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Ron Keesing Named CAIO of Leidos
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Ron Keesing Named CAIO of Leidos

Ron Keesing, former senior vice president of technology integration at Leidos, has been named the company’s chief artificial intelligence officer.

In his new role, Keesing will leverage over two decades of experience in AI, machine learning and advanced analytics to further implement Leidos Trusted Mission AI systems throughout all customer operations, the Reston, Virginia-based company announced Tuesday.

Tom Bell, CEO of Leidos, said, “Ron Keesing’s appointment as chief AI officer marks a pivotal moment for Leidos.”

“As we navigate a landscape shaped by rapid technological advancements, his leadership will be instrumental in ensuring that AI remains at the forefront of our solutions,” Bell emphasized.

Keesing has been part of the Leidos team since March 2004, during which time he served as the founding director of the company’s AI accelerator and vice president of AI. Before Leidos, he was VP and senior program manager at SAIC.

Keesing said he is honored to continue to aid Leidos AI systems as the company’s CAIO.

“Over the years, we have focused on developing AI solutions that not only improve efficiencies but also uphold the highest standards of quality and trust,” Keesing stated. “Our approach is rooted in anticipating technological trends and leveraging AI’s potential to solve complex challenges across our customers’ missions.

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Navy’s RADM Kurt Rothenhaus Wants to Bolster Connectivity With DIB
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Navy’s RADM Kurt Rothenhaus Wants to Bolster Connectivity With DIB

RADM Kurt Rothenhaus is a decorated sailor with extensive deployment experience and technological acumen. But he is also deeply versed in the research and acquisition worlds. He has worked tirelessly as chief of naval research for the Department of the Navy since May 2023 and has big ideas about how to make acquisition processes easier to manage for the defense industrial base.

ExecutiveGov spoke with RADM Rothenhaus ahead of his keynote address at the upcoming 2024 Navy Summit, from Potomac Officers Club. We explore some of his exciting vision for the future of Navy and Department of Defense contracting here, but if you want his extended insights, be sure to save a spot at the GovCon-targeted event now.

Navy’s RADM Kurt Rothenhaus Wants to Bolster Connectivity With DIB
Photo by DVIDS

Who Is Kurt Rothenhaus?

Military Service & Honors

Rothenhaus is a career Navyman with over 30 years in the service. He has completed stints on multiple major vessels, including the USS Harry S. Truman, the USS O’Brien (where he was chief engineer) and the USS Fife.

Additionally, Rothenhaus finished an individual augmentee tour in Baghdad, Iraq and has earned the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal and a series of unit and sea service recognitions.

Leadership Roles

Prior to his current role as the 27th chief of Naval research leading the Office of Naval Research, Rothenhaus spent three years as program executive officer for command control computers communications and intelligence for the Navy. The latter organization is a critical one for its mission to procure the tech to match the information warfare needs of the fleet.

Deeper into his career, the RADM served as program manager for the Navy’s Tactical Networks Program Office, commanding officer of Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific and deputy program manager for the Navy Communications and GPS Program Office. The first two are considered acquisition tours and Rothenhaus has significant interest in improving the acquisition process.

Rothenhaus’ Acquisition Ideas

Navy’s RADM Kurt Rothenhaus Wants to Bolster Connectivity With DIB
Photo by U.S. Naval Academy

At an event last year, Rothenhaus shared that as ONR commander, he is committed to working against unnecessary complexities in the contracting process and called for those in the industrial base to flag if something is “artificially hard,” according to Defense One.

“If you have that thing that’s going to even give them .0002 percent more potential gain than our adversaries, potential adversaries, we want it, and we want to get it into their hands,” Rothenhaus said. “And it’s not just attack, but we also want to learn the how, how you do business, how you approach problem solving, how you interact, how you work with capital, how do you think through your problem space, so that we as a naval team, Navy-Marine Corps team, can also benefit.”

Rothenhaus also said he and his team are “dedicated” to putting a small business focus on contract awards.

He offered some key potential solutions to common complaints about the process, including the Small Business Innovation Research initiative, broad area announcements, an improved user experience for internet portals and clearer advertising.

“I think the best thing we can do oftentimes is…give industry a little bit more time to prep for when that broad-area announcement or other engagements are available so that they can prep a little bit better, so that when the time comes, the announcement lands, they got what they need to be able to have an effective proposal in front of the government,” according to the RADM.

Kurt Rothenhaus to Keynote 2024 Navy Summit

Rothenhaus will expand on this outreach to the contracting community at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Navy Summit on Aug. 15. POC events are the most productive spaces for GovCon dialogues, project-building and networking in the Capitol region.

“I look forward to meeting with and addressing the Potomac Officers Club. As we strive to deliver advanced capabilities to the sailors and Marines we have the privilege of serving, we are operating with a sense of urgency to adapt in an era of rapid technological change and increasingly dynamic battlespace,” Rothenhaus told us.

“Among other topics, I’m excited to discuss how the Office of Naval Research is increasing its outreach to industry, academic and other partners both home and abroad, and integrate better with the fleet and Force to drive accelerated learning,” he continued.

Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to speak with and learn from RADM Rothenhaus! The all-day event will feature Navy luminaries in keynote sessions and panel discussions, plus ample windows for Q&A and conversation with GovCon competitors and colleagues. Browse the full lineup and reserve your seat at the Navy Summit now!

Navy’s RADM Kurt Rothenhaus Wants to Bolster Connectivity With DIB
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GovCon Index Sustained Momentum for 3rd Consecutive Week
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GovCon Index Sustained Momentum for 3rd Consecutive Week

Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index ended last week with an average of $5,181.95, a 2.53% increase from the previous week. This growth signified GovCon Index’s third consecutive week in positive territory and its highest recorded weekly gain since its launch in December 2023.

GovCon Index is an aggregate index that records stock market data from 30 major government contracting organizations and displays these findings in real time. Users can leverage this information to strengthen their understanding of the current GovCon marketplace and evaluate the financial performance of each tracked company.

Last week, RTX took the lead with gains of 10.84%. Lockheed Martin (+10.50%) came in second, and Northrop Grumman (+9.67%) was third.

GovCon Index kicked off last week with an increase of 1.12% on Monday. This momentum continued until Friday, when GovCon Index experienced a small dip.

Check out last week’s market reports for more information on daily GovCon Index performance. To view the full list of tracked companies, click here.

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OPM Seeks to Enhance Customer Experience via IT Pilot; Catherine Manfre Quoted
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OPM Seeks to Enhance Customer Experience via IT Pilot; Catherine Manfre Quoted

The Office of Personnel Management has initiated an information technology pilot program with some federal agencies to help improve the customer experience for its retirement systems, Federal News Network reported Friday.

“The initial focus of the pilot is really on the front end of the experience, allowing future annuitants to go through a digital application process,” Catherine Manfre, chief transformation officer at OPM, told FNN’s Federal Monthly Insights in an interview.

“We really want to make sure that we’re thinking about all the people involved. Our customers are a primary input to understanding both their pain points and how the pain points can be solved. But we are also asking how any of our technology changes, whether they’re about our retirement systems or in other places, impact our workforce,” she noted.

According to the report, OPM has been collecting quantitative and qualitative data to gather insights on how to improve the systems and will continue to perform data gathering efforts through the end of 2024.

Manfre stated that the agency is working to gather high-quality data using external dashboards. She also cited the importance of high-quality data when it comes to artificial intelligence.

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Burst Test Calibrates Orbital Reef Space Station’s Inflatable Habitat
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Burst Test Calibrates Orbital Reef Space Station’s Inflatable Habitat

A full-scale burst pressure test has been completed on the inflatable habitat that Sierra Space is developing as part of the NASA-funded commercial space station of Blue Origin, Orbital Reef.

The structure, the Large Integrated Flexible Environment—a.k.a. LIFE—is made of high-strength, flexible materials that could be launched as payload in a single rocket and designed to be inflated later into a solid habitat once in its low Earth orbit destination.

The pressurization-to-burst test on the LIFE structure for Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef was conducted at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

The burst test demonstrated LIFE’s capabilities and provided the Blue Origin and Sierra Space with vital data to support NASA’s inflatable softgoods certification standards, the agency said.

Angela Hart, manager of NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program, described the test as an exciting milestone for the planned low Earth orbit station.

“Every successful development milestone by our partners is one more step to achieving our goal of enabling commercial low Earth orbit destinations and expanding the low Earth orbit marketplace,” she said.

A previous full-scale burst pressure test has been conducted on the LIFE habitat at Marshall in December 2023 after subscale tests also at the NASA Huntsville facility and at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

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NIST Advances AI Executive Order Implementation With New Guidance Documents, Software Package
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NIST Advances AI Executive Order Implementation With New Guidance Documents, Software Package

The Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued three final guidance documents and a software package in line with its implementation of the October 2023 executive order on artificial intelligence.

The department said Friday NIST’s U.S. AI Safety Institute has released initial draft guidance that provides seven key approaches to mitigating misuse risks for dual-use foundation models.

Public comments on the draft document are due Sept. 9.

Of the three final guidance documents, two are designed to help developers manage the risks of generative AI and serve as companion resources to NIST’s Secure Software Development Framework and AI Risk Management Framework.

The third guidance document presents a plan for stakeholders worldwide to work together to develop and implement AI standards.

The software package seeks to help AI developers measure how adversarial attacks can impact an AI system’s performance.

“AI is the defining technology of our generation, so we are running fast to keep pace and help ensure the safe development and deployment of AI. Today’s announcements demonstrate our commitment to giving AI developers, deployers, and users the tools they need to safely harness the potential of AI, while minimizing its associated risks,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

USPTO’s AI Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance

In mid-July, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office unveiled updated guidance to help USPTO staff and stakeholders determine patent subject matter eligibility for AI-related inventions and other innovations in critical and emerging technologies.

USPTO is soliciting public input on the guidance update through Sept. 16.

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Aaron Allen Named Army Reserve Command CIO
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Aaron Allen Named Army Reserve Command CIO

U.S. Army Reserve Command has appointed Aaron Allen, an information technology leader, as chief information officer.

Allen announced his appointment in a LinkedIn post published Sunday.

He will bring to the position his experience in IT strategy, network administration, data analysis, IT infrastructure management, business process improvement and technical support, among other areas.

The newly appointed CIO most recently served as battalion commander within the Army Reserve Careers Group.

His military career includes time serving as acting commander for the Army Pacific Command Support Unit-FWD Japan within the U.S. Army Pacific, Brigade Operations S-3 officer in charge within the service’s 505th Signal Brigade and deputy CIO for the 311th Expeditionary Sustainment Command.

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Aerospace Corporation Study Cautions Against Exporting SDA Rapid Acquisition Model to Other Agencies
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Aerospace Corporation Study Cautions Against Exporting SDA Rapid Acquisition Model to Other Agencies

The Aerospace Corporation has released a new study that praises the speed at which the Space Development Agency has launched satellites or payloads since its establishment in 2019 using an acquisition model based on proliferation, or the creation and maintenance of a space architecture made up of many satellites that are periodically replaced, Breaking Defense reported Thursday.

The same study, titled “The Space Development Agency and the Future of Defense Space Acquisitions,” nevertheless also seeks to temper the enthusiasm expressed by some within the contracting world that has called for the broader adoption of the SDA’s rapid acquisition approach across the Department of Defense.

The study, authored by Center for Space Policy and Strategy Senior Policy Analyst Andrew Berglund, says that the SDA’s acquisition approach has not been sufficiently studied to determine whether it can be exported to other agencies, for whom a proliferation-based methodology might not be appropriate to begin with.

Also, the SDA has enjoyed legal exemptions from having to comply with select regulations governing government acquisitions, a benefit many other organizations have not received.

Equally important is the fact that the outcomes of the SDA’s acquisition model have not yet been proven. The study notes that the satellites SDA has launched have yet to demonstrate their capabilities.

The study also raises questions about the model’s ability to sustain the delivery of new satellite capabilities — every two years — as well as the model’s ability to sustain competition over time, especially as “the advantages of incumbency” becomes pronounced.

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Biden-Harris Administration Publishes Implementation Roadmap for Emerging Technology National Standards Strategy
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Biden-Harris Administration Publishes Implementation Roadmap for Emerging Technology National Standards Strategy

The Biden-Harris administration has laid out steps toward an industry-led development of standardization of critical and emerging technologies, or CETs, to protect and support national and economic security.

The White House said Friday that foreign adversaries see the strategic value of CETs and are working toward influencing international standards to their advantage and curtail American innovation.

The U.S. Government’s National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology implementation roadmap is based on feedback collected by the National Institute of Standards and Technology on a draft issued in June.

The document identifies short- and long-term objectives to engage with the private sector in creating an inclusive, research-backed standards system. According to the document, the Departments of Commerce and State and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will continue to work with private organizations such as the American National Standards Institute to engage with international partners on the standards.

The government will also evaluate current CET standards education grants and programs to remove barriers and encourage greater participation.

In the long term, the United States plans to offer sustained funding for CET research and development, and coordinate with the private sector and academia about standardization efforts.

“Standards are essential to commerce and to the safe, reliable, and interoperable functioning of a broad array of essential products and services,” the White House said in a press release. “Standards provide industries and innovators with a common language that facilitates trade, simplifies transactions, accelerates innovation, and enables people to work across disciplines and borders toward common goals.”

The USG NSSCET was published in 2023 establishes four guiding principles for standards development efforts.

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VA Seeking Vendors to Improve Trustworthiness of Government AI Solutions
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VA Seeking Vendors to Improve Trustworthiness of Government AI Solutions

The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking for qualified contractors to provide expertise and operational support for an agency project to develop advanced artificial intelligence capabilities.

The VA needs help from companies that can enable AI operations and enhance the trustworthiness of AI solutions, which will be used to ensure veterans’ health and welfare, according to a notice published on the System for Award Management website.

Specifically, the potential contractor will help the National Artificial Intelligence Institute optimize the implementation of VA’s AI programs.

The selected company is also expected to support the NAII’s goal of achieving excellence in AI operational healthcare and implementation.

The required services under the NAII program include program management, communications services, strategic planning, data management, studies and analyses, training development and supply chain optimization.

The government plans to award a contract with a one-year base performance period, which could be extended depending on the quality of responses and agency requirements.

Interested businesses are encouraged to submit their capability statements no later than Aug. 7.

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