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DARPA Seeks Innovative Tech for Deploying Hidden Communication Systems
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DARPA Seeks Innovative Tech for Deploying Hidden Communication Systems

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Information Innovation Office is requesting proposals to develop new innovative technologies for deploying resilient hidden networks with privacy and performance guarantees.

The effort aims to combine software-defined networking approaches with emerging technology models to test if the hidden communication systems, or HCS, will perform to expectations in the real world, DARPA said Thursday.

The project will be executed under the agency’s Provably Weird Network Deployment and Detection program

The submissions should investigate groundbreaking advances in science, devices and systems, DARPA added, noting that the proposed solutions must improve from the current manual HCS development process and ensure that the deployed network will remain hidden.

The government anticipates multiple individual awards for the project, in which participants will prototype their proposals for six months and the selected organizations will advance to the procurement stage that will run for two years.

Interested parties are advised that DARPA will accept abstracts until Oct. 1, questions through Oct. 17 and proposals no later than Nov. 5.

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HRSA Selects GDIT, 4 Others to Modernize Organ Transplant System
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HRSA Selects GDIT, 4 Others to Modernize Organ Transplant System

The Health Resources and Services Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services has selected multiple vendors to modernize the organ transplant system, moving away from the previous single-award contract.

The awardees are Arbor Research Collaborative for Health, General Dynamic Information Technology, Maximus Federal, Deloitte and Guidehouse Digital, the HHS said Thursday.

The transformation of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, or OPTN — the first in 40 years — comes amid criticisms regarding lack of transparency, potential for conflicts of interest, IT reliability issues and other structural challenges.

Work under the contracts includes improving patient safety, increasing transparency and public engagement in OPTN policy development, and strengthening patient-centered communications.

According to the agency, the modernization effort will enhance the system’s efficiency for over 100,000 people on the organ transplant waitlist.

“With the life of more than 100,000 Americans at stake, no organ donated for transplantation should go to waste,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, a past Wash100 Award recipient.

“The Biden-Harris Administration has reformed OPTN to require accountability in the operation of organ procurement that our transplant patients and their families demand,” he added.

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Healthcare Summit to explore the transformative trends and innovations shaping the future of the healthcare sector. Register here.

HRSA Selects GDIT, 4 Others to Modernize Organ Transplant System

The Future of the State Department Is a Question Mark
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The Future of the State Department Is a Question Mark

Under former President Donald Trump’s administration, one of the most restructured and diminished federal agencies was the Department of State — over 10 percent of its workforce was let go with no replacement. But even in the Biden administration, the internationally-focused department was dealt a five percent loss in its fiscal year 2024 budget from 2023 and officials are bracing themselves for a possibly similar blow in 2025.

Are you a member of the government contracting community who has investment in international relations and deals abroad? Then you’ll want to attend the Potomac Officers Club’s first-ever GovCon International Summit on Oct. 10. Held at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center in Virginia, it will be a central meeting place for contractors whose sights are set not just on U.S. shores but beyond — which, in this day and age, really should be everyone. Check out the full lineup and save your spot today!

“The department will have to make tradeoffs. The dollars are simply unable to stretch as far as we need to meet the moment. And budget cycles do not always align with global realities and crises,” said Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma.

In a plea to the Senate earlier this year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a past Wash100 Award recipient, highlighted how the department has made significant achievements over the last couple of years despite its shrunken workforce and spending power. These include considerably condensed timelines for passport delivery after application, which had ballooned during the pandemic. A reported 48 percent of Americans now have passports, as compared to just 20 percent in 2006.

President Biden is requesting $64.4 billion for State for 2025 (in 2024 it got $64.2 billion).

Lawmakers in Congress have until Sept. 30 to pass the appropriations or institute a stopgap spending bill — otherwise a partial shutdown will occur. These actions will crucially determine what the State Department might look like next year — though we’ll have to wait until after Election Day on Nov. 5 to really know how the department might operate and function.

Get involved in the international space. Register to attend the Potomac Officers Club’s GovCon International Summit!

The Future of the State Department Is a Question Mark
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NSA Publishes Cyber Advisory on China-Linked Threat Actors
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NSA Publishes Cyber Advisory on China-Linked Threat Actors

The National Security Agency has issued a cybersecurity advisory, or CSA, on China-linked threat actors who hacked into internet-connected devices to create a botnet and execute malicious online activity.

The CSA was published in coordination with the FBI, the U.S. Cyber Command’s Cyber National Mission Force and international allies, NSA said Wednesday.

The cyber alert outlined the threats posed by the hackers and their botnet, a network of compromised nodes used for illicit cyber operations.

“The advisory provides new and timely insight into the botnet infrastructure, the countries where compromised devices are located, and mitigations for securing devices and eliminating this threat,” NSA Cybersecurity Director Dave Luber said in a statement.

According to the advisory, the botnet has more than 260,000 compromised devices in North America, Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia as of June.

The hacked devices include small home and office routers, firewalls, network-attached storage and Internet of Things gadgets.

From these devices, the threat actors build a botnet to hide their online activity, launch distributed denial of service attacks or breach U.S. networks.

To ensure they are protected, the CSA authors called on device vendors, owners and operators to immediately update and secure their equipment.

The advisory also encouraged national security systems, defense agencies and defense industrial base networks to mitigate the cyberthreats by regularly applying patches, disabling unused services and ports, and replacing default passwords with strong passwords.

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OIG Says DOJ Should Enhance Ransomware Monitoring Metrics
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OIG Says DOJ Should Enhance Ransomware Monitoring Metrics

The Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General has assessed DOJ’s strategy to counter and respond to ransomware attacks and related threats and recommended that the department improve its metrics for tracking the progress of its disruptive activities against threat actors.

OIG said Wednesday it found that DOJ’s existing metrics did not account for the department’s transition from indictments and arrests to actions to disrupt ransomware threat actors and the cybercriminal ecosystem.

“Regardless of whether the Department maintains ransomware as a priority goal, it should determine which metrics are most impactful to ensure they capture the effectiveness of its actions to combat the ransomware threat,” the OIG report reads.

According to the report, the FBI and the DOJ Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section—or CCIPS—have prioritized the threat posed by ransomware and allotted resources to combat it. For instance, the bureau created a ransomware strategy designed to target the threat actors, finances and infrastructure supporting the ransomware ecosystem.

The OIG report also called on the Office of the Deputy Attorney General to evaluate the implementation of its deconfliction policy in ransomware cases to help ensure consistency when it comes to compliance and implementation.

According to the document, the FBI should better define the role of the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force Criminal Mission Center to ensure the effectiveness of its efforts.

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NSF, Simons Foundation Funding 2 New AI Research Institutes for Astronomy
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NSF, Simons Foundation Funding 2 New AI Research Institutes for Astronomy

Two new National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes for astronomical sciences are being established and are to be funded by the National Science Foundation and the Simons Foundation.

The NSF-Simons AI Institute for Cosmic Origins seeks to accelerate historically time-consuming processes in astronomical research like data analysis or simulations, the while the NSF-Simons AI Institute for the Sky seeks to tackle complex problems in astrophysics and astronomy, the NSF said Wednesday.

NSF-Simons CosmicAI will be overseen by a team led by the University of Texas at Austin while NSF-Simons SkAI will be overseen by a team led by Northwestern University.

The institutes will each receive $20 million in total over five years. The NSF will contribute $10 million while the Simons Foundation will contribute the other $10 million.

NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan commented on the benefits AI will bring to astronomical sciences, saying, “With reliable and trustworthy AI in their toolbox, everyone from students to senior researchers will have exciting new ways to gain valuable insights leading to amazing discoveries that might otherwise remain hidden in the data.”

For his part, Simons Foundation President David Spergel said, “Astronomy has incredibly rich and open data sets and is poised for more deep and profound inquiry.”

“AI offers novel tools that can use this data both to produce transformative results and to develop tools that can have impact in other fields,” Spergel added.

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Latest Navigation Plan for America’s Warfighting Navy Includes Drone Integration
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Latest Navigation Plan for America’s Warfighting Navy Includes Drone Integration

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti has unveiled the “Project 33” initiative, which involves addressing delays in ship maintenance, integrating robotic and autonomous systems into the force, and recruiting and retaining sailors, to ensure the U.S. Navy’s readiness in case of a conflict with China.

Project 33 is part of the 2024 Navigation Plan for America’s Warfighting Navy recently announced at the Naval War College, the U.S. Navy said Wednesday.

According to Franchetti, the navigation plan serves as guidance to enhance the Navy’s long-term warfighting advantage and its capability to face Chinese military forces in a potential conflict by 2027.

“The NAVPLAN continues where my predecessor’s Navigation Plan left off and sets our course to raise our Fleet’s baseline level of readiness and put more ready Players on the Field – platforms that are ready with the requisite capabilities, weapons, and sustainment and people that are ready with the right mindset, skills, tools, and training,” she added.

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USAF Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost Provides B-21 Delivery Update
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USAF Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost Provides B-21 Delivery Update

Preparations are now being made for the delivery of the B-21 Raider, the successor to the B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers, to Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, which will be the first main operating base of the new aircraft and location of its formal training unit, according to Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost, commander of the Eighth Air Force and the Joint-Global Strike Operations Center.

Armagost delivered the update regarding the B-21 program at the Air and Space Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference, where he attended as part of a panel featuring leaders from industry and the Department of the Air Force, according to a news article posted Wednesday on the U.S. Air Force website.

Ongoing preparations include ensuring that Air Force Global Strike Command squadrons are sufficiently equipped, trained and certified for the delivery of the aircraft, Armagost said.

The B-21 recently completed a test that evaluated its structural integrity and is now undergoing a fatigue testing campaign.

A minimum of 100 units of the aircraft, which will serve as the “air leg” of the U.S. nuclear triad, are set to be produced.

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DARPA Awards Aeluma Contract for Nano-Scale Semiconductor Development
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DARPA Awards Aeluma Contract for Nano-Scale Semiconductor Development

Goleta, California-based semiconductor firm Aeluma has secured a potential $11.7 million contract under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Material Synthesis Technologies for Universal and Diverse Integration Opportunities, or M-STUDIO, program. 

The award calls for the development of heterogeneous integration technology attuned with current and future advanced-node semiconductors for potential use in artificial intelligence, mobile devices and 5G/6G wireless communication, Aeluma said Wednesday.

The contract provides $5.9 million in funding over 18 months, with the $5.7 million balance released over the next 18 months as the company achieves certain program milestones.

Teledyne’s central research laboratory is a proposed M-STUDIO award subcontractor to help identify materials and develop demonstration strategies for program metrics. Another proposed subcontractor, the University of California Santa Barbara, will assist in calibrating test devices.

Matthew Dummer, Aeluma’s technology director, called the DARPA contract a vote of confidence in the company’s potential to improve emerging technologies. “We believe this contract, along with the multiple other contract investments we have received, will accelerate Aeluma’s business traction,” he said.

Aeluma has previously secured contracts from the U.S. Navy, the Office of Secretary of Defense and the Department of Energy. 

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ClearPro Partners Books DHS Contract for Case Management Solution
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ClearPro Partners Books DHS Contract for Case Management Solution

ClearPro Partners, a joint venture between cybersecurity company ClearFocus Technologies and information technology services provider Procentrix, has won a $6.26 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security to deliver a cloud-hosted case management solution, or CMS, to the Office of Inspector General.

ClearFocus said Monday the CMS is meant to boost the OIG’s efficiency by streamlining case management operations.

Under the agreement, ClearPro will utilize Microsoft’s low-code Power platform to develop and implement the CMS in a secure cloud environment. Aside from making its operations more efficient, this new system will also use data across the DHS OIG more effectively.

ClearPro’s bid won the competitive General Services Administration multiple award schedule over 18 other proposals.

Kevin Cassidy, ClearPro managing director and president of ClearFocus Technologies, said, “ClearPro is positioned to carry on the successful track record of partnership, collaboration and delivery excellence established by our JV members to deliver a scalable, interoperable and secure solution for DHS OIG.”

Gregg Hawrylko, vice president of DHS programs at Procentrix, said, “Using our pre-configured ProCase framework, which is the result of years of investment and built on the Power Platform, our team will rapidly deliver a secure CMS tailored to meet the unique operational and mission needs of the Inspector General team.”

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