National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) fisheries arm has implemented a project management concept enabling the administration's personnel to create resource-processing platforms without prior programming knowledge, FedScoop reported Monday.

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service partnered with McLean, Va.-based information technology consulting firm M2 Strategy to develop a no-code management system that personnel can use to build dashboards and similar interfaces for managing projects.

The team also created a “prioritization scorecard” and template for resource management operations to support decision-making with project managers, team leaders and chief information officers.

Roy Varghese, CIO of NOAA Fisheries, told the publication that the effort comes as part of his office's goal to ensure that project management can be properly executed by staff that are "not classically trained project managers. When we switched over to 100 percent telework it was, to some extent for us, uneventful because we were prepared,” he noted. “We had our infrastructure ready.”

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has selected Pegasystems to help modernize agency-wide operations through the company’s Government Platform and Pega Customer Service, which will advance the  Enterprise Case Management (ECM) system, Pegasystems announced on Tuesday. 

"Many government agencies continue to be challenged by legacy systems that can't handle the increased and unpredictable demands of today's world," said Doug Averill, vice president and industry market lead, government, Pegasystems. 

The IRS recently embarked on a large-scale, agency-wide modernization project, including the implementation of an ECM system to unify existing technologies into a single platform for the benefit of taxpayers, employees, and the organization. Pegasystems will work to speed case resolution and reduce costs.

Pegasystems’ ECM system will run on low-code, intelligent solutions to support agency-wide operations, as well as enable the IRS to quickly address immediate and future organizational needs. The company will provide secure, end-to-end, integrated case management to improve operational efficiency, streamline costs and enhance taxpayer services. 

The ECM solution will help authorized IRS employees to see the entire range of issues and communications associated with each case for faster resolution. The company’s low-code, model-driven technology brings technical and non-technical users together to quickly and collaboratively build and deploy new applications, configure changes within existing applications, and adapt to new policies and legislation.

Pega Government Platform will integrate an intuitive visual approach to enable better collaboration, faster time to market and lower costs while helping to future proof the organization as technology evolves. 

The company's Customer Service will enable organizations to predict and manage the complexities of constituent experiences in one central system through artificial intelligence (AI) to anticipate needs, connect constituents to the right people and systems and automate interactions.  

"We're proud to be part of such an important and innovative initiative that will transform the way the agency gets work done for the ultimate benefit of constituents," Averill concluded. 

About Pegasystems 

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.

Catherine Marsh, director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), said IARPA is hiring new office directors to help transition technology platforms to intelligence agencies, SIGNAL Magazine reported Monday.

“We are reinstituting the role of office directors at IARPA,” Marsh told the publication. “We posted vacancy notices, and we got lots of applicants – I mean lots of applicants.”

The new office directors will be responsible for hiring program managers, developing and guiding research initiatives and connecting program managers to intelligence agencies.

“The office director has to help make the connections between our programs and our partners in the intelligence community, and they leverage that experience to ensure that our programs are ambitious, that they’ve got rigorous metrics and that they’re structured for success, but that they’re also going to transition [to users.],” Marsh said. "That’s a critical role for our future.”

Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic utilized 3D printing technology to design personal protective equipment in support of COVID-19 relief efforts.

The command's production quality and manufacturing team produced and distributed 110 face shields and 1,444 face masks to NIWC personnel worldwide as of June 1, the U.S. Navy said Thursday.

NIWC used air conditioning and media heating ventilation strainers to obtain filter materials that will support facemasks.

The team also partnered with the U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Command to procure 300 face shields in an effort to address the lack of polyethylene terephthalate glycol.

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) has conducted a test of a new tactical data link designed to boost situational awareness across airmen, C4ISRnet reported Thursday.

USAF's Air Mobility Command delivered high bandwidth and accelerated data processing with the data link in a test that took place Sunday.

“One individual who has flown this same profile about eight different times … said this was the most situational awareness he’s ever had,” said Lt. Col. Bradley Rueter, chief of AMC's capability development branch.

In the exercise, which simulated an airdrop of ground forces into a contested environment near Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, the Air Force changed how and how fast it was sending data to crews aboard two C-17s.

AMC used commercial satellite communications, which according to Rueter, are “hundreds of times faster than what we traditionally use,” in addition to a “slightly different” protocol to send those messages.

The two planes were also outfitted with an upgraded computer with higher processing speeds. Overall, the new tech allowed for higher refresh rates to keep up with changes in the battlespace. The success of the mission will improve the effectiveness of joint operations in contested environments.

The test marks a milestone in USAF's effort to implement the Joint All-Domain Command and Control approach that integrates systems across multiple domains. Rueter has projected to continue the system's testing with C-130, KC-46 and KC-135 aircraft.

The U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX innovation arm will host an event on July 15 and 16 to brief small businesses and academic entities on the service branch’s efforts to utilize commercial technologies for military applications, the service branch reported on Friday.

The "TeamUp" virtual trade show is aimed at promoting dialogue between industry, universities and research institutions ahead of the Air Force’s Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Open Topic funding round.

AFWERX and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) will provide an overview of the STTR Open Topic solicitation, which will focus on the “Agility Prime” topic area and cover commercial platforms for applications such as emergency response, medical evacuation and relief operations.

The Air Force expects to issue $10 million in contracts under the Agility Prime area within a 90-day period.

Maj. Jared Evans, program manager for AFWERX's STTR Open Topic and technology transfer lead at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, said the STTR program serves as "a critical part" of the service's broader investment in the small-business and research communities.

“TeamUp events like this one will provide opportunities for multiple stakeholders to come together and compete with speed,” noted Col. Nathan Diller, director of AFWERX.

Technologies to be featured during the event include air mobility platforms and related components such as electric propulsion systems, computing hardware, sensor systems and communication technologies.