The U.S. Army has kicked off its search for ideas on how to upgrade the Stryker mobile gun system’s sensors as part of an effort to boost the Second Cavalry Regiment in Europe, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

Col. Glenn Dean, the Army’s Stryker program manager, told Breaking Defense’s Sydney Freedberg Jr. the service is releasing a market survey “to reach out to industry and involve them in a dialogue of what capabilities should we be considering beyond the things that were already on our menu.”

Dean said the design work for the 30-mm cannon is also underway, according to the report.

Freedberg writes the 2016 defense spending budget plan allocates $411 million for the modernization of approximately 80 Strykers.

The Defense Department wants $96 million for research, design and evaluation work on Stryker vehicles and $312 million for 83 production vehicles, Breaking Defense reports.

The U.S. Army has proposed to expand its deployment of reserve forces in fiscal 2017 to support the Defense Department‘s six combatant commands globally, Federal News Radio reported Monday.

Jared Serbu writes the military service’s fiscal 2017 budget seeks to fund 1,878 man-years of National Guard and Army Reserve personnel, up 870 from the 1,008 man-years the branch requested for the current fiscal year.

“From now through at least 2020, the primary limiting factor for us achieving full spectrum readiness is our personnel manning,” Gen. Daniel Allyn, vice chief of staff at the Army, told House Armed Services Committee members Friday.

“We need more flexible access to the reserve component, specifically for emerging missions,” Allyn added, the station reports.

The Army wants to deploy additional reserve troops to help find terrorist cells in the Caribbean and Central America regions, train soldiers in Africa and establish an international civil presence in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

The Government Accountability Office has disclosed it was not able to give an opinion on the federal government’s fiscal 2015 consolidated financial statement due to several material weaknesses that the agency has identified during an audit.

“The federal government needs to be able to track all revenues and expenses, as well as its assets and liabilities,” Gene Dodaro, U.S. comptroller general and chief of GAO, said Thursday.

GAO indicated the departments of Defense, Housing and Urban Development and Agriculture did not receive a “clean” opinion on their financial reports for fiscal 2015.

The agency also found uncertainties about the attainment of Medicare cost reduction goals as well as internal control issues in the reporting of improper payments and tax collections.

“More work needs to be done to ensure our policymakers receive the accurate financial information needed to make difficult short-term and long-term spending decisions,” Dodaro added.

He also urged the Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget to guide agencies in their efforts to address financial management and reporting challenges.

The Minority Business Development Agency has been allocated $35.6 million in President Barack Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2017.

MBDA said Friday the FY 2017 budget request for the agency saw a $3.6 million increase from the FY 2016 allocation.

If approved, the budget will be used to expand services and assistance to eight million minority-owned businesses the agency funds in 29 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, MBDA said.

MBDA offers assistance to minority companies in business consulting, procurement matching and private equity and venture capital sourcing work.

“These additional resources would help us serve an even greater number of minority businesses across the nation,” said Alejandra Castillo, MBDA National Director.

Obama’s FY 2017 budget increase for MBDA aims to open new programs to empower young entrepreneurs and develop three research projects, the agency said.