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CDAO Seeks Video Submissions for Generative AI Open Topic
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CDAO Seeks Video Submissions for Generative AI Open Topic

The Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office is soliciting technical volume video submissions from industry and the broader public as it explores generative AI tools to support its mission, promote collaboration and drive the growth of small businesses.

According to a notice published Wednesday, CDAO said the Small Business Innovation Research Open Topic for generative AI has strategic focus areas, including improving situational awareness and decision-making, increasing the safety of the operating environment and implementing predictive maintenance and supply.

Other strategic focus areas outlined in the notice are assuring cybersecurity, streamlining business processes, increasing autonomy and mobility of DOD systems and augmenting responsible AI capabilities and processes.

Video submissions should include a description of the technology and its application to the problem identified, the potential impact of the tech platform if adopted by DOD and a commercialization strategy, among other technical elements.

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White House Reviews Proposed Update to HIPAA Cybersecurity Protections
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White House Reviews Proposed Update to HIPAA Cybersecurity Protections

The White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is reviewing a proposed rule that would update the cybersecurity protections required under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, Federal News Network reported Wednesday.

The Department of Health and Human Services will issue a notice of proposed rulemaking for public comment once OIRA completes its review of the proposed rule on the HIPAA cybersecurity update.

HHS proposed the rule in response to rising cyberattacks targeting electronic protected healthcare information, or ePHI, which HIPAA regulates.

“We’ve seen tremendous increases in the use of ransomware and hacking to obtain unauthorized access to ePHI, and since 2003 there’s been an evolution in technical capabilities of record systems that are used to maintain health information, and there have been changes in the costs of variety of security measures,” Marissa Gordon-Nguyen, senior adviser for health information privacy, data and cybersecurity at the HHS Office of Civil Rights, said at a conference Wednesday.

“The changes we think support updating the security rule to help ensure that it can continue to provide a baseline of security standards to meet current and emerging security risks and threats to ePHI,” she added.

Register here for the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Healthcare Summit on Dec. 11. Join this key event to explore the transformative trends and innovations shaping the future of the U.S. healthcare sector.

POC - 2024 Healthcare Summit
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A Glimpse Into HHS’ Top Budget Priorities for 2025
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A Glimpse Into HHS’ Top Budget Priorities for 2025

The Department of Health and Human Services is on a mission to modernize, and its budget proposal for fiscal year 2025 — which includes $1.7 trillion in mandatory proposed budget authority and $130.7 billion in discretionary funding — reflects its aggressive pursuit of key transformation goals. 

A Glimpse Into HHS’ Top Budget Priorities for 2025

Government and industry leaders will convene to discuss HHS’ top mission objectives at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Healthcare Summit on Dec. 11. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to hear from a wide range of healthcare experts — secure your spot at the 2024 Healthcare Summit today!

These funds, which represent an increase of over $140 million from the HHS’ FY 2024 budget, will enable the department to make significant investments into new technologies and programs that will shape the future of government healthcare. Get a glimpse into HHS’ top budget priorities below.

What Is HHS Investing In?

HHS’ budget covers a broad spectrum of federal healthcare demands, including care improvements, advanced research projects and more. Below are three notable focus areas with the request.

Expanding Coverage and Lowering Healthcare Costs

Improving Medicare and Medicaid is a major priority for HHS. With the FY25 funding, the department hopes to continue lowering drug costs and bolster Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers. Other aspects of this goal include expanding Medicare solvency and upgrading health centers, among other efforts.

Research & Development

In 2025, HHS will continue to invest in cutting-edge health research, including programs like Cancer Moonshot, which aims to reduce the cancer death rate by 50 percent or more over the next 25 years. The budget will fund other key research projects within the National Institutes of Health and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.

Customer Experience

As HHS grows its care offerings, it is critical that customers are able to use federal healthcare tools with ease. To ensure a positive customer experience, or CX, HHS wants to simplify the process of enrolling in benefit programs, introduce a new online claims page on Medicare’s website, widen access to decision making support for older adults and more. 

HHS Agency Budgets

CMS

HHS’ 2025 budget request reserves approximately $1.6 trillion in mandatory and discretionary outlays for CMS. These funds will be distributed across several initiatives, including:

  • Extending Medicare solvency without cutting benefits
  • Making Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, more accessible
  • Investing in private insurance to expand healthcare coverage throughout the nation
  • Implementing new Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control resources
  • Program management needs

Notable allocations include $4.1 billion for Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control resources; $273 billion for investments in private healthcare; and $150 billion for expanding Medicaid home and community services.

NIH

NIH comprises 27 institutes, each dedicated to a specific health research area. HHS has requested $46.4 billion to fund these organizations in 2025.

The National Cancer Institute, which requested $7.8 billion, accounts for the largest portion of NIH’s budget. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has the second highest request at $6.6 billion, and the National Institute on Aging is third, with $4.4 billion requested.

Some of NIH’s top research priorities include:

  • Ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S.
  • Improving maternal health
  • Health disparities and inequalities
  • Artificial intelligence

CDC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s FY25 budget request totals approximately $9.7 billion, a $499.2 million increase from the FY 2023 enacted amount. Its most significant investments include:

  • $3.1 billion for protecting Americans from infectious diseases
  • $2.7 billion for preventing the leading causes of disease, disability and death
  • $943 million for defending Americans from natural and bioterrorism threats

Other major budget priorities include monitoring health and ensuring laboratory excellence; cross-cutting services; ensuring global disease protection; and keeping Americans safe from environmental and work-related hazards. 

A notable increase went to youth and community violence prevention, which was allocated $100 million more than it received last year.

Other Agencies

The CDC, NIH and CMS are just three of the many agencies that contribute to HHS’ mission. The department’s FY25 budget request also dedicates:

  • $18.7 billion to the Health Resources and Services Administration
  • $9.8 billion to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
  • $9.4 billion to the Indian Health Service
  • $3.9 billion to the Food and Drug Administration
  • And billions more to additional organizations

Get a closer look at how HHS agencies are leveraging these funds to drive healthcare missions forward at the 2024 Healthcare Summit, where you will have the opportunity to learn from HHS officials and industry leaders. Join the 2024 Healthcare Summit to unlock all the insights these experts have to offer.

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Treasury, IRS Announce Final Rules for Semiconductor Tax Credit
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Treasury, IRS Announce Final Rules for Semiconductor Tax Credit

The Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service have published final rules for the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit, or CHIPS ITC, a part of the CHIPS and Science Act.

The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the final rules for CHIPS ITC include some changes to the proposed rules and provide more clarity on certain definitions.

CHIPS ITC offers businesses a tax credit equivalent to 25 percent of the basis of property qualified as an advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility. To qualify, the property must have been placed in service after Dec. 31, 2022 and construction must have begun after Aug. 9, 2022, the date of the CHIPS and Science Act enactment.

In addition, the guidance specifies that semiconductor wafer production also covers wafers used for photovoltaic solar energy generation

In total, the Commerce Department has provided $39 billion in CHIPS for America funding to strengthen domestic semiconductor supply chains, boost the employment rate and spur innovation. The IRS, Treasury and Energy Departments and other federal agencies will assess potential options to incentivize domestic production of the full solar supply chain.

“Semiconductors are vital to ensuring a stable supply of low-cost consumer goods and our investments continue to strengthen those supply chains, create good-paying jobs, and safeguard our national security,” said Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen.

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, added, “The Advanced Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit, when paired with CHIPS direct funding and loans, provides a comprehensive set of federal incentives to drive the significant investment in semiconductor manufacturing capacity occurring in the United States important to meeting our national and economic security needs.”

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Technology Modernization Fund Allocates $50M to HUD, SSA Projects
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Technology Modernization Fund Allocates $50M to HUD, SSA Projects

The Technology Modernization Fund has invested $50.2 million into service modernization efforts at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Social Security Administration.

The General Services Administration said Tuesday that the funds will target a variety of areas, including identity and access management, digitization, customer experience, or CX, and more.

“These TMF investments will enable both agencies to drive secure digital transformation forward, demonstrating a new way of modernizing government services and providing interactions that meet today’s expectations,” said Clare Martorana, TMF board chair and a previous Wash100 awardee.

According to Jessie Posilkin, acting TMF executive director, investing in HUD and SSA initiatives has two main goals: strengthening government security and expanding access to government services.

The new TMF allotments provide $19.8 million to implement a new enterprise identity, credential and access management system, or EICAM, for the HUD. The EICAM, which recently passed the pilot stage, is designed to address siloes within HUD’s digital infrastructure of more than 230 system applications that are accessed by around 10,000 internal users and 540,000 external customers.

The funds will also support three SSA projects, one of which will receive $19.5 million for the digitization of forms and documents and transition to a service featuring electronic signature capabilities and online document upload.

SSA will also receive $9 million to enhance CX by building user-friendly, modern digital tools. The agency will additionally spend $1.9 million from the TMF allotment to infuse artificial intelligence into systems such as the National Case Processing System and Intelligence Medical-Language Analysis Generation tool.

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Commerce Department to Make $325M Investment in Polysilicon Producer
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Commerce Department to Make $325M Investment in Polysilicon Producer

The Department of Commerce will provide Hemlock Semiconductor, a producer of hyper-pure polysilicon, with up to $325 million in CHIPS and Science Act funding under a new partnership intended to boost the production of semiconductor-grade polysilicon in the United States.

The two organizations signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms to fund the construction of a new manufacturing facility on the HSC’s Hemlock, Michigan campus for producing and purifying hyper-pure semiconductor-grade polysilicon, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

According to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, having a reliable source of polysilicon will help improve the economy and national security.

“We are proposing to invest up and down the semiconductor supply chain and support domestic materials suppliers, like HSC, that are helping drive America’s semiconductor manufacturing resurgence and technological leadership – and creating quality jobs all over the country in the process,” she said.

This investment is expected to create around 180 manufacturing jobs and more than 1,000 construction jobs while strengthening the U.S. polysilicon supply chain. A total of $5 million will be used to train the HSC’s production and construction workforce. The company will work alongside Delta College and Saginaw Career Complex to design programs offering semiconductor training and employment opportunities to individuals in the area.

“Bolstered by the CHIPS Act, we are planning for a once-in-a-generation investment in advanced technologies to continue serving as a top polysilicon supplier to the leading-edge semiconductor market,” AB Ghosh, chairman and CEO of HSC.

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Navy Platforms Achieves Zero Trust Compliance Goals
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Navy Platforms Achieves Zero Trust Compliance Goals

The Department of the Navy’s Flank Speed cloud platform has attained full compliance with all Department of Defense zero trust expectations. 

In a second round of security assessments led by the DOD’s Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office, the system was able to meet all 91 target zero trust activities laid out in the DOD’s Zero Trust Strategy and Roadmap, the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Digital and Enterprise Services said Tuesday.

Randy Resnick, the DOD’s chief zero trust officer and a 2024 Wash100 Award winner, said Flank Speed’s performance showed that cyber defenses “work very effectively to protect and defend our data and systems against the very latest cyberattacks from our adversaries.”

This accomplishment comes three years ahead of the DOD’s scheduled 2027 deadline for zero trust adoption. Flank Speed was also able to achieve 60 of the strategy’s 61 advanced zero trust initiatives — the next phase of the department’s zero trust adoption journey.

Designed and developed by PEO Digital, the cloud service was deployed in 2021 to drive collaboration, boost productivity and strengthen zero trust security for over 560,000 users across the globe. The platform supports cloud-native services, secure data access, modern endpoint device management and identity management.

It also uses hyper-converged infrastructure to provide advanced capability in edge locations.

According to Jane Rathbun, the Navy’s chief information officer and a 2024 Wash100 Award recipient, the cloud service was created to address emerging telework needs and has since changed “how we deliver and operate capability, tightly partnering between the resource, requirements, acquisition and cyber operator communities.”

The Navy intends to leverage Flank Speed to expand zero trust across the enterprise to keep its IT infrastructure secure and resilient in the evolving digital space.

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DOE Opens Funding Opportunity for AI/ML R&D
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DOE Opens Funding Opportunity for AI/ML R&D

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science plans to invest $22 million in various research and development projects exploring the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in its Nuclear Physics, or NP, program.

The office on Monday published a notice of funding opportunity for R&D efforts that could help determine the potential of AI/ML across all NP research objectives, including enhancing accelerators and detectors used in NP facilities and scientific instrumentation.

The project also aims to assess the use of AI/ML in nuclear physics computations.

Specific areas of focus include:

  • Use of AI to enhance automated control and efficiency of accelerators and scientific instruments
  • Creation of digital twins for future colliders
  • Extraction of critical information from large complex data sets
  • Data-driven exploration of new physics

These goals align with NP’s push to solve technical challenges in the areas of theory, simulations, control, data acquisition and data analysis. By leveraging AI-based approaches, the project intends to tackle these issues faster and accelerate experimental and computational discoveries.

Interested parties may submit a letter of intent by Nov. 14. Applications are due on Jan. 14.

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Salesforce Introduces New Platform With Top Secret Authorization
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Salesforce Introduces New Platform With Top Secret Authorization

Salesforce has introduced Government Cloud Premium, a secure platform designed to help federal agencies manage classified information and develop applications.

The company said Monday the new Software-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service offering has been authorized at the Top Secret level.

Bill Pessin, senior vice president of national security at Salesforce, said the company is “deeply committed to ensuring [agencies] have the tools they need to drive mission success.”

“With Government Cloud Premium, U.S. national security and intelligence customers can now transform operations and move at mission speed with reliable, secure and compliant capabilities,” he added.

Through Government Cloud Premium, agencies can create new applications and integrate them with other data and systems, a capability enabled by its API-first architecture. The new platform also supports workflow automation.

The system uses authentication, access controls and encryption to protect sensitive information, allowing intelligence agencies to address shifting mission demands. It is hosted on Amazon Web Services’ Top Secret cloud, which optimizes information sharing between agencies and accelerates operational speed.

Government Cloud Premium additionally allows agencies to transfer information from unclassified to classified networks. It also provides automatic updates, government-specific data models and reusable components.

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WHS Awards $1.75B Contract to Johns Hopkins Lab for R&D Support
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WHS Awards $1.75B Contract to Johns Hopkins Lab for R&D Support

Washington Headquarters Services has issued Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract valued at up to $1.75 billion to support the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.

The Department of Defense said Tuesday that the laboratory will offer analysis, research and development and system engineering services to various OUSD R&E programs. 

Work will be performed in Laurel, Maryland, until Oct. 20, 2029. The WHS in Arlington, Virginia, serves as the contracting activity. 

The OUSD R&E is headed by four-time Wash100 awardee Heidi Shyu, who essentially serves as the DOD’s chief technology officer. As head of the office, she leads research, development and prototyping activities across the entire department. 

Johns Hopkins Supporting US Military, Government Programs

Johns Hopkins’ APL has been a long-time partner of the Defense Department and broader U.S. government. In September, the laboratory was selected to validate the Navy’s Autonomy Baseline Library, a software for analyzing uncrewed surface vehicles’ systems and capabilities. 

The facility also supported NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, which was launched on Oct. 14 to study one of Jupiter’s moons. APL worked on the Clipper mission’s development in partnership with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. 

Join the nation’s leading defense researchers and experts to discuss the critical technologies shaping the future of the U.S. military at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 23, 2025. Register for the event here.

WHS Awards $1.75B Contract to Johns Hopkins Lab for R&D Support
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