Materials Discovery Research Center to Open at Ames National Laboratory
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Materials Discovery Research Center to Open at Ames National Laboratory

The Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory has announced it will establish the ML-Accelerated Materials Discovery Center for research focused on identifying and designing new magnetic and superconducting components for energy applications.

The center will build upon the computer codes the laboratory’s researchers have developed and indicated effective and rapid structure search methods through artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, Ames said Thursday.

The new center will tap exascale computers at other national laboratories to find the right materials from the large and complex list of potential choices, the Iowa State University-operated laboratory added.

To harness the various processors and hardware of the exascale computers, reputed as among the most powerful in the world, the center will use software from the Exascale Computing Project, a joint effort of the Energy Department’s Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory will collaborate with Ames on the center, which will draw funding from the Energy Department’s Office of Science.

In the private sector, SandboxAQ is using AI to discover and develop new compounds and chemistries that could be combined to produce new materials for potential use by the U.S. Army and other defense and government customers, Jen Sovada, the company’s president of global public sector and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, told Federal News Network recently.

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Mark Lee on Efforts of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service to Improve Procurement Acquisition Lead Time
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Mark Lee on Efforts of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service to Improve Procurement Acquisition Lead Time

The General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service is working to streamline the government procurement process through several efforts, including reducing the procurement acquisition lead time, or PALT, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

Mark Lee, assistant commissioner for the Office of Policy and Compliance at FAS, told FNN in an interview how the Commercial Platforms program is helping GSA improve PALT.

“One is our recent award of the Commercial Platforms program, which is like the second generation of the program. Basically this streamlines for purchase card holders the buying process to access commercial online marketplaces,” Lee said. “So we’ve pre-negotiated agreements across the federal government with eight commercial marketplaces, and we’ve seen significant time savings for our customers.”

He cited the use of oral presentations and how it helps GSA facilitate the source selection process as part of its PALT improvement efforts.

“A lot of times we’re using oral and video presentations to do technical evaluation. So rather than get a 200 page volume of technical material for a source selection panel to read through — it’s voluminous — we invite people to come in and they do about typically a 90 minute presentation,” Lee commented. “We’ve seen the use of oral video presentations have dramatically streamlined the source selection process. We needed a better experience for industry partners and this helped us streamline getting to contract award.”

The GSA official also discussed FAS’ efforts to update GSA Advantage, particularly the FAS catalog platform, and initiatives to improve the user experience.

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Military Officials Discuss Space Warfare at Recent AFA Event
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Military Officials Discuss Space Warfare at Recent AFA Event

Rear Adm. Heidi Berg, the deputy commander of Fleet Cyber Command, recently underscored the need to provide credible counterspace capabilities as a deterrence to China and Russia, which are developing counterspace technologies themselves.

Berg, who also serves as deputy commander of the Navy Space Command, made the remark on Monday at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference, where she attended as part of a panel featuring U.S. Space Force and U.S. Navy leaders who discussed the increasing importance of space operations, according to the USSF on Wednesday.

In Berg’s opinion, space warfare is currently in the same state cyber warfare was in 10 years ago, and integrating space into military operations should be guided by lessons learned from how cyber was integrated into operations.

Also part of the panel was Air Marshal Paul Godfrey, assistant chief of space operations for future concepts and partnerships, who underscored the need for a responsible manner of conducting space operations.

The Space Force official advocated for “reversible effects” that would prevent the proliferation of debris in orbit.

“I think collectively, we all need to [have] policy discussions,” Godfrey said.

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DLA & Space Force to Advance Readiness-Level Logistics Support
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DLA & Space Force to Advance Readiness-Level Logistics Support

The Defense Logistics Agency and the U.S. Space Force will establish a new framework for logistics support and develop metrics to measure performance in parts availability and order response time, among other areas, under a new agreement.

In a statement published Thursday, Greg Ogorek, national account manager to the Space Force at DLA, said the metrics will help DLA better meet supply requirements, particularly for parts that have no producer or are in low demand.

“It’s those hard-to-get parts keeping weapons systems down that we need to better position ourselves from a stock perspective and predict what’s going to be needed to keep the mission going,” Ogorek noted.

Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly, head of DLA, and Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, chief operations officer at the Space Force, signed the agreement Wednesday at a conference in Maryland.

According to Simerly, the agreement establishes the standards for optimizing the effectiveness of the agency’s logistics support for the military branch worldwide.

The agreement will also create an Executive Steering Group for the general officer level and a Partnership Agreement Council for colonels and below.

“With these working groups, we’ll bring together leaders from both sides and all the supporting actors to go over topics and work around emerging concerns as we agree on future endeavors,” Ogorek stated.

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DOD, OMB Urged to Implement FOCI-Related Procurement Laws
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DOD, OMB Urged to Implement FOCI-Related Procurement Laws

The Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy missed the deadline to implement laws designed to protect national security from the risks brought by consulting services providers that serve potential U.S. adversaries such as China, according to the Government Accountability Office.

From 2019 to 2023, Congress enacted five laws to revise federal acquisition regulations and policies to address the potential risks related to organizational conflicts of interests and foreign ownership, control or influence linked to the awarding of contracts to consultants but the DOD and the OFFP have yet to implement three of the said laws, namely the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act Section 847, the Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act and the FY 2024 NDAA Section 812, GAO said in a report published on Thursday.

The government watchdog found that the DOD and the Department of Homeland Security accounted for over half of the $500 billion spent on consulting services contracts from FY 2019 to 2023, raising national security concerns as the contracts involved work related to defense analyses or intelligence.

To address the issues, GAO recommended that the secretary of defense take steps to ensure prompt updates are made in response to legislation on how acquisition personnel use FOCI information when awarding or modifying contracts and that the OMB director ensure prompt updates are made to the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

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House Unveils Artificial Intelligence Policy
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House Unveils Artificial Intelligence Policy

The House Administration Committee and the Chief Administrative Officer for the House of Representatives have announced the implementation of a new policy that seeks to establish a framework for the use of artificial intelligence in the lower chamber while addressing cybersecurity risks.

The committee said Thursday the House-wide AI policy seeks to create methods for assessing and prioritizing AI technologies and enable all House personnel to present ideas or AI tools.

“The policy is based on a reliable framework which will continue to evolve as AI technology continues to develop,” said CAO Catherine Szpindor.

“The policy is to assist Members and staff to safeguard potentially sensitive information while also empowering them to leverage AI to better serve the American people,” Szpindor added.

According to the fact sheet, the House AI Policy outlines the principles, guardrails and prohibited and permissible use cases for responsible AI use and provides a foundation for members to use approved AI tools.

The new policy, which took effect Aug. 28, also defines a process for the CAO to assess and the House Administration Committee to approve AI tools for defined use cases as part of efforts to reduce privacy and security risks associated with AI.

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NOAA Awards 2 Commercial Microwave Sounder Pilot Contracts
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NOAA Awards 2 Commercial Microwave Sounder Pilot Contracts

Boston, Massachusetts-based Tomorrow.io and Orbital Micro Systems of Boulder, Colorado, have secured contracts valued at $4.3 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide Microwave Sounder—or MWS—data for new Commercial Weather Data Pilot studies.

The Office of Space Commerce said Tuesday NOAA will purchase MWS data collected by the two commercial satellite companies from the low earth orbit platform.

Under the agreements, Tomorrow.io will receive $2.3 million while Orbital Micro Systems will get $2 million.

The agency will use the data to determine the potential utilization of commercially developed MWS products and to identify possible benefits of enhancing numerical weather prediction with commercial capabilities.

The MWS observations, which include temperature and moisture profiles, precipitation and land and hydrology products, will be evaluated by NOAA based on the quality, characteristics and impacts on weather forecasting.

The CWDP pilot studies will last for 12 months and will be divided into three phases. The first three months will be for preparation, the next six will be for data delivery and the last three will be for evaluation.

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DARPA Seeks Innovative Tech for Deploying Hidden Communication Systems
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DARPA Seeks Innovative Tech for Deploying Hidden Communication Systems

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Information Innovation Office is requesting proposals to develop new innovative technologies for deploying resilient hidden networks with privacy and performance guarantees.

The effort aims to combine software-defined networking approaches with emerging technology models to test if the hidden communication systems, or HCS, will perform to expectations in the real world, DARPA said Thursday.

The project will be executed under the agency’s Provably Weird Network Deployment and Detection program

The submissions should investigate groundbreaking advances in science, devices and systems, DARPA added, noting that the proposed solutions must improve from the current manual HCS development process and ensure that the deployed network will remain hidden.

The government anticipates multiple individual awards for the project, in which participants will prototype their proposals for six months and the selected organizations will advance to the procurement stage that will run for two years.

Interested parties are advised that DARPA will accept abstracts until Oct. 1, questions through Oct. 17 and proposals no later than Nov. 5.

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HRSA Selects GDIT, 4 Others to Modernize Organ Transplant System
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HRSA Selects GDIT, 4 Others to Modernize Organ Transplant System

The Health Resources and Services Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services has selected multiple vendors to modernize the organ transplant system, moving away from the previous single-award contract.

The awardees are Arbor Research Collaborative for Health, General Dynamic Information Technology, Maximus Federal, Deloitte and Guidehouse Digital, the HHS said Thursday.

The transformation of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, or OPTN — the first in 40 years — comes amid criticisms regarding lack of transparency, potential for conflicts of interest, IT reliability issues and other structural challenges.

Work under the contracts includes improving patient safety, increasing transparency and public engagement in OPTN policy development, and strengthening patient-centered communications.

According to the agency, the modernization effort will enhance the system’s efficiency for over 100,000 people on the organ transplant waitlist.

“With the life of more than 100,000 Americans at stake, no organ donated for transplantation should go to waste,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, a past Wash100 Award recipient.

“The Biden-Harris Administration has reformed OPTN to require accountability in the operation of organ procurement that our transplant patients and their families demand,” he added.

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Healthcare Summit to explore the transformative trends and innovations shaping the future of the healthcare sector. Register here.

HRSA Selects GDIT, 4 Others to Modernize Organ Transplant System

The Future of the State Department Is a Question Mark
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The Future of the State Department Is a Question Mark

Under former President Donald Trump’s administration, one of the most restructured and diminished federal agencies was the Department of State — over 10 percent of its workforce was let go with no replacement. But even in the Biden administration, the internationally-focused department was dealt a five percent loss in its fiscal year 2024 budget from 2023 and officials are bracing themselves for a possibly similar blow in 2025.

Are you a member of the government contracting community who has investment in international relations and deals abroad? Then you’ll want to attend the Potomac Officers Club’s first-ever GovCon International Summit on Oct. 10. Held at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center in Virginia, it will be a central meeting place for contractors whose sights are set not just on U.S. shores but beyond — which, in this day and age, really should be everyone. Check out the full lineup and save your spot today!

“The department will have to make tradeoffs. The dollars are simply unable to stretch as far as we need to meet the moment. And budget cycles do not always align with global realities and crises,” said Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma.

In a plea to the Senate earlier this year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a past Wash100 Award recipient, highlighted how the department has made significant achievements over the last couple of years despite its shrunken workforce and spending power. These include considerably condensed timelines for passport delivery after application, which had ballooned during the pandemic. A reported 48 percent of Americans now have passports, as compared to just 20 percent in 2006.

President Biden is requesting $64.4 billion for State for 2025 (in 2024 it got $64.2 billion).

Lawmakers in Congress have until Sept. 30 to pass the appropriations or institute a stopgap spending bill — otherwise a partial shutdown will occur. These actions will crucially determine what the State Department might look like next year — though we’ll have to wait until after Election Day on Nov. 5 to really know how the department might operate and function.

Get involved in the international space. Register to attend the Potomac Officers Club’s GovCon International Summit!

The Future of the State Department Is a Question Mark
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