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BlackBerry Limited Reports FY 2021 Q1 Results; John Chen Quoted
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BlackBerry Limited Reports FY 2021 Q1 Results; John Chen Quoted

BlackBerry Limited has announced its fiscal year (FY) 2021 first quarter (Q1) results, noting that the total company non-GAAP revenue of $214 million and total company GAAP revenue of $206 million, the company reported on Thursday.

"On the enterprise front, we saw good demand from customers who recognized the necessity for BlackBerry's security, business continuity, and productivity solutions in an increasingly remote working environment. BlackBerry is capitalizing on the secular trends of securing and connecting endpoints," said John Chen, executive chairman and CEO of BlackBerry. 

Blackberry’s recurring non-GAAP software product revenue was over 90 percent, with non-GAAP gross margins of 71 percent versus 75 percent last year, and GAAP gross margin was 69 percent versus 72 percent last year.

The company’s Non-GAAP operating earnings were $3 million versus non-GAAP operating earnings of $5 million last year. GAAP operating loss was $645 million versus GAAP operating loss of $36 million last year.

The non-GAAP earnings per share was $0.02 versus non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.01 last year. GAAP net loss per share was $1.14 versus GAAP net loss per share of $0.06: basic, and $0.09: diluted last year.

First quarter fiscal 2021 GAAP net loss includes $594 million in a non-cash, one-time goodwill impairment charge primarily related to the impairment of the BlackBerry Spark reporting unit, $33 million for acquired intangibles amortization expense, $14 million in stock compensation expense, a charge of $1 million related to the fair value adjustment on the debentures. 

At May 31, 2020, total cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments were $955 million. Net cash used by operating activities of $31 million and capital expenditures of $1 million. Given the uncertainty across the global economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, BlackBerry will not provide a financial outlook for fiscal 2021.

"BlackBerry QNX was impacted by macro headwinds in the auto and other embedded sectors but we are starting to see signs of a recovery," Chen added. 

About BlackBerry

BlackBerry (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world. The company secures more than 500M endpoints including more than 175M cars on the road today.  Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company leverages AI and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety and data privacy solutions, and is a leader in the areas of endpoint security management, encryption, and embedded systems. 

BlackBerry's vision is clear – to secure a connected future you can trust.

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GSA Awards Three Contracts for E-Marketplace Platform Providers to Modernize Procurement; Emily Murphy, Julie Dunne Quoted
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GSA Awards Three Contracts for E-Marketplace Platform Providers to Modernize Procurement; Emily Murphy, Julie Dunne Quoted

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has awarded contracts to Amazon Business, Fisher Scientific and Overstock.com to expand implementation efforts for the Commercial Platforms program and Section 846 of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, GSA reported on Friday. 

“The e-commerce portals proof-of-concept is an important step in offering a solution for purchasing commercial products online that protects our federal supply chain against malicious and counterfeit goods, furthering our national security,” said GSA administrator and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, Emily Murphy. 

The no-cost contracts will enable GSA to test the use of commercial e-commerce portals for purchases below the micro-purchase threshold of $10 thousand, using a proof-of-concept. The platforms will be available to federal agencies to modernize the procurement and gain insights into open-market online spending. 

Open market purchases on government purchase cards represent an addressable market of approximately $6 billion annually. The GSA’s advances will provide a modern buying solution for federal customers and increase transparency on agency spending that’s already taking place with better data through this solution. 

The solution will also leverage the government’s buying power and increase supply chain security awareness with a governmentwide approach. GSA anticipates the e-marketplace platforms will be available for use in the next 30 days. 

“Our approach continues to be shaped by DHS’s Best Practices for E-Commerce Platforms and Third-Party Marketplaces, combining better security practices, better data, and better pricing. I’m pleased that GSA is at the forefront of leading such dynamic and innovative change,” Murphy added. 

The Commercial Platforms initiative is one of four cornerstone projects underpinning GSA's Federal Marketplace Strategy to modernize and simplify the buying and selling experience for customers, suppliers and acquisition professionals.

According to GSA Federal Acquisition Service commissioner Julie Dunne, the proof-of-concept will start small and be refined through repeated testing. GSA will continue to solicit stakeholder feedback as has been the case throughout the program’s development. 

“The feedback GSA has already received from a wide variety of stakeholders has been critical to achieving this important milestone in the Section 846 implementation,” said Dunne. “I’m excited for the path ahead — especially the spend data. Such data will help with compliance in areas like AbilityOne, small business, and supply chain risk management.” 

Dunne recently spoke during Potomac Officers Club’s Procurement Forum. Click here to access the forum in full and learn more about federal acquisition, procurement and fiscal management. 

About GSA

The mission of GSA is to deliver value and savings in real estate, acquisition, technology, and other mission-support services across government. One of its four strategic goals is to establish GSA as the premier provider of efficient and effective acquisition solutions across the government.

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Booz Allen Names Kevin Richards, Tony Sharp to Cyber Leadership Roles; Bill Phelps Quoted
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Booz Allen Names Kevin Richards, Tony Sharp to Cyber Leadership Roles; Bill Phelps Quoted

Booz Allen Hamilton has appointed Kevin Richards to lead Strategic Cyber Readiness and Response and Tony Sharp to head Security Architecture and Engineering within the company Cyber Business, Booz Allen reported on Friday.

“It’s not enough to have either a strong cybersecurity posture or the advanced technology needed to manage cyber risk,” said Bill Phelps, executive vice president and head of Booz Allen’s Global Commercial business. “Kevin’s and Tony’s teams will collaborate to ensure customers have a measured plan for reducing their cyber risk landscape. Together, their unique expertise will allow our business to continue to adapt in service of evolving client needs.”

Richards will serve as an executive vice president and lead Booz Allen’s Strategic Cyber Readiness and Response teams, where he will partner with clients to improve their cyber strategy and provide breach incident response services. 

Prior to his role with Booz Allen, Richards served with Marsh, where he was managing director and global head of cyber risk consulting. He also served as managing director, NA security practice lead and global lead of security strategy and risk throughout Richards nearly eight-year tenure with Accenture. 

“Today’s threat landscape changes minute by minute, hour by hour, and readiness and response strategies must constantly adapt accordingly. We must learn from—and out-innovate—malicious actors so we can help clients understand how those learnings can protect their organizations,” said Richards. 

In his new role with Booz Allen, Sharp will lead the Security Architecture and Engineering team. He will engage with clients to design, build and implement securely architected systems that will enable clients to better manage cyber risk. 

Sharp’s team will deliver solutions across software defined infrastructure, operations technology, secure cloud platforms and advanced data analytics. Sharp has joined Booz Allen from FedEx, where he held several leadership roles over 22 years.

Most recently, he served as vice president of Information Security. As vice president with the company, Sharp provided vision and strategies supporting key initiatives and solutions that advanced FedEx’s enterprise security capability, including Identities and Access, Data Security, Application Security, Cloud and Network Security. 

“As organizations pursue transformational changes to their cyber programs, they need world-class engineering capabilities like those at Booz Allen to harden their cyber defenses,” Sharp said. “Reducing their attack surface by leveraging advanced analytics and anomaly detection via machine learning and artificial intelligence can help clients be more confident in their ability to respond to cyber threats.”

About Booz Allen Hamilton

For more than 100 years, business, government, and military leaders have turned to Booz Allen Hamilton to solve their most complex problems. As a consulting firm with experts in analytics, digital, engineering and cyber, we help organizations transform. 

We are a key partner on some of the most innovative programs for governments worldwide and trusted by the most sensitive agencies. We work shoulder to shoulder with clients, using a mission-first approach to choose the right strategy and technology to help them realize their vision.

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U.S. Army Unveils Interim Systems for DoD’s Counter-Drone Capability
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U.S. Army Unveils Interim Systems for DoD’s Counter-Drone Capability

The U.S. Army announced the selection of interim platforms for the Department of Defense’s counter-small unmanned aircraft system (C-sUAS) capability following the completion of assessment and approval of the results by DoD, the service reported Thursday.

The interim C-sUAS platforms were categorized into four systems: fixed/semi-fixed systems, mounted/mobile system, dismounted/handheld systems and command and control.

Fixed/semi-fixed platforms include the Fixed Site-Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Integrated Defeat System (FS-LIDS); Negation of Improvised Non-State Joint Aerial-Threats (NINJA); and Counter-Remote Control Model Aircraft Integrated Air Defense Network (CORIAN).

DoD selected the Light-Mobile Air Defense Integrated System (L-MADIS) as an interim C-sUAS capability for mounted/mobile platform.

Bal Chatri, Drone Buster and Smart Shooter were selected for handheld systems while Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control system (FAAD-C2) and Air Defense System Integrator (ADSI) were chosen for the C2 category.

The platforms for DoD’s interim C-sUAS capability were selected based on integration, sustainment, effectiveness and usability. Army Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey serves as director of the joint C-sUAS office, which is responsible for overseeing the development of counter-drone technologies for the Pentagon.

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Gen. Mike Holmes: U.S. Air Force Eyes Trainer Jet Competition for ‘Reforge’ Concept
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Gen. Mike Holmes: U.S. Air Force Eyes Trainer Jet Competition for ‘Reforge’ Concept

Gen. Mike Holmes, head of Air Combat Command, said the U.S. Air Force plans to hold a competition for trainer jets for use in testing the “Rebuilding the Forge” training concept, Defense News reported Thursday. The Reforge training concept seeks to expedite the process of developing experienced fighter pilots. Holmes said the service intends to allow other companies to offer alternative options.

“In our initial market research, there was some thought that there might be only one airplane there was going to be bid against it. But as we did more market research, we found out that there were multiple people that wanted to bid, and they were going to bid with a couple of different airplanes at least,” Holmes told reporters at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event.

The service initially planned to lease from Hillwood Aviation up to eight T-50A trainers, which was built by Korea Aerospace Industries and offered by Lockheed Martin for the T-X competition. Boeing won the T-X contract with its T-7 Red Hawk offering.

“We proposed to lease some airplanes while we’re waiting on the T-7 to arrive and do some experiments along with AETC [Air Education and Training Command] to try to figure out what’s the best use of this new T-7 that we’re going to buy,” Holmes said.

He noted that the service plans to start leasing up to 11 training jets by the summer of 2021 through the RFX program.

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DoD’s Platform One Announces Official Adoption of Work-From-Home Model
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DoD’s Platform One Announces Official Adoption of Work-From-Home Model

The Department of Defense’s (DoD) Platform One, a team of software developers advancing the use of DevSecOps practices, will continue to work remotely to protect its workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rob Slaughter, director of Platform One, announced the move to the team’s more than 180 employees during a recent video conference, according to a blog post published Wednesday on Platform One’s Medium site.

“Platform One is now the first federal office to go to a formal work-from-home model in the face of changing times,” Slaughter said during the call. “We’ve proven that our productivity has not been negatively impacted. In fact, we’re better than before.”

Nicolas Chaillan, chief software officer at the Air Force and co-lead for the DoD's enterprise DevSecOps initiative, expressed in his memo his support to telework arrangement to protect employees and improve productivity.

The Platform One team said office facilities will now operate under a 50 percent capacity rule and that it will provide updates in the next several months as it pilots the work-from-home model.

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inContext.ai Secures NSF Funds for AI-Based Healthcare Tech Dev’t
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inContext.ai Secures NSF Funds for AI-Based Healthcare Tech Dev’t

Texas-based healthcare information technology company inContext.ai has received $225,000 in funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to build artificial intelligence-based healthcare tools.

Robert Grzeszczuk, CEO of inContext.ai, said in a statement published Wednesday the funds will potentially allow the company to update the efficiency of its offerings through collaborative efforts.

"Our goal is to make ‘dark clinical data’ which is buried in diagnostic reports, accessible and actionable anytime, anywhere," said Grzeszczuk.

Grzeszczuk added inContext.ai plans to compete for NSF's $1 million Phase II funding. The company has developed a platform that works to optimize and support physicians' workflow by augmenting their interaction with counter-intuitive software tools.

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Joint INDOPACOM Exercise Last Year Used New Simulation Tech
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Joint INDOPACOM Exercise Last Year Used New Simulation Tech

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) used a modern simulation tool to administer a wargame exercise that took place in August 2019. USINDOPACOM leveraged the Standard Wargame Integration Facilitation Toolkit to conduct the Joint Forces Energy Wargame (JFEW) and perform associated analyses, the U.S. Air Force said Wednesday.

Participants also used SWIFT to quickly address fuel logistics issues at the four-day event in Camp Smith, Honolulu. The Office of the Secretary of Defense's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation group developed SWIFT in a matter of 12 weeks.

“The tool helped us identify a few critical energy challenges for the Air Force and joint operations, and provided decision-makers with data-driven insight on how we can improve operational plans for increased readiness," said Dominick Wright, team lead for JFEW.

CAPE engineers plan to use SWIFT with continuous updates for more joint exercises in the future.

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MIT Haystack Observatory to Support NASA Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry Systems
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MIT Haystack Observatory to Support NASA Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry Systems

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Haystack Observatory has received a potential five-year, $14.8 million follow-on contract to help NASA update and maintain very-long-baseline interferometry systems. The MIT Haystack Observatory team will field personnel, equipment, materials and facilities to support NASA's VLBI stations and data processing activities, the agency said Wednesday.

The research center will also support the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry as well as associated services for the Space Geodesy Project. The cost-no-fee contract has a base value of one year and could extend to four more years if all options are exercised.

The Space Geodesy Project is a collaborative effort between NASA, MIT Haystack Observatory and other partners that seeks to build and deploy geodetic stations.

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OMB Seeks ‘Detailees’ to Support Federal Data Strategy Implementation
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OMB Seeks ‘Detailees’ to Support Federal Data Strategy Implementation

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is looking to appoint government personnel to help their own agencies achieve goals under the Federal Data Strategy (FDS), FedScoop reported Wednesday.

The “detailees” will complete 20 objectives meant to support FDS action plans, solicit agency input, coordinate with chief data officers, evaluate agency performance, share case studies and establish resources through interagency groups.

Detailees will also develop the 2021 Action Plan and conduct outreach programs with agencies as well as working groups to drive FDS implementation.

In December, OMB released the final draft version of the 2020 FDS which details goals that agencies must achieve by the year's end. Objectives include establishing data standards, developing quality metrics and updating data repositories.

OMB will accept applications through July 17 ahead of expected onboarding on Sept. 1.

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