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Senate Banking Committee OKs Adam Szubin’s Treasury Nomination
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Senate Banking Committee OKs Adam Szubin’s Treasury Nomination


Adam Szubin
Adam Szubin

The Senate Banking Committee on Thursday voted 14-8 to approve the nomination of Adam Szubin as undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department, Bloomberg reported Friday.

Elizabeth Dexheimer writes Szubin was nominated by President Barack Obama in April last year to lead the department’s efforts to stop financing for terrorist groups.

He currently holds the undersecretary role on an acting basis and testified before the banking panel during a hearing in September about his nomination for a full-time post.

The committee postponed recommendation votes on Szubin and 14 other presidential nominees last year due to a disagreement between the White House and Republican lawmakers over Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, Reuters reports.

“Szubin is well-qualified for this important position and the full Senate should confirm him without further delay,”  Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) was quoted as saying.

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Nextgov: Federal Agencies Cite June 2015 ‘Cyber Sprint’ for Noncompetitive IT Contracts
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Nextgov: Federal Agencies Cite June 2015 ‘Cyber Sprint’ for Noncompetitive IT Contracts


ITphotoSome federal agencies have cited a 30-day “cybersecurity sprint” launched in June 2015 to justify noncompetitive information technology contracts they have awarded, Nextgov reported Wednesday.

Aliya Sternstein writes the Office of Management and Budget introduced the cyber exercise in order for agencies to address software vulnerabilities, adopt two-factor authentication and strengthen access controls following the data breaches at the Office of Personnel Management.

The departments of Labor, Homeland Security, Interior and Health and Human Services are among the federal agencies that have awarded such sole-source contracts beyond the period of the cyber sprint, which concluded in July 2015.

Agencies cited lack of time to assess proposals and that only one contractor could address their IT needs that the cyber exercise requires as reasons for skipping competition and extending deals with existing suppliers through bridge contracts, Sternstein reports.

“I think it’s a hard argument to make because I don’t see any direction from OMB that you must get contracts in place to address the Cybersecurity Sprint initiative within, like, a couple of weeks,” Rob Burton, a federal procurement attorney at law firm Venable LLP, told Nextgov.

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NASA Chooses Two Proposals for Air Pollution, Tropical Cyclone Investigation Tools
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NASA Chooses Two Proposals for Air Pollution, Tropical Cyclone Investigation Tools


deep_spaceNASA has selected two proposals for low-Earth orbit instruments the agency plans to use in investigations of potential air pollutants and to track the development of tropical cyclones in oceans.

The space agency said Thursday it chose the Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols proposal to test air pollutants of major cities across the world, while the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats investigation was selected to monitor tropical cyclones.

MAIA and TROPICS were two out of 14 total proposals submitted to the solicitation for the Earth Venture Instrument-3 program, which is a part of the Earth Venture portfolio of small investigations that aim to support the agency’s larger missions.

The MAIA team, under principal investigator David Diner of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will characterize air pollution particles and study them alongside human health records in an effort to determine whether pollutants affect childbirth and cardiovascular and respiratory health.

Diner’s team will employ the help of NASA Langley Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center and various academic and federal research organizations, the agency noted.

The TROPICS team will be led by William Blackwell of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory in using a constellation of 12 CubeSats that work to track tropical cyclone changes as often as every 21 minutes.

The TROPICS team’s collaborators include NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Goddard, several universities and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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US, British Troops Conduct Battlefield Tech Experiment
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US, British Troops Conduct Battlefield Tech Experiment


Army Expeditionary Warrior ExperimentU.S. and British troops have engaged in an experiment at Fort Benning to evaluate different technologies for potential use in warfighting efforts.

The U.S. Army said Tuesday the Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment involved the British 3rd Battalion; The Rifles of the United Kingdom; and Soldiers of A Company, 1st Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment in partnership with the Maneuver Battle Lab.

Harry Lubin, Maneuver Battle Lab chief of the experimentation branch, said AEWE seeks to support small units through the exploration of concepts and prototypes for modernization and the subsequent collection of soldier feedback.

British and U.S. troops worked together and adapted to each other’s tactics in the process, EXFOR Company Commander David Sammy said.

“I would say the similarities far outweighed the differences,” said Tom Marshall, 3rd Battalion The Rifles captain.

“We continued to use some British tactics for the experiment, and it was a happy arrangement.”

Profile: Jill Vaughan, Assistant Administrator for TSA Office of Security Capabilities and Chief Technology Officer
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Profile: Jill Vaughan, Assistant Administrator for TSA Office of Security Capabilities and Chief Technology Officer


Jill-Vaughan-EMJill Vaughan serves as the assistant administrator for the Transportation Security Administration‘s Office of Security Capabilities and the Chief Technology Officer since December 2014.

She directly supports TSA’s missions through effectiveness and efficiency enhancements that she offers directly affecting transportation systems aiming to reach the global security standard.

As assistant administrator, she oversees TSA technologies and handles tasks such as acquisition, deployment, maintenance, implementation and development across multiple transportation modes.

Vaughan brings over 10 years of experience in information security and 15 years of IT expertise to her post.

She has previously worked as the deputy chief information officer and deputy assistant administrator for the office of IT and as TSA’s chief information security officer.

Prior to her work in the government, she held previous roles as a data product manager for Sprint and project manager for Nortel Networks.

Vaughan has a bachelor’s degree in business from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

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Anne Rung: Agencies Must Establish Labs for Acquisition Innovation
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Anne Rung: Agencies Must Establish Labs for Acquisition Innovation


Anne Rung
Anne Rung

U.S. Chief Acquisition Officer Anne Rung has called on federal agencies to establish laboratories that will help them adopt best practices for buying information technology products and services.

She wrote in a blog article published Wednesday an agency Acquisition Innovation Lab must place emphasis on how to manage IT investments and seek input from vendors on digital acquisition tool development programs.

Rung instructed agencies to appoint their acquisition innovation advocates to manage testing of new buying strategies and share approaches through an AIA Council.

She outlined guidelines for the creation of labs in a memoradum that she sent Wednesday to agency chief acquisition officers, senior procurement executives and CIOs.

The memo builds on previous initiatives of the departments of Homeland Security and the Health and Human Services to establish acquisition innovation labs as well as other agency efforts to streamline the government acquisition process, she noted.

NASA Shifts Mars InSight Mission Launch Date to May 2018; John Grunsfeld Comments
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NASA Shifts Mars InSight Mission Launch Date to May 2018; John Grunsfeld Comments


NASAInSightNASA has rescheduled the launch date of a study to measure Mars’ deep interior to May 2018 after the agency canceled the initial spacecraft liftoff in December due to a vacuum leak in a science instrument.

The Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport spacecraft will undergo a redesign in support of the target launch date on May 5, 2018, to explore the deep interior of Mars, NASA said Wednesday.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will redesign and evaluate the new vacuum enclosure for InSight’s science instrument and France’s national space agency CNES will lead instrument level integration and testing functions.

NASA and CNES expect the InSight spacecraft to arrive at Mars on Nov. 26, 2018.

“The quest to understand the interior of Mars has been a longstanding goal of planetary scientists for decades. We’re excited to be back on the path for a launch,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s science mission directorate.

Lockheed Martin delivered the Mars rover to its launch site in California in December 2015 prior to the discovery of the vacuum leak.

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ForeSee Report Shows High Public Satisfaction With Digital Govt; Dave Lewan Comments
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ForeSee Report Shows High Public Satisfaction With Digital Govt; Dave Lewan Comments


digital governmentForeSee has issued a new report that shows public satisfaction with the government’s digital services has reached a level higher than or comparable to private sector customer satisfaction.

The 50th E-Government Satisfaction Index used ratings from approximately 185,000 respondents of 101 federal websites based on a 100-point scale of user experience and satisfaction, ForeSee said Wednesday.

The report reveals that the Social Security Administration gained the highest scores of 90 and 89 in terms of public sector sites, higher than the top-scoring private-sector company Amazon.com at 86.

Additionally, 36 percent of e-government websites gained scores above 80 and overall citizen satisfaction is 75.1.

“Our data shows that as people experience positive interactions with e-government, satisfaction with and trust in government increases,” said Dave Lewan, report author and a vice president at ForeSee.

“Our index gives the public sector a systematic approach to measure and improve the citizen experience over time, across channels, and to compare performance with the best industry standards,” Lewan added.

The report cited navigation and search features as top priorities for improvement.

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Jennifer Walsmith: NSA Eyes Acquisition Innovation Through ‘Skunk Works’ Office, Women-Owned Businesses
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Jennifer Walsmith: NSA Eyes Acquisition Innovation Through ‘Skunk Works’ Office, Women-Owned Businesses

acquisition policyJennifer Walsmith, senior acquisition executive at the National Security Agency, has said NSA has started to establish a “Skunk Works” or rapid innovation office in an effort to introduce novel approaches to its acquisition process, Federal News Radio reported Wednesday.

“It’s not for Skunk Works technologies, but rather for Skunk Works just thinking about acquisition,” Walsmith said at a National Defense Industrial Association event in Virginia Wednesday.

Scott Maucione writes Walsmith noted that the agency has started to reach out to women-owned businesses amid the industrial base concerns that NSA faces.

“[Women-owned companies] give us that diversity of ideas, that innovation,” she added.

Walsmith told her audience that NSA continues to collaborate with the director of national intelligence and the Defense Department to identify waivers that can be integrated with the procurement process, according to the report.

NSA has also introduced a culture of experimentation to its cryptoanalysis work in an attempt to promote innovation, Walsmith noted.

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Army Develops Self-Test Kit for On-Field Biological Exposure; Patricia Buckley Comments
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Army Develops Self-Test Kit for On-Field Biological Exposure; Patricia Buckley Comments


ArmyChopperThe U.S. Army has developed a self-test kit that analyzes biological samples to warn troops of exposure to pathogens in the field.

The Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center developed SmartCAR in an effort to allow medics in the field to gather data to inform possible treatment needs, the Army reported Feb 26.

The product, which uses a colorimetric assay, also works to transmit information on the warfighter’s status to commanders through a dismounted situational awareness system called Nett Warrior that can be viewed on a smartphone, the report said.

“[It] is a real innovation because it is a handheld field-ready device that not only determines exposure but provides its own data management and distribution,” said Patricia Buckley, an ECBC research scientist who is part of the SmartCAR development team.

“With more time and funding, SmartCAR will be used in more and more settings, such as relief missions and even hospitals.”

The report also noted other possible uses of the developed technology, including environmental sampling for field reconnaissance activities, testing drinking wells for water quality and Ebola presence awareness that could potentially prevent an outbreak.

The Army said ECBC developed SmartCAR in support of the service branch’s Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, which is looking into potential interest across other military organizations.

Buckley noted the research team also aims to integrate the technology with the VOCkit chemical agent detector.

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