Report: Fiscal 2017 Omnibus Spending Package to Authorize $19.6B for NASA
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Report: Fiscal 2017 Omnibus Spending Package to Authorize $19.6B for NASA


Report: Fiscal 2017 Omnibus Spending Package to Authorize $19.6B for NASAAn omnibus spending bill for fiscal 2017 that passed both chambers of Congress would allocate $19.65 billion for NASA.

The allocation represents a $368 million increase in funds the space agency received in FY 2016 and $628 million more than the Obama administration’s budget request, Space News reported Friday.

The spending package would authorize $275 million to fund NASA’s work on the Europa Clipper project and a follow-on lander mission.

The bill would allocate $5.76 billion in funds for the agency’s science programs, a $175 million increase from NASA’s budget last year.

The space agency’s planetary science and astrophysics programs would respectively receive $1.85 billion and $750 million in funds under the spending legislation.

Earth science projects would get $1.9 billion in funds, while heliophysics-related initiatives would receive a budget of $678.5 million for the remaining months of fiscal 2017, the report added.

President Donald Trump signed the omnibus spending measure Friday a day after the Senate voted 79-18 to avoid a government shutdown.

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Report: Tennessee Sen. Mark Green Withdraws from Consideration for Army Secretary Post
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Report: Tennessee Sen. Mark Green Withdraws from Consideration for Army Secretary Post


Report: Tennessee Sen. Mark Green Withdraws from Consideration for Army Secretary Post
Mark Green

Tennessee Sen. Mark Green has withdrawn his name from consideration as the next secretary of the U.S. Army due to distractions associated with his nomination, Military Times reported Friday.

“I am honored that President Trump nominated me for this position… But to meet these challenges, there should be no distractions,” Green said in a statement released Friday.

Military Times reported Green’s decision comes amid controversy surrounding his previous remarks on transgender rights and homosexuality.

Green is a West Point graduate who has been a state senator since 2012 and is founder and CEO of emergency department staffing firm Align MD.

Robert Speer, former Army assistant secretary for financial management, serves as acting secretary of the military branch, the report added.

Green announced his decision a month after the White House nominated him for the post and three months after Vincent Viola, founder of digital stock trading firm Virtu Financial, dropped out of consideration for the Army secretary role.

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GSA’s Mary Davie Outlines IT Industry Feedback on Federal Acquisition
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GSA’s Mary Davie Outlines IT Industry Feedback on Federal Acquisition


GSA's Mary Davie Outlines IT Industry Feedback on Federal Acquisition
Mary Davie

Mary Davie, assistant commissioner for the office of information technology category at the General Services Administration, has met with more than 50 representatives from IT services companies to discuss government contracting issues.

Davie wrote in a blog post published Tuesday industry members want government acquisition and program personnel to be more accessible and respond more frequently to inquiries on contract requirements and timelines.

“I’ve heard many times from government reps that they don’t have time or don’t know how to handle sharing with multiple companies since sharing has to be handled equitably,” said Davie.

She added there are various ways to share information equitably and that government agencies should establish relationships and host regular forums to communicate with industry and potential partners.

One industry representative told Davie that the U.S. Navy‘s SeaPort-e procurement system provides enough information and transparency to help vendors analyze customers’ needs.

Davie noted that government-wide category management efforts aim to give agencies and industry a single platform that provides information on agencies’ needs across categories.

She also learned that government personnel provide long and “prescriptive” request for proposals instead of simplified statements of objectives, which makes it harder for companies to offer required products and services.

Other issues discussed at the meeting include the need to stop issuing government requests for information that could be repetitive, costly and time consuming; the impact of procurement delays on industry budgets; and ways to decrease contract award protests.

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Air Force Unmanned Space Plane Lands at Kennedy Space Center
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Air Force Unmanned Space Plane Lands at Kennedy Space Center


Air Force Unmanned Space Plane Lands at Kennedy Space CenterThe U.S. Air Force‘s unmanned reusable space plane has arrived from an on-orbit mission at the shuttle landing facility of NASA‘s Kennedy Space Center.

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle mission 4 performed on-orbit experiments during its 718-day mission, which brings the total number of days spent in space for the OTV program to 2,085 days, the Air Force said Sunday.

Lt. Col. Ron Fehlen, X-37B program manager, said the latest mission set an on-orbit endurance record for the program and marks OTV’s first landing in Florida.

X-37B is an experimental test program managed by the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office that works to demonstrate technologies for reusable space vehicle platforms.

The Air Force launched the first three X-37B missions, dubbed OTV-1 through OTV-3, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and all three landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The service branch plans to launch the fifth X-37B mission from Cape Canaveral AFS later this year.

Reports: Trump Inks $1T Omnibus Spending Package With Attached Presidential Prerogatives
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Reports: Trump Inks $1T Omnibus Spending Package With Attached Presidential Prerogatives


Reports: Trump Inks $1T Omnibus Spending Package With Attached Presidential PrerogativesPresident Donald Trump has approved a $1 trillion budget package to fund government operations through Sept. 30 and increase defense spending by $21 billion, The Hill reported Friday.

He signed the fiscal 2017 omnibus spending bill a day after it was passed by the Senate through a 79-18 vote in order to avert a government shutdown.

Trump attached to the spending bill a signing statement that asserts his right to drop 89 provisions in the package and details his positions on various issues such as weapon systems, Guantanamo Bay and recruitment of policy advisers at the White House, according to a report by Gregory Korte for USA Today.

The spending bill contains provisions that prohibit the Trump administration to cancel A-10 aircraft, RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned systems and other weapons programs as well as fund nuclear-armed interceptors, Korte wrote.

Trump said in the statement those provisions on weapons programs “unconstitutionally limit my ability to modify the command and control of military personnel and materiel,” the report added.

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Air Force Pilots Test 3.2B Update to F-22 Raptor Aircraft
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Air Force Pilots Test 3.2B Update to F-22 Raptor Aircraft


Air Force Pilots Test 3.2B Update to F-22 Raptor Aircraft

The U.S. Air Force’s 411th Flight Test Squadron has used F-22 Raptors to launch air-to-air missiles against as part of a 3.2B developmental test and evaluation upgrade to the Lockheed Martin-built aircraft.

The service branch said Thursday that the AIM-9 and AIM-120 missiles were used to engage multiple BQM-167A sub-scale aerial targets during tests held last month at the Utah Test and Training Range.

BQM-167A is designed to function as a threat-representative target drone and to support the Air-to-Air Weapon System Evaluation Program as well as other air-to-air assessment efforts of the Air Force and Defense Department.

“We deployed a group of 15 active duty members, government civilians and contractors to launch, fly and recover up to eight BQM-167A targets over three days,” said Lt. Col. Matthew Garrison, commander of the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron.

“The shots at UTRR were the graduation live fire event of a two-year-long 3.2B upgrade,” said Lt. Col. Randel Gordon, 411th FLTS commander.

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John Zangardi: DoD Aims to Complete Windows 10 Migration by Year’s End
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John Zangardi: DoD Aims to Complete Windows 10 Migration by Year’s End


John Zangardi: DoD Aims to Complete Windows 10 Migration by Year’s End
John Zangardi

John Zangardi, acting chief information officer at the Defense Department, has said one of his priorities at DoD is to advance the transition to Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system as the department works to implement a defense enterprise office platform, Federal News Radio reported Friday.

“The objective is to be done and in our networks by the end of this calendar year,” Zangardi said Tuesday at the Adobe Digital Government Symposium.

Meredith Somers writes DEOS seeks to integrate voice, email, video and content management platforms as well as communication tools into a single unified client.

Zangardi noted that his cybersecurity priorities at DoD include efforts to maximize capability and lethality, reduce the cyber attack surface, understand the department’s information technology infrastructure and build up efficiency and effectiveness.

He said the need to drive efficiency seeks to facilitate the deployment of military capabilities to warfighters as well as “free up dollars that can be put into the procurement of planes, or ships or tanks or bullets.”

Zangardi also offered updates on the final request for proposals for the Unified Capabilities contract, plans to revise the cybersecurity scorecard and modernization of the Defense Travel System, the report added.

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3 House Lawmakers Ask OPM to Simplify Federal Cyber Talent Hiring Process
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3 House Lawmakers Ask OPM to Simplify Federal Cyber Talent Hiring Process


3 House Lawmakers Ask OPM to Simplify Federal Cyber Talent Hiring ProcessReps. Derek Kilmer (D-Washington), Kathleen Rice (D-New York) and Josh Gottheimer (D-New Jersey) have urged the Office of Personnel Management to modify requirements and streamline the recruitment process for federal cybersecurity jobs.

Kilmer, Rice and Gottheimer currently serve as co-chairs of the New Democrat Coalition’s Cybersecurity Task Force and told Acting OPM Director Kathleen McGettigan in a joint letter released May 1 that the agency should look to the private sector for ideas to optimize the cyber hiring process.

Agencies do not utilize certification tests because it is not explicitly authorized in the 1958 Government Employees Training Act, the three lawmakers noted.

The representatives inquired about potential actions that could encourage the use of certification exams, if such measures are not prohibited, and urged OPM to provide information on its degree requirements for cybersecurity personnel.

They said OPM should be “more flexible” with job requirements to help meet a growing demand for federal cyber workers.

Non-traditional education paths such as a two-year degree or a certification test can be enough to prepare cybersecurity personnel, according to the lawmakers.

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DoD Starts to Assess U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Strategy
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DoD Starts to Assess U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Strategy


DoD Starts to Assess U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense StrategyThe Defense Department has kicked off a ballistic missile defense review to comply with an executive order by President Donald Trump.

DoD said Friday the review is part of the department’s efforts to establish a policy and strategy framework for U.S. missile defense systems as well as rebalance homeland and theater defense priorities of the country.

President Trump instructed the department to conduct a 30-day review of the  military’s preparedness for the war against the Islamic State militant group as well as nuclear arsenal and ballistic missile defense programs.

The deputy secretary of defense, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other interagency partners will lead the assessments.

DoD aims to submit a final report to the president by the end of the year.

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Former DLA Director Andy Busch Retires From Air Force
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Former DLA Director Andy Busch Retires From Air Force


Former DLA Director Andy Busch Retires From Air Force
Andy Busch

Lt. Gen. Andy Busch, former director of the Defense Logistics Agency, formally concluded his 38-year military career during a ceremony held Thursday at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.

The U.S. Air Force veteran led the development of DLA’s expeditionary capacity during his tenure as DLA director with the creation of the Global Response Force Rapid Deployment Teams that performed various disaster relief operations, the agency said Thursday.

He helped foster workforce resiliency via an awareness campaign as well as implemented DLA’s first sexual assault prevention and reporting program.

Busch also managed the National Defense Stockpile, which includes an international network of 25 distribution centers, as well as the agency’s process for reverse logistics.

His Air Force career includes various roles within the Air Force Materiel Command, Defense Supply Center Richmond, 3rd Equipment Maintenance Squadron, 13th Fighter Squadron, 402nd Maintenance Wing, 432nd Component Repair Squadron, 474th Tactical Fighter Wing and the 4450th Tactical Group.

Maj. Gen. Darrell Williams, commanding general of the Army Combined Arms Support Command and the Sustainment Center of Excellence at Fort Lee, was confirmed by the Senate in May to serve as the next DLA director.

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