The Government Accountability Office has found that only three out of 11 federal agencies that take part in the Small Business Innovation Research program awarded grants and contracts to small firms owned by venture capital companies, hedge funds and private equity firms in the past four fiscal years.

Those three agencies are the Department of Education‘s Institute for Education Sciences, Department of Energy‘s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy and the Department of Health and Human Services‘ National Institutes of Health, GAO said Friday.

The agencies awarded 62 contracts and grants worth $43.6M combined between FY 2015 and FY 2018, a figure that reflects 0.1 percent to 2.7 percent of the three agencies’ awards.

The congressional watchdog found that NIH is the sole agency that awarded contracts to small businesses owned by multiple investment firms during the period.

The Department of Defense did not award SBIR contracts to small businesses majority-owned by investment firms and funds but sent a “written determination” to some congressional panels and the Small Business Administration for such awards.

GAO said the remaining seven agencies chose not to use the SBIR authority.

“Officials from most of the agencies that elected not to use the authority told GAO they believe that opening their programs to small businesses with majority ownership by multiple investment companies and funds would not substantially contribute to the agencies’ mission,” according to the report.
 

Mark Robbins, acting chairman of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, has been appointed to concurrently serve as general counsel of the Office of Personnel Management, the OPM said Friday.

Robbins served as the agency’s general counsel from 2001 to 2006 and previously held roles at the White House’s Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and Office of Presidential Personnel.

He also served as general counsel of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and received the U.S. Army’s Commander’s Award for Civilian Service during his tenure as the State Department’s senior rule of law advisor in Babil Province, Iraq.

Prior to his OPM career, Robbins worked as a litigation attorney in Los Angeles, Calif., and legislative assistant to L.A.-area Congress members.

He has been a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration since 2013.

The U.S. Marine Corps is creating a blueprint detailing how the service designs new capabilities for information operations, C4ISRNet reported Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the service said the Marine Corps Information Environment Blueprint is being designed for the newly-established Marine Expeditionary Force Information Groups.

MIGs are tasked to manage and deliver all information-related capabilities to Marine Corps commanders for cyber, intelligence, electronic warfare and information operations.

A top official for information at Marine Corps said the MCIEE Blueprint will include policies, standards, services, infrastructures, technical designs and architectural elements required to provide capabilities across the enterprise.

“Development of the MCIEE Blueprint is an iterative process focused on the delivery of capabilities defined by and validated against user objectives, functional goals and mission requirements,” the official noted.

The Marine Corps aims to release the final MCIEE in spring 2019 and intends to update the document periodically to add new capabilities.

President Trump has signed a bill into law providing $1.2B in funding for quantum computing research and development over the next five years, GeekWire reported Friday. The National Quantum Initiative Act will support federally-backed research programs exploring quantum information science and the effort to build a quantum-smart workforce.

The law also requires the establishment of a National Quantum Coordination Office and an advisory committee within the White House to manage such projects and address issues in quantum computing. Michael Kratsios, deputy assistant to the president for technology policy, said the initiatives would increase jobs in the U.S., boost economic growth and improve national security.

“We look forward to building upon efforts to support the quantum-smart workforce of the future and engage with government, academic and private-sector leaders to advance QIS,” he said.

The law comes after the National Academies of Science called on the government to develop “post-quantum” encryption protocols to protect commerce and national security.

The U.S. Air Force established a new program management office to lead efforts in rebuilding infrastructures damaged by Hurricane Michael at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. The service said Wednesday the PMO will assess the damage to installation facilities and infrastructures, determine usability and preserve capabilities of the base. 

“The work that lies in front of us is extensive, but the PMO office will ensure the Air Force has a 21st-century installation to carry out the missions of today and the future,” said Col. Scott Matthews, director of Tyndall AFB PMO.

Other missions of the new office include rapid repair and construction of temporary facilities and redevelopment planning to support near-term resumption of mission operations and long-term redevelopment of the base. 

PMO Deputy Director Brian Stahl said the office is working with the 325th Fighter Wing to provide resources, expertise and manpower for the rebuilding efforts. The Air Force expects rebuilding Tyndall AFB to take up to five years and cost nearly $3B. 

Mike Rits, Air Force Civil Engineer Center resilience subject matter expert, said the PMO could also help the service branch apply “Smart City” designs at Tyndall AFB to provide resilient warfighting capabilities.

The Department of Commerce has called on the financial sector to provide “better financing and insurance” for the space industry, Space News reported Wednesday.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the agency hopes to boost the overall space economy.

“There continues to be strong and growing venture capital equity funding for the space industry. But missing from space finance are the bigger institutions, especially banks,” he said. “Their participation will be necessary to execute longer-term commercial plans.”

In mid-December, the agency hosted a seminar in Washington gathering representatives from space companies and the financial sector to encourage additional investment and address the challenges to secure finance for the space industry. Ross said the Commerce Department is also utilizing its Office of Space Commerce to provide investors with more data on the industry. 

“We think that there’s a real ignorance barrier that we need to help overcome in order to facilitate lending,” he said. “We need to come up with a group of metrics here so that people can figure out what they have to do to get to the next level of value.”

The agency proposed a Space Policy Advancing Commercial Enterprise Administration to Congress to manage commercial space operations as part of President Trump’s Space Policy Directive-2 in May. 

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Christopher Piehota of the FBI have received service awards from the Homeland Security and Defense Business Council.

HSDBC presented the 2018 Distinguished Service Award to McCaul and the Exceptional Service in Support for Government-Industry Engagement Award to Piehota at its annual dinner held on Dec. 13, the council said Friday.

McCaul is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and Piehota is executive assistant director of the bureau’s science and technology branch.

John Saad, a partner and national security sector leader at Guidehouse, has been elected board chairman at HSDBC.

Marcus Collier and Pat Schambach, who are both former board chairmen at HSDBC, were also honored at the event for their leadership efforts.

Sponsors of the event are council members Aveshka, ArdentMC, E3 Federal Solutions, Grant Thornton, Guidehouse, Oracle, Schambach & Williams and Reed Tech.
 

The Senate has passed a bill to create a government-wide council that would establish regulations for federal supply chain risk management, FCW.com reported Wednesday.

The Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Council will help the National Institute of Standards and Technology develop supply chain guidelines including protocols on information sharing between federal and non-federal parties.

The inter-agency council will also oversee the implementation of applicable contracting strategies and establish criteria for the removal of software to mitigate supply chain threats.

The Department of Homeland Security secretary will be responsible for issuing removal or exclusion orders for civilian federal agencies, while the Department of Defense secretary and director of national intelligence will have the same authority for their respective agencies.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., originally sponsored the bill which must still pass the House before being signed by the president.