NASA is planning to present its strategy for the 2024 moon landing mission to Congress in the coming weeks, Spaceflight Now reported Wednesday. NASA previously targeted a 2028 schedule to further develop a space complex in lunar orbit as well as a lunar lander. 

Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator of NASA’s human exploration and operations mission directorate, told members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Space Studies Board that the agency intends to get funding approval to accelerate the moon landing effort from 2028 to 2024. 

“We recognize that we’re going to be challenged, and we’re going to have to be prepared to back off some of these requirements in order to achieve schedule,” Gerstenmaier noted. 

NASA contracted Boeing to help develop the Space Launch System, which will carry Orion crew capsules to deep space and potentially be used for the moon landing mission as part of the rocket’s third flight. Congress is slated to approve a budget for NASA by the start of fiscal year 2020 in October.

John Roth, former inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security, said current vacancies in the upper echelon of DHS affect the department’s ability to move forward, CNN reported Wednesday.

“This lack of settled leadership contributes to the significant morale problems that are endemic to DHS components,” Roth said Wednesday in his written testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee. “The nature and extent of senior leadership vacancies in the department is cause for concern as pervasive vacancies significantly hamper the department’s ability to carry out its all important mission,”

Gene Dodaro, comptroller general at the Government Accountability Office, also testified before the House panel on Wednesday. Kevin McAleenan, commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection and 2018 Wash100 Award winner, was tapped in April to serve as acting DHS secretary after Kirstjen Nielsen resigned from the post.

The Department of Homeland Security was named a Quality Services Management Office for cybersecurity as part of the Trump administration’s new centralized “shared services” policy, Nextgov reported Wednesday. The new designation enables DHS to develop standards to guide all civilian agencies’ cybersecurity decisions.

Previously, DHS launched a similar effort to unify security procedures and government cybersecurity tools through the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program. According to Tarrazzia Martin, the Housing and Urban Development Department’s senior adviser for enterprise technology planning, many agencies suffered from the effort because “there was a lack of understanding by DHS of their cultures.”

“I think DHS has to consider that many of these agencies are infants in their understanding and take their time to make sure things actually happen as they’re supposed to and they don’t get left behind,” she added.

Mac Curtis, president and chief executive officer of Perspecta, will be honored during the Boy Scouts of America National Capital Area Council’s Annual Good Scout Technology Award Luncheon on May 8th. You can find the registration page for the event here.

The event will be held at the Tysons Corner Marriott and will begin with a light reception at noon. An awards luncheon will follow at 12:30 pm. Phil Nolan, general partner of Blue Delta Capital Partners, will serve as the chair for the event.

The luncheon will celebrate Curtis’ commitment to advancing the technology sector while exemplifying the values of the Boy Scouts of America. Curtis joins a rich history of honorees who embody trustworthiness and loyalty in their professional and personal life.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the National Capital Area Council, the largest youth organization in the Washington D.C. area. The Boy Scouts of America is consistently recognized as one of the most admirable non-profit organizations in the world. The young men and women of America will greatly benefit from the support of the GovCon industry.

Don’t miss the Good Scout Technology Award Luncheon on May 8th. You can find the registration page for the event here. Even if you don’t plan to attend the luncheon, you can make a donation to the organization or take advantage of sponsorship opportunities for the event.

The Department of Homeland Security released a binding operational directive on Monday urging federal agencies to continue complying with regulation that requires periodic assessments of critical network vulnerabilities.

BOD 19-02 is directing agencies to take action based on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s “Cyber Hygiene” reports under BOD 15-01, which was issued in 2015 to fortify the federal government’s security posture.

BOD 15-01 requires federal agencies to address the vulnerabilities of their internet-facing systems as identified in their Cyber Hygiene reports within 30 days.  As part of the new directive, DHS requires agencies to ensure that critical vulnerabilities identified in Cyber Hygiene reports are remediated within 15 days and high vulnerabilities within 30 days. 

Agencies are also required to ensure that Cyber Hygiene personnel have access to scan their networks. CISA will provide agencies with a remediation plan for overdue corrective actions if the deadline was not followed.

CISA works with the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center as well as the Office of Management and Budget to identify critical cyber vulnerabilities and allocate proper resources for agencies in need of cybersecurity assistance.

The Department of Defense has proposed a new rule to address the use of performance-based payments in contracts, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

According to the report, the proposed rule would subject all fixed-price contracts to performance-based payments to help companies manage their cash flow and reduce compliance and oversight costs. DoD proposed the policy as an amendment to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement to comply with a provision of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. 

“This rulemaking proposes to remove the DFARS restrictions that limit performance-based payments to amounts not greater than costs incurred up to the time of payment,” according to the Defense Acquisition Regulations System. Comments on the proposed rule will be accepted through July 1.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a list of national critical functions to guide the federal government and private sector partners in protecting critical infrastructures. The National Critical Functions document highlights the activities of agencies and organizations that significantly contribute to U.S. national security, CISA said in the document released Tuesday. 

Disruption, corruption or dysfunction of such functions could negatively affect the country’s security, economic security and public health or safety, the agency noted. CISA divided the functions into the areas of “supply” for those that provide resources to the public, “distribute” for movement of goods and people, “manage” for a variety of functions and “connect,” which focuses on telecommunications and internet services. 

“Ultimately, the set of National Critical Functions is a launching pad to execute a more advanced approach to cybersecurity and critical infrastructure security and resilience,” the agency said. 

The document “provides a risk management approach that focuses on better understanding the functions that an entity enables or to which it contributes, rather than focusing on a static sector-specific or asset world view.”