Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., introduced a bill intending to better examine and deliver the way federal agencies provide customer service to U.S. citizens. The Federal Agency Customer Experience act would task agencies to conduct surveys and gather input on overall satisfaction, accomplishment of goals, customer treatment and timeliness regarding government customer service, Lankford’s office said Wednesday.

The Office of Management and Budget and General Services Administration will develop questions for the surveys.

“Customer service should not be reserved for the private sector; the federal government should pay attention to its customers: American taxpayers,” said Lankford who chairs the Senate’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management.

The Government Accountability Office made two recommendations to the Census Bureau to mitigate potential risks and boost the census process. GAO said Tuesday that the secretary of the Department of Commerce should advise the director of the Census Bureau to command the chief information officer to ensure that corrective actions for cybersecurity gaps will be applied and draft a procedure for the execution and monitoring of remedial activities. 

The recommendations are in line with the Census Bureau’s plans to utilize technologies that still need to undergo testing efforts. GAO also noted that the bureau faces potential cybersecurity risks and concerns in the usage of information technology tools. GAO added that the bureau has partnered with the Department of Homeland Security to reinforce its cybersecurity measures for the 2020 Census.

The General Services Administration and Office of Management and Budget jointly released an implementation plan for phase two of a procurement directive that seeks to implement the use of e-commerce portals, GSA said Thursday.

As part of Section 846 under the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, GSA is required to consult with OMB on the development of a program that will enable agencies to purchase commercial offerings through a commercial e-portal. GSA and OMB noted in their proposal to Congress that they intend to implement an initial proof of concept based on an e-marketplace model and limit procurements to the micro-purchase threshold to avoid risk and accelerate adoption.

They also proposed to increase the threshold from $10,000 to $25,000 over a five-year period, applicable only to purchases made through the GSA-approved portals. The agency noted that this will “provide a higher-value proof of concept and test the full potential of streamlined buying.”

According to GSA Administrator and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient Emily Murphy, the imitative intends to reduce the burden of small businesses and customer agencies while creating greater value for taxpayers.

“GSA has received valuable feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders throughout this process and we look forward to continuing our work with our partners in Congress, industry, and across federal agencies as we move towards an initial proof of concept,” she noted.

Phase two, which covers market research efforts, comes ahead of the implementation guidance stage which sets a launch date for the new system by the end of 2019. GSA expects to release a draft solicitation during the third quarter of fiscal 2019 to support the effort.

The Navy plans to install a cockpit pressure monitoring and warning system on fighter aircraft to reduce physiological events among pilots, USNI News reported Thursday. The service branch intends to implement this new system in over a thousand F/A-18A-D Hornet, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft, the report noted. 

Rear Adm. Fredrick Luchtman, who leads the Physiological Episodes Action Team, told USNI News that they discovered air fluctuations would sometimes result to physiological symptoms. The system’s implementation would commence later this year and run over a two-year period, he said. 

The F-35 Joint Program Office hopes to see a 23 percent decrease in flight-hour costs for the F-35A aircraft variant from $44,000 to $34,000 by 2024, Air Force Magazine reported Thursday.

Vice Adm. Mat Winter, head of the F-35 JPO, testified before members of the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee that the office seeks to achieve a 26 percent drop from $34,000 to $25,000 for the U.S. Air Force variant after five years. He added that the JPO is looking for an affordable cost per flying hour due to “other demands for those resources outside of F-35.”

The Department of Defense’s Cost Analysis and Program Evaluation office expects F-35A flight-hour costs to flatten and eventually increase after 2024 due to factors like depot maintenance which the aircraft requires as it ages.