The U.S. Army’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force is working on new projects such as predictive maintenance capabilities for helicopters and an AI application that will assist officials in talent management. The Army said Tuesday that its AI Task Force was created last year as part of a collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University and the Army Futures Command.

Maj. Kevin Goulding, a data scientist for the AI TF, said he intends to develop an optimization algorithm for the AI-based talent management platform that will simplify base assignment functions for branch managers. Col. Doug Matty, AI TF deputy director, noted that the task force aims to “push algorithms forward to the tactical edge” through its collaborative efforts with the Department of Defense’s Joint AI Center.

The task force has been working with the AFC’s cross-functional teams and was “able to leverage existing relationships” with academic partners at CMU through the Army Research Lab, according to Matty. He added that AFC is currently open to working with small businesses, startups and mid-level companies.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has introduced a smartphone application that works to organize and streamline healthcare resources into a unified location for veterans and caregivers. The Launchpad for Veterans suite will enable users to access VA apps from five different categories namely mental health improvement, health care team communication, vital health information sharing and quality of life improvement, the agency said Monday.

Users do not need to enroll in any of VA’s healthcare services to utilize the suite’s personal improvement and mental health apps while the remaining tools will require accounts in DS Logon Level 2, ID .me and Premium My HealtheVet.

“VA has developed dozens of apps for Veterans to take charge of their health care,” said Robert Wilkie, secretary at the VA and 2019 Wash100 awardee. “VA Launchpad makes it easier to have these important tools available at your fingertips,” added Wilkie.

A council of officials from the General Services Administration, NASA and the Department of Defense published an interim rule that would prohibit federal agencies from buying telecommunications and video surveillance systems and services from Huawei and four other Chinese telecom companies, Nextgov reported Tuesday.

“This interim rule is being implemented as a national security measure to protect government information, and government information and communication technology systems,” the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council said in a Federal Register notice published Tuesday.

The proposed rule seeks to comply with the 2019 National Defense Administration Act and would direct contracting officers to include FAR provisions in solicitations issued after Aug. 13 and resulting contracts as well as request for proposals published before the said date provided that the contract award will occur after Aug. 13.

The policy would also require vendors to report whether their offerings include “covered” telecom services and equipment. The other four Chinese firms cited in the rule are ZTE, Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Dahua Technology. Stakeholders have until Oct. 15 to submit comments on the interim rule.

The Department of Labor has launched an online help desk designed to guide contractors and stakeholders in federal contract compliance. DOL said Friday that its Contractor Assistance Portal aims to support the department’s efforts to help employers comply with contract policy. 

“We are very excited to launch the Contractor Assistance Portal so the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs can provide more access to compliance assistance resources,” said Craig Leen, OFCCP director.

The department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs launched the help desk after forming a commitment from town hall sessions in 2017. OFCCP supports the implementation of laws to protect U.S. employees from multiple forms of discrimination such as those involving race, gender and other traits.

NASA has chosen four candidate areas on asteroid Bennu that may serve as sample collection sites for the Lockheed Martin-built Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer spacecraft. The selected sites measure 16 to 33 feet in radius and contain “ponds” of fine grain material that may work as samples for high-resolution observation procedures, the agency said Tuesday. 

Sites Kingfisher and Osprey are situated at Bennu’s equatorial region, while Sites Sandpiper and Nightingale are located at the asteroid’s southern and northern hemispheres respectively. OSIRIS-REx is slated to conduct analysis of the candidate sites in the fall and will perform high passes across each area at a distance of 0.8 miles to validate their eligibility for sampling.

NASA will utilize the results of the analysis to pick primary and backup collection areas in December. The spacecraft will carry out reconnaissance missions over the two remaining sites and is set to begin sample collection later in 2020 prior to its return to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023.

The Census Bureau is implementing a new canvassing system that uses satellite imagery data to identify addresses for the 2020 population count, Federal News Network reported Monday.

Steven Dillingham, director of the Census Bureau, said the agency has begun using the geospatial intelligence-based Block Assessment, Research and Classification Application and will launch a “full-fledged” canvassing effort using the system this month. BARCA utilizes the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s satellite imagery data to identify new developments and track changes in existing housing units. 

The bureau has used BARCA to identify 65 percent of the addresses that will receive census forms and will hire around 40,000 canvassers to verify the remaining 35 percent or 50 million addresses through mid-October. For the 2010 census, the bureau hired around 150,000 canvassers to conduct address verification activities.

The Congressional Budget Office said the Department of Homeland Security’s potential bug bounty program would require $44M to implement, Fedscoop reported Monday.

A proposed bill, known as the Cybersecurity Vulnerability Remediation Act, would task DHS to gather bug information via a bounty program. The program would call for researchers to provide the government with cyber vulnerability reports in exchange for financial compensation. CBO said the projected cost will be larger if DHS includes support for nonfederal systems under the bounty program.