Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment and three-time Wash100 Award recipient, said the Department of Defense intends to simplify procurement of subsystems through rapid prototyping and fielding, USNI News reported Tuesday.

Lord told the publication that the goal is to accelerate major defense acquisition programs by streamlining mid-tier acquisition for certain components. The department’s mid-tier acquisition programs have expanded to more than 50 since November 2018, she added.

“We’re scheduled to publish formal policy in December, and I’m happy that we’re seeing positive results for our warfighters, taking an average of over two years out of each of the programs,” said Lord.

Her comments came two months after the Pentagon announced its intent to develop the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification standards for businesses seeking opportunities with the government. Lord said she expects the CMMC framework to be available in January 2020 ahead of full inclusion in requests for proposals by fall.

Bill Marion, deputy chief information officer of the U.S. Air Force, said service branches are aligned in their information technology delivery, FedScoop reported Tuesday.

“Services, cloud, the network, all of those elements – we have a consistent path we’re all going down together,” Marion said Tuesday at the Air Force Information Technology and Cyberpower event in Montgomery, Ala. “It truly is aligned.”

He said the U.S. Army agreed to “leverage” the Air Force’s Common Cloud Environment to accelerate its network modernization effort as well as the latter’s work around enterprise IT-as-a-service and network-as-a-service programs. Marion said the Air Force also plans to field its Cloud Hosted Enterprise Services program into the Pentagon’s $8B Defense Enterprise Office Solution contract for cloud-based collaboration tools.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is asking the public to submit input regarding the patenting of artificial intelligence intellectual property. USPTO hopes to determine whether it requires more examination guidance to increase the reliability of AI invention patenting, the office said Tuesday in a Federal Register notice.

The request for comments features 12 questions on concerns such as the elements of an AI invention, factors that constitute an AI inventor and patent owner, existing laws and patent eligibility. Other queries include AI-unique art considerations and the need for new intellectual property protections.

Interested parties may submit responses through Oct. 11.

The Transportation Security Administration will test a new identity verification process based on automated biometrics technology at the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. According to a Department of Homeland Security publication released Friday, TSA will conduct a short-term proof of concept to evaluate the use of Credential Authentication Technology with Camera to verify passengers going through the Travel Document Checker process.

CAT-C will process a passenger’s identity documents, capture real-time facial imagery and use facial matching algorithm to verify information. Passengers who will volunteer for the Privacy Impact Assessment still have to go through standard TDC verification procedures, according to TSA. The PIA follows TSA’s initial proof of concept at the Los Angeles International Airport which involved the use of automated electronic security gates fitted with cameras and facial recognition technology.

The assessment comes as part of TSA’s efforts to potentially deploy CAT-C as the primary identity verification platform for aviation security and enable personnel to “focus on other critical tasks and expediting security processes.” The agency also expects to extend the verification technology for individuals seeking access to airport sterile areas.

A spokesperson for the General Services Administration said GSA is on track to issue a solicitation for the consolidated schedule on the first day of fiscal year 2020, FCW reported Tuesday. GSA announced its plans to merge 24 contract schedules into a single government-wide vehicle to simplify the procurement process for agencies in November 2018.

The agency has received feedback from approximately 600 contractors on the plan and found that 94 percent of respondents agree on the clarity of the new schedule’s format.

According to a fact sheet for the Multiple Award Schedules consolidation, GSA will conduct a “mass modification” process or modify existing schedule contracts to move to the single schedule in the first half of FY 2020 under the second phase. The third phase will combine multiple contracts into a single vehicle by the second half of FY 2020.

The Department of Homeland Security has launched a new bug bounty program with the Office of Management and Budget to gather information on cyber vulnerabilities. DHS’ Office of the Chief Information Security Officer requests firms and other organizations to submit information on security weaknesses detected within the department’s information systems, DHS said Wednesday in a Federal Register notice.

Security vulnerabilities refer to any characteristic in hardware, software, process or procedure that serves as a factor or opening to cyber threats. DHS asks responders to report information on vulnerable hosts, reproduction of vulnerabilities, potential host impacts and ways to address vulnerabilities.

Interested parties may submit responses through Oct. 27, or 60 days after the request’s publication on the federal register.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions announced on Tuesday that the company has launched LexisNexis Recall Clarity, a solution that assists auto manufacturers in the owner identification process for safety-related recalls.

According to the NHTSA, over 1,000 recalls were issued in 2018 affecting more than 35 U.S. million motorists. In the event of a recall, customer outreach teams are tasked with getting vehicles repaired by finding recalled vehicle owners and leading them to the dealership for service.

This process has become more difficult because of recent changes in vehicle ownership in secondary markets. With more than 40 million used cars sold in the U.S. each year 45 million people moving to new homes each year, the need for an efficient way of notifying the owner of a recall, which in some cases can be life-threatening, is crucial.

“Identifying a driver with an outstanding recall is no longer a convoluted process where outreach teams have to combat data latency along with data decay among the older vehicles still out on the road,” said David Nemtuda, senior director of Connected Cars for LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

“Consumers who rely on their cars every day also rely on being properly notified in a timely manner if their vehicle has a component currently under recall,” Nemtuda added.

The solution aids in the reduction of organizational risk of non-compliance, while helping automakers increase efficiencies when analyzing campaign costs. Recall Clarity can meet the specific campaign outreach needs of an automaker by offering options around email addresses, mobile phone numbers and secondary home data.

Leveraging a high level of scalability over 280 million unique identities across all 50 states, Recall Clarity enables dealer-based campaigns to support automaker efforts regarding current safety and recall campaigns reinforcing a strong brand message of safety across the board.

About LexisNexis Risk Solutions

LexisNexis Risk Solutions harnesses the power of data and advanced analytics to provide insights that help businesses and governmental entities reduce risk and improve decisions to benefit people around the globe. We provide data and technology solutions for a wide range of industries including insurance, financial services, healthcare and government.

Department of Energy and Weill Family Foundation have initiated a public-private partnership to incorporate artificial intelligence into neurosience research. DOE said Monday that it will provide AI technologies to support scientific research on brain-related biomedical and public health topics such as neurological disorders.

“Today marks the beginning of a collaboration that will fuel the acceleration of utilizing artificial intelligence in neuroscience research to launch a new era in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disease,” said Sandy Weill, founder of the Weill Family Foundation.

Rick Perry, secretary of Energy, signed a memorandum of understanding with Weill to mark the partnership’s initiation.

“This Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Energy and Weill Family Foundation will advance groundbreaking AI research and development in health sciences that will enhance our overall security and improve our quality of life,” Perry said.