Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator and a Wash100 winner, called on other nations and the private sector to help the U.S. to return humans to the lunar surface in 2024, Space.com reported Tuesday. He said NASA could meet the mission’s schedule, but the agency needs partnerships outside the government to help reduce its financial burden.  

“Putting humans on the moon in 2024 is not an America-alone effort,” Bridenstine said at the 35th Space Symposium at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado. “We need all of our international partners. In fact, none of us can do what we want to achieve alone.”

Some countries already expressed interest in contributing technology and hardware for the NASA Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway that will serve as the space station in moon’s orbit. The European Space Agency and Japan’s space agency, JAXA, intend to provide lunar landers and life-support systems.

Bridenstine said funding would be the biggest challenge NASA will face in sending astronauts back to the moon. NASA is making changes in its 2020 budget request to adjust plans designed for the lunar mission’s original 2028 schedule. 

“The plans that we laid out for 2028 are the same plans that we’re going to use to get to the moon in 2024. We’re just going to have to move forward some of our investments, but it’s all achievable,” Bridenstine said.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the department intends to build up the country’s competitiveness in the global space market through promotional initiatives and regulatory reform, SpaceNews reported Tuesday.

“At the Commerce Department, our goal is to ensure that the United States captures the lion’s share of burgeoning space markets,” Ross said Tuesday during the 35th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo. “We are bullish on making and keeping America the flag of choice for innovative space companies.”

He noted the country’s government pavilion will showcase the U.S. commercial space industry at the Paris Air Show in June with opportunities for collaboration. “It is important that the U.S. lead in cooperation with our allies,” Ross said. Ross said the department is working on regulatory reform initiatives as stated in the Space Policy Directive 2, including an assessment of space-related products on the agency’s export control lists.

Air Force Secretary and 2019 Wash100 Award winner Heather Wilson said the service adopts a comprehensive approach based on “a clear-eyed assessment of the world as it is” to maintain the country’s superiority in space, the Air Force reported Tuesday. 

Wilson the assessment extends to discussions over the establishment of space force as the sixth military branch during the 35th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo on Tuesday. She said the Air Force uses the authorities given by Congress to accelerate the deployment of new capabilities and will hold a pitch day for space programs in Los Angeles in 2020 as part of the effort to speed up the acquisition process. 

Acting Defense Secretary and fellow 2019 Wash100 Award recipient Patrick Shanahan and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein also delivered speeches at the symposium. 

Acting Secretary of Defense and Wash100 Award winner Patrick Shanahan said the Department of Defense is working with the Department of Homeland Security to identify the former’s potential roles involving border security, Military Times reported Wednesday.

Shanahan expects DoD to “do more” based on the volume of migrants trying to cross the southern border and “how much the situation there has deteriorated.” He added that future requests may be consistent with the Pentagon’s prior efforts, including the setting up of temporary shelters.

The acting secretary’s comments come after his tour of the U.S.-Mexico border and the resignation of former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

About the Wash100

The Wash100 award, now in its sixth year, recognizes the most influential executives in the GovCon industry as selected by the Executive Mosaic team in tandem with online nominations from the GovCon community. Representing the best of the private and public sector, the winners demonstrate superior leadership, innovation, reliability, achievement and vision.

Visit the Wash100 site to learn about the other 99 winners of the 2019 Wash100 Award. On the site, you can submit your 10 votes for the GovCon executives of consequence that you believe will have the most significant impact in 2019.

The Defense Information Systems Agency plans to implement a process in April for managing recurring maintenance, authorized service interruptions and customer updates about system maintenance schedules. 

“Managing ASIs has become extremely labor intensive and complex as a result of (the agency’s) continually expanding mission,” Timothy Noel, chief of ASI Management Branch at the agency, said in a statement on Monday.

He said the new process will help streamline the recurring maintenance process and other processes in managing enterprise systems.

Dave Bennett, director of the agency operations center, said the formalized, standard process will also provide customers with increased awareness of maintenance schedules and reduce the time needed to coordinate maintenance. An average of 15,000 service interruptions are conducted annually.

“The amount of ASIs will decrease, reducing the efforts needed to track multiple scheduled interruptions as well as reducing scheduling conflicts,” Bennett said. 

The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to boost contractual partnerships with veteran-owned and service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses. The VA said Monday it aims to provide 17 percent of its contracts to businesses owned by veterans while 15 percent will be allocated to service-disabled veteran-owned businesses in a move to reinforce its contracting goals by five percent.

“We have increased the dollars awarded each year, but now it’s time to update the goals to reflect this new commitment,” said Robert Wilkie, secretary of VA. “We need to lock in the gains we have made and continue to build for the future.” 

VA noted that the agency is required by law to prioritize members of both communities prior to considering other small business preferences. In addition, the agency provided contracts worth $5.4B to veteran-owned businesses and $5.1B to service-disabled, veteran-owned businesses in 2017.