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Air Force Establishes New Strategic Development Planning & Execution Office
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Air Force Establishes New Strategic Development Planning & Execution Office


Air Force Establishes New Strategic Development Planning & Execution OfficeThe U.S. Air Force has unveiled a new office with responsibility over strategic development functions in support of the military branch’s development planning and experimentations initiatives.

The Air Force Strategic Development Planning and Execution Office will work to aid senior-level decision makers in efforts to build on agility and structure strategies through development planning and testing efforts, the military branch said Monday.

The office will also conduct live exercises, experiments, wargaming, modeling and simulations and virtual/hardware prototyping to help address potential warfighting needs with the use of existing platforms, concepts and emerging technologies.

Jack Blackhurst, director of the new office, said the branch aims to encourage closer relationships between the operational, science and technology, acquisition and requirement communities.

Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, commander of the Air Force Materiel Command, said the Air Force Research Laboratory will help provide air, space and cyber multi-domain support to the office.

She added the Air Force’s development planning efforts aim to connect operational warfighters and doctrine professionals with the acquisition and technology communities.

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Navy Marks Cybersecurity Awareness Month Through Info Dissemination Initiative; Vice Adm. Jan Tighe Comments
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Navy Marks Cybersecurity Awareness Month Through Info Dissemination Initiative; Vice Adm. Jan Tighe Comments


Jan Tighe
Jan Tighe

The U.S. Navy is set to distribute graphics, videos and articles on cyber threats in an effort to educate the service branch’s personnel and partners on the topic in observation of the annual cybersecurity awareness campaign in October.

“In my role as Navy cybersecurity director, I am on the hunt every day for capabilities that reduce the risk of cyber warfare disrupting maritime operations,” Vice Adm. Jan Tighe, deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, said Monday.

“A critical step in reducing that risk, and the point of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, is to ensure that every member of our workforce understands their role in mitigating cyber threats,” Tighe added.

The 2016 National Cybersecurity Awareness Month’s themes will highlight the reality of cyber threats, the need to ensure security of operations in the digital environment and involvement of the service branch’s personnel in the battlespace, the Navy reported.

According to the report, there were 30 million malicious breach attempts into the Defense Department’s networks from September 2014 through June 2015.

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Deltek: US Civilian Agencies Have Awarded $75M in Cloud Contracts as of September
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Deltek: US Civilian Agencies Have Awarded $75M in Cloud Contracts as of September


cloudA new Deltek report says that U.S. civilian agencies awarded $75.5 million in cloud computing contracts during the federal government’s 2016 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

Deltek’s preliminary data on the federal government’s fiscal year 2016 contract value also showed that defense agencies have awarded $45.3 million in cloud contracts, approximately $30 million lower than their civil agency counterparts, Alexander Rossino, a principal research analyst at Deltek, wrote in a blog post published Wednesday.

The U.S. Air Force landed the top spot when it comes to the amount of cloud contracts awarded and was followed by the departments of Justice, Agriculture and Homeland Security.

The service branch awarded a total of $30 million in cloud contracts as of September that an include an award secured by Agile Defense for the Installation Processing Node Pathfinder program, Rossino wrote.

The IPN Pathfinder program seeks to provide a single hosting environment for the Air Force’s applications and core services in an effort to facilitate the service branch’s migration to the cloud.

Other deals cited by the report include:

  • DOJ’s $28 million award to Dell for the deployment of a virtual desktop infrastructure
  • USDA’s $20 million award to Toyakoi Ventures to equip the department’s financial systems with an SAP Hana cloud-based platform
  • DHS’ $14.5 million award to Project Performance for the Victim Information Notification Exchange project

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FAA Seeks to Update Professional Development of Air Carrier Pilots
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FAA Seeks to Update Professional Development of Air Carrier Pilots


Federal aviation administration (FAA)The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed an update to professional development training standards on commercial air carrier pilots in an effort to drive compliance with standard procedures.

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will require pilots-in-command to undergo mentoring and leadership and command training with assistance to observe and familiarize themselves with flight operation procedures before they join a flightcrew, FAA said Thursday.

Each air carrier must establish a Pilot Professional Development Committee that will work to create, implement and manage formal manager-pilot mentoring programs as part of the program.

The FAA’s Call to Action comes after the Colgan Air Flight 3407 accident and has received support from unions and air carriers to form professional standards and ethics committees, a code of ethics and safety risk management meetings.

The proposal is in line with the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 and the National Transportation Safety Board‘s recommendations for pilot professionalism, leadership and adherence to sterile cockpit regulations.

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DOE Monitors Energy Infrastructure as Hurricane Matthew Reaches Florida
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DOE Monitors Energy Infrastructure as Hurricane Matthew Reaches Florida


DOE Monitors Energy Infrastructure as Hurricane Matthew Reaches Florida

The Energy Department has deployed teams of emergency responders to monitor energy infrastructure as Hurricane Matthew hits Florida.

DOE said Thursday the department’s responders are communicating with other responders and the energy sector to support the government’s restoration efforts.

DOE works with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Defense and Interior; as well as state agencies and energy companies impacted by the hurricane.

Energy and utility organizations have prepared additional crews and equipment for emergency restoration work in case of outages.

Companies have also deployed sensing and monitoring technologies to support restoration efforts.

The Energy Department also is monitoring the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to confirm readiness should a major supply disruption occur.

NIH Issues $20M in Peripheral Nervous System Research Funds
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NIH Issues $20M in Peripheral Nervous System Research Funds


HealthThe National Institutes of Health will provide approximately $20 million in funds to support research of the peripheral nervous system as part of the agency’s Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions program.

NIH said Thursday it aims to help find new treatments for asthma, diabetes and nausea with additional goals to grow knowledge and address technology challenges.

Goals of the biological projects include the creation of anatomical and functional nervous system maps, while technology developments will help make or update measurement and manipulation tools for nerve-organ interactions and function isolations.

SPARC also awarded private sector and academic collaborative research grants in search of new therapeutic strategies for nervous system ailments.

James Anderson, an NIH division director, said the program sponsors multidisciplinary collaborations in an effort to push forward peripheral nervous system research and treatments.

“The SPARC program invests in high-risk, goal-driven projects to discover the underlying mechanisms and pathways by which the peripheral nervous system controls internal organ function,” said Gene Civillico, SPARC program manager.

“These awards have the potential to catalyze next-generation neuromodulation therapies that could bring improved specificity for patients over both drug therapies and previous-generation devices.”

NIH Common Fund will finance SPARC, which seeks to discover peripheral nerve functions to help identify new treatments for common conditions and diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and heart failure.

The program works to understand how peripheral nerve therapies affect a target organ’s cells to support the efficiency of treatments for an individual and the population at-large.

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White House Announces 29 New Digital Tools Under Opportunity Project
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White House Announces 29 New Digital Tools Under Opportunity Project


digital governmentThe White House has unveiled 29 new digital tools from nonprofit organizations, companies and students that support national priorities as part of President Barack Obama’s Opportunity Project.

The tools use federal and local data to address challenges identified by the departments of Labor, Transportation, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture and the Office of the Surgeon General, the White House said Thursday.

Organizations such as Great Schools, the University of Oregon, MapBox, Airbnb and FitBit collaborated with community members to create tools that aim to tackle issues such as unemployment, transit accessibility and quality of schoolsd.

The Education Department released the Civil Rights Data Collection Application Program Interfaces to provide users federal data on civil rights and course access, while DOL launched the OpenSkills API that features jobs, skills, training and wage data.

The White House also called on the public to develop new tools, offer data sources and invent ways to use open data to support communities.

The Commerce Department will lead the Opportunity Project and collaborate with other federal agencies to form data sets and establish core national priorities that will involve the technology sector’s input.

The Census Bureau updated opportunity.census.gov to help software developers, universities and community partners to access project data and existing tools as well as build new tools and form collaborations.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will share data, maps and code behind NOAA’s Climate Resilience Toolkit through the Opportunity Project.

The Opportunity Project launched in March 2016 with the goal to encourage the creation digital tools to aid the needs of communities through open data.

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Katrina McFarland, Lt. Gen. Michael Williamson Talk Army’s Acquisition Reform Efforts, Procurement Priorities
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Katrina McFarland, Lt. Gen. Michael Williamson Talk Army’s Acquisition Reform Efforts, Procurement Priorities


Katrina McFarland
Katrina McFarland

Katrina McFarland, acquisition chief at the U.S. Army; and Lt. Gen. Michael Williamson, principal military deputy to the service branch’s acquisition chief; have discussed acquisition reform initiatives and procurement priorities at the military branch, Defense News reported Wednesday.

Michael Williamson
Michael Williamson

McFarland told Defense News reporter Jen Judson in an interview about the involvement of the military branch’s senior leadership team in efforts to set up an agile acquisition process through the Army’s Requirements Oversight Council and Army Systems Acquisition Review Council amid evolving threats and adversaries.

She also offered updates on the Army’s rapid capabilities office and Strategic Portfolio Analysis Review.

Williamson told Defense News about some of the service branch’s procurement priorities such as the mobile protected fire power program for ground combat vehicles, long range precision fires, aircraft survivability, as well as position, navigation and timing.

He also cited the Army’s goal to bring more capability to its warfighters and efforts related to the Network Integration Evaluation.

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Mary Davie: GSA Updates IT Product & Service Navigator Tool for Acquisition Pros
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Mary Davie: GSA Updates IT Product & Service Navigator Tool for Acquisition Pros


online licensingThe General Services Administration‘s integrated technology services branch has redesigned its online purchasing support tool in an effort to help acquisition professionals discover and evaluate the department’s information technology and telecommunications services.

Mary Davie
Mary Davie

Mary Davie, GSA ITS assistant commissioner, said in a blog post published Wednesday the agency revamped its IT Solutions Navigator tool to help boost users’ review and selection experiences, offer best-option identification and optimize search results for IT and telecommunications offerings.

Davie noted that users can utilize the acquisition tool to streamline access to GSA’s IT product and service offerings, search for IT systems based on keywords, identify green IT product and service categories and link to information about contract vehicles and assisted services.

IT Solutions Navigator works to to help government agencies find IT products and services online and fulfill demand for an automated decision support tool that works to narrow down acquisition product choices through GSA contracts.

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GAO Asks OMB to Study Inclusion of Land Mobile Radio in Category Mgmt Effort
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GAO Asks OMB to Study Inclusion of Land Mobile Radio in Category Mgmt Effort


TRadioTowerhe Government Accountability Office has recommended the Office of Management and Budget study the potential inclusion of land mobile radio equipment in its category management initiative.

GAO said Wednesday it examined federal agencies’ LMR interoperability and procurement practices through a survey and found half of respondents cited the use of proprietary features and encryption and the scarce investment in LMR systems pose a roadblock to goals.

Forty-percent percent of agencies purchase equipment from pre-approved vendors through a sole-source procurement, GAO said.

“While this approach can facilitate cost savings and interoperability, many of these agencies reported purchasing equipment through multiple agreements, a practice that can reduce these benefits,” the government watchdog noted.

OMB has required agencies to use category management in order to handle spending across government for goods and services except for LMR equipment, according to GAO.

“By including LMR equipment in OMB’s category management initiative, the government could more fully leverage its aggregate buying power to obtain the most advantageous terms and conditions for LMR procurements,” GAO said.

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