

NASA envisions DSS-56 to support the interplanetary switchboard network in managing navigation and communication operations for subsequent deep-space missions including the upcoming Artemis manned flight to the moon.

Badri Younes, deputy associate administrator and program manager of the Space Communications and Navigation unit at NASA, said DSS-56 represents the agency’s goal of supporting real-time functionalities for over 30 missions in deep space. DSN operates under SCaN and encompasses ground stations in Spain, Australia and California.

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