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House Bill Seeks Improved SBA IT Modernization Governance
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House Bill Seeks Improved SBA IT Modernization Governance

Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., has introduced the “SBA IT Modernization Reform Act of 2024.” The bill calls on the Small Business Administration, through its chief information officer, to take actions to put into effect the recommendations in a recent Government Accountability Office report about the SBA Unified Certification Platform.

Purpose of the UCP

The report, published on Nov. 6 and released publicly on Nov. 13, details the review GAO conducted regarding the platform’s implementation and rollout. The purpose of the platform is to allow the SBA to consolidate into a single system the multiple legacy IT systems used by the agency to certify whether or not a small business is eligible for contracting assistance programs.

According to the report, SBA intended to deploy UCP in September. The rollout was eventually delayed to Oct. 18 due to a need to address issued that arose during testing. Moving forward, work will have to be done to add more complex functionality, ensure system security and migrate data.

UCP Implementation Issues

In its review, GAO determined that SBA failed to fully implement leading practices for risk management, cybersecurity, and schedule and cost estimation. To address the various issues with the UCP project, GAO offered a total of 14 recommendations, including the need to address risk management and cybersecurity problems. Of the 14, SBA only concurred with three and partially concurred with three others.

Governance of IT Modernization

Under the proposed bill, the SBA administrator would have to submit to Congress a plan that details the steps the agency would take to ensure the proper governance of its IT modernization projects, including the management of cyber and other risks related to the various phases of a project’s lifecycle.

The plan would have to be submitted within 180 days of the bill’s enactment.

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FCC Updates Satellite Spectrum-Sharing Rules
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FCC Updates Satellite Spectrum-Sharing Rules

The Federal Communications Commission has revised its satellite spectrum-sharing rules to promote market entry, regulatory certainty and spectrum efficiency. 

According to the FCC’s report and order released on Friday, the revision clarifies spectrum-sharing between non-geostationary satellite orbit, fixed-satellite service, or NGSO FSS, systems licensed in different processing rounds, with primary spectrum access granted to systems approved earlier. New entrants, meanwhile, are provided an established, cooperative spectrum-sharing structure allowing them to participate in the space industry.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the satellite spectrum sharing rules update “allows first movers to enjoy the advantage they’ve earned by daring to think big and take on risk, while also opening our skies to more competition.”

Satellite Spectrum Interference Protection

The new rules adopt a 3 percent time-weighted average throughput degradation as a long-term interference protection criterion and a 0.4 percent absolute increase in link unavailability as a short-term interference protection criterion. 

While Amazon’s Kuiper, Viasat, Telesat, Intelsat and SpaceX agreed to the long-term interference protection criterion, OneWeb opposed it and submitted a petition for reconsideration, which the FCC denied.

The agency also declined to adopt additional protection metrics or an aggregate limit on interference from later-round NGSO FSS systems into earlier-round systems.

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DOC Invests $6.6B in TSMC Arizona to Boost Semiconductor Industry
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DOC Invests $6.6B in TSMC Arizona to Boost Semiconductor Industry

TSMC Arizona, a subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, has secured a potential $6.6 billion in direct funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce for the construction of new semiconductor fabrication plants, also known as fabs.

The Commerce Department said Friday the investment, awarded under the CHIPS Incentives Program’s Funding Opportunity for Commercial Fabrication Facilities, will support TSMC Arizona’s plans of constructing three greenfield fabs in Phoenix, Arizona. The award, first announced after the signing of the preliminary memorandum of terms on April 8, will be part of a $65 billion investment for the three fabs.

Investment to Boost Semiconductor Supply Chain

The planned new fabs are intended to bolster the domestic supply chain for semiconductors, which aims to strengthen the U.S. economy and national security. The CHIPS investment aims to build a more reliable supply of chips that can be utilized for developing emerging technology and fast-growing industries.

The three new manufacturing facilities can potentially produce tens of millions of logic chips, including TSMC’s A16 technology, that will be utilized for AI applications, high-performance computing, Internet of Things, consumer electronics like 5G/6G smartphones and innovative industries such as autonomous vehicles.

TSMC Arizona Funding to Create New Jobs

In his statement on the final CHIPS award for TSMC, U.S. President Joe Biden said that the CHIPS and Science Act has so far resulted in investments in semiconductors amounting to nearly $450 billion. These awards have created over 125,000 construction and manufacturing jobs.

The latest and final TSMC investment is expected to generate an additional 6,000 direct manufacturing jobs and more than 20,000 unique construction jobs. 

“This is the largest foreign direct investment in a greenfield project in the history of the United States,” said President Biden. “The first of TSMC’s three facilities is on track to fully open early next year, which means that for the first time in decades an America manufacturing plant will be producing the leading-edge chips used in our most advanced technologies – from our smartphones, to autonomous vehicles, to the data centers powering artificial intelligence.”

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, stated, “The leading-edge chips that will be manufactured in Arizona are foundational to the United States’ technological and economic leadership in the 21st century.”

TSMC Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei, added, “Entering this phase of the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act marks a pivotal step in strengthening the semiconductor ecosystem in the United States.”

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Oak Ridge Lab Facility Needs Quantum Computing Data to Advance Research
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Oak Ridge Lab Facility Needs Quantum Computing Data to Advance Research

The Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, or OLCF, in Tennessee is gathering information for the Department of Energy’s Quantum Computing User Program to determine hardware availability, software solutions and user engagement potential in quantum computing. 

The OLCF issued the request for information to establish the readiness of quantum computing resources to meet scientific research requirements, according to Travis Humble, the director of the facility housed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“We are asking for input from users, vendors and developers to gain insights into how future capabilities will impact the user program,” he said.

Cloud-Based Computing Access

A competitive, merit-based access program, OLCP collaborates with vendors of quantum computing resources to deliver cloud-based access to the technology, as well as facilitate user interactions and resource management.

The facility hosts the two fastest U.S. supercomputers—Summit and Frontier—to pursue its mission of accelerating scientific discovery and advancement in engineering. One of OLCP’s projects for its Quantum Computing User Program involved comparing and validating the performance of 24 quantum computers offered by companies such as IBM, Quantinuum and Rigetti. 

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DOD Releases FY2024 Financial Audit Results, Receives Disclaimer
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DOD Releases FY2024 Financial Audit Results, Receives Disclaimer

The Department of Defense received a disclaimer of opinion from its inspector general regarding its financial statements, which means the agency has yet to achieve a clean audit, according to Mike McCord, chief financial officer of the DOD.

Scope of the FY2024 DOD Financial Audit

McCord made the remarks following the release of the latest agency-wide financial statement audit, the DOD reported Sunday. The audit for fiscal year 2024 is the agency’s seventh since 2018.

The examination was carried out by the DOD Office of Inspector General and teams of independent public accountants. The work covered 28 different reporting entities, with each undergoing stand-alone financial statement audits.

Results of the Audit

Of those standalone assessments, nine entities received unmodified audit opinions, including the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, for which the achievement was a first. One reporting entity received a qualified opinion while 15 others received disclaimers of opinion.

The remaining three opinions are pending.

Despite the disclaimers, McCord expressed optimism about the DOD’s performance in the audits, saying, “I believe the department has turned a corner in its understanding of its challenges, and more importantly in addressing them.”

“Momentum is on our side, and throughout the department there is strong commitment — and belief in our ability — to achieve an unmodified audit opinion,” he added.

Cost of the Audit

The FY2024 audit is estimated to have cost the DOD about $178 million. The agency nevertheless considers the expense “a highly positive investment in transparency, accountability, and efficiency for the American people.”

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DIU Initiates INDUS-X Satellite-Tracking Challenge
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DIU Initiates INDUS-X Satellite-Tracking Challenge

The Defense Innovation Unit has announced the opening of the Dual Horizons: U.S.-India Satellite Tracking Challenge, aimed to enhance capabilities to detect satellite movements in contested environments in low Earth orbit.

DIU said Thursday the bilateral challenge was launched in partnership with the U.S. Space Forces-Indo-Pacific, or USSPACEFOR-INDOPAC, the Space Domain Awareness Tools, Applications, & Processing Lab, or SDA TAP Lab, and India’s Innovations for Defence Excellence, or iDEX. The purpose of the challenge is to develop technologies that can track satellites trying to avoid detection in near real-time over the INDOPACOM area of responsibility.

The India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem, or INDUS-X, was established in 2023 to boost defense industrial cooperation between the two nations and to accelerate innovation in manufacturing and technology.

Challenge Parameters & Expectations

The Dual Horizons challenge is open to U.S. or India-owned and operated non-traditional companies at their early-to-mid stage. Interested parties may submit their proposals until Jan. 9, 2025. An information session will be held on Dec. 4, while the virtual final pitch event will be in February. Winning companies will receive $150,000.

Aditi Kumar, deputy director for strategy, policy and national security partnerships at DIU, stated, “This challenge will help both governments to identify best-of-breed technologies that our militaries need to maintain advantage in the space domain.”

Steve Butow, director of space portfolio at DIU, added, “Tapping into the technological advancements from our partners and allies gets us closer to the critical integration of our efforts in the space domain.”

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Flight Tests to Probe Aircraft Contrails’ Effect on Climate
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Flight Tests to Probe Aircraft Contrails’ Effect on Climate

A partnership between GE Aerospace and NASA is scheduled to start a series of flight tests on Monday to research new technologies for reducing non-carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change. The tests will study how weather is affected by the contrail clouds of ice particles that airplanes emit and ways to reduce them, GE Aerospace said Friday. 

Dubbed as the Contrail Optical Depth Experiment, the tests will involve the NASA Langley Research Center’s G-III aircraft trailing GE Aerospace’s 747 flying test bed in flight and using light detection and ranging, or LiDAR, technology to scan the aircraft’s contrails.

The tests, which will be flown from Virginia, seek to advance NASA’s LiDAR capability for 3-D contrail imaging for a better understanding of contrail formation and behavior over time.

Propulsion System Evaluations

The tests will initiate new operating methods for GE Aerospace’s flying test bed that advance the performance evaluation on the company’s new commercial engine technologies. The company’s new Open Fan engine architecture, advanced combustion designs and the propulsion systems under development through aerospace company CFM International’s Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines program are among the technologies to be evaluated in the tests.

Arjan Hegeman, GE Aerospace’s general manager of future of flight technology, conveyed the company’s pride in collaborating with NASA on innovative technological approaches on more sustainable aircraft flights. “These tests will provide critical insight to advance next generation aircraft engine technologies for a step change in efficiency and emissions,” he added.

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NUWC Keyport Unveils Future Capabilities Office
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NUWC Keyport Unveils Future Capabilities Office

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport has launched its Future Capabilities Office to address gaps in warfighter capabilities.

The Naval Sea Systems Command said Friday the FCO is a department-level organization that will be responsible for developing innovations that meet the critical needs of warfighters. These include weapons delivery, fleet sustainment and subsea warfare.

How the FCO Will Work

The FCO integrates the NUWC Division, Keyport’s science and technology portfolio, warfighter and fleet support portfolio, special projects team, and on-site representative field team. This combination will focus on emerging technologies and experimental demonstrations.

The office, composed of a small core staff, will function as an incubator for innovative ideas and technologies. It will tap into different resources, including industry experts, academic researchers, students or hire through contract vehicles, for personnel and support.

The FCO will collaborate with partners across the Navy’s research and development enterprise, industry and academia to identify projects with potential, develop them and transition them to other departments, industry partners or organizations for further development.

Scott Shimizu, department head of the FCO, stated, “The idea is to bring projects in and transition them out, look at new technologies and explore different possible solutions to meet warfighter capability gaps. The FCO will serve as a vetting process for future work while also addressing near-term warfighter needs.”

Register now to join the Potomac Officers Club at the 2025 Defense R&D Summit and engage in thought-provoking discussions, gain firsthand insights from key defense technology players and forge valuable connections at this day-long summit.

NUWC Keyport Unveils Future Capabilities Office
President-Elect Donald Trump Reveals Additional Cabinet Picks
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President-Elect Donald Trump Reveals Additional Cabinet Picks

Following Donald Trump’s win in the 2024 presidential election, he has not shied away from revealing who he wants to fill his cabinet once he’s back in the White House.

Cabinet nominees range from household names like Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, who was picked to serve as a leader of a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, to U.S. legislators like South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who was selected to oversee the Department of Homeland Security as the potential secretary of the agency.

With Republicans now holding a majority of the Senate and the House of Representatives, it is expected that many of the President-elect’s cabinet picks are likely to be confirmed, CBS News reported Thursday.

Additional Cabinet Nominees

Matt Gaetz

Matt Gaetz has been nominated as Trump’s attorney general for his upcoming administration. Until resigning on Nov. 13 due to the announcement, Gaetz served as the U.S. representative for Florida’s first congressional district, where he was set to serve another term after defeating opponent Gay Valimont in the Nov. 5 election.

“Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department,” Trump noted in a statement.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy was unveiled as Trump’s choice to oversee the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as secretary. In this role, the president-elect said he believes Kennedy will challenge “industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation and disinformation.”

Kennedy has said he will combat an “epidemic” of chronic diseases and reportedly feels that some drug and food companies are to blame for the increased amount of ailments throughout the nation.

Learn more about the future of the healthcare industry at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Healthcare Summit on Dec. 11. Secure your ticket to the 2024 Healthcare Summit before it’s too late. 

Marco Rubio

Trump has tapped Florida Senator Marco Rubio to serve as secretary of state in his next administration. Rubio is widely considered a foreign policy hawk, having challenged China and Iran on several geopolitical issues.

Currently serving as the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio has extensive experience dealing with international adversaries and allies.

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DIU Leads DOD Personnel Data Protection Initiative
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DIU Leads DOD Personnel Data Protection Initiative

The Defense Innovation Unit has issued commercial vendor success memos in recognition of the companies that developed prototypes for technologies that safeguard the data of Department of Defense personnel, as part of the Enhanced Protection of Information Capabilities, or EPIC, project.

DIU said Thursday four companies were selected to tackle different aspects of the EPIC project. Kinetic Data and Grey Market Labs are working on automating complex data administration and workflow processes. They will also address data protection and digital identity management workflow automation challenges.

Ridgeline International is focused on quantifying and analyzing the “digital exhaust” or digital footprints of organizations. Its work involves detecting threats and mitigating risks through specialized workforce training. Gnosko Associates also offered specialized training that enabled DOD personnel to understand personal digital signature management, technical surveillance threats and secure communication tactics.

EPIC Project

The EPIC project was launched in 2022 in partnership with the U.S. Army with the goal of protecting the digital data of service members throughout their careers. It aims to address challenges in digital fingerprint security gaps.

EPIC received an Authority-to-Operate from the DOD for its management system in under two years. The ATO means the prototype can continue to function within the mission partner’s digital suite.

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