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Tony Scott: Gov’t Spends $3B on Maintenance Contracts for End-of-Life IT Products
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Tony Scott: Gov’t Spends $3B on Maintenance Contracts for End-of-Life IT Products


Tony Scott: Gov't Spends $3B on Maintenance Contracts for End-of-Life IT Products
Tony Scott

Federal Chief Information Officer Tony Scott has said government agencies spend more than $3 billion on maintenance contracts for information technology products that are nearing retirement and no longer have available spare parts, service or patches, Federal News Radio reported Wednesday.

Scott told Jason Miller in an interview at the ACT-IAC Management of Change Conference that IT vendors helped him gauge government contract spending on network, infrastructure, storage, computer and other technologies.

“When we came up with this $3 billion, it was through some of these mechanisms that we said this is an appropriate number,” said Scott.

“If anything, it might underestimate the real demand, but you have to start somewhere and this felt like it was a good place to start.”

Scott appeared before a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing Wednesday on the proposed $3.1 billion IT modernization fund, the report said.

Miller notes that Scott could use the maintenance spending data to back up efforts to update federal IT.

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NIH, EPA Award Grants to 5 Research Centers to Study Environmental Health Factors
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NIH, EPA Award Grants to 5 Research Centers to Study Environmental Health Factors


medical health doctorThe National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency have awarded five-year grants to five research centers to study how various environmental factors affect health in communities.

NIH said Wednesday the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and EPA’s National Center for Environmental Research funded the designated Centers of Excellence on Environmental Health Disparities Research.

“More than a decade of NIH research has shown that low-income, minority and tribal communities experience higher levels of environmental pollution in the United States, and that these populations often have poorer health,” said NIEHS Director Linda Birnbaum.

Scientists from each center will collaborate with community organizations to examine factors that affect health in those communities such as air, water and ground pollution, housing, diet and social dynamics, NIH added.

The agency further said community partners will help scientists formulate research questions, recruit study participants, collect data and turn research results into strategies that could address health issues.

The research centers are:

  • Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Boston University School of Public Health
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • University of Arizona
  • University of New Mexico
  • University of Southern California

FAR Council Calls for Info on Public Disclosure of Contractor Greenhouse Gas Emissions
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FAR Council Calls for Info on Public Disclosure of Contractor Greenhouse Gas Emissions


green earth, environmentThe Federal Acquisition Regulation Council seeks public comment on a proposed rule that calls for information on the public disclosure of government contractors’ greenhouse gas emissions and reduction strategies.

Anne Rung, Ali Zaidi and Christine Harada wrote in a blog post published Wednesday that the proposed rule will focus on the federal government’s supply chain management and work to collect data necessary to assess suppliers’ greenhouse gas management practices and engage with them to reduce emissions.

The Defense Department, General Services Administration and NASA have proposed this revision to FAR for vendors to indicate in a representation within the System for Award Management if and where they disclose greenhouse gas emissions and greenhouse gas reduction goals, a notice published Wednesday on the Federal Register stated.

Comments to the proposed rule are due July 25.

The White House report noted individual federal agencies — including GSA and the U.S. Navy — have started to manage supply chains through a process similar to the proposal.

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NASA Aims to Get More Data on Supersonic Retropropulsion Through SpaceX’s Red Dragon Spacecraft
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NASA Aims to Get More Data on Supersonic Retropropulsion Through SpaceX’s Red Dragon Spacecraft


spacex launchSpaceX will help NASA study and test the supersonic retropropulsion landing technology on Mars through the company’s Red Dragon unmanned spacecraft concept under the modified Space Act Agreement, Space News magazine reported Monday.

Jeff Foust writes supersonic retropropulsion works to decelerate a rocket engine in the direction of travel.

Rob Manning, Mars program engineering manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said the space agency plans to acquire more information on supersonic retropropulsion through SpaceX’s space vehicle in support of its goal to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.

NASA also expects to gather entry, descent and landing information through Red Dragon’s planned missions to Mars, Foust reports.

Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight development at NASA headquarters, said NASA expects to spend approximately $30 million to provide technical support to SpaceX under the agreement, according to Space News.

McAlister added that NASA might offer staff support on deep space communications and implementation of protocols for planetary protection, among other topics.

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Congressional Budget Office Names Mark Hadley as New Deputy Director
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Congressional Budget Office Names Mark Hadley as New Deputy Director


CBOMark Hadley, Congressional Budget Office‘s general counsel, has been named the agency’s new deputy director effective June 6.

Hadley will succeed Bob Sunshine, who will move on as senior adviser in the CBO director’s office, CBO Director Keith Hall writes in a blog post published Wednesday.

“[Hadley] brings to his new position a clarity of thought, an understanding of budget concepts and issues and a deep commitment to CBO’s role as an objective and nonpartisan source of information and analysis — qualities that will serve us well in the coming years,” Hall adds.

Hadley started with CBO 15 years ago as an analyst in the budget analysis division, where he provided cost estimates and projections in the areas of deposit insurance, aviation and commerce.

He has since served as an associate analyst and deputy general counsel before his appointment as general counsel in 2008.

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GAO to Review CBP’s Arizona Border Surveillance Tech Programs
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GAO to Review CBP’s Arizona Border Surveillance Tech Programs


Border PatrolThe Government Accountability Office is set to review programs under the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Arizona Border Surveillance Technology Plan to assess CBP’s implementation of GAO’s recommendations.

CBP kicked off the deployment of technology for three border surveillance programs this month following recommendation from GAO that an independent entity validate CBP’s schedules and cost estimates, GAO said Tuesday.

CBP submitted its schedules for two programs under the plan to GAO in May and the government watchdog wants to determine how CBP responded to its recommendations.

GAO previously identified further opportunities that it said CBP could take to boost oversight of its border surveillance technology plan and related programs in separate reports released in March 2014 and April 2015.

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Obama to Nominate Thomas Atkin, Daniel Feehan for DoD Asst. Secretary Posts
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Obama to Nominate Thomas Atkin, Daniel Feehan for DoD Asst. Secretary Posts


WhiteHousePresident Barack Obama plans to nominate Thomas Atkin, a former Raytheon homeland security programs director, and Daniel Feehan, a former White House fellow in the Pentagon, for new positions within the Defense Department.

Obama will nominate Atkin as assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and Feehan as assistant secretary of defense for readiness, the White House said Wednesday.

“I am confident that these experienced and hardworking individuals will help us tackle the important challenges facing America, and I am grateful for their service,” Obama said in announcement, which included other nominations.

Atkin, a retired U.S. Coast Guard rear admiral, is the current principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and has served in various roles for the Coast Guard and National Security Council.

Feehan became the deputy assistant secretary of defense for readiness and special assistant to the deputy secretary of defense before being appointed as the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for readiness in August 2015.

US-Vietnam Education Cooperation Covers Curriculum Support, Training Programs
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US-Vietnam Education Cooperation Covers Curriculum Support, Training Programs


partnershipThe U.S. government continues its cooperation efforts with Vietnam through a series of programs that support the latter country’s efforts to build on its higher education system.

The White House said Wednesday the education alliance has assisted more than 30,000 university students with curriculum support and capacity building.

Efforts have expanded to include training in science, technology, engineering, math and medicine with the help of private-sector funding support.

The Improving Access, Curriculum and Teaching in Medical Education and Emerging Diseases and Building University-Industry Learning and Development through Innovation and Technology alliances — both led by the U.S. Agency for International Development — will work to provide education and workforce development support in Vietnam with the help of industry and university partners.

The White House also noted the country’s efforts to assist Vietnam’s development through the Vietnam Education Foundation and the $20 million investment that helped establish Fulbright University Vietnam.

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Army War College Explores Strategy to Avoid US-China Conflict
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Army War College Explores Strategy to Avoid US-China Conflict


China flag_EGovU.S. Army Col. (ret.) William Braun, a research professor at the Army War College’s Strategic Institute, has discussed steps he says could help avoid conflict between the U.S. and China over territorial claims.

Braun said at a panel discussion that the Army and national strategy policymakers must try to understand China’s role as a co-power in the region and prevent U.S. allies from compromising partnerships with China, the Army said Tuesday.

He said during the event at the National Press Club in Washington that a strategy based on an old Chinese game called “Go” can help resolve what he describes as a tense U.S.-China relationship.

He noted that the U.S. and its partner nations in Southeast Asia need to find a way to negotiate in the “gray zone” — such as one found in the Go game — so that China could rise to power without involving force.

Braun also proposed that the partner nations share the cost of regional defense and lead military training and preparedness in order to reduce tension with China, the Army said.

He also urged the U.S. to conduct military-to-military engagements with China to resolve conflict.

Braun led a nine-month study on his proposed strategy at USAWC.

Sylvia Burwell, Lisa Monaco: White House Unveils Data Security Framework for Precision Medicine Initiative
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Sylvia Burwell, Lisa Monaco: White House Unveils Data Security Framework for Precision Medicine Initiative


electronic-health-record-EHRThe White House has released a framework that aims to ensure security of health care data as part of President Barack Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative that seeks to help clinicians customize treatments based on the patients’ needs.

A White House blog post published Wednesday says the Data Security Policy Principles and Framework is based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework and intends to provide precision medicine agencies and organizations a risk management approach to data security.

Sylvia Burwell, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, co-wrote the post with Lisa Monaco, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism.

The document outlines eight principles that precision medicine organizations can implement to protect patients’ data under PMI.

These include the development of management and evaluation plans that seek to address data security risks, use of security controls to safeguard data and creation of a system that can be trusted by program participants.

The framework also recommends several measures that PMI institutions can adopt in order to protect data from cyber threats and other vulnerabilities.

These measures call for organizations to develop a risk-based security plan, subject such plans to independent third-party assessments, protect data through implementation of access controls, data encryption and training, as well as detect data security risks through audit logs and threat information sharing.

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