Defense Department Comptroller David Norquist recently emphasized the significance of the on-going $1B DoD-wide audit, describing the effort as a service to taxpayers, Government Executive reported Monday.

Speaking at the Professional Services Council’s 54th annual Vision Federal Market Forecast conference, Norquist said he was less concerned by the bad publicity that the audit might bring on and was concerned more about the possibility that people might misinterpret the audit’s results.

Norquist also defended the DoD-wide audit, saying that to refrain from carrying it out is “a dangerous way to look at the world.” The comptroller said that the audit will, among other things, produce a “laundry list” of Pentagon weaknesses as well as determine compliance with federal cybersecurity standards.

In August, Norquist said during a radio interview that the audit would encompass DoD personnel, equipment and property.

Norquist also said he expected the results of the audit to be available by fall.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a Senate bill that would allow cybersecurity personnel in one federal civilian agency to work at another agency on a rotational and temporary basis would cost less than $500K annually to implement from fiscal 2019 through fiscal 2023.

CBO said Friday the  Federal Rotational Cyber Workforce Program Act of 2018 would mandate the Office of Personnel Management to establish civilian personnel rotation procedures and policies for federal cybersecurity professionals.

The projected implementation cost would cover new regulations, additional staff training and administrative expenses.

According to CBO, enacting the bill could affect the direct spending at the Tennessee Valley Authority and other agencies that are authorized to cover operating costs through the use of receipts from various sales or other collections.

The office noted it does not expect the legislation to affect government revenue if enacted.

Implementation of the bill would not have a significant impact on net direct spending or budget deficit within the four consecutive 10-year periods starting in 2029, CBO added.

Alan Chvotkin, an executive vice president and counsel at the Professional Services Council, has said information technology modernization, cybersecurity and the cross-agency goals in the President’s Management Agenda will help drive federal acquisition in the coming year, Federal News Network reported Monday.

“There is no doubt increased focus on IT. Cybersecurity is clearly a high risk and high spend area so we think there will be a lot of business opportunities,” Chvotkin said.

The council’s team of industry volunteers shared other technology and procurement trends for 2019 at PSC’s 54th annual Vision Forecast conference, according to the report.

Kirste Webb, Vision civilian chairwoman, said agencies have started to increase spending on services in support of their mission priorities.

“One of the biggest messages we are hearing across the board is that all of the agencies are now shifting to everything is about their mission, and if procurement or acquisition is not directly supporting that mission they are taking a second look at how it’s being procured and what’s being done with it,” Webb said.

Another trend is the federal government’s desire to build up its collaboration with contractors.

“I think what we are seeing is agencies are trying to get industry involved earlier to avoid what’s been happening which are a lot of protests during the acquisition process,” Webb noted.
 

Mary Miller, assistant secretary for research and engineering at the Defense Department, has said the department continues to face various technical challenges in developing directed energy weapons for combat, National Defense Magazine reported Friday.

She explained at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Army Science and Technology Conference that getting laser weapons to generate more power for certain missions prevents the DoD from pushing through with the technology.

Other challenges that disrupt the development of directed energy systems include balancing size, weight and power, addressing thermal management and modernizing a test infrastructure.

However, Miller noted that the Office of the Secretary of Defense intends to launch a laser scaling program that will help streamline the procurement technologies that can boost the power of weapons for the U.S. armed forces.

She added that the DoD is working on resolving the directed energy technical issues before focusing on a program of record.

Private aviation companies expect the Federal Aviation Administration to use its upcoming events to provide updates on its revisions to commercial launch rules, Space News reported Sunday.

The regulatory revisions are in compliance with President Trump’s Space Policy Directive-2, which requires the FAA to review and modify existing regulations on space flight efforts and expandable and reusable launch vehicles.

Caryn Schenewerk, senior counsel and senior director for space flight policy at SpaceX, noted during the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight that the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee’s meeting from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1 would allow the FAA to inform industry about its rulemaking effort.

She added that the commercial sector seeks to know how far the FAA has gone into its revisions before it meets its initial deadline on February.

The FAA will also possibly use a two-day conference at the end of October to address the increase of launch and re-entry operations in the national airspace system, which caused flights to reroute due to airspace closures.

U.S. officials recently held a closed-door meeting at NATO headquarters to brief European alliance members on President Trump’s intent to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, Reuters reported Friday.

Washington had earlier announced its plan to pull out of the 1987 pact prohibiting land-based short and intermediate nuclear and conventional missiles due to alleged Russian violations.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg seemed to echo the U.S. position by accusing Moscow of having breached treaty terms by developing the intermediate-range SSC-8 cruise missile.

Nevertheless, NATO diplomats present at the recent classified proceedings in Brussels revealed that European envoys sought to prevent the U.S. from leaving the INF.

Alliance members reportedly encouraged American officials to either persuade Russia to cease activities allegedly in treaty violation or renegotiate the treaty altogether so that China would be included.

The U.S. Air Force is looking to boost the readiness rates of its F-22, F-35 and F-16 aircraft squadrons, according to a recently submitted plan, Defense News reported Saturday. These squadrons are currently at readiness levels below Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ required rate of 80 percent.

Heather Wilson, secretary of the Air Force, discussed the plan in an interview at the Airlift Tanker Association’s annual symposium which took place in Grapevine, Texas. She said that the plan entails maintenance staffing, spare parts allotment and logistics efforts across the service branch.

The plan also includes efforts to augment some units within the Air National Guard.

“That includes plussing up our supply accounts, that includes making sure that we prioritize our maintainers for those particular fighter units,” Wilson told Defense News.
“That will mean shifting some money around in our budget, but we’ve put a plan together to do that.”

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently described the U.S. global system of alliances and partners as the country’s “strategic source of strength,” the Defense Department reported Sunday.

U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, speaking at the Military Reports and Editors Conference held Friday, told attendees that Russia and China also recognize the fact that “it is our network of allies and partners that makes us strong.”

America’s two main competitors are seeking to disrupt that network, Dunford observed. Russia and China are working to sow doubt among U.S. allies in Europe and in the Pacific.

Dunford said that such efforts, coupled with growing military capabilities, constitute adversarial strategies that aim to deny U.S. forces access to different parts of the world.

Subsequently, for Dunford, the core issue is maintaining U.S. “ability to project power where necessary to advance our interests.”