Anil Cheriyan, director of the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Service, told Nextgov in an interview published Tuesday that TTS is actively looking into how it builds momentum, establishes sustainability and drives for excellence.Cheriyan said the TTS organization should leverage GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, which he believes plays a role in performing acquisitions especially in the technology space. 

“FAS is a major channel for TTS to be effective and drive change. But so is having industry partners on the services side and on the software side,” he added.

Cheriyan also cited the role of his office in conducting assisted acquisition amid rapid technological changes and the transition towards software-defined architecture. He said GSA is looking into robotic process automation and identity security as it considers adding additional centers to the Centers of Excellence program. 

Cheriyan shared his insights on the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, Technology Business Management framework and the Presidential Innovation Fellows program.

U.S. Air Force officials noted that the nation is prepared to demonstrate space capabilities to adversaries to show readiness to react to threats, Defense News reported Wednesday.

“That capability needs to be one that’s understood by your adversary. They need to know that there are certain things we can do, at least at some broad level,” said Air Force Secretary and 2019 Wash100 Award winner Heather Wilson during the recent Space Symposium in Colorado.

Gen. Dave Goldfein the Air Force’s chief of staff, said the service intends to conduct rapid development and fielding of technologies capable of countering adversary systems regardless of time and space. According to Jay Raymond, commander of the Air Force Space Command, there are ongoing efforts to collaborate with allies such as Japan and Norway.

A senior technology official at the Department of Homeland Security said the agency may reduce “trust zones” to improve cybersecurity amid its ongoing information technology modernization, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

Trust zone is an IT concept that includes the cloud, mobile and digital interactions within an agency. Mark Bunn, program manager for the Trusted Internet Connections at DHS Federal Network Resilience Office, said the agency plans to reduce zone boundaries as it moves to a hybrid cloud. 

DHS has a large accreditation boundary or “general support systems” that support its operations. 

Bunn spoke following the release of the TIC 3.0 draft policy that explores the top technologies helping agencies with modernization such as infrastructure as a service, software as a service and platform as a service.

Jeanette Manfra, assistant director for cybersecurity at the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said zero trust could gain more traction across the government in the coming years as agencies increase focus on cybersecurity. 

NASA recommended that the Goddard Space Flight Center director should implement changes to technology transfer processes and set completion dates for outstanding action items to boost the facility’s efficiency in patents and licensing requests.

The agency said in a report published Monday that a lack of sufficient controls and collaborative engagement hindered the flight center’s performance during the technology transfer processes.

NASA also advised the technology transfer program executive to integrate a two-party authentication process to mitigate bypassing of patent processes and study space centers operations to validate the potential benefits.

The program intends to make all discovery and space exploration technologies accessible to the public through marketing and strategic management of intellectual properties. The agency added that all space centers took steps to boost awareness regarding the program through reinforced communications and outreach initiatives.