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Government & Industry Seek to Fill Cyber Positions Using Skills-Based Hiring Principles
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Government & Industry Seek to Fill Cyber Positions Using Skills-Based Hiring Principles

National Cyber Director Harry Coker Jr. announced at a recent White House event the intent of the federal government to transition by summer the Information Technology Management job series — which encompasses a majority of the federal IT workforce — to skills-based hiring.

The move is part of a broader effort to use a skills-based hiring framework, when appropriate, with the ultimate aim of promoting access to cybersecurity jobs in the government without relying on college degree requirements, the Office of the National Cyber Director said Monday.

For their part, representatives from multiple organizations across various industries present at the event expressed their commitment to follow the government’s lead and bolster their cyber talent pipeline by relying on skills-based principles and practices like apprenticeships, scholarships and trainings.

Examples of such efforts include a technical and professional learning initiative by Verizon in collaboration with edX; a cybersecurity curriculum pilot program involving Cisco Networking Academy and Wichita State University; and continued investments by Motorola Solutions in talent development partnerships and programs.

Government & Industry Seek to Fill Cyber Positions Using Skills-Based Hiring Principles

Cyber experts, government leaders and industry visionaries will speak about the dynamic and evolving role of cyber in the public sector at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Cyber Summit, which will take place in June. Register now to attend this important event!

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John Bailey Appointed NASA Stennis Space Center Director
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John Bailey Appointed NASA Stennis Space Center Director

John Bailey, acting director of NASA’s Stennis Space Center since January, has been named the permanent director of the rocket propulsion test site.

Bailey will lead the rocket testing facility that has a combined workforce of over 5,200 and currently tests the RS-25 engines that will power NASA’s Space Launch System for future Artemis missions, the agency said Monday.

“John will build on his nearly 35 years of federal service to lead our talented workforce at Stennis,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. 

“So much of NASA runs through Stennis. It is where we hone new and exciting capabilities in aerospace, technology, and deep space exploration. I am confident that John will lead the nation’s largest and premier propulsion test site to even greater success,” the 2024 Wash100 awardee added.

Bailey has held various roles of increasing responsibility since joining NASA in 1999, including as deputy director of Stennis Space Center.

Before that, he served as a communications engineer with the U.S. Air Force and led the service branch’s electronic communications testing worldwide.

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DIU Names Liz Young McNally as Commercial Operations Deputy Director
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DIU Names Liz Young McNally as Commercial Operations Deputy Director

Liz Young McNally, a senior executive and a U.S. Army veteran, has been appointed deputy director of commercial operations at the Defense Innovation Unit.

DIU said Monday McNally will oversee the defense organization’s collaboration with the investment community and commercial technology sector and manage defense innovation on-ramp efforts and investment capabilities within the National Security Innovation Capital and National Security Innovation Network.

“Liz’s expertise and dual fluency across the commercial and military sectors, combining deep experience with both operating businesses and investors as well as downrange in uniform, and on top of her hands-on experience with inspiring service-and purpose-oriented talent, represent an incredible asset to our mission of delivering real change to the DoD at speed and scale,” said DIU Director Doug Beck.

McNally came to DIU from Schmidt Futures, where she was co-chief executive.

She is a former partner at McKinsey & Co., where she also served as global lead for the management consulting firm’s McKinsey Academy.

The West Point graduate also served as a member of the U.S. Military Academy’s board of visitors.

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GSA Issues Resource Guide for Federal Generative AI Tech Acquisition
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GSA Issues Resource Guide for Federal Generative AI Tech Acquisition

The General Services Administration has issued a resource guide to help federal acquisition professionals as they procure generative artificial intelligence and related technology platforms.

GSA said Monday the release of the Generative AI and Specialized Computing Infrastructure Acquisition Resource Guide comes as the current administration marks the first 180 days of its AI executive order.

The document outlines key considerations to advance the responsible procurement of generative AI tools and includes questions that contracting professionals should ask to make informed decisions when it comes to AI tech procurement.

“This new guide lays out the common challenges, use cases, and other helpful information to support government as it navigates the growing AI marketplace and starts to leverage the power of AI to better deliver for the American people,” said GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan.

The resource guide cites generative AI examples in the federal government, addresses considerations for managing and protecting data and includes recommendations on how to use sandboxes and testbeds before committing to large-scale procurement.

Laura Stanton, assistant commissioner for the Office of Information Technology Category within GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said the guide will be updated as generative AI continues to evolve.

“Contracting officers will play a critical role by working closely with program and IT staff to find, source, acquire and make secure the right generative AI solutions for agencies’ needs. This guide is a start to help the acquisition community enable their agencies to responsibly harness the power of this promising technology and better serve the American people,” added Stanton.

SBA: Federal Government Awarded 28% of FY23 Contracting Dollars to Small Businesses
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SBA: Federal Government Awarded 28% of FY23 Contracting Dollars to Small Businesses

The Small Business Administration found that the federal government exceeded the small business contracting goal of 23 percent in fiscal year 2023 by awarding a record high of $178.6 billion, or 28.4 percent of total contracting dollars, to small enterprises.

SBA said Monday federal contract dollars awarded to small businesses reflect an increase of $15.7 billion from FY 2022, when small companies secured $162.9 billion in contract awards.

According to the FY 2023 Federal Procurement Scorecard, a dozen agencies earned an “A” grade and 10 federal agencies secured an “A+” grade, including SBA, General Services Administration and the departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security and Commerce.

Federal agencies awarded $86.4 billion to small business subcontractors, achieving their subcontracting goal.

The agencies also exceeded contracting targets for small disadvantaged and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, which are set at 12 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

The federal government awarded 12.1 percent or $76.2 billion of contract funds to small disadvantaged businesses and 5.1 percent to service-disabled veteran-owned small enterprises.

Women-owned small businesses were awarded $30.9 billion in FY 2023 federal contract awards and HUBZone small companies secured $17.5 billion in contracting dollars.

“Through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we have championed initiatives to fuel the nation’s economy – ensuring competition and a level playing field so that small businesses can access the historic level of investments through federal contracting,” said SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman.

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DAF Requests Information on Potential $88M MOSES II Contract
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DAF Requests Information on Potential $88M MOSES II Contract

The Department of the Air Force. has begun seeking information on a potential seven-year, $88 million contract to provide operations and maintenance and research and development support services to the Air Force Technical Application Center, or AFTAC.

The Modeling, Software, and Engineering Support II contract covers technical services to support AFTAC’s nuclear treaty monitoring mission and R&D activities for advanced nuclear projects, according to a notice posted Saturday on SAM.gov.

O&M tasks under the MOSES II contract include the maintenance and sustainment of contract software across multiple AFTAC enterprise information infrastructures and enhancements to existing systems, modeling applications and databases.

R&D activities will cover model development, environmental chemistry modeling, statistical algorithms and advanced analytic methods, special tasking and scientific support.

Responses are due May 10.

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BAE Systems Wins $92M Navy Contract for LSD 50 Dock Landing Ship Maintenance Support
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BAE Systems Wins $92M Navy Contract for LSD 50 Dock Landing Ship Maintenance Support

BAE Systems has secured a potential $92.3 million firm-fixed-price contract action from the U.S. Navy to provide modernization, repair and maintenance support services for the USS Carter Hall (LSD 50), a Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship.

Naval Sea Systems Command launched a full and open competition and received three offers for the USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) fiscal 2024 docking selected restricted availability, the Department of Defense said Monday.

BAE Systems’ Norfolk Ship Repair business will perform work in Norfolk, Virginia, through May 2025. It will provide all labor, equipment, production, supervision, testing, facilities and quality assurance support to meet the Chief of Naval Operations availability.

The contract has a base value of approximately $87.3 million.

Video: Doug Wagoner Explains LMI’s Strategic Pivot
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Video: Doug Wagoner Explains LMI’s Strategic Pivot

In 2022, LMI underwent a significant organizational shift as it entered the for-profit arena after six decades as a federally funded research and development center. In a new video interview, Executive Mosaic spoke with LMI CEO Doug Wagoner, a five-time Wash100 Award winner, to learn more about the company’s growth strategy, M&A opportunities and core values as LMI taps into its next phase of expansion.

According to Wagoner, LMI’s core values are built on the foundation of the company’s 60-year history as a not-for-profit organization. And today, those core values are still a guiding beacon for LMI as it moves into the for-profit space.

“Our mission focus, how we treat our people, high ethical standards — when you’re a non-profit, those are even more critical. And we continued that cultural identity as we went for-profit in 2022,” Wagoner shared with Executive Mosaic’s Summer Myatt. 

“A core reason why people come to work for LMI, why we enjoy a very low turnover rate, is that we do talk about those cultural elements. The management team reinforces those cultural elements. It’s just not something that we throw on the website. It is something that all of us take very seriously because we spend the public’s money and that’s a high bar for integrity and transparency. We take that very seriously,” Wagoner shared.

Wagoner went on to discuss the rise of artificial intelligence tools and technologies — including LMI’s own AI offering, LIGER — and the company’s expansion into the space market. 

He also revealed insights into LMI’s M&A outlook for 2024 as the company seeks to achieve greater penetration into the intelligence market. 

Watch Doug Wagoner’s full video interview for the latest insights from the leaders of GovCon. 

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DOE Seeks Stakeholder Insights to Improve Clean Energy Supply Chain
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DOE Seeks Stakeholder Insights to Improve Clean Energy Supply Chain

The Department of Energy Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains is seeking input from industry, academia and researchers regarding clean energy supply chain data and methods of analysis and has issued a request for information for the effort.

MESC said Friday that it will use the information it gathers to develop a heatmap that will inform opportunities for investment across clean energy supply chains. This assessment of investment opportunities is meant to serve as a follow-on to an analysis featured in the 2023 Supply Chain Progress Report.

Feedback will also be used to improve MESC’s supply chain analysis and respondents can use the opportunity to highlight gaps and other challenges affecting the supply chain for clean energy technologies.

Interested parties have until June 10 to submit responses.

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SpaceX Conducts Capability Demo as Part of In-Space Refueling Technology Development
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SpaceX Conducts Capability Demo as Part of In-Space Refueling Technology Development

According to Amit Kshatriya, deputy associate administrator for the Moon to Mars Program at NASA, SpaceX conducted a test on March 14 to demonstrate its ability to transfer propellant between tanks aboard Starship while in flight, SpaceNews reported Saturday.

Kshatriya told the Human Exploration and Operations Committee of the NASA Advisory Council on April 26 that the demonstration, which involved a planned transfer of at least 10 metric tons of liquid oxygen from a header tank within Starship’s upper stage onto its main tank, “was successful by all accounts.”

The demo, which SpaceX carried out under the terms of a NASA contract awarded in 2020, is part of a broader effort to develop technologies that would enable the refueling of Starship while in space, a capability that is crucial to future manned lunar missions using the spacecraft.

The next step in the effort will involve two Starships docking while in orbit, during which one will transfer propellant to the other. That demo is scheduled for 2025.

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