/
Milan Nikolich: DoD’s Fiscal 2020 Grants to Support University Research, STEM Workforce Training
Published on
Milan Nikolich: DoD’s Fiscal 2020 Grants to Support University Research, STEM Workforce Training


Milan Nikolich
Milan Nikolich

The Department of Defense has awarded $48.9M in total grants for 172 university researchers to procure equipment and develop students’ science, technology, engineering and math skills.

Ninety-one institutions nationwide will benefit from the funds during fiscal 2020 as part of the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program, DoD said Wednesday.

“These awards provide research infrastructure to enable the most creative scientific minds in the country to extend the boundaries of science and technology,” said Milan Nikolich, director of defense research and engineering for research and technology at DoD.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Office of Naval Research and the Army Research Office conducted a merit competition to help the department select awardees.

DoD noted the three military offices received 724 proposals and $295M in funding requests of $295M under the latest iteration of the program.

Click here to view the list of winning DURIP proposals.

//
DoD Uses Single Platform to Analyze Audit, Business Data
Published on
DoD Uses Single Platform to Analyze Audit, Business Data


David Norquist
David Norquist

Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist told a Senate subcommittee the Department of Defense has developed a technology platform that supports more than 7K users and helps personnel examine financial and other business data, FCW reported Wednesday.

He said Wednesday in his written testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee’s readiness subcommittee the ADVANA tool works to automate the process for reviewing quarterly obligations at the Pentagon.

Norquist, a 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, added that DoD analysts identified high-risk funds amounting to $316M through the platform.

The former Pentagon comptroller wants the department to manage business and financial information similar to how a commercial organization does it in order to increase data trustworthiness, according to the report.

DoD completed its second departmentwide audit Friday and expected seven of its components to receive “clean” opinions.

Three Forthcoming Policy Directives to Facilitate Security Clearance Modernization
Published on
Three Forthcoming Policy Directives to Facilitate Security Clearance Modernization


Three Forthcoming Policy Directives to Facilitate Security Clearance Modernization

The Trump administration will issue three policy directives as part of efforts to modernize the security clearance process and begin the next phase of the Trusted Workforce 2.0 initiative, Federal News Network reported Wednesday.

The first directive is a national security presidential memorandum that directs the director of national intelligence agency and the Office of Personnel Management to update the security clearance, suitability and credentialing processes.

Brian Dunbar, assistant director of security for the Office of DNI’s National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said ODNI is now awaiting the president’s signature. “It’s an endorsement on the part of the president that this is needed,” he said.

ODNI and OPM will then release an executive correspondence that would ask agencies to cease periodic reinvestigations of security clearance holders and transition toward continuous vetting capabilities. “It will provide departments and agencies authority to adopt an interim vetting process, to replace PRs, and continue to apply investigative reductions measures, which were approved in prior executive correspondences,” Dunbar added.

The third directive is a “federal core vetting doctrine,” which will outline the basic principles behind vetting practices and policies across the government.

The report said ODNI will release a set of investigative standards and adjudicative guidelines once the three directives go live.

/
White House Issues Progress Report on Federal Investments to Push AI R&D Work
Published on
White House Issues Progress Report on Federal Investments to Push AI R&D Work


White House Issues Progress Report on Federal Investments to Push AI R&D Work

The White House National Science and Technology Council released its 2016–2019 progress report on the advancement of research-and-development work on artificial intelligence.

The report documents the initiatives agencies have launched in the past three years to deliver on federal AI R&D and is structured around the eight priority areas outlined in the National AI R&D Strategic Plan: 2019 Update issued in June.

The council said the report conveys three messages and one of those suggests that federal investments have resulted in “impactful breakthroughs that are revolutionizing our society for the better.”

The document presents a summary of investments made by 23 federal entities across eight AI R&D strategies, such as making long-term investments in AI research, developing effective methods for human-AI collaboration and expanding public-private partnerships to accelerate advances in AI.

For the first strategy, the report highlighted the investment efforts of several agencies to advance AI research, including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s AI Next campaign, the Department of Homeland Security’s use of AI to help first responders and the National Institutes of Health’s AI algorithm designed to detect an age-related eye disease.

DOE Invests in FY20 Energy Frontier Research Center Initiatives
Published on
DOE Invests in FY20 Energy Frontier Research Center Initiatives


DOE Invests in FY20 Energy Frontier Research Center Initiatives

The Department of Energy has earmarked $40 million to support chemistry, bioscience, geoscience and materials science research initiatives under new and existing Energy Frontier Research Centers for fiscal 2020.

DOE said Tuesday the EFRCs will support research efforts with universities, private entities, nonprofit organizations and national laboratories focused on subject areas such as environmental management, quantum information science, microelectronics and polymer upcycling or the conversion of waste plastics into high-value assets like fuel.

The centers may allocate up to $4 million for awards to cover a period of four fiscal years. DOE will facilitate peer-reviews to select EFRC awardees.

“These centers bring together the nation’s leading scientists in dynamic, innovative teams across multiple disciplines,” said Paul Dabbar, DOE’s undersecretary for science. “Together these researchers will be laying the groundwork for America’s next generation of technologies for both energy and the environment.”

EFRCs were launched in 2009 under DOE’s Office of Science. According to the department, 15 of the centers’ 46 active awards are slated to expire in July 2020.

//
DHS S&T Evaluates Smart Building Technologies in Soft Target Exercise
Published on
DHS S&T Evaluates Smart Building Technologies in Soft Target Exercise


DHS S&T Evaluates Smart Building Technologies in Soft Target Exercise

The Department of Homeland Security’s science and technology directorate held a live active shooter exercise at George Mason University in partnership with the Center of Innovative Technology to assess smart building technologies.

DHS said Tuesday it tested in-building sensor systems to validate their response, reporting and public safety capacities in line with the Smart City Internet of Things Innovation Labs initiative.

Some of the evaluated technologies included visualization tools, Wi-Fi detectors as well as light detection and ranging platforms. The department gathered the results of the exercise through an integrated sensor tool equipped with facility analytics and automated alert features.

The SCITI Labs team is set to collaborate with various organizations, government agencies and industry partners to design, build and test the technologies prior to their deployment.

“This event demonstrates what homeland security research and development is all about: bringing operational users together with academia and public and private sector partners to invest in technologies that keep our citizens safe,” said William Bryan, senior official performing the duties of the undersecretary for science and technology at DHS.

/
GSA, NIST Working to Automate FedRAMP Assessments
Published on
GSA, NIST Working to Automate FedRAMP Assessments


GSA, NIST Working to Automate FedRAMP Assessments

The General Services Administration and National Institute of Standards and Technology are working to implement automation in review procedures for the Federal Risk Authorization and Management Program, the Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

The two agencies aim to establish a common Open Security Controls Assessment Language to support the integration of automated technologies in vetting operations. GSA is currently seeking input on its OSCAL baseline requirements for FedRAMP compliance and is slated to release a draft of its system security plan guidance by the year’s end.

“We strongly believe this will open doors for industry to develop tooling for agencies to expedite their review and approval of the security materials, as well as fine-tune their risk management practices at their agency,” said Ashley Mahan, FedRAMP director at GSA.

According to Mahan, there has been a 30 percent increase in FedRAMP authorizations for fiscal 2019, with 45 cloud offerings achieving certification under the program.

Her comments come after the Department of Defense began issuing general provisional authorizations for the FedRAMP moderate impact level to speed up authorizations.

/
Lawmakers Seek Nat’l Strategy for 5G, Telecom Implementation
Published on
Lawmakers Seek Nat’l Strategy for 5G, Telecom Implementation


Lawmakers Seek Nat'l Strategy for 5G, Telecom Implementation

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is calling on the Trump administration to establish a national 5G strategy and spearhead efforts to develop and implement next-generation technologies.

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said Tuesday that leaders of the Select Committee on Intelligence as well as the Armed Services, Foreign Relations and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees are urging National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien to appoint a senior official responsible for leading the implementation of future telecommunications capabilities.

The senators wrote in a letter to O’Brien that the government is currently taking a “fractured approach” to deploying new telecom technologies and need a national strategy informed by an understanding of 5G’s technical and geopolitical impact.

“In our view, the current national level approach to 5G comprises of a dispersed coalition of common concern, rather than a coordinated, interagency activity,” the senators said.

The letter’s signatories include Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.; Jim Risch, R-Idaho; Richard Burr, R-N.C.; Mark Warner, D-Va.; Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; Gary Peters, D-Mich.; Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.; and Jack Reed, D-R.I.

/
KBR Awarded Hydrochloric Acid Purification Contract from Italmatch; Doug Kelly Quoted
Published on
KBR Awarded Hydrochloric Acid Purification Contract from Italmatch; Doug Kelly Quoted


KBR Awarded Hydrochloric Acid Purification Contract from Italmatch; Doug Kelly Quoted

KBR announced on Wednesday that the company has been awarded an undisclosed contract by Italmatch Deutschland GmbH for its PLINKE Hydrochloric Acid Purification technologies.

“We are proud to be selected as Italmatch’s technology partner for its new plant and contribute to Italmatch’s continued growth,” said Doug Kelly, KBR President, Technology Solutions.

KBR will provide technology license, basic and detailed engineering, proprietary equipment and related advisory services to Italmatch to help with the production of phosphorous acid as well as absorption and recovery of hydrochloric acid.

“KBR has designed, built, supplied and supported tailored plants and facilities for purifying and concentrating strong inorganic acids and metal salts for customers all over the world,” Kelly added.

KBR has more than 70 years of experience in PLINKE acid treatment and has built more than 550 plants for treatment and concentration of inorganic acids and acidic waste water worldwide.

About KBR

KBR is a global provider of differentiated professional services and technologies across the asset and program life cycle within the Government Services and Hydrocarbons sectors.

The company employs over 37,500 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 and Energy Solutions.

/
DCS Awarded $93.4M Task Order to Support AFLCMC/WIH Helicopter Program Office; Larry Egbert Quoted
Published on
DCS Awarded $93.4M Task Order to Support AFLCMC/WIH Helicopter Program Office; Larry Egbert Quoted


DCS Awarded $93.4M Task Order to Support AFLCMC/WIH Helicopter Program Office; Larry Egbert Quoted

DCS Corporation has been awarded a potential five-year, $93.4 million prime task order to support the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance & Special Operations Forces Directorate’s Helicopter Program Office (HPO) under the Air Force’s EPASS program, DCS announced on Wednesday. 

“This is an exciting new opportunity for DCS to grow our Wright-Patterson AFB footprint and expand our support of DoD helicopters through these ACAT 1 programs,” said Larry Egbert, executive vice president of DCS. 

DCS will provide a broad range of acquisition, engineering, scientific, research, and administrative support for USAF aircraft research, development, production, life cycle acquisition, and sustainment. The full performance will take place from a new DCS facility near Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio in December and will grow to include work at Duke Field (Eglin AFB Auxiliary Field #3) in Florida.

“Our rotary wing capabilities and background are well aligned to HPO mission requirements and we look forward to supporting the AFLCMC/WIH command and mission,” Egbert quoted. 

About DCS Corporation

DCS offers advanced technology, engineering, and management solutions to Government agencies in the Department of Defense and national security sector. The transformative ideas, commitment to quality, and entrepreneurial spirit that characterize our 1,400+ employee-owners allow us to ensure the success of each customer’s mission and actively contribute to the well-being of the Nation.

1 … 1,611 1,612 1,613 1,614 1,615 … 2,604