/
DoD Unveils New Call and Outreach Center for Confidential Peer Support; Wendy Lakso Comments
Published on
DoD Unveils New Call and Outreach Center for Confidential Peer Support; Wendy Lakso Comments


mobile appThe Defense Department has opened a new call and outreach center that will provide confidential peer support to active duty national guardsmen, reservists, service members and family members via 24/7 chat, phone and text.

DoD said Tuesday the “BeThere” peer support call and outreach center will have staff members that include veteran service members as well as family members of veterans who will look to support callers on inquiries regarding career and general life problems.

“We are honored to support our service members and their families as they get connected to needed resources through the support of those who have also served our country,” said Wendy Lakso, the Defense Suicide Prevention Office’s director for outreach and education.

Triwest Healthcare Alliance oversees the administration of the BeThere Call and Outreach Center in 50 states and offers worldwide service via live chat, DoD noted.

“This unique population deserves and will receive our full focus in offering high-quality, easily accessible assistance,” added Dave McIntyre, TriWest Healthcare Alliance president and CEO.

/
Arati Prabhakar: DARPA Aims to Leverage Space Domain Through Experimental Spaceplane Program, Robotics
Published on
Arati Prabhakar: DARPA Aims to Leverage Space Domain Through Experimental Spaceplane Program, Robotics


Arati Prabhakar
Arati Prabhakar

Arati Prabhakar, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has said DARPA has launched programs that seek to make the space environment a “real-time operational domain” in support of military missions, intelligence and other national security efforts, DoD News reported Tuesday.

Cheryl Pellerin writes Prabhakar said at the 4th annual Defense One Summit that DARPA has introduced the second phase of its Experimental Spaceplane program that seeks to expedite the launch of satellite systems and other assets into space.

The XS-1 program “is a reusable first stage that’s designed to be able to put 3,000 or 5,000 pounds into low earth orbit … at a very low cost point — a few million dollars — but very significantly the objective on the DARPA program is by the end of the program to fly that spacecraft 10 times in 10 days,” Prabhakar said during a conversation with Christopher Mims, technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal, at the event.

She also discussed DARPA’s work on robotics systems designed to facilitate repairs and inspections of space assets at geostationary Earth orbit through the Phoenix program, according to the report.

/
Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab Researchers Publish New Study on Thermodynamic Scale of Metastability
Published on
Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab Researchers Publish New Study on Thermodynamic Scale of Metastability


research and development RDResearchers at the Energy Department‘s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have released a new study that quantifies the thermodynamic scale of metastability on approximately 30,000 known materials.

LLNL said Friday the scale helps transform the design and creation of next-generation materials to be used for applications such as semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.

“Materials design and development is truly a slow process but is now being greatly accelerated by the fact that we can compute properties of compounds before they are made,” added Gerbrand Ceder, corresponding author of the research paper.

“What we’ve done is large-scale data mining on nearly 30,000 observed materials to explicitly measure the thermodynamic scale of metastability, as a function of a wide variety of parameters, like chemistry and composition, which inorganic chemists and materials scientists can use to build intuition,” said Wenhao Sun, a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

/
GAO Asks NNSA to Establish Program Mgmt, Training Standards
Published on
GAO Asks NNSA to Establish Program Mgmt, Training Standards


Nuclear powerplantThe Government Accountability Office has recommended the National Nuclear Security Administration develop new standards for program management functions and a training program for program managers.

GAO said Monday it found a lack of policies for responsibility assignment, authority delegation and required competence for program managers, as well as a lack of training programs.

The government watchdog noted that federal internal control standards cover principles related to functions of program managers and the Project Management Institute’s program management standard is the generally accepted practice for most programs.

These standards require organizations to develop program plans, understand stakeholder demands and establish processes to oversee program management.

Internal control standards also call on management to train staff in the ways of both program and project management.

“In the absence of a training program for program managers, NNSA may have difficulty developing and maintaining a cadre of professional, effective and capable program managers,” GAO said.

“Addressing these gaps would help NNSA better achieve its critical missions and goals, and better maintain a cadre of professional, effective program managers,” GAO added.

/
White House to Host Discussion on Data Science’s Role in Electric Vehicle Deployment
Published on
White House to Host Discussion on Data Science’s Role in Electric Vehicle Deployment


bolt-evThe White House will host on Nov. 29 a discussion on how data collection and integration efforts could help facilitate the deployment of electric vehicles and charging stations.

The White House’s office of science and technology policy and domestic policy council will collaborate with the Energy Department and four of DOE’s national laboratories to conduct the Electric Vehicle Datathon, according to a blog post published Friday.

The invitation-only event will convene EV experts, software developers and data science professionals to discuss best practices on data collection, data sets that could be derived from the Transportation Department’s Alternative Fuel Corridors and other programs, and information that could help local planners prepare their communities for EV deployment.

Austin Brown, assistant director for clean energy and transportation at OSTP, co-wrote the post with Candace Vahlsing, senior policy adviser for energy and climate change.

Navy Completes F-35B Weapon Load Tests On USS America
Published on
Navy Completes F-35B Weapon Load Tests On USS America


f-35b-weapons-load-testingThe U.S. Navy has concluded weapon load tests for Lockheed Martin-built F-35B onboard the USS America amphibious assault ship as part of the aircraft’s third developmental test phase.

The Patuxent River Integrated Test Force assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23 conducted shipboard launch-and-recovery expansion tests to assess the F-35B’s flying qualities at various aircraft weights, the Navy said Monday.

The team also performed ordnance separation and live-fire tests as well as evaluation of the takeoff and landing worst-case scenarios and endpoints.

“We’re here to augment the existing weight center of gravity effects of the aircraft to expand the fleet envelope wind over deck, and different lateral symmetry and asymmetry configurations,” said Gabriella Spehn, an F-35 weapons engineer at the Pax River ITF.

“The only way to increase the endpoints is to test on board a ship for sink rates and high sea states, which is the next phase of testing after land-based testing is complete,” Spehn added.

Pilots performed the tests under various environmental conditions to assess the aircraft’s limitations and capabilities, according to the Navy.

Before embarking on USS America, the team conducted load tests on land after the warship’s Weapons Department assembled 72 laser-guided Guide Bomb Units 12 and 40 satellite-guided GBU-32s.

/
Maj. Gen. James Dickinson Nominated to Lead Army Space & Missile Defense Command
Published on
Maj. Gen. James Dickinson Nominated to Lead Army Space & Missile Defense Command


James Dickinson
James Dickinson

Maj. Gen. James Dickinson, chief of staff of the U.S. Strategic Command, has been nominated to succeed the retiring Lt. Gen. David Mann as head of the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command, waaytv.com reported Tuesday.

Jeff Martin writes Dickinson, who was also endorsed for promotion to the rank of lieutenant general, would also lead the Army Forces Strategic Command and the Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense once he receives Senate confirmation.

In his current role, Dickinson serves as principal adviser to STRATCOM commander and deputy chief and oversees the operations of the command staff through policy development and implementation.

He previously served as director for test at the Missile Defense Agency and deputy to the inspector general within the office of the Army secretary.

Dickinson joined the service branch in 1985 and held several leadership roles such as commanding general of the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command in Texas and head of air and missile defense forces in the U.S. Pacific Command, U.S. European Command and U.S. Central Command in support of various missions.

/
Congress OKs GSA’s $137M Des Moines, Iowa Courthouse Project
Published on
Congress OKs GSA’s $137M Des Moines, Iowa Courthouse Project


JusticeCongress has authorized the General Services Administration to utilize a $136.6 million budget for the construction, design and site acquisition of the new courthouse in Des Moines to include nine courtrooms and 13 chambers.

GSA said Tuesday it will use the opportunity to support economic development efforts as well as balance the needs of the courts and help reduce the government’s environmental footprint.

The agency has sought proposals for a new Des Moines-based site in April that will serve as the location for the new courthouse which will replace the currently used courthouse in downtown Des Moines

“We’re extremely proud of the team of professionals who are working to bring this economic catalyst to Des Moines,” said Jason Klumb, a GSA regional administrator.

GSA added that it continues work on the site selection for the new facility and construction will commence in 2019.

/
Jane Rathbun: DoD Seeks to Streamline Business IT System Acquisition Through New Guidance
Published on
Jane Rathbun: DoD Seeks to Streamline Business IT System Acquisition Through New Guidance


cloudITThe Defense Department plans to release new guidance that seeks to streamline the procurement process for business information technology systems, Federal News Radio reported Monday.

Jane Rathbun, deputy director for defense business systems, said at the Federal IT Acquisition Summit in Washington that the guidance would require defense officials in charge of the development of business systems requirements to collaborate with acquisition professionals, Jared Serbu writes.

Rathbun also noted that the guidance would ask DoD personnel to consult industry representatives before they kick off the acquisition process for such IT platforms as well as facilitate the adoption of commercially available business tools for configuration.

The guidance would also establish a “configuration control board” that would decide on proposals that seek to modify commercial software to meet DoD-specific requirements as well as separate software purchases from hosting in order to allow future IT systems to operate in shared cloud platforms, she added, according to the report.

/
GSA Transfers Michael J. Dillon Federal Courthouse to City of Buffalo
Published on
GSA Transfers Michael J. Dillon Federal Courthouse to City of Buffalo


partnershipThe General Services Administration has transferred ownership of the vacant Michael J. Dillon Federal Courthouse to the City of Buffalo in New York through a deed-signing ceremony.

GSA said Tuesday Buffalo will transform the nine-story building into a police and fire headquarters.

“The Dillon Courthouse sits along Niagara Square and was in need of a reuse plan that took into consideration the unique history of this city center and fits the future needs of the community,” said Rep. Brian Higgins (D-New York).

Higgins added Buffalo’s future public safety center will support partnerships with nearby city, state, federal and county resources.

Common Council President Darius Pridgen said the consolidation of police and fire headquarters will help address maintenance and overhead costs.

Buffalo’s Department of Public Works will seek proposals for courthouse renovations and upgrades that will occur from Spring 2017 through Sept. 1, 2017, GSA noted.

The Dillon courthouse has been vacant since November 2011, when the Robert H. Jackson Courthouse opened at Niagara Square.

Buffalo sent an application to the Justice Department in April 2016 to gain ownership of the courthouse under the direction of Mayor Byron Brown.

1 … 2,416 2,417 2,418 2,419 2,420 … 2,703