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Army to House Futures Command in Austin, Texas; Rep Lloyd Dogget Comments
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Army to House Futures Command in Austin, Texas; Rep Lloyd Dogget Comments


Army to House Futures Command in Austin, Texas; Rep Lloyd Dogget Comments
Lloyd Dogget

The U.S. Army’s new Futures Command is set to call Austin, Texas, as its home, Bloomberg Government reported Thursday.

Rep. Lloyd Dogget, D-Texas stated that the city promotes the creativity, entrepreneurship and diversity needed to house the Army Futures Command, which is mandated to identify the technologies and programs needed to address future threats to the service branch.

The group will also oversee all technological developments and efforts outside of the Five-Year Defense Plan, while the Army Materiel Command will continue maintaining and working on Army equipment.

The Army revealed the Futures Command’s structure in March.

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Sen. Mike Lee Introduces Bill for Annual Reports on Allied Defense Contributions
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Sen. Mike Lee Introduces Bill for Annual Reports on Allied Defense Contributions


Sen. Mike Lee Introduces Bill for Annual Reports on Allied Defense ContributionsSen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has presented a bill that would facilitate the compilation and submission of a report that will cover the common defense contributions of allied countries.

The Allied Burden Sharing Report Act of 2018 would obligate the Defense Department to annually submit an extensive record of military support from agreements and partnerships such as with NATO and with Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Lee’s office said Thursday.

The report would help Congress oversee the use of national military and defense funds and would provide insights on the return on investments from the U.S.’ global alliances, Lee said.

Lee also suggested the exploration of the expansion of the county’s commitments on mutual defense agreements.

The armed services and foreign relations and affairs committees of the Senate and the House will be the recipients of DoD’s annual reports.

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House VA Committee Approves Institution of Technology Modernization Subcommittee, Rep. Jim Banks as Chairman
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House VA Committee Approves Institution of Technology Modernization Subcommittee, Rep. Jim Banks as Chairman


House VA Committee Approves Institution of Technology Modernization Subcommittee, Rep. Jim Banks as ChairmanThe House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs has cleared the establishment of the Subcommittee on Technology Modernization and named Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., as chairman.

House Committee Chairman Phil Roe, R-Tenn., and ranking member Tim Walz, D-Minn., announced June 20 that the new subcommittee will supervise the Department of Veterans Affairs‘ tech projects such as the Electronic Health Record Modernization program, the committee reported Thursday.

VA awarded a potential 10-year, $10 billion contract to Cerner in May for EHR update and deployment support.

“Congress has a duty to conduct rigorous oversight every step of the way,” Roe said.

Walz mentioned that the subcommittee will allow Congress to monitor VA’s IT modernization initiative.

Reps. Conor Lamb, D-Pa., Jack Bergman, R-Mich; Mike Coffman, R-Colo. and Scott Peters, D-Calif., aside from Roe and Walz, comprise the subcommittee.

They noted that the electronic interchange of health records between VA and the Defense Department is needed to provide quality and timely healthcare for service members and veterans.

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Defense Innovation Board Proposes Alternative Metrics for DoD Software Development Activities
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Defense Innovation Board Proposes Alternative Metrics for DoD Software Development Activities


Defense Innovation Board Proposes Alternative Metrics for DoD Software Development ActivitiesThe Defense Innovation Board has proposed an alternative criteria that will help the Defense Department measure the performance of its software development efforts, FedScoop reported Thursday.

The board stated in its draft document of metrics that DoD’s existing standards for software development activities is based on the number of source lines of code and programmer activity, both of which have no relation to cost, schedule or performance.

The DIB created a total of 12 metrics that are grouped into four categories: deployment rate; response rate; code quality; and program management, assessment and estimation.

The deployment rate metrics measure the rate at which new software features can be used, while the response rate category helps assess the time it takes to revive a program after failure.

The code quality standards focus on identifying codal errors at the development or operational phase, while the program management, assessment and estimation metrics list the number of project developers along with the skill level.

The DIB developed the criteria in an effort to help the DoD boost and expand its software development process.

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Health IT Vet Genevieve Morris to Lead VA EHR Modernization Office
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Health IT Vet Genevieve Morris to Lead VA EHR Modernization Office


Health IT Vet Genevieve Morris to Lead VA EHR Modernization Office
Genevieve Morris

Genevieve Morris, principal deputy national coordinator at the Department of Health and Human Services, has been appointed head of the Department of Veterans Affairs‘ Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization.

VA said Thursday it established OEHRM to prepare, deploy and maintain the department’s future EHR system and support tools.

Morris will lead the office and work closely with the VA undersecretary for health and chief information officer to implement the health IT project.

She previously held positions at Audacious Inquiry, eHealth Initiative and Keystone Mercy Health Plan.

Cerner was awarded a potential 10-year, $10 billion contract in May to provide a technology platform designed to help VA personnel share patient data with the Defense Department.

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USAF Gen. David Goldfein Eyes International Air Chiefs Conference to Advance Joint Space Warfighting
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USAF Gen. David Goldfein Eyes International Air Chiefs Conference to Advance Joint Space Warfighting


USAF Gen. David Goldfein Eyes International Air Chiefs Conference to Advance Joint Space Warfighting
David Goldfein

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein has said he plans to propose to his foreign counterparts an international air chiefs conference that would focus on joint space warfighting operations, Defense News reported Thursday.

The proposed conference would be linked to the annual Space Symposium in Colorado.

Goldfein told the publication in a Tuesday interview that the growth in the commercial space sector suggests that military leaders should determine whether they have shared space-based objectives and know how to transition that interest to defense contractors that plan to perform innovative work in space.

“There’s huge opportunity ahead for us as we look to leverage where industry is going with this lower-cost access to space because you have more access to economical launch and you’ve got payloads that are coming down in size,” he added.

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Trump Picks James Morhard as NASA Deputy Administrator; Jim Bridenstine Comments
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Trump Picks James Morhard as NASA Deputy Administrator; Jim Bridenstine Comments


Trump Picks James Morhard as NASA Deputy Administrator; Jim Bridenstine Comments
James Morhard

President Donald Trump has chosen James Morhard, deputy sergeant-at-arms for the Senate, to serve as deputy administrator at NASA.

Morhard served as Senate Appropriations Committee staff director and previously managed the panel’s subcommittees on Commerce, Justice and Science; and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies, the White House said Thursday.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement released Friday that Morhard’s legislative work covered National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration programs and public-private partnerships for military housing initiatives.

Morhard started his career in the U.S. Navy’s Office of the Comptroller.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from St. Francis University, an M.B.A. from George Washington University and a juris doctorate from Georgetown University.

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White House Proposes Legislation to Address Federal Civilian IT Supply Chain Risks
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White House Proposes Legislation to Address Federal Civilian IT Supply Chain Risks


White House Proposes Legislation to Address Federal Civilian IT Supply Chain RisksThe White House on Tuesday submitted to Congress a draft bill that would provide civilian agencies the same congressional authorities granted to the Defense Department in 2011 to oversee their information technology procurements and address supply chain risks, Federal News Radio reported Thursday.

The proposed Federal IT Supply Chain Risk Management Improvement Act of 2018 would set up a federal IT acquisition security council that would advance the development of standards and practices that can be used by agencies to create strategies to mitigate supply chain risks with regard to the procurement of IT and communications systems and services.

The council would be composed of the Office of Management and Budget, General Services Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology, DoD and the Department of Homeland Security and would come up with criteria for supply chain risk data sharing with private and public sector stakeholders.

The bill would also establish a critical IT supply chain risk evaluation board that would oversee measures with regard to the exclusion of vendors from procurement actions and information systems that are deemed a risk to agencies.

The report said the House Homeland Security Committee has begun work on a similar measure that would provide DHS and other agencies with similar supply chain risk management authorities given to DoD and the intelligence community.

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FCC Seeks to Run $100M Telehealth Pilot Program; Brendan Carr Comments
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FCC Seeks to Run $100M Telehealth Pilot Program; Brendan Carr Comments


FCC Seeks to Run $100M Telehealth Pilot Program; Brendan Carr CommentsSen. Roger Wicker and Commissioner Brendan Carr have announced that the Federal Communications Commission intends to run a $100 million pilot program that aims to provide telehealth services for low-income U.S. citizens.

The Connected Care Pilot Program will focus on providing healthcare for veterans and Americans residing in rural areas, FCC said Wednesday.

The commission will gather at an August Open Meeting to discuss the program’s budget, along with support for connected care deployments and assistance to projects aiming to measure healthcare costs.

“Given the significant cost savings and improved patient outcomes associated with connected care, we should align public policy in support of this movement in telehealth,” Carr said.

Recent telehealth efforts in the U.S. have generated savings in chronic disease management, which takes up 85 percent of the country’s direct healthcare spending.

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GAO: NASA Should Standardize Loss of Crew Risk Computation
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GAO: NASA Should Standardize Loss of Crew Risk Computation


GAO: NASA Should Standardize Loss of Crew Risk ComputationThe Government Accountability Office has recommended that NASA enforce a standard method for establishing the likelihood of astronauts being permanently injured or killed while on board a spacecraft.

NASA’s administrator should instruct pertinent agency heads “to collectively determine and document… how the agency will determine its risk tolerance level with respect to loss of crew,” the GAO said in the July 2018 Congressional report on its audit of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Meeting the acceptable risk level for the loss of crew is a critical requirement of NASA’s safety certification process for space vehicles under development.

However, the GAO discovered during its audit that offices within the space agency compute for the metric differently, incorporating risk factors in a non-uniform way, thus arriving at differing values.

The GAO report also noted that the agency does not have a system in place to record lessons that would be learned from using the loss of crew metric as part of the safety threshold.

The report said that the absence of such a system deprives future programs of the opportunity “to benefit from the knowledge gained from this multibillion dollar investment.”

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