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Margaret Boatner: Army to Keep Software in Development Mode
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Margaret Boatner: Army to Keep Software in Development Mode

Margaret Boatner, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for strategy and acquisition reform, said the military branch will continue running its software offerings under research, development, test and evaluation funding instead of transitioning them to sustainment as part of its software modernization efforts, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

“We really have to retrain ourselves to think about and to acknowledge the fact that software really needs to stay in development all the time,” Boatner told FNN in an interview.

The move is part of a new software policy signed by Army Secretary and 2024 Wash100 awardee Christine Wormuth in March.

“It’s recognizing that a continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) model software is never done. That way, our program managers can plan to use the appropriate color of money, which in many cases might be RDT&E, which is the color money you need to do true development,” Boatner said.

“So, that will give our program managers a lot more flexibility to determine the appropriate color money based on what they want to do, such that our software systems can really continue to be developed over time,” she added.

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NASA Appoints Dina Contella as Deputy ISS Program Manager, Bill Spetch as Ops Integration Manager
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NASA Appoints Dina Contella as Deputy ISS Program Manager, Bill Spetch as Ops Integration Manager

Dina Contella will succeed Dana Weigel as deputy program manager of the International Space Station Program at NASA on June 2, following the latter’s appointment in April to lead the orbital laboratory-focused initiative.

The space agency said Contella, operations integration manager of the ISS Program, brings to the role over three decades of experience in supporting the space station and other NASA programs.

“Dina’s depth of experience with the complex and dynamic aspects of the space station mission will be instrumental for leading through future challenges,” Weigel noted.

Aside from Contella’s move, NASA also announced its selection of Bill Spetch, office manager responsible for the health and integrity of the ISS, to assume Contella’s soon-to-be-vacated program post. He has nearly 27 years of experience in providing the lab with assistance through various space agency roles.

“Bill’s extensive experience with space station hardware and transportation systems uniquely position him for the leadership role as the operations integration manager,” Weigel said of Spetch.

The series of leadership movements was triggered by Joel Montalbano‘s transition to the role of deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate. He previously served as ISS Program manager.

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CISA Issues Guidance to Strengthen Cyber Posture of Civil Society Organizations; Jen Easterly Quoted
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CISA Issues Guidance to Strengthen Cyber Posture of Civil Society Organizations; Jen Easterly Quoted

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and its partners have issued a document that seeks to guide civil society organizations in protecting themselves against cybersecurity threats, especially those posed by state-sponsored actors.

The document, titled “Mitigating Cyber Threats with Limited Resources: Guidance for Civil Society,” offers a number of recommendations, including choosing to work with vendors that abide by Secure by Design principles, exercising caution when sharing information via social media and implementing phishing-resistant multifactor authentication, CISA said Tuesday.

Commenting on the release of the document, CISA Director and 2024 Wash100 winner Jen Easterly noted how threat actors have sought “to undermine fundamental democratic and humanitarian values and interests supported by civil society organizations and individuals.” The new guidance can “help these organizations better understand the cyber threats they face and help them improve their cyber safety.”

The guidance was published by CISA in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and partners from Canada, Estonia, Japan and the United Kingdom.

CISA Issues Guidance to Strengthen Cyber Posture of Civil Society Organizations; Jen Easterly Quoted

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OMB Names 7 Members to Newly Created FedRAMP Board
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OMB Names 7 Members to Newly Created FedRAMP Board

The Office of Management and Budget has appointed seven inaugural members to the newly established FedRAMP Board, which will replace the Joint Authorization Board of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program.

The General Services Administration said Tuesday OMB created the FedRAMP Board in accordance with the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act to advance the adoption of secure cloud offerings within the federal government.

“The board will approve and help guide FedRAMP policies, bring together the federal community to create a robust authorization ecosystem, and be a critical partner to the FedRAMP program in our shared goal of a more streamlined customer experience and stronger federal cybersecurity,” said Eric Mill, executive director for cloud strategy at GSA.

The members of the FedRAMP Board are:

  • Bo Berlas, chief information security officer, GSA
  • Carrie Lee, deputy chief information officer, Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Christopher Butera, senior technical director for cybersecurity division, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency
  • David McKeown, senior information security officer and deputy CIO for cybersecurity, Department of Defense
  • Hemant Baidwan, CISO, Department of Homeland Security
  • Sylvia Burns, CIO and chief privacy officer, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
  • Venice Goodwine, CIO, Department of the Air Force

Goodwine is a 2024 Wash100 awardee and McKeown is a previous Wash100 Award recipient.

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NIST Releases Updated Guidelines for Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information
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NIST Releases Updated Guidelines for Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has updated its guidance on protecting sensitive government data stored in systems operated by nonfederal organizations and its guidelines for assessing security requirements for controlled unclassified information.

The updates align the terms used in the two publications with NIST’s source catalog of security and privacy controls and assessment procedures to clarify security requirements and eliminate uncertainty in security requirement assessments, the agency said Tuesday.

“For the sake of our private sector customers, we want our guidance to be clear, unambiguous and tightly coupled with the catalog of controls and assessment procedures used by federal agencies,” said Ron Ross, one of the publications’ authors.

The guidance, titled “Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Systems and Organizations,” requires federal contractors and other organizations working with the government to protect their systems that host controlled unclassified information from potential adversarial threats.

Meanwhile, its companion publication, SP 800-171A, helps users assess their compliance with the security requirements for the federal government’s non-classified information.

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Office of Management and Budget Releases Circular on Improving Acquisition Data-sharing Between Agencies
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Office of Management and Budget Releases Circular on Improving Acquisition Data-sharing Between Agencies

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy will establish a framework governing the management of acquisition data from various agencies as part of the mandates of a new Office of Management and Budget circular that seeks to facilitate better acquisition data-sharing and help eliminate the duplication of information, tools and effort.

According to a fact sheet released by the White House, OMB Circular A-137, Strategic Management of Acquisition Data and Information, aims to establish “the policy and technical foundation that will allow each agency’s data to be scaled and leveraged by all agencies to achieve better contracting outcomes.”

The fact sheet goes on to note that the circular treats acquisition data as “a strategic Government-wide asset to be used, as appropriate, in the lifecycle management of Federal contract.”

As part of its work to establish a centralized data management policy framework — dubbed High-Definition Framework — the OFPP, which has also been tasked to manage the circular, will formulate a governance process with the aim of ensuring the security and appropriate management and use of data sets and data products.

Through the circular, the OFPP will also work to establish a data environment that will provide agencies with centralized access to acquisition data; develop centralized data standards and definitions; promote data-sharing technologies; require agencies to share their data; and facilitate other actions that encourage collaboration and data management.

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Chris DeRusha Stepping Down as Federal CISO
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Chris DeRusha Stepping Down as Federal CISO

Chris DeRusha is stepping down from his role as federal chief information security officer within the Office of Management and Budget, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

Mike Duffy, associate director for capacity building in the cyber division at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, will serve as acting federal CISO and will start his detail in the coming week, according to an internal email obtained by FNN.

“Since day one of the Biden administration, Chris has been instrumental in strengthening our nation’s cybersecurity, protecting America’s critical infrastructure, and improving the digital defenses of the federal government,” Clare Martorana, federal chief information officer at OMB and a previous Wash100 awardee, said in an email statement to the publication.

DeRusha, a previous Wash100 awardee, has helped advance the implementation of the zero trust strategy and other cybersecurity priorities of the current administration since he assumed the federal CISO role in January 2021.

Before he became federal CISO, DeRusha was chief information security officer for the Biden presidential campaign. He also served as chief security officer for the state of Michigan and as a senior cyber adviser at the White House.

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Northrop Receives Army Contract Modification for Poland’s Integrated Air & Missile Defense System
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Northrop Receives Army Contract Modification for Poland’s Integrated Air & Missile Defense System

Northrop Grumman has secured a $49 million contract modification from the U.S. Army in support of the company’s work on the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, or IBCS, for the government of Poland.

The Department of Defense said Tuesday that the contractor’s defense systems sector will continue working at its Huntsville, Alabama, site through March 31, 2025.

In March 2019, Northrop was awarded a $349.4 million contract for the delivery of two complete battery sets of IBCS hardware and software to Poland as part of the Foreign Military Sales program. The procurement is a seven-year effort expected to conclude by June 30, 2026. The company was obligated the full contract amount from fiscal 2019 FMS funds at the time of the award.

For the modification, the Army Contracting Command, which serves as the contracting activity, also awarded Northrop the full amount from the fiscal 2024 FMS budget.

IBCS is a command and control system developed to provide militaries with air and missile defense. It has modular, open and scalable architecture that enables delivery of a single actionable picture of the full battlespace to warfighters to support their decision-making on defeating threats.

Poland intends to use the system as the centerpiece of its modernization strategy for the Wisla medium-range air and missile defense program.

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Army Solicits Proposals for 4 SBIR Logistics, Sensor Development Contracts
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Army Solicits Proposals for 4 SBIR Logistics, Sensor Development Contracts

The U.S. Army is soliciting proposals for four contract opportunities under its Small Business Innovation Research Program, a.k.a. SBIR, to develop logistics and sensor technologies for military applications.

The SBIR solicitations focus on key technology topics: advanced miniature mission processors for hyperspectral applications, miniaturization of hyperspectral sensors for unmanned aerial systems, multisystem mobile corrosion units and software-defined radios.

Three direct-to-Phase II contract opportunities worth $2 million each seek a size, weight and power-optimized mission processor prototype, a radio-agonistic software-defined radio head system and a small-scale sensor prototype for drone applications.

A Phase I solicitation was released to help the Letterkenny Army Depot deploy a mobile corrosion unit with corrosion preventative coating applications, cold sprays, laser ablation, plasma blasts, welding, sanders, blasters and supporting equipment and power requirements.

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DOD Issues Open Announcement for Research Projects Under Defense Industrial Base Consortium OTA; Laura Taylor-Kale Quoted
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DOD Issues Open Announcement for Research Projects Under Defense Industrial Base Consortium OTA; Laura Taylor-Kale Quoted

The Department of Defense has issued an open announcement to solicit white papers on proposed research ideas that could be developed into prototypes as part of a push to accelerate the delivery of critical capabilities to warfighters.

DOD said Tuesday the open announcement released through the Defense Industrial Base Consortium’s other transaction authority is open to companies from the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the U.K.

The white papers should fall within one or more of the critical sectors and areas of interest and will be evaluated to be considered for Defense Production Act Title III and Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment funding.

The critical sectors listed in the announcement are kinetic capabilities, energy storage and batteries, castings and forgings, strategic and critical materials, microelectronics and workforce development.

Additional areas of interest are small unmanned aerial systems, submarine industrial base, space industrial base and emerging manufacturing technology.

“This Open Announcement will solicit new ideas for research or prototype project solutions that will benefit our industrial base,” said Laura Taylor-Kale, assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy at DOD.

“Expanding sources of supply is a key element of the vision articulated in the National Defense Industrial Strategy to help build resilient supply chains,” added Taylor-Kale.

White papers are due Sept. 30.

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