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GAO Releases Tech Assessment Design Handbook
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GAO Releases Tech Assessment Design Handbook


GAO Releases Tech Assessment Design Handbook

The Government Accountability Office has issued a handbook designed to guide agencies throughout the process of evaluating technologies they intend to deploy.

The Technology Assessment Design Handbook, issued by GAO’s Science, Technology Assessment and Analytics Office, covers design tools for “robust and rigorous assessments” that will enable agencies to determine the effects and potential policy implications of new technologies.

According to the handbook, agencies must first determine the scope of their technologies, conduct initial situational analyses and coordinate with other potential stakeholders.

Assessors should then develop an initial design and determine the proper methodologies and approaches to technology assessment in addition to identifying potential data sources. The last phase tasks assessors to implement the review process and make adjustments as needed.

GAO noted that it plans to review and update the handbook in line with ongoing feedback from interested parties.

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Army, Japanese Ground Self-Defense Troops Conduct Joint Cyber Warfare, Tactical Ops Exercise
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Army, Japanese Ground Self-Defense Troops Conduct Joint Cyber Warfare, Tactical Ops Exercise


Army, Japanese Ground Self-Defense Troops Conduct Joint Cyber Warfare, Tactical Ops Exercise

The U.S. Army and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force held a bilateral exercise to test cyber warfare capabilities and tactical maneuvers, National Defense reported Tuesday.

The Cyber Blitz-Orient Shield 2019 event featured over 3K participants and took place at various locations in the U.S. and Japan.

Richard Wittstruck, associate director for field-based experimentation and integration at Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat Systems, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Center, said the team developed and implemented a scenario into live and virtual operations as part of the exercise.

“We distributed them several places [in the continental United States] so that they could do live, virtual, constructive training with real equipment and real threats presented to them, and then synchronized their products and activities with the multi-domain task forces part of Orient Shield,” said Wittstruck.

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DoD Calls for Additional 5G Tech Dev’t Ideas
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DoD Calls for Additional 5G Tech Dev’t Ideas


DoD Calls for Additional 5G Tech Dev't Ideas

The Department of Defense is seeking additional input from the private sector to build 5G technology platforms for upcoming experimentation efforts at Naval Base San Diego in California and Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.

DoD said Monday it plans to test the application of augmented and virtual reality systems supported by a fifth-generation mobile network to training, mission planning and naval warehouse operations.

Interested parties have until Dec. 23 to submit ideas in response to the department’s second special notice.

The department announced the release of its initial notice on beta.SAM.gov last week to seek 5G technology development ideas for testing activities that will take place at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany in Georgia and Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

DoD and the U.S. Army aim to create methods to facilitate 5G-supported combat training via a demonstration project at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. One of the project goals is to demonstrate how the new wireless communications technology can support transmission of distributed training to participants via AR/VR protocols, according to the notice.

The other project will take place at Naval Supply Systems Command’s Fleet Logistics Center and apply a 5G networking approach to a military warehouse setting.

DoD added it will issue final requests for prototype proposals via the National Spectrum Consortium as part of an other transaction agreement.

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Report: Bryan Ware to Join CISA as Assistant Cybersecurity Director
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Report: Bryan Ware to Join CISA as Assistant Cybersecurity Director


Bryan Ware
Bryan Ware

Bryan Ware, assistant secretary for cyber, infrastructure and resilience policy at the Department of Homeland Security, has been appointed to hold a significant cybersecurity-focused role within the department, Fedscoop reported Sunday.

He would succeed Jeanette Manfra as assistant director for cybersecurity of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, sources say. Ware holds decades of industry experience, having formerly served as chief technology officer and CEO of security analytics firm Haystax.

He first joined DHS in 2018 to provide advisory support to Kirstjen Nielsen, the department’s secretary at the time. Manfra is stepping down from her CISA role for a return to the industry.

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Nat’l Infrastructure Advisory Council Draft Report Details Cyber Attack Mitigation Strategies
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Nat’l Infrastructure Advisory Council Draft Report Details Cyber Attack Mitigation Strategies


Nat’l Infrastructure Advisory Council Draft Report Details Cyber Attack Mitigation Strategies

The National Infrastructure Advisory Council is calling on the Trump administration to address potential risks of cyber attacks to the nation’s communication, financial and energy infrastructures. NIAC sent a draft report to President Trump stating that U.S. companies are “ill-equipped” to defend against potential cyber attacks from nation-states seeking to destroy or disrupt critical U.S. infrastructure.

The council recommends the government create a Critical Infrastructure Command Center that will handle the real-time transmission of public and private data in partnership with the intelligence community. They also suggest the establishment of a Federal Cybersecurity Commission that will work with the private sector and serve as an independent government entity.

Other suggestions highlighted in the report include directing the Department of Justice to determine legal authorities associated with cyber threat mitigation and expanding the Department of Energy’s efforts to test commercial equipment at its national laboratories.

NIAC also recommends that authorities be implemented in blacklisting and whitelisting cyber components for private infrastructure.

“Incremental steps are no longer sufficient; bold approaches must be taken,” NIAC said. “Your leadership is needed to provide companies with the intelligence, resources, and legal protection necessary to win this war and avoid the dire consequences of losing it.”

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Mark Esper: DoD Saves $5B With New Budget Review
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Mark Esper: DoD Saves $5B With New Budget Review


Mark Esper
Mark Esper

Defense Secretary and 2019 Wash100 winner Mark Esper said he expects the Department of Defense’s new budget review process to continue until early next year, Federal News Network reported Monday.

Esper told attendees at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California that the DoD reduced up to $5 billion over the past four months as part of the zero-based review process, which seeks to align spending with the National Defense Strategy. He added that the Pentagon redirected spending from lower priority programs and will expand the review to other military focus areas.

“This is just the beginning,” he said. “I expect every leader in every service and the office of the secretary of defense and the joint staff and in the combatant commands to review their budgets with the same rigor and to reprioritize to support the National Defense Strategy.”

The new review process, led by Deputy Defense Secretary and fellow 2019 Wash100 winner David Norquist, initially focused on spending for fourth estate agencies and covered a period spanning 2021 to 2025.

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Deltek Announces Upgrade to GovWin IQ Labor Pricing Analytics; Kevin Plexico Quoted
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Deltek Announces Upgrade to GovWin IQ Labor Pricing Analytics; Kevin Plexico Quoted


Deltek Announces Upgrade to GovWin IQ Labor Pricing Analytics; Kevin Plexico Quoted

Deltek has granted access to an updated Labor Pricing Analytics application for GovWin IQ, a government contracting intelligence platform, to enable its customers to conduct pricing analysis more effectively through comparing millions of fully-burdened labor rates in seconds, Deltek announced on Monday. 

“With Labor Pricing Analytics, we are giving GovWin IQ customers the ability to analyze more than 15 million historic and future labor rates to evaluate how competitors are approaching price and–critically–to see what agency buyers have paid for similar services recently.” said Kevin Plexico, senior vice president of information solutions at Deltek.

Government contractors need to benchmark as many data points as possible, including job titles, contract awards, incumbent data, education, work experience and labor rate comparisons. 

GovWin IQ’s robust Labor Pricing Analytics application will provide a user-friendly way to create visualizations of the labor pricing market with interactive analytics and data points, build inclusive job category searches with GovWin’s proprietary Smart Tags and save time with custom pivot tables to optimize bids. 

For over 30 years, GovWin IQ has enabled businesses to manage public sector opportunities, plan strategically remain competitive and pursue deals more efficiently for more than 6,000 customers. 

Additional information about the upgrades to Labor Pricing Analytics will be made available through a 1 hour webinar by Deltek on January 9th, 2020 at 2 p.m EST. Click here to register. 

About Deltek

Better software means better projects. Deltek is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for project-based businesses. More than 30,000 organizations and millions of users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek for superior levels of project intelligence, management and collaboration.

Our industry-focused expertise powers project success by helping firms achieve performance that maximizes productivity and revenue. Learn more at www.deltek.com.

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Parsons Awarded $7.5B DoD IT IDIQ Contract; Veronica Kazaitis Quoted
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Parsons Awarded $7.5B DoD IT IDIQ Contract; Veronica Kazaitis Quoted


Parsons Awarded $7.5B DoD IT IDIQ Contract; Veronica Kazaitis Quoted

Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded Parsons a prime position on a potential five-year, $7.5 billion multiple award, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract from the Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA) Systems, Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) to enhance how warfighters engage with DoD’s information technology, Parsons announced on Monday. 

The program will offer an array of research and development and critical technical areas central to engineering, delivering and maintaining DoD and DISA information technology infrastructure. 

Vice President of Cyber Engineering and Research Programs for Parsons Veronica Kazaitis, said “Parsons’ breadth of engineering, cyber and mission integration capabilities currently deployed with the tactical warfighter will help the Department of Defense optimize their information technology capabilities for the mission ahead.”

The innovations made through the SETI contract will be available across the DoD and it’s collaborators. 

About Parsons Corporation

Parsons (NYSE: PSN) is a leading disruptive technology provider for the future of global defense, intelligence and critical infrastructure with capabilities across cybersecurity, missile defense, space, connected infrastructure and smart cities. 

Please visit parsons.com, and follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook to learn how we’re making an impact.

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KDHE, DXT Technologies Receives Stage 1 Medicaid Certification; Seema Verma Comments
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KDHE, DXT Technologies Receives Stage 1 Medicaid Certification; Seema Verma Comments


KDHE, DXT Technologies Receives Stage 1 Medicaid Certification; Seema Verma Comments

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), in collaboration with DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC), announced a new certification from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for Stage 1 within the Kansas Modular Medicaid System (KMMS), DXC Technology announced on Thursday. 

KMMS is designed to better serve healthcare providers and Medicaid beneficiaries, and to align with federal and state requirements for more flexible, cost-effective Medicaid IT solutions.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and CMS have proposed new rules calling for the healthcare industry to implement standardized application programming interfaces to enable easy and free access to patient health data through devices such as smartphones.

The rules will cover programs such as Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicare Advantage as well as qualified health plans in the federally-facilitated exchanges.

Seema Verma, administrator of CMS and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, anticipates that around 125 million patients will receive easy access to their health data once insurers make the information available to the public before 2020. 

“The newly implemented modules will allow us to deliver more responsive service to our members and providers, including shorter calls for members to customer service, faster response times for providers and eventual cost reduction to the state through early intervention on payment accuracy,” said Lee Norman, MD, Secretary of KDHE. 

The three active modules in Kansas are Provider Management and Enrollment, Program Integrity Utilization Review and Enterprise Data Warehouse. Each modular implementation is part of a nationwide effort for progression of Medicaid technologies, which HHS launched in 2016.

DXC has been managing Medicaid details in Kansas since 2002 and provides health and human services in forty-two states overall. These services include fiscal agent services, Medicaid Management Information Systems, program integrity, care management, immunization registry and eligibility services.

Vice President of Global Healthcare, DXC Technology David Hadsell commented, “We’re pleased to partner with the state of Kansas to facilitate cost savings, performance efficiencies and improved care outcomes for Kansas Medicaid. We are supporting Kansas’ commitment to fiscal responsibility and leadership in implementing new standards for Medicaid administration.”

The next advancement, Stage 2, has already been initiated and it will include mobile access, improved healthcare provider portal, claims submission procedures and direct online access to managed care data.

About DXC Technology

DXC Technology, the world’s leading independent, end-to-end IT services company, manages and modernizes mission-critical systems, integrating them with new digital solutions to produce better business outcomes. The company’s global reach and talent, innovation platforms, technology independence and extensive partner network enable more than 6,000 private- and public-sector clients in 70 countries to thrive on change. For more information, visit www.dxc.technology.

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Ryan McCarthy: Army Needs to Adopt Additive Manufacturing
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Ryan McCarthy: Army Needs to Adopt Additive Manufacturing


Ryan McCarthy: Army Needs to Adopt Additive Manufacturing

Ryan McCarthy, secretary of the U.S. Army, said the service branch needs to implement 3D printing or additive manufacturing for cost reduction and capability boost purposes, Defense News reported Sunday.

He said at the Reagan National Defense Forum that the Army must adopt 3D printing for the production of spare parts for weapon systems.

“Parts, it’s why weapon systems have challenging operational readiness rates, its why weapon systems continue to get heavier over time as you incrementally upgrade the system,” he told reporters.

The defense industry, however, urges against the use of 3D printing due to the resulting reduction of parts orders. The military would face challenges regarding intellectual property and is trying to win the industry’s assistance on the matter, McCarthy noted.

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