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David Bassett: Better Buying 3.0 Tenets Aid Ground Combat Systems Modernization Efforts
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David Bassett: Better Buying 3.0 Tenets Aid Ground Combat Systems Modernization Efforts


David_Bassett
Brig. Gen David Bassett

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. David Bassett, program executive officer for ground combat systems, has discussed how a Defense Department mandate supports modernization at the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime Supplier Conference and Expo.

Bassett, who oversees the service branch’s $80 billion combat vehicle fleet that includes Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Strykers, said the use of tenets detailed in Better Buying 3.0 will help continue the modernization of vehicles despite “leaner” budgets, according to a DLA release posted Thursday.

“We’re going to do smart acquisition and contracting. We’re going to put the right incentives in place… Smart acquisition is about figuring out what’s important to you and prioritizing,” said Bassett.

He also noted that the contracting process and manufacturing lead times should not be a determining factor in whether or not servicemembers will receive equipment necessary to accomplish missions.

Bassett said updated Abrams tank and BFVs currently undergo testing and an armored multipurpose vehicle prototype will be unveiled while a first Stryker vehicle is slated for delivery by Christmas to support the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.

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NGA, NSF Offer 3-D Digital Elevation Models of Alaska Under ArcticDEM Project
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NGA, NSF Offer 3-D Digital Elevation Models of Alaska Under ArcticDEM Project


NGA, NSF Offer 3-D Digital Elevation Models of Alaska Under ArcticDEM ProjectThe National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Science Foundation have unveiled a new batch of 3-D digital elevation models of Alaska from the ArcticDEM project that seeks to foster coordination of national efforts in the Arctic region.

The release of the topographic maps serves to support decision-making on activities in the Arctic as part of a White House initiative, NGA said Thursday.

DigitalGlobe provided two-meter-resolution images as basis for the models, which work to provide a detailed coverage of the Arctic for polar mapping.

“The models will play an important role in informing policy and national security decisions,” said NGA Director Robert Cardillo.

“They may also provide critical data and context for decisions related to climate resilience, land management, sustainable development, safe recreation and scientific research.”

NGA said it will release 3-D models of the entire Arctic region in 2017.

The agency and NSF worked with the White House’s office of science and technology policy, University of Minnesota, University of Illinois, Ohio State University and Cornell University to establish an unclassified, public portal that hosts DEMs and related information on the Arctic.

Esri manages the site, which also includes web maps, map viewers, DEM exploratory services, nautical charts, infographics and a downloadable Pan-Arctic map.

The goal of the White House Arctic Initiative is to expand understanding of the Arctic, engage with residents and create products and services that will work to aid federal, state and local activities within the region.

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Henning Schulzrinne to Return to FCC as CTO, Senior Tech Adviser; Tom Wheeler Comments
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Henning Schulzrinne to Return to FCC as CTO, Senior Tech Adviser; Tom Wheeler Comments


Henning Schulzrinne
Henning Schulzrinne

Henning Schulzrinne, who previously served as chief technology officer at the Federal Communications Commission, will return to FCC as CTO and senior adviser for technology at the agency’s office of strategic planning and policy analysis.

Schulzrinne will succeed FCC CTO Scott Jordan, who is set to leave the agency in December, FCC said Wednesday.

“With complex technical challenges such as broadband privacy and confronting robocalls and spoofing, I am grateful both that Henning has agreed to return and that he and Scott will overlap for a time,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.

Schulzrinne joined FCC in 2011 as chief technologist and has continued as a part-time adviser when he left the agency in 2014.

He contributed to the development of the voice over internet protocol and Session Initiation Protocol and currently serves as Levy professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Jordan was appointed CTO at FCC in 2014 after he served as computer science professor at the University of California in Irvine.

Wheeler said Jordan has agreed to extend his stay at FCC to continue his work on broadband privacy and set-top box proceedings.

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White House, DoT, NHTSA Issue Traffic Fatality Data ‘Call to Action’
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White House, DoT, NHTSA Issue Traffic Fatality Data ‘Call to Action’


RoadwayThe Transportation Department, White House and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have issued a call to action that seeks to engage stakeholders in efforts to address the 7.2 percent increase of traffic fatalities in 2015 through the use of data.

NHTSA will give access to its Fatality Analysis Reporting System to safety partners, government officials, technologists, data scientists and policy experts that can help identify factors that led to the increase, DoT said Monday.

A White House release stated the joint effort wants organizations, technology companies and the public to analyze NHTSA’s data and help determine the potential impact of economic conditions, climate change, driving behavior and public health on traffic-related accidents.

The White House added mobility analytics company StreetLight Data; location intelligence provider CARTO; traffic and navigation app company Waze; and mapping platform Mapbox have made separate data sharing and tool development commitments to support the call to action.

NHTSA said the rise in fatalities could be caused by increased driving due to job growth and low fuel prices and that human factors contribute to majority of the accidents.

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Army Materiel Command, Training and Doctrine Command Co-Host Innovation Summit 3
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Army Materiel Command, Training and Doctrine Command Co-Host Innovation Summit 3


InnovationLightBulbThe U.S. Army Materiel Command and the Army Training and Doctrine Command have co-hosted the Army Innovation Summit 3 held on Aug. 16 and 17 at the College of William and Mary in support of a long-term Innovation Campaign Plan focused on the service branch’s modernization.

The Army Research Laboratory said Tuesday military and civilian leaders across the military body have worked to identify opportunities to impact and innovate the Army materiel life cycle through the help of industry and academia partners.

“Throughout the summit the focus was on innovation … When you think about what’s next, you have to come back to disruptive innovation and the breakthrough domain; that is where ARL lives,” said Phil Perconti, ARL director.

“We are very much about transitioning fundamental understanding, foundational understanding of the way you take science and technology, and apply it to Army problems.”

ARL said it featured three exhibits on cooperative guard, advanced protection technologies and fuel cell powered Stalker XE unmanned aerial systems which were among the highlighted collaborative programs and across the Army science and technology community.

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Tiffany Hixson: GSA Aims to Shed Light on Agencies’ ‘Other’ Professional Services Procurement
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Tiffany Hixson: GSA Aims to Shed Light on Agencies’ ‘Other’ Professional Services Procurement


Tiffany Hixson
Tiffany Hixson

The General Services Administration has launched a strategy that aims to help government agencies change the way they procure and manage professional services, Federal News Radio reported Wednesday.

Jared Serbu writes GSA has found that agencies spend approximately $63 billion annually on professional services and that up to 40 percent of that acquisitions are labeled as “others.”

“We have a team of folks who have been rolling up their sleeves and working with the agencies to work through what’s in that other category with a goal of understanding if we need to have some other type of product service codes, some other type of coding process in the future so we have more clarity of what that spend is so we can really establish a baseline of what that spend looks like,” said Tiffany Hixson, a professional services category executive at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service.

Hixson said the plan to track the 40 percent of the annual professional services spending is part of the Governmentwide Professional Services Category Strategic Plan, Serbu reports.

GSA’s category management professional services group will accept industry comments on the strategic plan through Sept. 15.

DoD’s Terry Halvorsen: Pentagon Could Miss 2017 Windows 10 Migration Goal
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DoD’s Terry Halvorsen: Pentagon Could Miss 2017 Windows 10 Migration Goal


Terry Halvorsen
Terry Halvorsen

Terry Halvorsen, chief information officer of the Defense Department, does not expect the agency to fulfill its January 2017 goal for Windows 10 transition, Federal News Radio reported Thursday.

Scott Maucione writes the U.S. Army and Air Force also previously suggested they might miss the deadline for migrating to Microsoft‘s latest version of its operating system.

“I don’t think most people understand how hard it is to get to Windows 10 single operating system in a DoD of 4 million plus,” Halvorsen told AFCEA’s Joint Warfighter IT Day Thursday in Vienna, Virginia.

“Plus actually interacting with some of our big customers that also have to be in places where we can talk seamlessly,” he said, the station reports.

Back in April, Halvorsen said the Pentagon and military services believe they could meet the January 2017 deadline.

He also said in February that 4 million seats in the department will transition to the Windows 10 operating system.

Roadblocks faced by Pentagon in its Windows 10 migration goal are that its systems are interconnected and the programs of record have a longer planning cycle, Maucione reports.

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CBO: License Prohibition Bill for Export of Commercial Aircraft to Iran Would Increase Administrative Costs at Treasury, Export-Import Bank
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CBO: License Prohibition Bill for Export of Commercial Aircraft to Iran Would Increase Administrative Costs at Treasury, Export-Import Bank


budget analysis reviewThe Congressional Budget Office has said a Senate bill that would require the Treasury Department and the Export-Import Bank to submit annual reports on the sale of commercial planes and aircraft parts to Iran would result in an increase in annual administrative costs at both institutions by less than $500,000.

CBO said in the report published Wednesday the Stop U.S. Support for State Sponsors of Terrorism Act would result in the application of pay-as-you-go procedures since its passage could raise direct spending and revenues due to potential expansion of prohibited forms of trade with Iran.

According to the report, the proposed legislation seeks to amend the existing law in order to restrict the Treasury to issue licenses for the export of commercial passenger planes to Iran and includes a private-sector mandate as stated in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act since the bill contains a prohibition that would affect U.S. aircraft producers.

“CBO estimates that the aggregate cost of the mandate would probably exceed the annual threshold established in UMRA for private-sector mandates ($154 million in 2016, adjusted annually for inflation),” the report said.

CBO added that the enactment of the bill would not result in on-budget deficit growth “in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027” and would not affect the Export-Import Bank’s lending operations.

US Marines Complete AMRAAM Operational Test Missile Shots Aboard F-35B; Richard Rusnok Comments
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US Marines Complete AMRAAM Operational Test Missile Shots Aboard F-35B; Richard Rusnok Comments


F-35AThe U.S. Marine Corps has completed a series of operational test missile shots of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile onboard the F-35B aircraft.

Three F-35B, 75 U.S. Marines from Edwards Air Force Base in California and 21 test personnel from the JSF Operational Test Team at Edwards performed the testing at Eglin AFB in Florida from Aug. 9 to Sept. 1, DVIDS said Tuesday.

“Due to the commonality of the F-35 mission systems and weapons, everything we learned during this detachment directly translates to combat capabilities for the Marine Corps, our sister services and partner countries,” said Lt. Col. Richard Rusnok, VMX-1 F-35B Detachment officer-in-charge.

The employment scenarios were intended to validate and develop tactics, techniques and procedures for the three F-35 variants.

During the testing, the detachment performed engineering runs prior to firing five AIM-120 missiles and one Guided Bomb Unit-12 LASER guided bomb, and the team designed air-to-air and air-to-ground scenarios.

The team fired two missiles on two separate set-ups on the first day of live fire testing and dropped a GBU-12 from an F-35B while targeting a QF-16 drone during another test mission.

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OPM Holds Life Insurance Selection Event for Federal Employees; Beth Cobert Comments
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OPM Holds Life Insurance Selection Event for Federal Employees; Beth Cobert Comments


Beth Cobert
Beth Cobert

The Office of Personnel Management has kicked off a life insurance coverage election event on Thursday through Sept. 30 to help eligible employees choose the type of insurance for them and their family members.

The Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance Open Season provides Option C coverage selection for federal employees through the human resources office of the workers’ respective agencies, OPM said Wednesday.

“This Open Season will give eligible enrollees an opportunity to reassess their insurance needs and select the appropriate amount of coverage that is right for them and their families,” said Beth Cobert, OPM acting director.

Coverage will take effect on Oct. 1, 2017 for most biweekly employees and on Oct. 14, 2017 for Postal employees as there will occur a one-year delay for coverage chosen through the September 2016 FEGLI Open Season.

During the one-year waiting period, enrollees will not have to pay for their new coverage and will only begin payment once their new coverage becomes effective.

All rules for continuing FEGLI into retirement will apply to employees who will retire in October 2022 or later.

One requirement for retiring employees is that they must have the coverage throughout their last five years of government service, or their periods of service if they retire with less than five years of service, to apply for coverage.

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