The U.S. Transportation Command has conducted a four-month proof-of-principle study of a transportation management system in combination with government platforms, the Air Force reported Wednesday.

The PoP demonstration kicked off Aug. 7 and Transcom found that TMS works to provide visibility and management of shipments and transportation requirements through a single system to help streamline planning.

The command also discovered that TMS helps combine data, technology and processes across an enterprise and works to deliver end-to-end visibility over shipments needed to facilitate audit-readiness.

TMS is designed to help users plan and carry out cargo shipment and oversee the logistics enterprise.

Air Force Gen. Darren McDew, Transcom chief, said TMS is built to help the command support operational processes needed to carry out multimodal efforts and deliver end-to-end transportation platforms.

Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John Broadmeadow, Transcom deputy commander, has asked the command to set up an integrated product team to build a TMS prototype.

The team will work with transportation partners and other stakeholders to develop and carry out an implementation plan for the proposed prototype.

The White House American Technology Council has issued a final report to the president on the modernization of federal information technology systems in compliance with an executive order that seeks to build up the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure and federal networks.

A White House blog post published Wednesday the report is based on public comments from at least 100 companies and individuals collected over a three-week period.

The report calls on federal agencies to advance IT network consolidation and modernization and facilitate the use of shared services in an effort to address issues that appear to impede federal IT modernization programs.

Some of the measures agencies could adopt include the prioritization of high-risk value asset modernization; the need to facilitate cloud migration through upgrades to the national cybersecurity protection program and trusted internet connections; and standardization of security service and network acquisitions.

The adoption of shared services can be implemented through enhancements to contract vehicles to help streamline the procurement of commercial cloud platforms and services; transition to cloud collaboration and email tools; and advancement of additional security shared services, according to the document.

The action plan detailed in the report, which was prepared in response to EO 13800, will take effect Jan. 1.

ATC Director Chris Liddell co-wrote the blog post with Jack Wilmer, senior policy adviser at the White House’s office of science and technology policy.

The U.S. Marine Corps has demonstrated an autonomous technology on a UH-1 Huey military helicopter at Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia.

The flight demonstration was part of the Autonomous Aerial Cargo/Utility System partnership between the Office of Naval Research and Aurora Flight Sciences, ONR said Wednesday.

“With AACUS, an unmanned helicopter takes the supplies from the base, picks out the optimal route and best landing site closest to the warfighters, lands, and returns to base once the resupply is complete; all with the single touch of a handheld tablet,” said ONR Executive Director Walter Jones.

AACUS consists of integrated software and sensor systems built to detect and avoid external obstacles during autonomous flight.

The system is remotely controlled through a handheld tablet device and designed as a possible alternative to high-risk convoy or manned aircraft operations.

A survey conducted by Deloitte and Government Executive Media Group‘s research arm shows that 69 percent of federal employees say they need access to cloud platforms for work.

Deloitte said Tuesday it commissioned Government Business Council to poll a random sample of 536 federal employees from over 29 defense and federal agencies in November and found that 41 percent of respondents said their agencies have started to migrate applications to the cloud.

Respondents cited data sharing, organizational efficiency and cost savings as the top drivers for their agencies’ cloud adoption.

Twenty-four percent of federal respondents said they are dissatisfied with the cloud platforms at their agencies, while 59 percent said cloud governance is either ineffective or non-existent in their organizations.

“How the cloud is used – governance, tech enablement, and organizational factors – will determine the success of cloud adoption,” said Doug Bourgeois, federal cloud leader and managing director of Deloitte Consulting.

The survey also showed that 71 percent of respondents said they have used unauthorized applications, while 34 percent attributed IT modernization efforts to chief information officers and other senior IT leaders.

Sixty-eight percent of respondents said they are not aware of cloud’s capability to support software-as-a-service applications and that 57 percent said they do not know that cloud platforms could help streamline mobile services.