The Department of Energy plans to launch a three-year, $66M grant program for research on plants and microbes to find potential sources of bioenergy and bioproducts and to understand growth of potential bioenergy crops. The agency said Tuesday that it will provide $30M to support research projects focusing on gene function in plants to be grown for bioenergy and bioproducts.

DOE also wants to explore how microbes affect nutrients in soil and the environment to gain new insights into soil processes impacting growth and yield of potential bioenergy crops. The initiative will receive $36M in funding.  

“Insights gained from this research will ultimately help us better understand and model the Earth system and may also enable us to improve the performance of crops grown for bioenergy,” said Sharlene Weatherwax, DOE’s associate director for science for biological and environmental research. 

Both initiatives are open to academia, industry and non-profit research institutions. DOE said each funding will be awarded through a competitive process, with the first grant expected to be released in fiscal year 2019.

The Potomac Officers Club — a division of Executive Mosaic — will be hosting the 2019 Artificial Intelligence Summit on Feb. 13 at the Hilton-McLean in McLean, Va. Dana Deasy, chief information officer of the Department of Defense and a 2019 Wash100 winner, will serve as a keynote speaker.

On Monday, President Trump signed an executive order launching the American AI Initiative, which directs federal resources toward the development of artificial intelligence to improve economics, national security and the quality of life of citizens.

Join the Potomac Officers Club to hear Dana Deasy and other public and private sector leaders discuss government AI priorities and programs as well as future initiatives.

The summit will feature panel discussions on AI procurement and the technology’s role in mission support. GovCon executives will also discuss how industry can leverage AI to stay ahead of the curve.

The forum will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 13, at the Hilton-McLean, 7920 Jones Branch Drive in McLean, Va.

Click here to register for this event.

The Department of Defense is seeking $270M in funds for fiscal year 2020 to establish the Space Development Agency, U.S. Space Command and headquarters for the new Space Force, SpaceNews reported Monday. DoD will request $120M for the Space Development Agency, $84M for the new combatant command and $64M for the new headquarters, according to a draft memo obtained by the publication. 

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Bob Daigle, director of the Pentagon’s cost assessment and program evaluation office, said in the memo that the Space Development Agency would begin operations with 50 employees and would increase to around 112 by fiscal 2024. Space Command would receive the most resources from the U.S. Strategic Command and kick off operations with approximately 600 people, according to the document.

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The new service would operate with about 200 employees under the Department of the Air Force and draw additional resources from the Air Force by 2021 once it receives congressional authorization. The new Space Force should come up with manpower requirements, force structure plans, uniforms, personnel policies, training programs, budgets and transfer procedures within the first year of establishment, according to the report.
 

The U.S. Army conducted a month-long testing effort for the new Electronic Warfare Tactical Vehicle at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in California, the Army said Monday. The 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team or “Greywolf” commenced an electronic attack and support activities in an austere setting last month as part of the evaluation.

Sgt. First Class Cristian Holguin, team leader for the EWTV effort, said the brigade facilitated communications jamming activities and heard enemy FM communications while detecting electronic signatures from adversaries during the exercise. Holguin noted that the NTC is working to improve performance measurement for the vehicle to accommodate real-time metrics and sensor data. 

The EWTV was designed by the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force unit to handle, detect and attack functions within the electromagnetic spectrum. The vehicle is slated to be deployed to other units for testing and further development.

The General Services Administration has secured a budget from the Technology Modernization Fund to move its payroll system and human resource functions to a commercial cloud-enabled Software-as-a-Service product. The TMF Board said Monday that GSA’s system is “in serious need of modernization.” 

With the funding, the agency will migrate all of its 21,000 users to the NewPay payroll system, establish a new work schedule and leave the management system integrated into the new payroll platform. GSA expects to start updating both systems in fiscal year 2019 and complete the process in two years. 

“The operational benefits of this project include elimination of costly legacy customized technology, increased efficiency, improved cyber posture and decreased operational risk,” TMF said. 

The board noted that without the funding, GSA might delay migration to the SaaS product until it secures a dedicated funding in the future.