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Navy Commissions Virginia-Class Attack Submarine USS Colorado
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Navy Commissions Virginia-Class Attack Submarine USS Colorado


Navy Commissions Virginia-Class Attack Submarine USS ColoradoThe U.S. Navy has commissioned USS Colorado that was built by General Dynamics‘ Electric Boat subsidiary as part of the Block III Virginia-class submarine program.

Cmdr. Reed Koepp II will serve as commander of the submarine designated as SSN 788 and sponsored by former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’ daughter Annie, the service branch said Saturday.

USS Colorado is designed to support anti-submarine; anti-surface; irregular; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; mine and strike and special operations forces delivery missions.

The Navy noted its new submarine features a nuclear reactor plant and can travel submerged at more than 25 knots.

SSN 78 also includes two large-diameter Virginia Payload Tubes built to launch up to six Tomahawk cruise missiles each and two photonic masts with visible and infrared digital cameras.

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Commerce Dept Officials Vow to Back Commercial Space Activities
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Commerce Dept Officials Vow to Back Commercial Space Activities


Commerce Dept Officials Vow to Back Commercial Space ActivitiesTwo Commerce Department officials emphasized their support for the commercial space industry during the Satellite 2018 conference that was held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center last week.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told event audience Monday that he aims to elevate space commerce functions as part of DOC’s five-year strategic plan, the department said Friday.

David Redl, assistant secretary of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said during his speech Wednesday at the convention that DOC looks to invest in spacecraft and ground station manufacturing projects.

The department expects that next-generation satellite systems will help increase the performance of national broadband infrastructure and drive advanced services.

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DoD Considers New Military Service for Space Operations
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DoD Considers New Military Service for Space Operations


DoD Considers New Military Service for Space OperationsThe Defense Department is looking into the creation of a new military service that will focus on space operations, Washington Examiner reported Thursday.

Kenneth Rapuano, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense and global security, said during a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing that the establishment of a Space Force is among a set of options that DoD will recommend as part of ongoing review of military space operations.

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan leads the review, which was requested by Congress after Pentagon leaders opposed a House effort in 2017 to form a new space service called Space Corps.

Rapuano said President Donald Trump will support any option that could optimize the U.S. military’s space operations, Space News reported.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump stated at the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in California that he wants to establish a Space Force.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Alabama) said at the hearing that he expects DoD to “embrace the formation of an independent space force” following Trump’s remarks.

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Georgia Congressional Delegation Pushes for State to House Army Futures Command
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Georgia Congressional Delegation Pushes for State to House Army Futures Command


Georgia Congressional Delegation Pushes for State to House Army Futures CommandGeorgia’s congressional delegation, led by Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), has sent a letter urging the U.S. Army to station the service’s Futures Command in the state.

The letter, addressed to Secretary of the Army Mark Esper, emphasized that Georgia’s city of Atlanta may serve as a technological resource for the Futures Command, Sen. Isakson’s office said Wednesday.

The delegation attributes this notion to Atlanta being the largest technological private sector hub in Southeast U.S.

The Army announced last year a wave of modernization efforts aiming to address needs imposed by modern warfare, and among these is the Futures Command.

The Army Futures Command will consist of cross-functional teams of experts in acquisition, contracting and sustainment who will contribute support to the service’s weapon modernization activities.

David Shulkin: VA to Incorporate Mitre Interoperability Review Recommendations Into EHR Contract
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David Shulkin: VA to Incorporate Mitre Interoperability Review Recommendations Into EHR Contract


David Shulkin: VA to Incorporate Mitre Interoperability Review Recommendations Into EHR Contract
David Shulkin

Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin has said an electronic health record interoperability review conducted by Mitre resulted in 51 recommendations that are now being integrated into a contract that VA intends to award to Cerner, FCW reported Friday.

“We’ve said to Cerner that we are not going to sign a contract that’s going to allow proprietary protection and information blocking to continue,” Shulkin, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, told a House Appropriations subcommittee at a recent hearing.

Shulkin announced in June 2017 that VA plans to issue a direct solicitation to Cerner to implement the same EHR system – MHS Genesis – that the Defense Department currently deploys.

VA amended its contracting documents posted on FedBizOpps to incorporate new requirements and a department source told the publication that such requirements are based on Mitre’s review.

The department called on hospital systems to facilitate health data sharing through the use of open application programming interfaces to advance interoperability.

US Chamber Appoints Keith Webster to Lead Defense & Aerospace Export Council
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US Chamber Appoints Keith Webster to Lead Defense & Aerospace Export Council


US Chamber Appoints Keith Webster to Lead Defense & Aerospace Export CouncilThe U.S. Chamber of Commerce has hired Keith Webster, a three-decade Defense Department veteran, to serve as president of a new council that will support U.S. aerospace and defense exporters.

He will lead the Defense and Aerospace Export Council in efforts to collaborate with domestic and foreign partners to help the country’s A&D firms compete in the global market, the Chamber said Friday.

Webster previously managed international policy development and cooperation efforts at the Pentagon and has gained experience in foreign military sales, international agreements and technology security disclosure processes during his career there.

Ben Schwartz, head of the defense and aerospace program at the Chamber’s U.S.-India Business Council, will serve as executive director of the Defense and Aerospace Export Council.

He previously held positions at the DoD and at the departments of State and Energy.

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DoD Works With Interagency Group on Space Industrial Base Review
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DoD Works With Interagency Group on Space Industrial Base Review


DoD Works With Interagency Group on Space Industrial Base ReviewThe Defense Department is working with NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Reconnaissance Office on the space portion of a report on the state of the defense industrial base, Space News reported Sunday.

Brennan Hogan Grignon, industry outreach director for the defense secretary, said at a House Aerospace Caucus event that the interagency group is studying ways to share space technology and collaborate on space-related acquisitions.

“With the innovation in space technology that is happening, there is growing interest in coordinating programs and requirements across the agencies,” Hogan Grignon noted.

She added that DoD could partner with NASA and FAA on procurement initiatives to address overlapping space requirements.

Hogan Grignon leads the defense industrial base review that DoD must submit in April to comply with President Donald Trump’s order titled “Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States.”

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Report: USAF Officials Suggest Ways to Accelerate Light Attack Aircraft Procurement
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Report: USAF Officials Suggest Ways to Accelerate Light Attack Aircraft Procurement


Report: USAF Officials Suggest Ways to Accelerate Light Attack Aircraft ProcurementSenior officials at the U.S. Air Force have stated various plans on how to speed up the procurement of light attack aircraft as the service prepares to host the next phase of the OA-X experiment from May to July at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, The Drive reported Thursday.

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subpanel Wednesday that the military branch may reprogram funds to accelerate the acquisition of light attack planes.

Wilson, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, announced in February that the service plans to allocate $2.4 billion in funds to procure such planes over the next five years.

Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, military deputy to Air Force assistant secretary for acquisition, told Aviation Week in an interview that the service has begun to look for ways to transition the OA-X light-attack aircraft demonstration into a procurement initiative as soon as 2019.

Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, head of Air Force Materiel Command, said Wednesday at a Mitchell Institute-hosted event that the service may have to adopt a “throw-away culture” in which the Air Force will purchase and operate a small number of light-attack planes for a short-term period and then procure a new fleet of aircraft.

Sierra Nevada and Embraer will demonstrate their A-29 Super Tucano aircraft at the OA-X experiment, while Textron will fly its AT-6 Wolverine at the event.

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Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper: DSCA Aims to Build Up DoD Business Practices via Reform Efforts
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Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper: DSCA Aims to Build Up DoD Business Practices via Reform Efforts


Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper: DSCA Aims to Build Up DoD Business Practices via Reform Efforts
Charles Hooper

Army Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, has said DSCA has initiated reform efforts in its acquisition and program execution processes in a push to build up the Defense Department’s business practices, DoD News reported Friday.

“We collaborate very closely across the department to analyze the timeline and milestones associated with the execution of foreign military sales and other practices in order to ensure priorities are being met,” Hooper said Friday during a Center for Strategic and International Studies-hosted panel event.

He said DSCA’s security cooperation reform initiative seeks to reduce the time spent between requirements identification and delivery of capabilities and sets four conditions to achieve its goal, such as the need for a trained workforce, strategic guidance, execution and full-spectrum capability.

Hooper, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, cited the agency’s creation of a workforce development directorate and the increase in its security cooperation personnel after DSCA determined the scope of its workforce through the directorate.

The new directorate will build a competency assessment tool for use across DoD, develop a competency program and revise the education and training curriculum, he said.

He also discussed DSCA’s role in the administration’s National Security Strategy.

 

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GSA Releases E-Commerce Portal Implementation Plan
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GSA Releases E-Commerce Portal Implementation Plan


GSA Releases E-Commerce Portal Implementation PlanThe General Services Administration has issued a plan for the establishment of an e-commerce portal that can be used by federal agencies to buy commercial products and services, Nextgov reported Friday.

GSA released the implementation plan Friday and said it will work with the Office of Management and Budget to conduct market research next year with plans to test the e-commerce portal by the end of fiscal 2019 and deploy the platform by fiscal 2020.

The plan includes legislative changes Congress should carry out to facilitate the procurement of commercial off-the-shelf items through the e-commerce portal and one of the recommendations is to increase the micro-purchase threshold for items procured through the portal to $25,000 from $5,000 for the Defense Department and $10,000 for civilian agencies.

GSA asked Congress to change the definition of “commercial e-commerce portal” to include various business models for electronic procurement and modify the application of competition requirements in order to include the methods set by the GSA administrator for the procurement of items through the portal.

“This opportunity to increase competition and improve transparency in the acquisition process can greatly reduce the burden the current processes place on both our acquisition workforce and industry partners,” said Emily Murphy, GSA administrator and a 2018 Wash100 recipient.

The agency created the implementation after it solicited feedback in December 2017 and held a public meeting in January to discuss the proposed e-commerce portal.

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