The Pentagon wants to transfer personnel, programs and other resources from the armed forces to the proposed Space Force once it’s created under the Department of the Air Force, SpaceNews reported Thursday. The Department of Defense plans to request for Congress to grant the secretary of defense “special temporary authorities” to supply the new service the resources and workforce it would need to begin initial operations.

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DoD announced the plan in its updated draft proposal to establish the Space Force. The White House Office of Management and Budget has yet to approve the document before it moves to lawmakers for review. The proposed special authorities for the defense secretary would allow the official to task officers and enlisted members, in particular, those with space-focused occupations, from other service branches to serve the Space Force.

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DoD intends to provide the new service with up to 15,000 personnel once it’s fully operational. The Pentagon also wants to give its secretary the authority to direct the transfer of equipment, supplies and records from other military departments or components to the Department of the Air Force to support the Space Force. 

A new report from the Government Accountability Office shows that the U.S. Coast Guard’s current $2.6B infrastructure construction and maintenance backlogs pose financial, safety and mission performance risks to the service. GAO issued the report on Thursday showing the service branch has $1.7B worth of delayed construction and improvement projects, which would take 395 years to address. 

In 2018, the Coast Guard also saw over 5,600 projects that required maintenance and would cost $900M. GAO claims nearly 45 percent of the service’s shore infrastructure is beyond service life. The Coast Guard owns or leases over 20,000 shore facilities like piers, docks, boat stations, air stations and housing units in more than 2,700 locations.

To help the service meet project requirements, GAO recommends changing the management of shore infrastructure backlogs and the use of new models to predict the outcome of investments for maintenance projects. In 2017, Coast Guard officials admitted to Congress it has $1.6B in recapitalization backlog for its shore infrastructures.

The U.S. Army plans to test a new soldier protection system by the fall in preparation for future deployment, Army Times reported Wednesday.

The new gear would include two subsystems for the torso area and two others covering the head and eyes. The full system’s design builds on shot and wounding data conveying potential exposure points. Program Executive Office Soldier provided the data for the system’s development.

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The service branch intends to test the system’s lightweight vest component between April and June.

The U.S. Navy is changing the mission of its MQ-8C Fire Scout rotary-wing unmanned systems to make Littoral Combat Ships more lethal to keep up with the changing warfare, USNI News reported Wednesday. In 2018, the service began the effort to shift Fire Scout away from missions to protect LCS. Instead, the aircraft will focus on providing targeting information to weapons aboard the ship. 

Previous plans intended to provide Fire Scouts with 70mm Hydra rockets equipped with the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System guidance system. Under the new plan, the Navy is redesigning the aircraft to carry sensors to extend the range of LCS to find and track threats.

“What’s important to us right now is making sure we have the right sensors, a good multi-function radar, some kind of passive targeting capability and the right networks to push that information to the right people at the right times,” said Cmdr. Edward Johnson, the Navy’s Fire Scout requirements officer.

The Naval Air Systems Command is also considering using the Fire Scout on the Navy’s next-generation frigate, FFG(X), to provide the same targeting capability.

The General Services Administration has released an update on the industry feedback it received after a recent solicitation for its commercial platforms initiative. Laura Stanton, deputy assistant commissioner of Federal Acquisition Services, said in a recent blogpost that GSA received over 200 pages of comments on its planned development of a government wide e-commerce platform. 

In December, GSA released the RFI in partnership with the Office of Management and Budget. Stanton said the majority of comments focused on keeping the acquisition process simple, providing a competitive pricing, improving existing purchasing channels, expanding competition and product category concerns.

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Responses also raised major concerns about the data protection language in Section 838 of the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. Section 838 provides GSA the authority to develop competitive procedures for procurements made through commercial e-commerce portals under the micro-purchase threshold of $10,000.

“It was great to receive a significant level of feedback from various stakeholders, both in response to the draft program documents,” Stanton said. 

She added the feedback will help GSA move the e-commerce platform’s proof of concept forward. The agency along with OMB expect to submit to Congress the phase II report on the commercial platforms initiative in March.