Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, introduced two proposals for inclusion in the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act to improve acquisition procedures and promote industry engagement, the House Armed Services Committee said Thursday. Thornberry, a ranking member of the committee, noted that his reform proposals set out to “improve agility, cut bureaucracy, promote justice, provide better benefits, and save the taxpayer billions.”

The first proposal, called the Continuing Acquisition Reform Act, seeks to implement panel recommendations to procurement reforms that were already enacted by Congress. The second proposal, known as the Accelerating Defense Innovation Act, intends to foster collaborations between the Department of Defense and the tech industry, introduce cybersecurity procedures to small businesses and promote the development of new technologies in DoD laboratories and universities.

The proposal also mandates the creation of a pilot program under the Small Business Innovation Research initiative to improve small businesses’ access to government opportunities. Congress has so far enacted over 60 of Thornberry’s defense reform proposals.

Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., introduced a bill to grow the Department of Defense’s workforce of digital engineers. The Armed Forces Digital Advantage Act would task the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness to implement a policy establishing digital engineering as a core military talent area, Portman’s office said Thursday. 

The bill would also appoint an executive to oversee the recruitment of DoD digital engineers and the development of training efforts for the career area. This executive will be known as the chief digital engineering recruitment and management officer of the DoD. The bill builds on recommendations from across the defense industry and DoD leadership, and supports the 2018 National Defense Strategy.

Portman and Heinrich are co-founders of the Senate Artificial Intelligence Caucus.

The General Services Administration introduced an interactive hub designed to serve as a cloud resource for federal agencies and connect government buyers to cloud service providers. The Cloud Information Center on the Acquisition Gateway allows government users to download templates, review acquisition guidance, access GSA’s best practices and market research as a service tool and work with other decision-makers, GSA said Thursday.

“We’re developing the Cloud Information Center as a one-stop-shop for cloud resources so agencies can easily access the information they need to transition to the cloud,” said Bill Zielinski, acting assistant commissioner of information technology category at GSA.

GSA formed CIC to align cloud offerings with the Office of Management and Budget’s Cloud Smart Strategy, the Report to the President on IT Modernization and the President’s Management Agenda.

The U.S. Air Force plans to implement a new promotion system to enable space, nuclear missiles and cybersecurity personnel to take on higher positions across the service, Space News reported Thursday. 

The promotion system will designate officers in the categories of air operations and special warfare, nuclear and missile operations, space operations, information warfare, combat support and force modernization. To date, only Air Force lawyers, chaplains and medical professional can compete for promotions within their categories. 

Air Force Secretary and 2019 Wash100 Award winner Heather Wilson said the service is changing its promotion guidelines for mid-grade officers in an effort to bring more talent to areas of expertise with growing demands. Wilson said the service already spent 18 months reviewing the proposed system and plans to announce a final decision in October.

“This is a really big change,” she said. “We’re going to take it out to the force, get a lot of input, post on it, blog on it, comment on it.” 

Wilson is expected to leave Air Force leadership on May 31 to serve as president of the University of Texas El Paso. 

Bob Kolasky, co-chair of the Information Communications Technology Supply Chain Task Force, said at a Chamber of Commerce conference that the group’s operations will develop regulations to procure foreign telecommunications products, FCW reported Thursday. Kolasky, also the director of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Risk Management Center, said the task force is working to identify vital functions nationwide that would shut down in the event of an attack.

The group’s efforts will serve as a foundation for the Department of Commerce’s development of policies involving the sale of foreign-made telecom equipment, he noted. Recently, the Trump administration authorized the Commerce secretary to ban ICT-related transactions involving products “designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned by or controlled by or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary.”