Rear Adm. John Nowell, the U.S. Navy’s director of military personnel plans and policy, said that the service’s biggest challenge in readiness is “maintaining a stable and predictable budget,” the Navy said Tuesday. Nowell noted during the recent Sea-Air-Space exposition in Maryland that his office is addressing the Navy’s gaps in readiness that were identified in fiscal 2018.

“We really worked to fill those gaps at sea and we’ve addressed a lot those readiness challenges, but we’re not done yet,” he added. James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said at the event’s key luncheon that he seeks to address four main priorities including affordability, agility, lethal capacity and workforce development.

“When we can partner between the industry, the ship’s captain and, wherever we’re supervising on the government side, we get great examples of us delivering great things out to the fleet,” he noted.

Other Navy efforts that were discussed during the conference include the Education for Seapower initiative, which Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith said would help sailors focus on their duties while preparing for life outside of service. This year’s Sea-Air-Space exposition was based on the Chief of Naval Operations’ Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority 2.0 and has the theme “Sustainability, Agility, Superiority.”

Sens. Joni Ernst and Martin Heinrich unveiled a bill to allow the continuation of the Department of Defense’s Mentor-Protege Program. The Defense Small Business Advancement Act will assist small businesses that serve as suppliers to private companies, civilian agencies and DoD customers through mentorship efforts from seasoned contractors, the office of Sen. Heinrich said Tuesday.

Scope of mentor services will include managerial, technical and business development assistance to protege companies. The legislation will also enable mentors to seek assistance through universities, institutions, procurement technical assistance centers and small business development centers. 

“This bill gives small businesses an opportunity to partner with larger defense companies who have the resources and experience to navigate the procurement process and compete for contracts, which will create good paying jobs in our communities and provide better products for the Department of Defense,” said Sen. Heinrich.

The Government Accountability Office found that the Pentagon continues increasing its spending on new weapons capabilities despite recent major acquisition reforms aiming to limit cost growth in the agency’s modernization efforts. GAO issued Tuesday its annual assessment of the Department of Defense’s tech spending in the past two years. 

GAO said that despite adopting new acquisition processes in 2010, the Pentagon’s 2018 portfolio of weapon programs increased from $8 billion to $1.69 trillion to support 82 new major acquisition programs. The watchdog associated the cost growth to DoD’s continued focus on adding new capabilities to existing systems instead of launching new programs to modernize the military. The lack of full and open competition for contracts also contributed to the increase. 

“DoD did not compete 67 percent of 183 major contracts currently reported for its 82 major programs,” GAO said. The agency awarded most of the contracts to only five corporations and their partner companies. DoD also failed implement knowledge-based acquisition practices prior to development of technologies, which could have helped lower cost and accelerate acquisition.

The White House announced on Monday that the recipients of the Gears of Government President’s Award, which seeks to acknowledge the contributions of federal employees and teams who help improve the lives of U.S. citizens. 

“These awards recognize not just the front-line mission employees, but also those teams and individuals that are strengthening our country to be a more modern, effective government to better serve their fellow citizens,” Margaret Weichert, deputy director for management at the Office of management and Budget, said in a statement published Monday.

The award recipients include employees and teams from federal agencies including NASA and the departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Energy, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture and Transportation.

Click here to view the full list of winners.

The U.S. Navy named an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer after a senator who served on behalf of Georgia for over 20 years. USS Sam Nunn or DDG 133 will be a 509-foot-long destroyer designed to travel at speeds over 30 knots, the service branch said Monday.

Nunn, the ship’s namesake, contributed a year of active duty service to the U.S. Coast Guard and remained a reservist for eight years before his appointment as congressman in 1968. He aided the drafting of national security legislation including the Department of Defense Reorganization Act. Huntington Ingalls Industries will build USS Sam Nunn in Pascagoula, Miss.

The U.S. Army’s and the U.S. Coast Guard’s respective research laboratories have partnered to pursue projects of common scientific interest, National Defense Magazine reported Monday.

Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins, commander of Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Philip Perconti, Army Research Laboratory director and Capt. Gregory Rothrock, commanding officer of the Coast Guard’s research and development center, signed a memorandum authorizing the partnership. The agreement allows the two parties to share data and research assets with one another, the report noted.

“The [Coast Guard] is willing to share information with us, and [the Army Research Laboratory] will share information with them, and work collaboratively where we can but all at our own cost,” said Susan Toth who leads ARL’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technology integration activity team. 

Shared areas of interest between the Army and USCG include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, she noted.