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House Bill Seeks to Improve Transparency in AI Systems
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House Bill Seeks to Improve Transparency in AI Systems

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has introduced a bill that seeks to improve transparency in artificial intelligence by requiring market and banking regulators to study and assess current labeling practices on products, tools and services that use AI and offer recommendations to Congress based on those practices.

What Would the Bill Do?

The proposed Responsible AI Disclosure Act of 2024 would direct the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other financial regulatory agencies to conduct a study on how companies categorize AI data and train AI models.

The proposed measure would require each agency to submit to Congress a report containing findings from the study and recommendations on whether additional regulations should be implemented concerning AI labels and disclosures.

The legislation introduced by the House Financial Services Committee’s ranking member would also allow agencies to require the companies they oversee to report on the data used to train AI systems.

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Army Expects Pay System on Oracle Cloud to Go Live by 2027
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Army Expects Pay System on Oracle Cloud to Go Live by 2027

The U.S. Army is preparing to move its personnel and pay system to Oracle’s cloud platform and expects the cloud-based system to be operational by December 2027, Defense One reported Wednesday.

In October, Oracle announced that the military branch will migrate its Integrated Personnel and Pay System-Army, also known as IPPS-A, to the company’s U.S. Defense Cloud under a task order awarded through the Department of Defense’s Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract, or JWCC.

Oracle is one of the four companies that won spots on the potential $9 billion JWCC contract awarded in 2022.

Kim Lynch, executive vice president for Oracle’s government defense and intelligence business, called the task order the “biggest competitively awarded JWCC contract” so far.

“So that has been a huge win for us,” added the 2024 Wash100 awardee.

According to the report, Oracle must develop a secure environment to host data, applications and services before commencing the cloud migration effort.

“The awarded task order allows the team to conduct parallel operations in building an Oracle Broker Landing Zone environment at the Army level and the operating environments for the IPPS-A tenancy,” a spokesperson for the Army said. “This step is critical to lay the necessary framework for migration of the IPPS-A system and its associated environments.”

What Is IPPS-A?

IPPS-A is an online platform that the Army uses to manage personnel, recruitment and soldiers’ medical files.

The platform seeks to eliminate more than 300 interfaces and integrate over 30 existing systems to deliver visibility over the entire force and improve access and auditability of personnel and pay information across the organization.

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DIU, USCG Deliver Wireless Maritime Comms Technology
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DIU, USCG Deliver Wireless Maritime Comms Technology

The Defense Innovation Unit has collaborated with the U.S. Coast Guard and a private company to develop a wireless communication technology for maritime operations under the Wireless Crew project.

The collaborative effort selected Denmark’s INVISIO in June 2022 to prototype communications equipment that can be deployed in various operational settings, DIU said Monday. INVISIO advanced the hardware and met government requirements by incorporating input from several operational uses and challenges during the prototyping process.

Technology Testing and Evaluation

The USCG then conducted a final operational test and evaluation of the Wireless Crew system in early November in Portsmouth, Virginia. During the test, the equipment was assessed using different real-world and training scenarios to validate its multi-mission functionality.

The result is a system that is intended to provide reliable communication under extreme conditions and enhance situational awareness, operational efficiency and crew safety during challenging missions, according to USCG Operations Specialist Chief Petty Officer Eric Wells.

System Attributes

USCG Boatswain’s Mate Chief Petty Officer William Campbell added that the capability features a modern user interface and excellent battery life, ensuring that it will provide sustained communication excellence to crews for an extended time.

DIU noted that the Wireless Crew project’s success proved that partnership is critical to prototype and deliver cutting-edge technology that can be produced immediately.

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OFPP Suggests Practices to Promote Small Business Subcontracting Opportunities
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OFPP Suggests Practices to Promote Small Business Subcontracting Opportunities

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy within the White House Office of Management and Budget has released a memorandum highlighting governmentwide regulatory requirements and management practices that can be implemented by chief acquisition officers and senior procurement executives at agencies to help improve access of small businesses to federal subcontracting opportunities.

In a memo published Friday, OFPP said contracting officers should work with small business specialists to determine opportunities for subcontracting and assess an offeror’s performance in meeting its past small business subcontracting plan goals to predict the chances of achieving goals on the new subcontracting plan.

Other pre-award practices that agency contracting officials can adopt are considering subcontracting incentive strategies to help strengthen the supplier base, broadening the use of small business participation evaluation factors and strengthening the small business supplier base for research and development by considering a preference for Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer subcontractors.

Post-Award Considerations

The memo also outlines post-award reminders and considerations for contracting officers to boost small business subcontracting participation in the federal marketplace.

These include monitoring the submission of subcontracting plan reports, evaluating contractor achievement against the small business subcontracting plan and documenting the review in the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System and taking note of ongoing policy actions that can help small subcontractors compete as prime contractors.

The document was signed by Christine Harada, senior adviser at OFPP.

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ARPA-H Solicits Clinical Trial Improvement Proposals
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ARPA-H Solicits Clinical Trial Improvement Proposals

The Advanced Research Project Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, is seeking proposals for a funding opportunity to develop new tools designed to improve clinical trial administration.

ARPA-H said Monday that through the Advancing Clinical Trial Readiness, or ACTR, initiative, it will award funding to multiple teams to create a robust, efficient and decentralized trial infrastructure and overcome challenges, including high costs, lack of interoperability among electronic health records and other data systems, trial recruitment and regulatory complexities.

Better Access to Clinical Studies

According to the agency, which operates within the Department of Health and Human Services, the infrastructure and tools are expected to enable 90 percent of eligible Americans to participate in clinical studies within 30 minutes of their home.

“Improvements in trial administration—from data collection to recruitment—can dramatically accelerate delivery of innovations to patients,” said ACTR Portfolio Lead Etta Pisano.

ARPA-H is interested in proposals focused on automated data collection and standardization, trial participant identification and engagement, and decentralized data curation and auditing.

Proposer’s Day

Interested parties may attend a hybrid Proposer’s Day on Jan. 16 in New Jersey to learn more about the ACTR effort and seek answers to questions related to the funding opportunity. In-person attendees have until Jan. 9 to register while virtual attendees may register until Jan. 14.

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Healthcare Summit on Dec. 11 to explore the transformative trends and innovations shaping the future of the healthcare sector.

POC - 2024 Healthcare Summit
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Bath Iron Works Secures $82M Navy Contract for Lead Yard Support
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Bath Iron Works Secures $82M Navy Contract for Lead Yard Support

General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works subsidiary has booked a modification contract from the U.S. Navy to continue providing support services for the DDG 51 Class lead yard.

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works Contract Modification Details

The Department of Defense said Wednesday the company will receive $82.3 million for the cost-plus-award-fee contract. It will conduct the bulk of the project in Bath and Brunswick, Maine while the remaining work will be done in Washington, D.C. The project is expected to be completed by November 2025.

As the contracting activity, the Naval Sea Systems Command will obligate the initial funds from the Navy’s shipbuilding and conversion funds. An amount of $22.1 million will come from the 2022 funds while around $7 million will each be allocated from the 2021 and 2020 funds. Around $3.2 million will be received from the 2018 funds while $2 million each will be obligated from the 2015 and 2019 funds. Finally, the fiscal 2017 funds will contribute $418,061 for the project. The amount of $10.4 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

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Air Force BAA Sets Potential $100M Technology Supply Contracts
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Air Force BAA Sets Potential $100M Technology Supply Contracts

The Air Force Research Laboratory has issued a broad agency announcement, or BAA, soliciting white papers on new hardware and software for secure, robust and cost-efficient information processing systems for cyber technologies and command, control, communications, computers and intelligence capabilities of the U.S. Air Force. 

The AFRL will select and invite formal proposals from qualified vendors responding to the open, two-step BAA with a total five-year estimated funding of about $99.9 million, according to the lab’s solicitation posted on SAM.gov on Monday. 

Submission Deadlines

For alignment with the projected fiscal year funding, the AFRL suggests white paper submission on or before Dec. 18 for FY 2025; Sept. 1, 2025 for FY 2026; Sept. 2, 2026 for FY 2027; Sept. 3, 2027 for FY 2028; and Sept. 4, 2028 for FY 2029.

Multiple awards are expected under the solicitation, with each contract’s term typically under 36 months and value ranging from $100,000 to $5 million. An individual vendor may be awarded several other transaction contracts. 

The solicitation is a follow-on of an earlier BAA entitled “Foundations of Trusted Systems” issued in May 2020. The AFRL updated the BAA in June, with the iteration closing in September.

Air Force BAA Sets Potential $100M Technology Supply Contracts

Register here to attend the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 23 and hear defense leaders, researchers and experts discuss the latest developments in the field of military technology.

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GAO Issues Report on DOC Semicon Export Rules Implementation
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GAO Issues Report on DOC Semicon Export Rules Implementation

The private sector has worked to comply with the rules promulgated by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security concerning the export of advanced semiconductors and equipment related to manufacturing them, according to a recent study by the Government Accountability Office.

Semiconductor Export Controls

The first of these rules was issued in 2022 by BIS with the aim of addressing U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, GAO said Monday. The rule also sought to prevent China from gaining access to advanced computing technologies it could use for military and artificial intelligence-related applications.

In 2023, BIS released two new rules that updated the controls of the 2022 rule. The bureau also offered updates to technical specifications and provided information as requested by the public.

Afterward, BIS conducted reviews of its export controls, including collecting public comments on existing rules. These reviews resulted in an update to rules in April this year and other subsequent changes, including an update to the Commerce Control List in September.

Challenges to Compliance

Though businesses have taken steps to comply with the issuances, challenges remain. Nevertheless, GAO reports that BIS has worked to address them. Such corrective actions include engaging with the private sector, refining definitions and soliciting feedback.

BIS also plans to conduct periodic reviews and updates to the rules not only to improve them but also to address advances in technology.

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DOD’s CUPID Program Addressing Challenges in Legacy Systems
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DOD’s CUPID Program Addressing Challenges in Legacy Systems

The Department of Defense has introduced a new approach to improve visibility across acquisition and financial management systems. Called the Centralized Unique Program Identifier, or CUPID, the new approach is addressing challenges in sharing data from legacy systems across the department, officials said at a recent forum hosted by George Mason University.

Pentagon’s Problem With Legacy Systems

In March, a government committee called the Commission on Planning, Programming Budgeting and Execution Reform published the results of its years-long review of the DOD, which found that the department has many disparate, siloed and antiquated data sets, systems and tools. According to the review, the complex and aging business systems at the Pentagon hinder information-sharing, preventing leaders from making informed and timely decisions. 

According to Mark Krzysko, principal deputy director of enterprise information at the Defense Department, CUPID provides authoritative data about all elements of the Pentagon’s programs, right down at the investment level. He compared it to having a birth certificate for programs. 

“We don’t argue when it occurred — whether they’re going to high school, whether they’re going to college, but we know the program exists,” he shared. 

The DOD now requires a CUPID code for every reportable contract action and to register them on the Defense Acquisition Visibility Environment, or DAVE. 

Krzysko said the integration of CUPID into DAVE creates traceability within the acquisition process, allowing leaders to see what exactly is causing delays in a program and make changes where necessary.

“The techniques that we now have are profound for us to better have insight and guide the department, and those that execute need to have that same mindset,” he commented.

Department-Wide Disconnect

However, Yousra Fazili, chief of staff at the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), acknowledged that CUPID is an “amazing initiative” in solving the issue of systems that do not “talk to each other” but noted that it addresses only part of a wider enterprise problem. She pointed to DOD’s misevaluation of security packages sent to Ukraine. 

“The problem really came down to an enterprise problem of us not having systems that talk to each other from acquisition and sustainment, from the comptroller, and from policy,” Fazili said. “So it’s a people problem and an enterprise problem.”

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QinetiQ US Wins $42M Army Task Order for Imaging Tech
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QinetiQ US Wins $42M Army Task Order for Imaging Tech

The U.S. Army has awarded QinetiQ U.S. a $42 million task order to support the military branch’s modernization initiatives in sensor processing and imaging technologies.  

Through the four-year task order, QinetiQ will deliver advanced imaging capabilities, including aided target recognition, or AiTR, technologies and enhance signal and image processing algorithms for the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command C5ISR Center, the McLean, Virginia-based company announced Monday. 

Jonathan Riksen, executive vice president and general manager of national and global security solutions unit for QinetiQ U.S., said, “This award reflects QinetiQ’s commitment to advancing sensor technology innovation while directly supporting the Army’s critical modernization priorities.”

“By leveraging our expertise in intelligent sensor processing and imaging systems, we’re helping the Army develop and field next-generation capabilities that support key initiatives, including Next Generation Combat Vehicle, Future Vertical Lift and Soldier Lethality programs. Our focus on research and development in these areas ensures warfighters have access to the most advanced technologies for maintaining tactical advantages,” Riksen added.

QinetiQ’s Recent Work With the Army

QinetiQ was previously tapped by the Army under a $41 million contract to help advance the C5ISR Center’s threat detection capabilities. In October, the military branch also awarded QinetiQ a $95 million contract to develop aerial target systems to enhance the military branch’s training and testing programs.

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