Emily Murphy, administrator of the General Services Administration and a 2019 Wash100 Award winner, provided updates on several GSA projects at the American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council Imagine Nation conference in Philadelphia and one of the projects she mentioned is the implementation of a new contract writing system, Federal Times reported Monday.

GSA plans to issue in November a final request for quotation for the proposed replacement of the contract acquisition lifecycle management system and Murphy said the agency intends to award a contract in the spring. She also cited GSA’s upcoming plans for the NewPay HR system and fleet consolidation initiatives.

Suzette Kent, federal chief information officer and fellow 2019 Wash100 Award winner, mentioned in her speech at the event the need to advance federal information technology modernization efforts.

The U.S. Army’s new cyber innovation center will mark one year of operations in December and is slated to continue expanding next year, Fifth Domain reported Sunday.

Col. Chad Harris, project manager for Defensive Cyber Operations at the Army’s program executive office for enterprise information systems, told the publication that teams at “the Forge” have been working with various kinds of vendors on efforts like integrating a cyber defense kit to make it smaller and lighter.

“What you miss out on is those young, new, nontraditional companies that are at the very cutting edge of technology bringing new things to the marketplace that maybe you’re not seeing in other places,” he said.

The Army has also been using other transaction agreements to rapidly acquire capabilities from pre-approved vendors, according to Harris He also said the Army seeks to deploy automation and machine learning to help train “cybersoldiers” in an effort to improve operations.

Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s Technology and Innovation Laboratory is studying the use of 3D printing in naval operations. The T&Y Lab works with other additive manufacturing teams within the shipyard to experiment the use of resin, carbon fiber and other raw materials for 3D printing, Naval Sea Systems Command said Friday.

“We’ve been working with members of our workforce, as well as folks from Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), the other public shipyards and other Warfare Centers to share ideas and really explore what these printers are capable of from a naval standpoint,” said Jessica Roberts, additive manufacturing subcommittee lead at NNSY.

The team seeks to identify more ways to apply additive manufacturing in support of deployed sailors. The laboratory also engages with and trains other personnel from the yard to use 3D printing technology. This engagement allows more people to learn about additive manufacturing pitch in ideas.

“I was able to train with the team here and gain a new skillset in the process, something I could use to help bring ideas of how to innovate the shipyard to life,” said Shop 57 Apprentice Kristopher McKenzie who the T&Y Lab taught about 3D printing over a few weeks.

Raytheon and AirMap have integrated the latter’s unmanned aerial systems (UAS) monitoring capabilities onto a functional prototype of a next-generation air traffic controller workstation called Multi-platform ATC Re-hosting Solution, or MARS developed by Raytheon, Raytheon announced on Monday.

“When drones fly in controlled airspace, they’re sharing the skies with many other types of aircraft,” said Matt Gilligan, vice president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services. “Air traffic controllers need real-time airspace awareness and alerts to unusual drone activity; it’s a key step on the path toward safe drone integration into the national airspace system.”

With this integration, MARS now offers air traffic controllers streamlined access to UAS monitoring designed to improve the safety of drone integration. The MARS workstation integrates commercial off-the-shelf technologies into a consolidated touchscreen display that provides access to multiple automation applications at one workstation, without changing re-hosted applications.

AirMap’s intelligent airspace management tools, such as real-time remote identification, airspace authorization, and dynamic geofencing provide air traffic controllers access to UAS flight data through automated digital technologies.

About Raytheon

Raytheon Company, with 2018 sales of $27 billion and 67,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 97 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5I products and services, sensing, effects and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries.