The Office of Management and Budget released an updated Data Center Optimization Initiative to better comply with the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act’s data center consolidation requirements.

The revised DCOI establishes metrics and goals for data center optimization and defines requirements for agencies’ progress reports ahead of FITARA’s Oct. 1, 2020 deadline for consolidation. The new initiative updates metrics for advanced energy metering, server utilization, facility availability and virtualization of agency-managed systems.

“OMB will continue to work with agencies to set agency-specific goals for data center closures and cost savings that are appropriate to the mission and budget of each agency,” according to the notice. 

Agencies covered by the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 including the Department of Defense must submit to OMB an annual report containing data center inventories and multiyear strategies for achieving consolidation and optimization.

Naval Sea Systems Command published its energy systems development roadmap, detailing efforts to help the U.S. Navy meet future sensor systems and weapon power requirements. The roadmap, referred to as the Naval Power and Energy Systems Technology Development Roadmap, aligned warfighter requirements with the creation of energy and electrical power systems to help augment maritime warfare capacities, the Navy said Thursday. 

The framework has also presented key priorities to assist the service branch in deploying future technologies and investing on research and development efforts for power and energy platforms.

“As new technologies evolve, it’s imperative we lead the innovation of power and energy architecture necessary for tomorrow’s sensors and weapons and deliver the Chief of Naval Operations’ mandate of as much power as we can afford to the warfighter,” said Stephen Markle, director of Electrip Ships Office at the Navy.

U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event in Washington, D.C. that commercial space capabilities can improve nuclear triad operations, National Defense Magazine reported Wednesday.

Goldfein noted that commercial satellites and other low-Earth orbit technologies will provide nuclear command, control and communications operators with “resilient pathways to communicate” while enabling the Air Force to cut costs. He added that expanded access to smaller payloads and cheaper launch services has fostered more commercial opportunities for space missions.

“Whether it’s Silicon Valley or commercial space, there are unlimited opportunities ahead right now for us in terms of how we think differently on things like nuclear command-and-control,” he said. The Air Force handles the nuclear triad’s ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile and bomber force functions, while the Navy operates ballistic missile submarines for NC3 strategic deterrence activities.

Christopher Krebs, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said during an interview with CBS that the U.S. needs to deploy a “range of tools” to address active adversarial threats.

Krebs, also a 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, noted that the government needs to take action through legal sanctions as well as overt and covert offensive capabilities to respond to adversaries such as nation states, proxy groups or criminal entities, CBS reported Wednesday.

He added that the government and private sector need to work together to effectively retaliate against threats from Russia and China. Russia aims to knock down the U.S. as a global leader while China seeks to manipulate the industry through strategies such as intellectual property theft.

CISA is collaborating with over 2,000 local jurisdictions across 50 states to strengthen the nation’s cybersecurity posture ahead of the 2020 election, Krebs said.

The Department of Commerce is close to signing an agreement with the U.S. Air Force to gain access to the service’s space situational awareness data to come up with a repository of sensor data for companies, C4ISRNET reported Wednesday.

Kevin O’Connell, director of the department’s office of space commerce, said gaining access to the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Unified Data Library would help the Commerce Department set up a cloud-based open architecture data repository to help companies mitigate space debris and prevent collisions in space.

O’Connell noted that the department is working on a summary of the 42 submissions received in response to a request for information issued in late spring with regard to the data repository and plans to hold an industry day to discuss the initiative.

House lawmakers voted 227-194 to pass an appropriations package containing a bill to mandate back pay for federal contractors that were affected by the 35-day government shutdown, the Washington Business Journal reported Wednesday.

The Fair Compensation for Low-Wage Contractor Employees Act of 2019 is among the five bills included in the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2020 — which proposes a $383.3 billion budget for some federal departments and science organizations.

Rep. Ayanna Pressely, D-Mass., introduced the measure to ensure that federal contract employers would obtain reimbursement for costs associated with the impasse over funding. The Professional Services Council supports the passage and urged the Senate to approve similar legislation.

“Inclusion of the ‘Fair Compensation for Low-Wage Contractor Employees Act of 2019’ in the House-passed fiscal year 2020 Appropriations Act is a first step to providing fairness and equity to a portion of the government contractor community,” said Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president and counsel of PSC.