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ORNL Solicits Proposals to Advance High-Performance Computing
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ORNL Solicits Proposals to Advance High-Performance Computing

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is seeking industry proposals to research and develop hardware, software and related technologies that could make high-performance computing energy efficient.

The R&D work will be performed under the $23 million New Frontiers program, which aims to produce the technologies within five to 10 years to enable faster and energy-efficient computing needed to build future generations of computers for addressing challenges in science, energy, health and security, the Department of Energy said Friday.

HPC and data-driven modeling and simulation are essential to advancing DOE’s science missions and are key investment areas for the Office of Science, which employs three of the top 10 fastest supercomputers in the world for open scientific research.

However, ORNL’s Christopher Zimmer, New Frontiers project director, said current HPC technology trends “threaten to have a disruptive and costly impact on the development of DOE applications and potentially a negative impact on the productivity of DOE scientists.”

The entities selected through the request for proposals will be awarded two-year contracts to advance HPC.

The RFP, managed by UT-Battelle, provides interested parties until Oct. 21 to submit their responses.

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Systecon North America Enters New Predictive Model Partnership Phase With SAOC
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Systecon North America Enters New Predictive Model Partnership Phase With SAOC

Systecon North America will continue working with the Survivable Airborne Operations Center, or SAOC, to produce predictive models and data analytic services.

In the new partnership phase, Systecon North America aims to enhance software models, including the company’s Opus Suite system, that uncover data gaps and support operational preparedness, the company told ExecutiveGov.

Justin Woulfe, co-founder and chief technology officer of Systecon North America, said, “Our partnership with SAOC is a testament to Systecon’s expertise in predictive logistics and operational readiness.”

Systecon North America and SAOC will look to expand on the work done during the first stage of the partnership in 2022 and 2023. An example of this prior work is a pre-acquisition reliability, availability, maintainability and cost, or RAM-C, analysis model, which improved mission readiness, built operational resilience and instilled defense re-optimization.

“We are excited to build upon the foundational work we’ve done and continue to provide innovative solutions that enhance mission readiness and operational efficiency,” Woulfe stated.

Together, Systecon North America and SAOC will further develop the notional/analogous models created by Systecon and continue working under a collaboration endorsed by the Secretary of Defense and flight training programs.

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ODNI Budget Raises Questions in GovCon Community
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ODNI Budget Raises Questions in GovCon Community

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence — the star around which the U.S. Intelligence Community orbits — has released the figure for its budget request in the fiscal year 2025 National Intelligence Program, a.k.a. NIP. But with the target budget comes many questions.

ODNI said the agency is asking for $73.4 billion in appropriations, nearly $2.5 billion more than the sum it asked for in the previous year. Without any accompanying details, those in the government contracting industry are waiting with bated breath to know the breakdown in terms of how the agency plans to spend the money.

Many of these questions will be answered at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Intel Summit on Sept. 19. For a decade now, the event has solidified as the must-attend IC-focused GovCon hub for networking, deal-making and education. The IC is famously tight-lipped, but the Intel Summit is one place they feel comfortable disclosing details and hard-to-find information. Don’t miss out — register now!

One possible usage of the budget could apply to ODNI’s collaboration with the Defense Innovation Unit, which reflects a commitment to up and coming technologies and embracing cutting edge tools.

At the Intel Summit, multiple panels will train their eye on the most prominent of all of the emerging technologies: artificial intelligence. One panel early in the day will discuss how data — and the AI it feeds — crucially plays a role in furthering the IC’s mission and another, a little later on, will explore the intersection of open-source intelligence collection and AI.

The day will conclude with remarks from Dana Madsen, deputy director of ODNI’s Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center. He will break down the cyber defense aspects of ODNI’s outlook and may have insights on the agency’s budget and how much of it he can share with the industrial base.

Join all of your friends and competitors at the 2024 Intel Summit on Sept. 19!

ODNI Budget Raises Questions in GovCon Community
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GSA Requires Use of eBuy for OASIS+ Contracts
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GSA Requires Use of eBuy for OASIS+ Contracts

The General Services Administration’s Office of Professional Services and Human Capital Categories has made GSA eBuy the required tool for task order solicitation for the One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services Plus program, also known as OASIS+, as part of efforts to improve acquisition transparency and efficiency.

The agency said Tuesday GSA eBuy will provide OASIS+ customers with the capability to review awarded vendors, submit requests for information through GSA’s Market Research As a Service program, manage task orders from solicitation to task order award and provide a secure environment to issue information only to OASIS+ contract holders.

For OASIS+ industry partners, GSA eBuy will enable them to view and respond to RFIs and solicitations, directly submit proposals to the buying agency and receive automated notifications, among other functions.

According to GSA, awards and notices to proceed will be issued to OASIS+ vendors through the first or second quarter of fiscal year 2025, and contracting officers with the Delegation of Procurement Authority can begin placing orders about seven to 10 days after the NTPs or awards are issued for each contract.

The agency noted that the move does not impact the OASIS program and that customers can still use the Symphony task order management platform for all OASIS task orders. Customers also have the flexibility to use GSA ASSIST, GSA eBuy or Symphony to collect responses for OASIS task order RFIs and requests for proposals.

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Army Officials Address Industry Issues With Software Development RFI
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Army Officials Address Industry Issues With Software Development RFI

Army acquisition officials held a media roundtable on Thursday at the Pentagon to address industry concerns with a request for information on a multivendor contract for software procurement, particularly regarding the use of cost-plus contracts, Breaking Defense reported Friday.

In May, the Army started soliciting input on the New Modern Software Development multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract.

Doug Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, noted that the military branch intended to use a hybrid approach and would not solely use cost-plus contracts for acquiring software.

“It’s not a simple world of cost-plus versus fixed price there. Those are ends of a spectrum. In between those things lie a vast array of hybrid approaches that are tailored to different things. So this is a very complicated thing that cannot be simplified into a binary cost or fixed price narrative,” Bush, a previous Wash100 awardee, told reporters during the event.

Jennifer Swanson, chief systems engineer for the Army’s acquisition office, said the service is experimenting with a pilot program that will issue a solicitation without disclosing the type of contract upfront.

“I’m not saying we’re definitely doing it, but we’re working through the legalities and the possibility of using this modern software development contract as the pilot to look at what we would do if we didn’t specify contract type up front in a task order requirement,” Swanson told reporters.

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GovCon Index Dropped Sharply Last Week
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GovCon Index Dropped Sharply Last Week

Last week, Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index declined by 4.08%, closing with an average of $5,312.73 on Friday. These losses represent the highest weekly decline since GovCon Index launched in December 2023. 

GovCon Index is an aggregate index that collects and presents stock market data from 30 key government contracting organizations in real time. Users can leverage this information to assess the financial performance of each tracked company and gain insights into the broad trends shaping today’s GovCon marketplace.

Only one company, Palantir, recorded growth on Friday. GovCon Index achieved slight gains on Wednesday, but was unable to turn the tide before the end of the week. Despite these losses, GovCon Index has grown by 13.8% overall this year.

For more information on daily GovCon Index performance, check out last week’s market reports. Click here to view the full list of tracked organizations.

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FDIC Fails to Effectively Implement Security Controls for Cloud Environment, OIG Says
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FDIC Fails to Effectively Implement Security Controls for Cloud Environment, OIG Says

The Office of Inspector General of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said the FDIC’s security controls in its cloud computing environment are not effectively implemented in five areas: identity and access management, cloud secret protection, patch management, flaw remediation and audit logging.

The audit, conducted in partnership with Sikich, found six common themes of security weaknesses in the FDIC cloud platform, the OIG said Thursday.

According to Sikich, the cloud platform teams did not consistently implement secure coding practices, configure cloud platform security settings per cloud service providers and industry best practices, or provision access to its cloud-based systems in accordance with the principle of least privilege.

The company also found that the platform relied on outdated software components and was not properly monitored by the FDIC and that cloud service providers were solely responsible for causing certain vulnerabilities.

Sikich made recommendations, including designing and implementing a plan to prevent, detect and remediate security weaknesses, to improve cloud security controls.

The FDIC concurred with all recommendations and plans to complete all corrective actions by December 30, 2026.

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NOAA Unveils Inaugural Advisory Committee on Excellence in Space
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NOAA Unveils Inaugural Advisory Committee on Excellence in Space

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Space Commerce has selected 17 space industry professionals to serve on a federal advisory committee that will provide NOAA with independent recommendations on matters related to commercial space policy and regulations.

NOAA said Friday the inaugural Advisory Committee on Excellence in Space, or ACES, will look at key issues associated with the leadership, sustainability and growth of U.S. commercial space activities.

ACES is set to hold its first public meeting in Washington, D.C., over the next two months, allowing the members to set priorities and develop strategies to address the issues facing the commercial space sector.

NOAA plans to name additional members to the advisory panel in 2025 to create a staggered cycle of two-year terms. 

The 16 ACES members who have accepted to serve on the committee for two years are:

  • Al Tadros, Redwire
  • Alex Gilbert, Zeno Power
  • Audrey Schaffer, Slingshot Aerospace
  • Blake Bullock, Northrop Grumman
  • Brien Flewelling, ExoAnalytic Solutions
  • Caryn Schenewerk, Georgetown University
  • Chris Kunstadter, Triton Space
  • Clare Martin, Astroscale U.S.
  • Danielle Pineres, Planet Labs PBC
  • Dave Cavossa, Commercial Spaceflight Federation
  • David Gauthier, GXO
  • El Gardner, Aperio Global
  • Kalpak Gude, Amazon Kuiper
  • Mary Lynne Dittmar, Axiom Space
  • Michael Nicolls, SpaceX
  • Tony Frazier, LeoLabs

Schenewerk and Gauthier will serve as the committee’s chair and vice chair, respectively.

NOAA is also in the process of naming Jared Hautamaki to ACES as a 17th member. He will serve as a space law expert in his personal capacity.

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Data Integrity Key to AI Systems in Nuclear Industry, Regulatory Agencies Say
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Data Integrity Key to AI Systems in Nuclear Industry, Regulatory Agencies Say

In order for artificial intelligence to be successfully integrated into the nuclear industry, the data upon which such systems depend must be meticulously curated, validated and governed throughout its lifecycle, according to a document jointly developed by nuclear regulatory organizations from Canada, the United Kingdom and the U.S.

The recently-released document, titled “Considerations for Developing Artificial Intelligence Systems in Nuclear Applications,” notes that because “reliability, safety, and security are paramount” within the nuclear industry, ensuring the adequacy of AI systems by guaranteeing the quality and integrity of data is equally crucial.

“Deficiencies in data, such as incompleteness, bias, or inaccuracies, could lead to erroneous AI outputs with potentially unacceptable consequences; flawed data may result in flawed output. Equally, AI systems receiving very different inputs in real-world deployment versus training or testing may not perform well,” the document warns.

Prepared by the the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the United Kingdom Office for Nuclear Regulation and the United States’ Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the document seeks to tackle “important topics that should be considered when deploying AI to ensure continued safe and secure operation of nuclear facilities, and other uses of nuclear materials.” The document is meant to benefit all parties involved in the lifecycle of AI systems, including developers, end users, regulators and their partners.

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DOE to Award $68M for AI Tech Development Projects
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DOE to Award $68M for AI Tech Development Projects

The Department of Energy has announced that 11 multi-institution projects focused on artificial intelligence will receive $68 million in funding.

DOE said Thursday the projects, comprising 43 awards, include the development of AI foundation models that could be used to speed up scientific programming and advance automation in laboratories, among other use cases.

The department will also fund the development of energy-efficient AI algorithms using next-generation microtechnologies and the creation of foundation models to advance science and preserve privacy.

The projects, which will run for up to three years, were selected through a competitive peer review process under DOE’s Funding Opportunity Announcement for Advancements in Artificial Intelligence for Science.

“These research efforts will make scientific AI both more trustworthy and more energy efficient, unlocking AI’s potential to accelerate scientific discovery. There is a huge variety in the number of applications where scientists can use AI, from the laboratory to the field to producing scientific research,” said Ceren Susut, associate director of science for advanced scientific computing research at DOE.

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