/
NASA to Discontinue Space Station Live Program in September
Published on
NASA to Discontinue Space Station Live Program in September


International Space StationNASA plans to remove the Space Station Live program from its television network in September as part of changes in the agency’s coverage of International Space Station activities and various human spaceflight projects.

The agency said Saturday NASA TV will continue to provide live coverage of ISS spacecraft launches, dockings, landings, spacewalks and briefings as well as weekly highlights of life on ISS through the short-format Space to Ground program.

NASA added its social media accounts will feature stories from ISS, the Orion spacecraft program, other human spaceflight projects and behind-the-scenes updates on technology development efforts under the Journey to Mars initiative.

The Johnson Space Center will also provide weekly video highlights through a news release list that online audiences can subscribe to, NASA noted.

NASA added its ISS blog will continue to post research and operations updates while rundowns of station crew activities will be detailed on the in-orbit status report blog.

/
Booz Allen’s Henry Obering: MDA’s R&D Efforts Face Budget Issues
Published on
Booz Allen’s Henry Obering: MDA’s R&D Efforts Face Budget Issues


MissileDefenseHenry Obering, an executive vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton and a former Missile Defense Agency director, has said MDA faces budget constraints that could impact the agency’s research and development efforts, Air Force Times reported Saturday.

Phillip Swarts writes Obering told a conference hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington the potential budget shortage could affect U.S. defenses against threats posed by North Korea, Iran, China and Russia.

“We have to be able to overcome things like advance countermeasures, maneuvering warheads, hypersonic vehicles and much more,” Obering said.

The retired U.S. Air Force general added the Defense Department should invest in technologies such as space-based targeting and tracking systems as well as directed energy weapons to engage adversaries’ missiles.

/
GSA Unveils Playbook to Help Agencies Develop Enterprise Risk Mgmt Program
Published on
GSA Unveils Playbook to Help Agencies Develop Enterprise Risk Mgmt Program


GSAThe General Services Administration has introduced a document designed to help federal agencies create an enterprise risk management program in an effort to comply with the requirements of the Office of Management and Budget’s revised Circular A-123.

OMB’s updated circular seeks to outline federal managers’ responsibilities in the management of risks and internal controls within an agency, GSA said Friday.

GSA unveiled the Playbook: Enterprise Risk Management in collaboration with the Partnership for Public Service.

The Office of Executive Councils asked risk practitioners and representatives from at least 20 federal agencies to collaborate on an interagency effort to develop the playbook that seeks to show and define practices on how to implement an ERM program within an agency.

The document outlines seven steps on how to create an ERM model, such as consideration of the context, risk identification, prioritization of risks, evaluation and analysis of risks, risk response, development of alternatives, and continuous risk assessment and identification.

/
Navy Rear Adm. Jeffrey Tussler Named OPNAV Future Plans Director
Published on
Navy Rear Adm. Jeffrey Tussler Named OPNAV Future Plans Director


Jeff Trussler
Jeff Trussler

Rear Adm. Jeffrey Tussler, commander of the U.S. Navy‘s Undersea Warfighting Development Center in Connecticut, has been assigned director of future plans at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and CNO Adm. John Richardson announced the flag officer assignment in a Defense Department release published Friday.

Tussler previously served as deputy director of analysis and requirements at OPNAV, where he managed a $200 million budget and supervised seven project managers for the service branch’s advanced maritime technology development efforts.

He also previously led strategic planning and crisis management initiatives at the Joint Staff as deputy director of operations and assistant deputy director of regional operations there.

Before that, he served as undersea warfare commander for the U.S. Sixth Fleet as well as deputy director of the submarine/nuclear power distribution division at the Navy Personnel Command and commanding officer on the USS Maryland battleship.

/
NIST Cybersecurity Center to Utilize Standards-Based Strategies
Published on
NIST Cybersecurity Center to Utilize Standards-Based Strategies


cyberwarfareThe National Institute of Standards and Technology‘s National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence will work to address cybersecurity concerns of businesses through standards-based strategies using commercially available technologies.

A Mobile Application Single Sign-on project draft published July 25 on the NIST website says NCCoE will collaborate with industry, academy and government experts as well as members of the Public Safety and First Responder community and vendors of cybersecurity systems to build integrated, open, end-to-end reference designs.

NCCoe will also aim to deliver single sign-on capacity for native, web and browser-based applications.

“Mobile platforms offer a significant operational advantage to public safety stakeholders by giving them access to mission critical information and services while deployed in the field, during training and exercises, or participating in the day-to-day business and preparations during non-emergency periods,” the notice states.

The report added the project will work to explore multi-factor authenticators as future networks are brought online, as well as build on an interoperable system built to accept different types of authenticators for access to online systems.

/
Mary Davie: GSA Adds Tools to IT Schedule 70 to Facilitate Price Comparisons for Federal Buyers
Published on
Mary Davie: GSA Adds Tools to IT Schedule 70 to Facilitate Price Comparisons for Federal Buyers


Mary Davie
Mary Davie

The General Services Administration has introduced several tools to the Information Technology Schedule 70 contract vehicle in an effort to update GSA’s Multiple Award Schedules program and streamline the acquisition process for federal agencies.

Mary Davie, assistant commissioner of the integrated technology service office at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, wrote in a blog post published Friday that the agency launched the Competitive Pricing Initiative that works to address price variability in identical products offered through MAS contracts.

GSA also gathered Universal Price Codes and asked contractors to standardize part numbers in order to help government buyers compare prices and products from various vendors, Davie said.

Other tools that the agency implemented to facilitate price comparisons and negotiations for federal buyers, MAS contractors and contracting officers include the Horizontal Pricing Analysis application, GSA Price Point platform and the Formatted Product Tool.

She also mentioned GSA’s plan to conduct a pilot program to implement the Transactional Data Reporting rule, which aims to require federal contractors to report transactional acquisition data and remove disclosure and tracking requirements for vendors.

“With the new Transactional Data Reporting pilot we’ll start to collect and share more information on what the government buys and how much we pay for products and services,” Davie wrote.

GSA Increases City Pair Program Carriers to 8 for FY 2017; Tom Sharpe Comments
Published on
GSA Increases City Pair Program Carriers to 8 for FY 2017; Tom Sharpe Comments


Tom Sharpe
Tom Sharpe

The General Services Administration has awarded eight U.S. carriers a set of air travel contracts to provide discounted fares for federal government officials.

Carriers will offer pre-negotiated and firm-fixed-price airfare rates to government officials under GSA’s fiscal year 2017 City Pair Program that had seven participants in FY 2016, GSA said Friday.

GSA’s City Pair program aims to help the federal government decide how it prefers to book air travel and avoid cancellation or change fees.

The 2017 rates will take effect on Oct. 1.

Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Tom Sharpe said the program’s goal is to help agencies in getting “the best possible price for government travelers and passing those savings on to taxpayers.”

GSA selected the carriers based on the availability of non-stop service, total number of flights, flight availability, average elapsed flight time, jet service availability and price of service.

/
Commerce Dept Forms Trade Finance Advisory Council
Published on
Commerce Dept Forms Trade Finance Advisory Council


Commerce-DepartmentThe Commerce Department has launched a new federal advisory committee that will work to propose ways for U.S. exporters to access trade capital.

The Trade Finance Advisory Council will advise the commerce secretary on the development of forums to help stakeholders discuss export challenges, identify ways to address financial barriers and recommend programs to advance export and trade finance education initiatives, Commerce said Friday.

The establishment of the committee is part of the administration’s National Export Initiative strategy meant to help exporters deliver trade information and assistance to partners.

The commerce secretary will appoint up to 20 private-sector individuals who would serve for two years on the council.

/
Maj. Gen. Stephen Clark Assigned as Air Force Strategic Plans Director
Published on
Maj. Gen. Stephen Clark Assigned as Air Force Strategic Plans Director


$headshot-Stephen-Clark
Stephen Clark

Maj. Gen. Stephen Clark, a former officer stationed at U.S. Special Operations Command, has been assigned to the strategic plans director position in support of the U.S. Air Force‘s deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements.

Clark will transition to the new position from his prior role as Socom’s director of force structure requirements, resources and strategic assessments, the Defense Department said Friday.

Clark has served as executive officer to both the Air Force Special Operations Command vice commander and commander, chief of SOF contingency plans and programs, senior USSOCOM liaison officer to the National Counterterrorism Center and deputy commanding general for the Joint Special Operations Command in his 28 years of active-duty service.

He is a command pilot with more than 3,300 hours of flight with 13 different aircraft and has flown in combat missions in Somalia, Bosnia, Haiti, Afghanistan and Iraq.

/
Ashton Carter: Commitment of Service Members Key to Military Modernization
Published on
Ashton Carter: Commitment of Service Members Key to Military Modernization


Ashton Carter
Ashton Carter

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said the commitment of all service members is key to achieve the Force of the Future initiatives to modernize the U.S. military, DoD News reported Friday.

Terri Moon Cronk writes Carter said at the Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois that he welcomes insights from service members to help develop Force of the Future ideas.

Carter also discussed Force of the Future initiatives that address technology investments, force recruitment, personal development, parental leave policies and the participation of women in combat and other military specialties, the report said.

“It doesn’t mean that everybody meets standards, and everybody gets selected, but the principle of the all-volunteer force is we get to pick and choose,” Carter said.

1 … 2,438 2,439 2,440 2,441 2,442 … 2,632