The U.S. Air Force’s 24th Special Operations Wing has collaborated with software firm TrainHeroic to deploy a mobile application helping Special Tactics operators communicate during deployments and humanitarian missions, the Air Force said Friday.

The app enables the human performance team to directly coordinate workout plans and adjustments via phone, laptop or tablet instead of having to print plans and wait for operators to return to obtain input. The Air Force noted the software standardizes Special Tactics missions and allows operators to avoid unnecessary adjustments when transferring units.

The 24th SOW’s human performance team has over 1,000 operators deployed to more than 10 locations around the world.

The Department of Health and Human Services has partnered with the Presidential Innovation Fellows for a 14-week program to develop data-driven tools streamlining healthcare operations, HHS said Thursday.

The Opportunity Project Health sprint saw 11 teams from around the world produce digital health-related tools utilizing emerging technology and curated datasets provided by the HHS and PIFs. Both sponsors enabled the teams to access federal data stewards as part of the tech sprint.

The first TOP Health challenge required eight teams to develop artificial intelligence-based tools to help patients access experimental therapies. The second task asked three teams to use citizen science and data-sharing capabilities to provide information on Lyme and tick-borne diseases.

HHS noted that industry and nonprofit organizations will sustain the digital tools on a long-term basis. The applications will be showcased during the upcoming “Demo Day” in Washington, D.C.

A new study from the Department of Defense highlights the potential impacts of climate change on military installations across the U.S. DoD said there has been a growing need for inland and littoral flood planning and mitigation efforts, research and flood protection infrastructures to address vulnerabilities of bases from climate-related events, according to the report released Jan. 10.

“The effects of a changing climate are a national security issue with potential impacts to DoD missions, operational plans and installations,” the agency said. 

For the study, the Pentagon analyzed natural events affecting 79 priority installations in the country to predict potential vulnerabilities over the next 20 years. DoD found that most of the sites have been experiencing recurrent flooding, drought, desertification, wildfires and thawing permafrost. The U.S. Air Force has the most bases affected by climate change, with 35 sites covered in the study, followed by the U.S. Army with 20 and the U.S. Navy manages 19 studied installations. 

To help the military branches and other defense agencies reduce climate-linked risks, DoD plans to launch new research efforts under its Strategic Environmental Research and Develop Program. The agency intends to apply, evaluate, improve scenarios and other tools for projecting impacts of sea level rise, storm surge, precipitation or land-based flooding at U.S. military sites. The Pentagon also wants to study materials fragility and implications for infrastructure design.

Dave Mihelcic, federal chief technology and strategy officer at Juniper Networks, has said the government shutdown could push potential new hires, technologists and other highly skilled employees to seek employment outside the federal government, Nextgov reported Friday.

“If this shutdown goes for much longer, you could see some of those best, most employable [people] fleeing,” he told Nextgov.

DHS’ homeland security management directorate has put approximately 90 percent of employees in furlough during the shutdown, which Mihelcic said comes during the “prime hiring season” for soon-to-be and recent graduates.

He also noted about the shutdown’s possible impact on the government’s image, including those of agencies that continue to operate.

“There just will be a more negative perception of the stability and security and viability of a career in the federal government coming out of this shutdown,” said Mihelcic, former chief technology officer at the Defense Information Systems Agency.
 

A Wells Fargo Securities report says the ongoing government shutdown that hit the one-month mark Monday is hurting the U.S. economy and contractors that support federal agencies.

The financial services company reported Friday the White House estimates a 0.1 percent decline in gross domestic product per week

Wells Fargo noted that government contractors face  “a shrinking window to make up lost work or benefit from task orders” that agencies could have released in January.

“We see the financial impact increasing exponentially with time,” the company added.

The report said contractor employees are also at risk of potential layoffs as some private companies, particularly smaller businesses, “seek to limit cash drain.”

Soraya Correa, chief procurement officer at the Department of Homeland Security, has released a notice to guide the industry on the submission of responses to requests for information and solicitations issued on or before Dec. 21.

According to a FedBizOpps notice published Thursday, the document does not cover the procurement and contracting actions of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Federal Protective Services.

Correa issued the notice in response to a funding lapse that took effect on Dec. 22.

Responses to RFIs are allowed to be submitted within three business days following the resolution of the appropriations lapse at DHS, while inquiries and comments on RFPs and requests for quotations are due within five business days after the shutdown ends.

DHS will accept offers in response to RFQs, RFPs and other solicitations within seven business days once the funding lapse is resolved.

“DHS intends for the contracting officer to prepare and issue formal amendments to solicitations upon the conclusion of the funding lapse,” Correa noted.

“However, in the absence of specific written guidance issued by the contracting officer for the particular RFI, RFP or RFQ, the deadlines set forth above shall apply.”
 

The U.S. Air Force used $7M for commercial satellite weather data as part of an effort to determine whether or not the data would meet military requirements, Space News reported Thursday.

The obligated funds come from the service branch’s congress-approved $20M budget for the Commercial Weather Data Pilot Program. John Dreher, weather systems branch chief at Massachusetts-based Hanscom Air Force Base, said at the American Meteorological Society’s recent conference that $3M in contracts are underway.

The service branch is also working with accelerator organizations to award contracts at a faster rate, the report noted.

During a Surface Navy Association event, Adm. Christopher Grady, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, said the U.S. Navy and industrial base need better flexibility to accelerate shipbuilding and maintenance operations, USNI News reported Thursday.

Grady noted the industrial base’s growth rate is not keeping up with the Navy’s maintenance demands, with the suppliers being “optimized for cost efficiency” as a result. He added that uneven funding further complicates the Navy’s need to expand its capacity for modernization and sustainment.

A report from the Department of Defense released in September states that the defense industrial base lost over 20,500 firms since 2000 and growing the number of firms involved in projects is crucial to maintain a healthy industrial base.

Grady said the Navy could encourage more shipyards to compete for work by making efforts such as acquiring portable dry docks to be leased to shipyards.