Three U.S. Senate Democrats have sent a letter to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission inquiring about the steps it is taking to mitigate the potential discriminatory effects brought about by the growing use of facial analysis technologies in the workplace.

Senators Kamala Harris of California, Patty Murray of Washington and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, in a Sept. 17 letter obtained by Tech Crunch, expressed concern over “a growing body of evidence” indicating that facial analysis technologies, which are increasingly being implemented by employers for multiple purposes including hiring, amplify rather than reduce prejudice.

Citing reports documenting the apparent weakness of facial recognition systems in correctly identifying women or persons of color, the senators stated that such a deficiency “can encode and magnify gender, racial, and other biases” prevalent in society.

The senators went on to ask the EEOC for information about its preparedness to address possible discrimination complaints related to the use of facial recognition.

The lawmakers also requested that the EEOC develop guidelines that would instruct businesses on the fair use of facial recognition and how the use of such technology could potentially result in legal violations.

The EEOC has until Sept. 28 to respond.

The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies has recommended that the U.S. Air Force procure 180 new B-21 Raiders to counter advanced attacks from adversaries, National Defense Magazine reported Friday.

Retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, explained during a recent Air Force Association-hosted event that the service’s existing fleet of bombers is insufficient to meet defense requirements.

The organization noted in a new report that the Air Force should retain and modernize its existing B-1B and B-2 planes to increase the bomber inventory and maximize the remaining capabilities of their legacy fleet.

In addition, the report said the service should integrate its bombers in the future combat cloud for data gathering and processing purposes, and expand the payload capacity and range of planes to accommodate various missions.

The report also recommended that the Defense Department develop a new criteria for measuring system value on a standard cost per effect basis.

The General Services Administration has agreed to help the U.S. Marine Corps buy technology platforms and logistics services through a performance-based contracting method.

Both parties also established the Partnership Agreement Council to identify methods to update information technology systems and manage supply chain operations for the service branch’s procurement efforts, the GSA said Tuesday.

PAC members will hold a meeting on a quarterly basis to share information with each other.

Lt. Gen. Charles Chiarotti, deputy commandant of installations and logistics at the Marine Corps, and Alan Thomas, commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, signed the performance-based agreement Aug. 29.

President Donald Trump has released a national strategy that outlines the administration’s action plans to build up cyber defense capabilities and safeguard the country from cyber threats.

A White House fact sheet published Thursday says the National Cyber Strategy consists of four pillars and one of those is to ensure the security of federal networks and critical infrastructure.

The first pillar aims to advance incident reporting through modernization of computer crime laws and electronic surveillance efforts and strengthen allies’ law enforcement capacity against cyber crimes.

The strategy’s second pillar seeks to foster a resilient digital economy through investment in next-generation infrastructure; protect U.S. innovation from intellectual property theft; and develop a cyber workforce through recruitment and education.

The third and fourth pillars deal with the deterrence of irresponsible behavior in cyber space and promotion of a secure and open internet.

The White House said the new strategy builds on a cybersecurity executive order the president signed in May 2017.
 

The U.S. Air Force plans to test in October a new process that aims to speed up contract awards to startups and small businesses within days, FlightGlobal reported Friday.

Will Roper, assistant secretary for the service’s acquisition, technology and logistics, said the process would involve a call for startups to present their ideas in one or two pages and pitch their concepts through a “90-second video like Kickstarter.”

“We’ll invite them to come pitch live and the idea will be 60 to 80% [of companies] have a high likelihood walking out of a live pitch being on contract that day,” he added.

The report said the military branch intends to have the Air Force Research Laboratory run a trial of the process by the end of October to award up to 50 contracts within 50 hours.
 

The White House seeks more comments on a proposal to establish an advanced research center that will leverage practices and innovations from the private sector to resolve problems in the federal government, NextGov reported Thursday.

Mary Ellen Wiggins, performance manager in the Office of Management and Budget, disclosed during a Government Executive-hosted event that the public sector wants to learn more about the planned Government Effectiveness Advanced Research center’s governance structure, physical location and funding initiatives.

The White House received over 40 responses to its request for information that was issued in July.

The government will possibly launch a challenge on how to establish the GEAR center once all the responses to the RFI have been reviewed, Wiggins said.

Establishing the research facility is part of the Trump administration’s government reorganization plan.

Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., has introduced a bill that would give the Trump administration authority to formally present governmentwide reorganization plans to Congress.

The Reforming Government Act also calls for the legislators to expedite the review of such proposal and for the Office of Management and Budget to validate if reform efforts will likely save taxpayers money, Hice’s office said Sept. 14.

Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and James Lankford, R-Okla., introduced a companion bill in June.

“In order to streamline our government and save valuable taxpayer dollars, we must enable a system of good governance focused on results rather than the same burdensome, ineffective approach,” Hice said.

Alan Thomas, commissioner of the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service, told Federal News Radio in an interview published Thursday about the factors he looks for in proposals for the next round of awards under the Technology Modernization Fund.

“I’m always focused on if someone will spend money with an industry partner, I’m looking at what vehicle are they using, is it shovel ready, and I tend to be a little bit of stickler on payback,” he told the station’s Ask the CIO program.

“The fund doesn’t revolve if the money isn’t paid back.”

He also shared his views on GSA’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract and cited the metrics he considers when it comes to EIS.

“From my perspective, vendors have to be ready to respond to solicitations, and agencies actually have to have the solicitations to put them on the street,” Thomas noted.

“So those are a couple of key metrics that I do look at.”