The Government Accountability Office made two recommendations to the Census Bureau to mitigate potential risks and boost the census process. GAO said Tuesday that the secretary of the Department of Commerce should advise the director of the Census Bureau to command the chief information officer to ensure that corrective actions for cybersecurity gaps will be applied and draft a procedure for the execution and monitoring of remedial activities. 

The recommendations are in line with the Census Bureau’s plans to utilize technologies that still need to undergo testing efforts. GAO also noted that the bureau faces potential cybersecurity risks and concerns in the usage of information technology tools. GAO added that the bureau has partnered with the Department of Homeland Security to reinforce its cybersecurity measures for the 2020 Census.

The General Services Administration and Office of Management and Budget jointly released an implementation plan for phase two of a procurement directive that seeks to implement the use of e-commerce portals, GSA said Thursday.

As part of Section 846 under the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, GSA is required to consult with OMB on the development of a program that will enable agencies to purchase commercial offerings through a commercial e-portal. GSA and OMB noted in their proposal to Congress that they intend to implement an initial proof of concept based on an e-marketplace model and limit procurements to the micro-purchase threshold to avoid risk and accelerate adoption.

They also proposed to increase the threshold from $10,000 to $25,000 over a five-year period, applicable only to purchases made through the GSA-approved portals. The agency noted that this will “provide a higher-value proof of concept and test the full potential of streamlined buying.”

According to GSA Administrator and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient Emily Murphy, the imitative intends to reduce the burden of small businesses and customer agencies while creating greater value for taxpayers.

“GSA has received valuable feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders throughout this process and we look forward to continuing our work with our partners in Congress, industry, and across federal agencies as we move towards an initial proof of concept,” she noted.

Phase two, which covers market research efforts, comes ahead of the implementation guidance stage which sets a launch date for the new system by the end of 2019. GSA expects to release a draft solicitation during the third quarter of fiscal 2019 to support the effort.

The Navy plans to install a cockpit pressure monitoring and warning system on fighter aircraft to reduce physiological events among pilots, USNI News reported Thursday. The service branch intends to implement this new system in over a thousand F/A-18A-D Hornet, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft, the report noted. 

Rear Adm. Fredrick Luchtman, who leads the Physiological Episodes Action Team, told USNI News that they discovered air fluctuations would sometimes result to physiological symptoms. The system’s implementation would commence later this year and run over a two-year period, he said. 

The F-35 Joint Program Office hopes to see a 23 percent decrease in flight-hour costs for the F-35A aircraft variant from $44,000 to $34,000 by 2024, Air Force Magazine reported Thursday.

Vice Adm. Mat Winter, head of the F-35 JPO, testified before members of the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee that the office seeks to achieve a 26 percent drop from $34,000 to $25,000 for the U.S. Air Force variant after five years. He added that the JPO is looking for an affordable cost per flying hour due to “other demands for those resources outside of F-35.”

The Department of Defense’s Cost Analysis and Program Evaluation office expects F-35A flight-hour costs to flatten and eventually increase after 2024 due to factors like depot maintenance which the aircraft requires as it ages.

The Department of Homeland Security may close two Centers of Excellence and delay the planned launch of three other centers if Congress approves President Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget proposal, FedScoop reported Thursday. 

William Bryan, senior official performing the duties of the undersecretary of DHS Science and Technology Directorate, announced the plan at a recent meeting with the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Innovation. Trump proposed $582.1 million for S&T for the next fiscal year, a figure far from the agency’s $813.1 million budget in FY18. 

“All the Centers of Excellence provide value,” Bryan said. “Tough decisions have to be made when you have to reduce your budget.”

He said that the Coastal Resilience COE led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill would be one of the two centers at risk of closure if DHS fails to secure the budget. The center has managed government projects focused on maritime domain awareness. The House is expected to reject the majority of Trump’s proposed budget cuts, while Senate lawmakers expressed their support for the president’s proposal.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology released its draft of “Privacy Framework” that provides information on how agencies and partners could identify and manage privacy risks more efficiently amid the growing use of the internet and new information technology platforms. 

 “The Privacy Framework provides a common language for understanding, managing and communicating privacy risk with internal and external stakeholders,” NIST said in the document issued Tuesday. “Different types of entities—including sector-specific organizations—can use the Privacy Framework for different purposes, including the creation of common profiles.”

Agencies and organizations using or providing data processing systems, products or services in any sector can use the framework to identify and prioritize actions to address threats and align policy, business and technological approaches. 

The NIST Privacy Framework provides guidelines to understand how the online and IT platforms and services affect users and how to integrate privacy practices into organizational processes to protect data and prevent damage. NIST said stakeholders can submit comments on the Privacy Framework to improve guidelines. 

The General Services Administration and the Office of Management and Budget launched a competition on Wednesday to address federal government-related challenges through a Government Effectiveness Advanced Research Center. The challenge aims to enable industry, academia and the public to form cross-sector teams to assess the feasibility of the GEAR Center model in tackling government challenges cited in the President’s Management Agenda, GSA said Thursday.

“The uniquely American research and development system that brings together universities, federal labs, private companies, and non-profits has made us a global leader in most fields.” said GSA Administrator and a 2019 Wash100 winner Emily Murphy. “The GEAR Center provides a common ground to bring those same partnerships together to help solve the biggest challenges facing our government and improve how we serve citizens.” 

GSA and OMB will hold a webinar May 13 to respond to questions about the competition and will accept initial concept papers through May 24. The agencies will select up to 20 proposers from the initial phase and narrow it down to 10 finalists who will present their detailed plans to a panel of federal officials in the third phase of the competition. Winners will be announced Aug. 1.