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KBR Joins Multi-Million Dollar NTSP Framework to Support UK Nuclear, Defense Infrastructure; Andrew Barrie, Charles Hoskins Quoted
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KBR Joins Multi-Million Dollar NTSP Framework to Support UK Nuclear, Defense Infrastructure; Andrew Barrie, Charles Hoskins Quoted

KBR Joins Multi-Million Dollar NTSP Framework to Support UK Nuclear, Defense Infrastructure; Andrew Barrie, Charles Hoskins Quoted

KBR has announced that the company has reinforced its growing presence in the UK Nuclear and Defence Infrastructure sectors after being selected to join a seven-year, multi-million dollar delivery framework, the company reported on Friday. The framework is valued between $295 million and $470 million to support DIO and includes the option of a three year extension.

“We will drive positive innovation and change through working collaboratively to support the Clyde Infrastructure Programme. Combining our Government, Defence and cross industry experience, digital capability and respected program management capabilities to provide innovative solutions for the wide ranging projects ahead at this strategically important Royal Navy base,” said Andrew Barrie, KBR President, Government Solutions EMEA.

KBR has partnered with Assystem and Doosan Babcock, and has been operated under the name of KAD Nuclear, were one of three suppliers selected by the Defence Infrastructure Organization (DIO) to join the new Nuclear Technical Support Provider (NTSP) framework.

“This is a fantastic achievement – one that highlights our dedication to a truly collaborative approach and enhances our position within the UK defence and nuclear sectors,” added Barrie.

NTSP will deliver engineering and project management services for the naval base infrastructure upgrade and specialist nuclear technical services to the Navy Command and other UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) organizations.

The framework will also support the Clyde Infrastructure Programme (CIP) and wider Royal Navy and defence requirements. NTSP will focus on delivering the refurbishment and upgrade of critical infrastructure at Her Majesty’s Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde.

Charles Hoskins, DIO’s Clyde Infrastructure Programme Director, said: “The NTSP is vitally important to the delivery of our major infrastructure programme and wider operations at HMNB Clyde. The expertise and collaborative approach from our new partners will be crucial to our success as we move forward into the exciting and challenging next chapter of our programme.”

About KBR, Inc.

KBR is a global provider of differentiated professional services and technologies across the asset and program lifecycle within the Government Solutions and Energy sectors. KBR employs approximately 37,000 people worldwide (including our joint ventures), with customers in more than 80 countries, and operations in 40 countries, across three synergistic global businesses: Government Solutions, Technology Solutions, Energy Solutions.

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GSA Partners with FDA in CoE Initiative to Strengthen Work Culture, Tech Modernization; Anil Cheriyan, Vid Desai Quoted
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GSA Partners with FDA in CoE Initiative to Strengthen Work Culture, Tech Modernization; Anil Cheriyan, Vid Desai Quoted
Anil Cheriyan
Anil Cheriyan

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is entering into a partnership with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as part of GSA’s Centers of Excellence (CoE) initiative, housed within GSA's Technology Transformation Services (TTS) office, the agency announced on Thursday. 

“The Centers of Excellence is partnering with the FDA to support its IT community and accelerate the modernization of core capabilities,” said TTS director Anil Cheriyan. “We’re bringing the best talent from within the federal government and the private sector together to collaborate and drive the next generation of customer-centric results at OIMT.”

Under the people-centered partnership, the CoE and FDA’s Office of Information Management and Technology (OIMT) will strengthen its employee engagement to drive the FDA’s technology modernization efforts. The initiative will support the workforce’s adoption and delivery of new technologies and processes to directly assist the FDA’s broad regulatory responsibilities.

GSA’s CoE, within the agency’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), will accelerate IT modernization at federal agencies by leveraging private sector innovation and government services while centralizing best practices and expertise for holistic transformation. 

TTS helps agencies make their services more accessible, efficient, and effective with modern applications, platforms, processes, personnel and software solutions. The FDA is the latest agency to partner with GSA and apply the CoE approach to modernization. 

Within the CoE, the GSA has partnered with the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), among many others.

“The FDA’s OIMT is responsible for the technical infrastructure of the agency,” said FDA Chief Technology Officer Vid Desai. “OIMT enables us to support public health by providing critical technology to all of our offices and centers. When we put our workforce first we know they’ll be better equipped to meet the challenges of the FDA’s diverse mission by enabling a modern organization, strategies, and infrastructure.”

The GSA CoE’s partnership with JAIC announced new innovations to leverage data as a strategic asset and advance AI across the DoD, through the Centers of Excellence (CoE) collaboration in Feb. 2020.

This next step paves the way for the DoD to improve how we manage and leverage data as a strategic asset," said Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient. "We appreciate the CoE's commitment to creating a collaborative environment that enables solutions for broader AI governance, technology acquisition strategies, and scaling AI solutions through the Joint Common Foundation."

JAIC stakeholders and CoE members have engaged in a series of human-centered design workshops to determine essential roles and responsibilities for managing data assets. The determination will shape a flexible governance framework to manage data holdings, including cybersecurity, healthcare, predictive maintenance and business automation.

Through implementing governance tailored specifically to AI initiatives, the partnership has created an innovative AI stance. The system integrates flexibility and interoperability of an enterprise-wide Joint Common Foundation expedite AI capabilities. 

About GSA

The mission of the U.S. General Services Administration is to deliver value and savings in real estate, acquisition, technology, and other mission-support services across the government. One of GSA’s four strategic goals is to improve the way agencies buy, build and use technology.

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DHS S&T Helps Other Department Teams Implement Awareness Tool
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DHS S&T Helps Other Department Teams Implement Awareness Tool
DHS S&T Helps Other Department Teams Implement Awareness Tool

The Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate has engaged with other DHS components to help them implement the Team Awareness Kit, a digital tool designed to facilitate response team coordination.

Public safety teams may use TAK to simplify day-to-day activities, communicate and observe tactical awareness, DHS said Tuesday.

S&T helped other DHS teams modify TAK to suit their unique needs and fully deploy the tool enterprisewide. Air Force Research Laboratory originally developed TAK.

The kit features server and client components that would run on an organization's existing hardware. TAK cost models would depend on an organization's equipment.

DHS also offers an S&T-funded interactive guide for U.S. Border Patrol agents using TAK. Agents may access both TAK and the guide via mobile devices.

“The guide will also allow more well-versed TAK users to expand their knowledge of the tool as their comfort level increases," said Shawn McDonald, program manager at S&T.

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Air Mobility Command Releases Update for Mobility Allocation System
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Air Mobility Command Releases Update for Mobility Allocation System
Air Mobility Command Releases Update for Mobility Allocation System

The Air Mobility Command updated a scheduling tool designed to help operational planners designate mobility aircraft and aircrews for several months.

Developed in partnership with Pivotal Software and the Air Force Operational Energy office, the Magellan mobility allocation system enables users to view information on aircraft location and crew availability and adjust to last-minute scheduling changes, the U.S. Air Force said Wednesday.

The application's recent update allows Magellan to automatically update and synchronize crew and aircraft data in a move to lower the time spent on coordinating allocation cycles.

A team of fifteen airmen received software engineering training from Pivotal Software to complete Magellan's development in 2019.

“The software will alert you if there are too many tasks for each day and you need to adjust crew or [aircraft,]" said Dane Hansen, project manager for Magellan.

Magellan currently has around 200 users worldwide and is slated to handle classified data in June.

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David Shive Talks GSA Digitization Efforts Amid Telework Operations
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David Shive Talks GSA Digitization Efforts Amid Telework Operations
David Shive
David Shive

David Shive, chief information officer of the General Services Administration (GSA), has said that the agency experienced minimal disruptions even as 90 percent of its workforce have implemented a telework setup, FedScoop reported Wednesday.

Shive told the publication in an interview that GSA is a “largely mobile-enabled organization” and that current telework needs “didn’t require too much change” from the agency.

“We did some stress-testing beforehand just to make sure that all of our infrastructure was going to work well, that employees were trained who are not often teleworkers and did a little bit of tuning kind of around the edges,” he said. “But it really wasn’t a lot different.”

Shive added that GSA has been working to further develop its efforts to digitize its analog procedures including records management, signatures software and collaborative applications.

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Jim Bridenstine: NASA Must Bolster National Strategy, International Partnerships for Artemis
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Jim Bridenstine: NASA Must Bolster National Strategy, International Partnerships for Artemis
Jim Bridenstine
Jim Bridenstine

Jim Bridenstine, the administrator of NASA and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, said he intends to implement common safety standards across all participants, including foreign entities, of the Artemis program, Space News reported Wednesday.

He announced this intention as part of a larger national strategy effort at a webinar with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. His statement on national strategy stems from Congress' concerns with NASA's space exploration progress.

“From a strategic perspective, we need to be engaged with our interagency partners and with our international partners in a very robust way," Bridenstine said.

The administrator said he wishes for Artemis to gain the support of existing partners on the International Space Station, in addition to Japan, Europe and Canada, the report noted.

The Artemis program aims to revive manned exploration on the Moon, and then begin sending astronauts to Mars.

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Lisa Gordon-Hagerty: NNSA to Continue Producing Plutonium for Nuclear Arsenal
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Lisa Gordon-Hagerty: NNSA to Continue Producing Plutonium for Nuclear Arsenal
Lisa Gordon-Hagerty
Lisa Gordon-Hagerty

Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), said the agency intends to “press forward” with producing plutonium cores that serve as key elements of U.S. nuclear weapons, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Gordon-Hagerty wrote in a letter to Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., stating that the Department of Energy (DoE) component is working with a contractor to establish health precautions at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico as production continues amidst the pandemic.

NNSA intends to facilitate plutonium pit production in Los Alamos as well as the Savannah River Site in South Carolina through 2030. In a March 4 written testimony to the House Appropriations Committee, Gordon-Hagerty said that NNSA is “undertaking a risk informed, complex, and time-constrained” effort to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

She noted that the NNSA is the only organization that can help fulfill the Trump administration’s goals of sustaining the nation’s nuclear stockpile including U.S. Navy’s submarines and aircraft carriers.

“The U.S. nuclear deterrent is the foundation of our national defense and its credibility serves as the ultimate insurance policy against a nuclear attack,” said Gordon-Hagerty. “While the ultimate goal of eliminating nuclear weapons has been an aspiration for generations, we must recognize the reality of today’s evolving and uncertain international security environment.” 

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Maj. Gen. Dennis Crall Nominated as Joint Staff CIO, Director
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Maj. Gen. Dennis Crall Nominated as Joint Staff CIO, Director
Dennis Crall
Dennis Crall

President Trump has nominated Maj. Gen. Dennis Crall to assume the roles of chief information officer and director for command, control, communications, and computers at Joint Chiefs of Staff. At present, Crall serves as senior military adviser to the undersecretary of cyber policy at the Department of Defense (DoD), DoD said Wednesday.

Prior to his current role, Crall worked as the joint liaison officer to the 7th Air Force's 607th Air Support Operations Group in Korea. He also served at the U.S. Marine Corps Recruiting Command as operations officer.

Crall performed 34 combat missions and held various roles during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

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Jacobs Reports Second Quarter 2020 Results; Steve Demetriou, Kevin Berryman Quoted
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Jacobs Reports Second Quarter 2020 Results; Steve Demetriou, Kevin Berryman Quoted
Jacobs Reports Second Quarter 2020 Results; Steve Demetriou, Kevin Berryman Quoted

Jacobs Engineering Group has reported its financial results for the fiscal second quarter ended March 27, 2020, the company announced on Thursday. 

"During this time our focus has remained on keeping our people safe, ensuring business continuity and shifting our focus to aid in COVID-19 relief efforts by delivering solutions for our customers.  Our cultural and portfolio transformation over the past several years provided the foundation for rapid, thoughtful decision-making at the beginning of the crisis," said Jacobs' chair and CEO Steve Demetriou.

Jacobs noted that the company’s gross revenue of $3.4 billion grew 10.9 percent year-over-year; net revenue grew 7.5 percent pro forma, an EPS from continuing operations of $0.92 and results include $1.94 charge from mark to market impact of Worley stock.

The company’s adjusted EPS from continuing operations of $1.39, including $0.07 in discrete tax benefits, backlog increased $2.6 billion to $23.3 billion and cash flow from operations of $152 million.

Jacobs' President and CFO Kevin Berryman added, "Our transformed portfolio has demonstrated strong financial flexibility in the face of one of the most abrupt shocks ever to the safety, health and economic well-being of the global community.”

“Our long-term outlook for the business, despite the short term challenges associated with COVID-19, remains intact and we expect to generate strong free cash flow for the remainder of 2020. We expect to emerge from the pandemic as a more agile company that is positioned for growth in fiscal 2021 and beyond," Berryman stated. 

The company has projected fiscal 2020 adjusted EBITDA of $950 million to $1,0502 million and adjusted EPS of $4.80 to $5.30. Fiscal second quarter 2020 adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations reflect an adjusted effective tax rate of 20.7 percent, excluding discrete tax benefit items of $9.5 million, or $0.07 per share.

Jacobs noted the valuable acquisition of John Wood Group's Nuclear Business on March 6, 2020. The company completed the acquisition of John Wood Group's Nuclear consulting, remediation and program management business.

"This has also enabled us to demonstrate new approaches to working on a global scale, maximizing our digital strategy and tools, to shape our 'new normal' – and reinforcing our global resilience and operational readiness.  And perhaps most importantly, our behaviors during this crisis have strengthened our brand with our people and allowed us to retain top talent, setting us up for long-term success," Demetriou added.

About Jacobs

At Jacobs, we're challenging today to reinvent tomorrow by solving the world's most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing, turning abstract ideas into realities that transform the world for good. 

With $13 billion in annual revenue and a talent force of approximately 55,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of professional services including consulting, technical, scientific and project delivery for the government and private sectors.

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CMS Business Division, Nuvotronics Provides Wide-Band Antenna to Enable NASA-GSFC SWESARR; Mike Twyman, Martin Amen Quoted
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CMS Business Division, Nuvotronics Provides Wide-Band Antenna to Enable NASA-GSFC SWESARR; Mike Twyman, Martin Amen Quoted
Mike Twyman
Mike Twyman

Cubic Corporation has announced Nuvotronics, operating within its Cubic Mission Solutions (CMS) business division, has provided advanced multi-frequency antenna technology to enable the successful validation of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s (NASA-GSFC) Snow Water Equivalent Synthetic Aperture Radar and Radiometer (SWESARR), the company reported on Thursday. 

“We are thrilled with the exceptional results,” said Mike Twyman, president of Cubic Mission Solutions and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient. “The achievement of these critical milestones demonstrates our ability to leverage PolyStrata technology to build wide-band phased arrays from X to W band.”

NASA does not have a global high-resolution satellite mission to track and study the amount of water contained in snow, known as Snow Water Equivalent (SWE). Throughout the past year, Nuvotronics has provided wide-band multi-frequency antenna technology for use in an airborne data validation study for the SWESARR instrument during the NASA SnowEx campaign. 

Under the study, the company has collected ground measurements at multiple locations and analogous airborne measurements. Nuvotronics used a DHC 6 Twin Otter Aircraft operated by the Naval Postgraduate School’s (NPS) Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS). 

Nuvotronics’ microwave antenna technology enabled SWESARR to operate over six frequency bands from a single antenna aperture, ensuring overlapping measurements. Multi-frequency operation increases the quality of data collected, at a lower cost. 

The company’s technology collected natural radiation coming from layers of snow to infer the volume of water held in a snowpack. Nuvotronics’ contributions include a X-Ka Band 11×12 element line array and a X-W band Vivaldi array demonstrator. 

NASA-GSFC integrated the X-Ka band array with a 0.34-meter reflector and a Ka band digital beamforming back-end into the airborne instrument on an active roll compensation platform developed by another partner company. Nuvotronics’ PolyStrata technology enabled seamless integration, rich data collection and excellent noise performance in a compact radiometer.

“We are proud of the part we played in NASA’s mission to remotely measure Snow Water Equivalent, which is critical for water resource management and climate studies,” said Martin Amen, vice president and general manager of Cubic Nuvotronics. 

About Wash100

This year represents our sixth annual Wash100 Award selection. The Wash100 is the premier group of private and public sector leaders selected by Executive Mosaic’s organizational and editorial leadership as the most influential leaders in the GovCon sector. These leaders demonstrate skills in leadership, innovation, achievement, and vision.

Visit the Wash100 site to learn about the other 99 winners of the 2020 Wash100 Award. On the site, you can submit your 10 votes for the GovCon executives of consequence that you believe will have the most significant impact in 2020.

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