Emily Murphy, the White House’s nominee to head the General Services Administration, has said she plans to increase transparency and facilitate competition within GSA once confirmed, Federal News Radio reported Wednesday.

“We are trying to make sure GSA’s contracting officers and our policies support really vigorous competition at the task order level because that is the amount we actually are going to spend so we want to get the best deal there, the most competition we can there,” Murphy said during her Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday.

She said she intends to boost transparency through changes to the System for Award management and development of a real property database.

Her other two priorities include efforts to reduce duplication through the adoption of shared services and advancement of ethical leadership.

Murphy also fielded questions from members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on her plans to address challenges associated with federal real property such as the disposal of unused federal properties, the report added.

NASA‘s Marshall Space Flight Center and Boeing have collaborated to develop an in-orbit storage platform for payloads built to support scientific research efforts aboard the International Space Station.

ISS currently houses multiple science payloads in eight shelving units dubbed EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station Racks and outfitted with resources astronauts need to maintain experiments, NASA said Tuesday.

The agency projects all the EXPRESS shelves will reach their full capacity by the end of 2018.

Sean Thompson, payload facilities team lead at the Marshall Space Flight Center, said the center is building a simplified version of ISS payload racks in an effort to accommodate a demand for science payloads on the space station.

The new Basic Express Racks are designed to have common connectors such as standard ethernet cables and scheduled for deployment to ISS late next years aboard the Japanese launch vehicle HTV7.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has presented a draft proposal to the House and Senate veterans affairs committees of a potential legislation that seeks to build on veterans’ access to healthcare services.

VA said Monday the proposed Veterans Coordinated Access & Rewarding Experiences Act is meant to replace the current “30-day/40-mile” rule under the Choice Program.

“We want veterans to work with their VA physicians to make informed decisions that are best for their clinical needs, whether in the VA or in the community, and this bill does just that while strengthening VA services at the same time,” said VA Secretary David Shulkin.

The proposal aims to simplify eligibility requirements, facilitate a high-performing network, consolidate clinical and administrative processes, implement new veterans’ care coordination support and modernize community care programs.

VA noted that the wait-time and distance eligibility criteria of the Choice Program will be eliminated with CARE Act criteria that work to give veterans and their physicians leeway in deciding how and where to avail healthcare services, update VA medical facilities and staffing and provide veterans with walk-in clinic options for minor health concerns.

The draft includes a proposal on new workforce tools for VA’s medical staff, enhancements to the Community Care program’s financial management process as well as provisions that would fortify the department’s capacity to collaborate with other federal agencies and streamline authority for real property management.

The National Institute of Standards has formulated a new process to test fibers used in body armor that could help develop lighter materials for future protective apparel.

NIST said Monday the new research explores factors that lead to the deterioration of ballistics fibers inside body armor over time.

The Justice Department asked NIST to study ballistics fibers after an effort to deploy softer body armor with new material failed in 2003 and resulted to the death of a police officer.

The new vests showed improved quality over previous armor, but tests revealed that the new material’s mechanical properties began to deteriorate after months of normal use.

NIST researchers Gale Holmes and Christopher Soles developed a technique — dubbed positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy — to characterize materials’ ability to protect from gunfire, especially after being worn in the field.

The PALS method works to provide a molecular-level view of the structure of materials to show if the folding of fibers result to vulnerabilities.

Holmes said researchers used PALS to characterize changes in the fibers that cannot be seen through other techniques.

Soles noted that the new method is the first tool that could help determine why some materials break after folding while some stay durable.

The research results may serve as a “design cue” for entities that seek to create alternatives to the current body armor or help make existing protective vests more comfortable, NIST said.