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Trump Orders Federal Grantmaking Process Overhaul
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White House logo. Trump ordered the overhaul of the federal grantmaking process.

President Donald Trump has issued an executive order aimed at overhauling the federal government’s grantmaking process.

New EO to Prevent Tax Dollars Wastage

According to the president Thursday, the new EO aims to end “offensive waste of tax dollars” by establishing a new review process to determine whether grants prioritize national interest. Under the presidential directive, each federal agency will have a senior political appointee tasked with evaluating every funding opportunity announcement and grant award to ensure it will benefit Americans and align with agency priorities.

The EO permits the termination of grants that are not consistent with agency priorities, national interests and policy objectives. It is also intended to prevent grant duplication by enhancing interagency coordination.

Furthermore, the new directive is meant to streamline the grantmaking process by requiring agencies to simplify funding opportunity announcements. It also mandates federal agencies to not only prioritize universities and nonprofit organizations, especially those that have repeatedly received awards in the past.

Enforcing Accountability

The new EO also calls for enhanced accountability in the grantmaking process. The appointees and subject matter experts will conduct annual reviews of discretionary awards to assess their progress and ensure they stay aligned with agency priorities.

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DISA Official Offers New Information on JWCC-NEXT
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John Hale, chief of product management and development at DISA. Hale provides new updates on JWCC initiative

The next Joint Warfighting Cloud Computing, or JWCC, contract might be open to more cloud service providers, according to the official overseeing the acquisition effort. In an interview with John Hale, chief of product management and development at the Defense Information Systems Agency, shared that the Department of Defense is integrating learnings from the current JWCC vehicle as it develops its next acquisition strategy.

Update on Next JWCC Contract

Some of the major changes in the upcoming contract, according to Hale, are related to access to third-party vendors included with large hyperscale providers.

“What we have learned as mission partners move to a particular hyperscale provider, they don’t just want that capability provided by that provider, they want all of the ancillary services that are provided as part of that ecosystem,” Hale shared with Federal News Network. “So how do we get to that, and how do we provide that capability to a warfighter, rather than have them to do separate contracts for that kind of stuff? That’s where we’re trying to make the changes to get to that.”

The official also revealed that DISA plans to issue the proposal solicitation for JWCC-Next in the second quarter of fiscal 2026. The agency expects awards to be made in early 2027.

Hale explained that the agency does not want an overlap between the ongoing and upcoming contracts. The current JWCC contract will expire in 2031 if all options are exercised. 

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PEO Enterprise Awards Salesforce Software ELA to Computable Insights
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PEO Enterprise logo. Computable Insights has secured an ELA from the Army's PEO Enterprise and Contracting Command.

The U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office Enterprise and Contracting Command – Rock Island have awarded Computable Insights with an enterprise license agreement, or ELA, which seeks to improve Army efficiency by centralizing all Salesforce software license and support orders. The PEO Enterprise plans to announce more ELA contract awards in the following months, the Army said Friday.

PEO Enterprise ELA Details

Through the Salesforce ELA, which was awarded on July 31, Army customers can quickly and cost-effectively get Salesforce licenses at pre-negotiated rates that leverage the Army’s purchasing power and economies of scale. The licenses will eventually be offered through PEO Enterprise’s digital marketplace, which is currently being created. The new ELA is the first to go through a full management cycle, including a detailed tracking of every license.

The Accessions Information Environment, or AIE, which is one of PEO Enterprise’s programs, is expected to benefit from the ELA, since it uses Salesforce’s Government Cloud to improve how the Army recruits, signs up and manages soldiers. 

Army Contract Terms

Last month, Computable Insights, a subsidiary of Salesforce, secured a $99.6 million fixed-firm price contract to provide Salesforce software licenses under an ELA. The work will be conducted at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and will be performed through June 26, 2030. The contracting activity is the Army Contracting Command. At the time of the award, $9 million was obligated. Only one bid was received.

PEO Enterprise’s Andi Fehl, Bill Hepworth Share Thoughts

Commenting on the contract, ELA Program Manager Andi Fehl said it was the first one that was negotiated from scratch since PEO Enterprise took over the ELA program from the Office of the Chief Information Officer last year.

“We’re working with the OCIO to look across the board at where we can consolidate contracts to realize cost avoidance,” Fehl remarked.

PEO Enterprise Program Executive Officer Bill Hepworth called the ELA a “huge breakthrough.”

“The Digital Market team will monitor and track the licenses to make sure we have absolute maximum efficiency in the way we buy software, which frees up more manpower to go do the actual building and construction at a faster clip, serving the commands and soldiers,” Hepworth said.

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Bipartisan Bill Aims to Prevent Adversaries From Accessing US Tech
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BIS logo. Reps. Crow and Kean proposed a bipartisan bill to keep adversaries from availing U.S. technology.

Reps. Jason Crow, D-Colo., and Tom Kean, Jr., R-N.J., have proposed the BIS IT Modernization Act, a new legislation aimed at preventing foreign adversaries from having access to commercial dual-use U.S. technologies.

Crow’s office said Friday the new bipartisan bill is intended to modernize the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security IT systems. This will enable federal agencies to leverage advanced tools for a more effective and efficient way to monitor the flow or export of sensitive technologies, used for commercial and military applications, including weapons systems. The particular objective is to keep these technologies from getting in the hands of Russia and China.

Remarks From Reps. Crow & Kean

“Protecting the U.S. from foreign threats is not a partisan issue. Our bipartisan bill helps keep us safe by making it harder for critical U.S. technologies, like chips and advanced computer software, from falling into the hands of America’s adversaries,” said Crow.

“As America’s adversaries, like China and Russia, become more brazen and aggressive, it is more important than ever to strengthen our export controls and sanctions enforcement to protect our national security. The bipartisan BIS IT Modernization Act is a critical step to ensure the Bureau of Industry and Security has the modern tools it needs to keep American technology out of the hands of those who seek to use it against us and our allies,” said Kean.

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Navy Issues Guidance on Adaptive Roadmaps for Capability Investment Decisions
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Justin Fanelli, chief technology officer at the Department of the Navy. Fanelli promotes the use of adaptive roadmaps

The Department of the Navy has issued guidance for the use of adaptive roadmaps for investment decisions and to enhance the process of delivering new capabilities that support warfighters.

The memo was signed by Justin Fanelli and Elizabeth Caswell, the department’s chief technology officer and acting chief services and infrastructure officer, respectively.

Navy Issues Guidance on Adaptive Roadmaps for Capability Investment Decisions

Fanelli is one of the guest speakers at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Navy Summit on Aug. 26. Register for the in-person GovCon networking event here.

What Are Adaptive Roadmaps?

According to the memo, adaptive roadmaps aid in strategic and data-driven investment decisions for emerging technologies to enhance mission effectiveness across DON.

Roadmaps must be developed throughout the lifecycle of a capability to guide whether a proposed solution should transition from concept to divestment.

There are three core artifacts of a roadmap per the new guidance: technical investment horizon charts; execution schedules; and doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership, personnel, facilities and policy, or DOTMLPF-P.

Roadmaps must also include key elements, such as a clear vision and strategy, themes and goals, time horizons, prioritizations based on value and impact, feedback, and reviews and updates.

The memo advised the use of adaptive roadmaps together with investment horizons charts, world class alignment metrics, structured divestment approach and other best practices to rationalize the adoption of new technologies.

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White House CIO Gregory Barbaccia on Federal Digital Transformation
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Gregory Barbaccia. The federal CIO called on federal agencies to modernize and "re-engineer how work is done."

Gregory Barbaccia, federal chief information officer and a 2025 Wash100 awardee, has shared his insights on how the federal government should advance digital transformation.

“I notice a lot of the government considers itself to be ‘digital,’ but in reality, we’ve only digitized, not transformed. Sure we went 0-1, but that should have just been the beginning,” Barbaccia wrote in a LinkedIn post.

He noted the lack of automation and that workflows remain unchanged despite the replacement of paper ledgers with spreadsheets.

“Files are shared over email instead of through real-time collaboration tools,” he added.

Advancing Digital Transformation in Federal Government

In his post, Barbaccia called on federal agencies to modernize and “re-engineer how work is done.”

The federal CIO suggested several measures, such as automating repetitive tasks; making data actionable; enabling faster, more collaborative decision-making; and adapting behaviors.

“If we’ve only changed the medium and not the actual process then transformation hasn’t occurred. It’s not enough to change the platform. You have to change the practice. Stay tuned,” Barbaccia added.

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FCC Reforms Seek to Advance Ground-Station-as-a-Service Business Model
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Brendan Carr. The FCC chairman said the new rules will eliminate unnecessary paperwork and advance the GSaaS business model.

The Federal Communications Commission has adopted new rules that seek to eliminate unnecessary paperwork and address regulatory barriers to the ground-station-as-a-service, or GSaaS, business model as part of efforts to drive innovation in the U.S. space economy.

FCC said Thursday the new rules establish a process for ground station operators to secure a baseline license without first identifying a satellite point of communication.

A simple FCC notification will be required for each new point of communication. According to FCC, the change would eliminate nearly half of earth station modification applications.

“Making the smallest change to a satellite system or earth station can require a new FCC approval. So, the Order we adopt today will eliminate FCC approval requirements for a range of routine changes that pose no risk to the public,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a statement published Thursday.

“Through these and other streamlining improvements, the FCC will hold itself accountable to more predictable timelines, such as a 30-day shot clock for earth station renewal applications,” he added.

What Is Ground-Station-as-a-Service?

The FCC reforms will also help advance the GSaaS business model, which allows multiple satellite systems to share the same ground station. The model also gives satellite operators the ability to transmit and receive signals without the need to establish their own ground infrastructure.

“This neutral-host infrastructure model has already proven to be successful in the wireless industry. By sparing companies the time and money to build their own bespoke infrastructure, we believe Ground-Station-as-a-Service can provide a similar boost for space startups,” Carr noted.

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GSA Inks $1B OneGov Agreement With AWS to Boost IT, AI
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Amazon Web Services logo. GSA announces a $1 billion OneGov agreement with AWS.

The General Services Administration has announced a OneGov agreement with Amazon Web Services that will provide up to $1 billion in direct incentive credits to federal civilian agencies.

According to GSA, the direct incentive credits, aggregated across the agencies, will include savings on core AWS cloud services through AWS credits, infrastructure and application technologies modernization through AWS modernization credits, access to AWS training and certification through training credits and a streamlined engagement model with greater savings for direct contracts through direct partnerships.

Advancing America’s AI Leadership

The agreement is expected to accelerate large-scale IT transformation and boost AI innovation across the government to enhance the United States’ leadership in the latter technology. GSA said the partnership will enable agencies to speed up the migration of aging on-premises infrastructure to the cloud and accelerate AI adoption in line with their modernization efforts. The agencies can begin using the AWS offerings by implementing an agreement authorizing the use of AWS services and via an executed OneGov program agreement with AWS or AWS partners.  

“GSA’s OneGov continues to deliver critical technology solutions to federal agencies while securing the best value for our most important stakeholders–the American taxpayer,” said Josh Gruenbaum, Federal Acquisition Service commissioner at GSA and a 2025 Wash100 Award recipient.

“We are grateful for AWS’s partnership as GSA continues to equip agencies with modern solutions at scale and at savings. Through this unique partnership, the federal government is poised to deliver on President Trump’s AI Action Plan and solidify its position as the global AI leader,” he continued.

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Navy’s David Voelker Says AI Can Enhance Zero Trust Authentication
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David Voelker, zero trust lead at the Department of the Navy. Voelker discussed AI's potential benefits for zero trust.

David Voelker, zero trust lead at the Department of the Navy, is pushing for the introduction of artificial intelligence into DON’s zero trust strategy. In a conversation with Federal News Network, Voelker explained that AI can provide user and entity behavioral analytics to enhance authentication.

Navy's David Voelker Says AI Can Enhance Zero Trust Authentication

Voelker is one of many distinguished speakers at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Navy Summit on Aug. 26. Register here for the in-person GovCon event.

How AI Can Enhance Zero Trust

According to the official, MITRE’s Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge, or ATT&CK, framework can be transformed into artificial neural networks that could detect adversarial threats to a specific technology being implemented within an organization. The ATT&CK framework is a globally accessible knowledge base that provides adversary tactics and techniques that have been observed in the real world.

“Being able to optimize that data point on a probability that we can report back to a [security operations center] member to give them a definitive yes or no, based on a probability that we have something that we need to pay attention to,” he shared.

He added that AI can learn behavioral patterns of individuals and businesses, and notice when something is amiss.

For instance, if a person in a finance position tries to access the engineering environment within a network, an AI agent can flag the activity. Applying AI for monitoring user behavior would make authentication in a zero trust environment more difficult to spoof.

Once a threat is identified, the organization may deploy with an automated or human-initiated response. The system may ask the user to re-authenticate. A security officer can also directly contact personnel or their supervisor to check.

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DARPA Demos First Functioning Quantum-Augmented Network
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DARPA logo. DARPA demonstrated the first functioning quantum-augmented network.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has demonstrated the first functioning quantum-augmented network as part of its new Quantum-Augmented Network initiative. 

DARPA said Thursday its QuANET program aims to unify classical and quantum communication technologies to develop a more secure and resilient networking infrastructure.

Rapid Data Transmission Time Unlocked

During the demonstration, conducted 10 months after the program’s launch, messages were transmitted across the entire network using a combination of classical and quantum links, with one link managing to encode messages onto squeezed light. After leveraging real-time optimization, a record-breaking transmission time of 0.7 milliseconds was achieved. With a bit rate of 6.8 Mbps, the speed is sufficient for streaming high-definition videos.

Enhancing Network Efficiency and Security

The program also focuses on deploying hyperentangled photons into a data packet transmission to enable more data to be transmitted at the same time. This will not only enhance efficiency but also reinforce the network’s security.

“By enabling quantum links to operate within existing communication network architectures, we’re unlocking the potential for broader access to quantum network technology, offering a new pathway towards significantly improved security, efficiency, privacy and resiliency,” said QuANET Program Manager Allyson O’Brien.

QuANET is currently preparing for its first phase test event, which will showcase DARPA’s quantum-classical architecture using fielded fiber optics, optical switches and routers to transmit and receive data.

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