The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency launched a new social media platform designed to help the public, industry and the government engage real-time in research and development efforts.

DARPA unveiled Polyplexus on Tuesday that gives access to scientific evidence and accelerates information sharing for research proposal generation and research sponsor engagement. The platform features a public information feed where users can promote topics, a private tool for analyzing new ideas and an incubator environment for government and industry research sponsors to locate specialists.Â

“Polyplexus maintains a balance between public information exchange and protection of private intellectual property,” said John Main, program manager in the DARPA Defense Sciences Office. “It also creates an avenue for broader participation in DARPA research and development, including by those who aren’t looking for a research project but who have knowledge to contribute, such as retirees.”

The science office will select 30 research efforts from Polyplexus incubators over the next 18 months. Recipients can funding of up to $100,000 each. DARPA said it already selected three incubators on quantum machine learning, human learning and strategic technological surprise for the initial funding.Â

U.S. Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, a 2019 Wash100 winner, named a planned Arleigh Burke-class Flight III destroyer after a late Medal of Honor awardee and a hospital corpsman at the service branch.

The ship, named the USS William Charette and also known as DDG 130, will be built in Bath, Main at the Bath Iron Works operated by General Dynamics, the Navy said Monday. Charette was a veteran of the Korean War.

“Charette put himself at extreme risk during intense combat to render aid to Marines in need,” Spencer said. “His efforts saved lives and I am honored that his legacy will live on in the future USS William Charette.”

The 509-foot-long vessel will utilize defensive and offensive weapon platforms and is built to navigate at speeds of over 30 knots, support maritime warfare missions and conduct surface, subsurface and air battles.

The Wash100 award, now in its sixth year, recognizes the most influential executives in the GovCon industry as selected by the Executive Mosaic team in tandem with online nominations from the GovCon community. Representing the best of the private and public sector, the winners demonstrate superior leadership, innovation, reliability, achievement and vision.

Visit the Wash100 site to learn about the other 99 winners of the 2019 Wash100 Award. On the site, you can submit your 10 votes for the GovCon executives of consequence that you believe will have the most significant impact in 2019.

Bob Kolasky, director of the Department of Homeland Security National Risk Management Center, confirmed that a new supply chain cybersecurity task force plans to release a series of recommendations this summer, FCW reported Monday.

Kolasky, who co-chairs the task force, noted there are five groups that supervise development of recommendations that will enable acquisition reforms for federal and industry operations. The task force is headed by DHS and includes representatives from industry, the executive branch, the contracting community and other relevant experts.

“I want to come back years from now and say these recommendations made a difference in supply chain risk management,” Kolasky said. 

The group will address priorities such as creating an inventory of federal supply chain activities, improving the government and private sector’s threat information exchange and establishing procurement regulations for authorized resellers and original equipment manufacturers.

Other initiatives include developing recommendations on certified bidders and manufacturers, establishing criteria for evaluation processes driven by risk-based decision making and collaborating with the Federal Acquisition Security Council.

Legislators from New Mexico sent a letter to Patrick Shanahan, the acting defense secretary, regarding the state’s interest in hosting the new Space Development Agency, Space News reported Monday.

The lawmakers are attempting to persuade Shanahan to select New Mexico as the new agency’s location. The department could work with the existing volume of space researchers in the state, the report noted.

“As you stand up the SDA, we urge you and other senior leaders to look to the state of New Mexico as a host for co-locating the agency headquarters and to be your lead entities for implementing the space research and development policies you directed,” the letter stated.

Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Tom Udall D-N.M., and Rep. Xochitl Torres Small D-N.M., are among those who signed the letter. Space research and technology organizations located in New Mexico include Spaceport America, SpaceBooster and Lunar Transportation Systems.