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Report: Rep. Trey Gowdy to Chair House Oversight Committee
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Report: Rep. Trey Gowdy to Chair House Oversight Committee


Report: Rep. Trey Gowdy to Chair House Oversight Committee
Trey Gowdy

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-South Carolina) has been appointed to succeed Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) as chairman of House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, The Hill reported Thursday.

Gowdy, a former prosecutor, is known for leading a House select panel that investigated terrorist attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012.

“I am grateful to the Steering Committee and the Conference as a whole for this opportunity to serve,” Gowdy said in a statement released Thursday.

“I look forward to working alongside the other Committee members, as well as any member of Congress, as we discharge the jurisdiction assigned to us.”

He chairs the House Judiciary Committee’s Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations subcommittee and serves on the lower chamber’s Oversight and Government Reform, Intelligence and Ethics committees.

Last month, Chaffetz announced his plans to resign from Congress by June 30 after a nearly eight years of service.

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DOE Picks 30 Materials Research Projects to Advance Fuel Cell, Hydrogen Tech Development
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DOE Picks 30 Materials Research Projects to Advance Fuel Cell, Hydrogen Tech Development


DOE Picks 30 Materials Research Projects to Advance Fuel Cell, Hydrogen Tech DevelopmentThe Energy Department will allocate approximately $15.8 million in funds to support 30 materials research projects that seek to facilitate the development of fuel cell and hydrogen storage technology platforms designed for use in transportation.

DOE selected the projects through a funding opportunity announcement of the office of energy efficiency and renewable energy’s fuel cell technologies office, the agency said Thursday.

The chosen research efforts will cover four topics that include platinum group metal-free catalyst and electrodes, hydrogen storage materials discovery, precursor development for carbon fiber and advanced water splitting materials research.

DOE will allow the projects to leverage several U.S. laboratory consortia introduced through the agency’s Energy Materials Network.

These include the Electrocatalysis Consortium, HydroGEN Consortium, Hydrogen Materials-Advanced Research Consortium, Lightweight Materials Consortium and the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation.

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Army Reviews Comms Systems to Update IT Procurement Strategy
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Army Reviews Comms Systems to Update IT Procurement Strategy


Army Reviews Comms Systems to Update IT Procurement StrategyThe U.S. Army has begun to assess its entire communications system as part of efforts to streamline the military branch’s information technology procurement process, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.

Acting Army Secretary Robert Speer and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told reporters that the review will produce recommendations on streamlining IT acquisition and that some of the recommendations will be sent to Defense Secretary James Mattis for his strategic readiness review.

“What we want to make sure is that the Army, as part of a joint force, has the ability to effectively conduct mission command,” said Milley.

“A key component of that is to be able to communicate — voice, digital, video, and so on — in any environment, globally… and against any foe,” he added.

The report said Milley expects the service branch to complete the system review in four to six weeks.

He noted the Army will coordinate some recommendations with the Joint Staff and the Defense Department as well as authorization and appropriations committees in Congress.

Air Force Expects to Receive 1st KC-46 Tanker in Late Spring 2018
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Air Force Expects to Receive 1st KC-46 Tanker in Late Spring 2018


Air Force Expects to Receive 1st KC-46 Tanker in Late Spring 2018The U.S. Air Force has pushed back to late spring of 2018 its expectation for Boeing to deliver the first KC-46 tanker aircraft citing delays in obtaining airworthiness certifications from the Federal Aviation Administration and completion of the test flight program, Defense News reported Thursday.

“Once Boeing receives the remaining design approvals from the FAA, they expect testing to proceed on a faster pace,” the service branch said in a statement.

The military branch continues to believe that Boeing will meet the required assets available deadline in October 2018.

RAA calls for the firm to hand over 18 KC-46s and nine air refueling pods to the Air Force, the report added.

Breaking Defense also reported that Boeing remains optimistic that it can deliver the first tanker aircraft by December.

“The majority of developmental testing is complete, which reduces risk to the certification and verification testing,” Caroline Hutcheson, a spokeswoman for Boeing, said in an email.

“Additionally, we recently added a 6th aircraft (the second low-rate initial production plane) to the flight test program, which will help with test efficiency and improve our ability to complete ground and flight test points going forward.”

Hutcheson noted that the firm has not identified any technical risk after the aircraft logged 1,700 flight test hours, the report added.

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House Bill Seeks to Increase Contract Participation of Veteran-Owned Small Businesses
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House Bill Seeks to Increase Contract Participation of Veteran-Owned Small Businesses


House Bill Seeks to Increase Contract Participation of Veteran-Owned Small BusinessesReps. Neal Dunn (R-Florida) and Jimmy Paneta (D-California) have introduced a bill seeks to increase the number of service-disabled veteran-owned and veteran-owned small businesses represented on the General Services Administration‘s contracts.

The Ensuring Veteran Enterprise Participation in Strategic Sourcing Act would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to work with GSA to provide SDVOSBs and VOSBs with contracting opportunities they are entitled to under the law, the office of Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tennessee) said Wednesday.

“This legislation will hold the VA accountable for seeking out veteran-owned small businesses for contracting opportunities as Congress intended,” said Dunn.

In 2016, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Kingdomware Technologies, an SDVOSB, that a VA contract must be a small business set-aside if there are more than two small businesses than can meet contract requirements, as mandated by the Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006.

The bill seeks to address a loophole identified during the case and support the Supreme Court’s decision.

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Maj. Gen. Scott Howell to Be Nominated SOCOM Vice Commander
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Maj. Gen. Scott Howell to Be Nominated SOCOM Vice Commander


Maj. Gen. Scott Howell to Be Nominated SOCOM Vice Commander
Scott Howell

U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott Howell, head of the Special Operations Joint Task Force and the NATO Special Operations Component Command in Afghanistan, will be nominated as vice commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command.

The Defense Department said Wednesday President Donald Trump also endorsed Howell for promotion to the rank of lieutenant general.

The 29-year Air Force veteran leads all U.S. and NATO special operations teams that operate in Afghanistan in his current role.

He served as a command pilot and recorded more than 2,600 flight hours with rotary-wing aircraft such as UH-1N, UH-1H, TH-53, CH-47, MH-6 and MH-53 J/M.

Howell held various positions within the Air Staff and the Air Force Special Operations Command, the 37th Air Rescue Squadron, 1st Cavalry Division, 20th Special Operations Squadron, 21st Special Operations Squadron and the 20th Special Operations Squadron.

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OMB, White House Innovation Office Start 3-Month Sprint to Draft New Cloud, Cyber, Shared Services Policies
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OMB, White House Innovation Office Start 3-Month Sprint to Draft New Cloud, Cyber, Shared Services Policies


OMB, White House Innovation Office Start 3-Month Sprint to Draft New Cloud, Cyber, Shared Services PoliciesThe Office of Management and Budget and the White House’s Office of American Innovation have teamed up on a 90-day sprint to develop new programs and policies that seek to address cybersecurity, cloud adoption and citizen services, Federal News Radio reported Wednesday.

Margie Graves, deputy federal chief information officer at OMB, said the development of work streams through the sprint is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to coordinate acquisition, funding and talent to facilitate updates to federal information technology systems.

She noted that the sprint also aims to reassess the Trusted Internet Connections policy and employee recruitment programs as well as address the challenges with shared services among agencies.

“When we go through the budgeting process, oftentimes those particular services don’t get the attention that they deserve,” Graves said during her speech at the BMC Digital Enterprise Management Exchange in Washington Wednesday.

“Eventually it requires a major modernization, which requires a big spike in capital investment, which is difficult to move through the federal government[‘s]  budgeting system,” she added.

The report said the move corresponds with the White House’s executive order on government reorganization and efforts to address stringent regulatory requirements.

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Report: Maj. Gen. Bradford Shwedo to Become Air Force CIO
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Report: Maj. Gen. Bradford Shwedo to Become Air Force CIO


Report: Maj. Gen. Bradford Shwedo to Become Air Force CIO
Bradford Shwedo

Maj. Gen. Bradford Shwedo will serve as chief information officer of the U.S. Air Force beginning on June 9, C4ISRNET reported Wednesday.

Shwedo, who is also scheduled for a promotion to the rank of Lt. Gen., will succeed retired Lt. Gen. William Bender who served as the service branch’s CIO since September 2014.

He currently leads the 25th Air Force where he oversees tactical warfighting and national-level operations in support of the director of the National Security Agency and the chief of the Central Security Service.

The commander of the 25th Air Force has held various roles within the Defense Department since December 1989 including numerous staff assignments with the Air Force Headquarters, CIA, Cyber Command, Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy.

Shwedo also served under multiple positions within the 53rd Fighter Squadron, 497th Intelligence Group, Detachment 2, 566th Information Operations Squadron, 67th Network Warfare Group, 67th Network Warfare Wing and the Air Combat Command.

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Federal Agency Participants Develop Virtual Assistant Prototypes Under GSA’s Citizen Tech Initiative
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Federal Agency Participants Develop Virtual Assistant Prototypes Under GSA’s Citizen Tech Initiative


Federal Agency Participants Develop Virtual Assistant Prototypes Under GSA's Citizen Tech InitiativeThe General Services Administration has hosted a “hackathon” that gathered participants from various federal agencies to build prototypes of artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistants such as voice-activated systems, chatbots, intelligent websites and automated call centers.

Justin Herman, manager of social media and digital engagement programs at GSA’s Technology Transformation Service, wrote in an blog post published Tuesday that the U.S. Federal AI Personal Assistant Pilot is part of GSA’s Emerging Citizen Technology program and is intended to provide self-service access to public service information.

Participants from about 36 federal agencies worked with Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Oracle, Mitre and Dcode42 during the pilot to explore ways to deliver public information in a faster and more efficient manner, Herman added.

The teams developed more than a dozen prototypes including a tornado alert and information service from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; career center resources from the Labor Department; a unified self-service chatbot for various programs from nine agencies.

GSA plans to host another event at its central office in July to demonstrate proofs of concepts developed by federal agencies and U.S. companies.

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Trump to Nominate King & Spalding Partner Christopher Wray as FBI Director
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Trump to Nominate King & Spalding Partner Christopher Wray as FBI Director


Trump to Nominate King & Spalding Partner Christopher Wray as FBI Director
Christopher Wray

President Donald Trump has announced plans to nominate Christopher Wray, a litigation partner at international law firm King & Spalding, as FBI director.

“Christopher was the leader of major fraud investigations, and was a key part of the team overseeing the Justice Department’s actions in the war on terrorism following the 9/11 attacks,” Trump said in a statement released Wednesday.

Wray currently oversees King & Spalding’s special matters and government investigations and practice that represents individuals and companies in parallel civil litigation, white collar regulatory and criminal enforcement and internal corporate investigations.

He previously worked at DOJ as assistant attorney general of the department’s criminal division between 2003 and 2005 and served as assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia from 1997 to 2001.

Wray is a Yale Law School graduate and a recipient of the Edmund J. Randolph Award.

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