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Elite GovCon Innovators Shawn Purvis & Candice Ling Selected to 2024 Wash100 List
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Elite GovCon Innovators Shawn Purvis & Candice Ling Selected to 2024 Wash100 List

QinetiQ US CEO Shawn Purvis and Microsoft Federal Sector Leader Candice Ling were recognized by Executive Mosaic on Wednesday in honor of their 2024 Wash100 Award wins.

Wash100 annually celebrates the government contracting industry’s most triumphant executives. Individuals who receive a Wash100 Award represent the spirit of skilled leadership and career success. Winners are also selected for their potential to continue to shape the GovCon field.

Purvis is a four-time Wash100 Award winner, and this year, she was chosen for spearheading technological innovation and delivering key capabilities to defense and national security agencies through various contracts, multiple of which were valued at over $100 million. To learn more about her achievements, read her full profile here.

Ling joined the ranks of Wash100 for the first time this year. She was chosen for her monumental efforts to bring cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology to the U.S. government by fostering partnerships with both federal agencies and other technology providers. Click here to read her full profile and gain more insights on her efforts.

The annual Wash100 popular vote contest is heating up! To cast your 10 votes for your favorite 2024 winners, click here.

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NASA Unveils 3 Lunar Instruments to Fly on Artemis III Mission
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NASA Unveils 3 Lunar Instruments to Fly on Artemis III Mission

NASA has selected the first three lunar instruments to deploy to the moon during the Artemis III mission to collect data about the lunar environment and the moon’s interior and gather information on how to sustain long-term human presence on the moon.

The instruments are expected to launch in 2026 as part of the first crewed moon landing mission of NASA’s Artemis program to help scientists understand planetary processes, investigate and mitigate lunar exploration risks and understand the character and origin of lunar polar volatiles, NASA said Tuesday.

A compact, autonomous seismometer suite called the Lunar Environment Monitoring Station, or LEMS, will fly on the Artemis III mission to demonstrate continuous, long-term monitoring of the seismic environment in the lunar south polar region.

LEMS will characterize the regional structure of the moon’s crust and mantle to inform the development of lunar formation and evolution models.

Another instrument selected for Artemis III is Lunar Effects on Agricultural Flora, a.k.a. LEAF, which will investigate the impact of the lunar surface environment on space crops.

The third instrument is the Lunar Dielectric Analyzer, or LDA, an internationally contributed payload that will measure the regolith’s ability to propagate an electric field.

“With these innovative instruments stationed on the Moon’s surface, we’re embarking on a transformative journey that will kick-start the ability to conduct human-machine teaming – an entirely new way of doing science,” said Pam Melroy, deputy administrator of NASA.

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Clyde Richards Jr. Named Deputy CIO at National Science Foundation
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Clyde Richards Jr. Named Deputy CIO at National Science Foundation

Clyde Richards Jr., former deputy program executive officer at Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, has been named deputy chief information officer at the National Science Foundation, according to his LinkedIn post.

Richards brings to the role more than three decades of defense and government industry experience in program and portfolio management.

In his most recent role at DCSA, Richards helped oversee the development and implementation of the Department of Defense’s information technology systems that enable DCSA mission support objectives.

Before joining DCSA, Richards was the director of the Army Mission Command portfolio at the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army.

He was director of the Army and Marine Corps portfolio at the Defense Contract Management Agency, senior program manager for the defense communications and army transmission systems at the Army Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems.

Richards held various leadership positions during his eight-year service in the Army.

POC - 5th Annual CIO Summit

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual CIO Summit on April 17 to hear about the latest modernization strategies from government and industry CIOs. Register here to save your seat at the highly anticipated event.

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New DHS Study Evaluates Privacy Risks Posed by Biometrics Research Support System
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New DHS Study Evaluates Privacy Risks Posed by Biometrics Research Support System

The Department of Homeland Security has released a study assessing the impact that its newly-created biometrics research system may have on the privacy of individuals.

Released Tuesday, the assessment says that the Cloud-based Biometric Analytic Environment system was established to support the work being done by the Biometrics and Identity Technology Center within the DHS Science and Technology Directorate to enhance the performance of the various biometric tools being used by the agency to carry out its mission.

The system will be housed within a designated Amazon Web Services S&T GovCloud partition, where it will be employed to test tools like facial, iris and fingerprint recognition.

The risk to privacy stems from the use of real-world biometric data during testing. The DHS opted to use data collected during actual operations due to the limitations and potential problems that synthetic data may introduce.

According to the assessment, the DHS has taken multiple steps to mitigate the risks to privacy. These measures include the de-identification of biometric data up to the point where only the information needed for accurate research and analysis is retained. Encryption and other methods will also be employed to ensure that the data is transferred securely from contributing agency components.

Access to the system, its data sets and associated applications will also be limited to S&T federal personnel and select contractors.

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University of Alaska Fairbanks Books $139M NGA Contract for Geospatial Data, Products
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University of Alaska Fairbanks Books $139M NGA Contract for Geospatial Data, Products

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency will procure geospatial data and products from the University of Alaska Fairbanks using the recently awarded $139 million Summit contract.

NGA said the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract covers data and product development, maintenance and delivery over a five-year period of performance.

In December 2022, the agency released a sources sought notice for the Summit program. It requested information about industry capabilities focused on global collection, manipulation, processing and maintenance of elevation and 3D data.

The recent award was not the first collaboration between NGA and the university. In 2018, the latter was part of a team tasked to provide the agency with geospatial intelligence data on the Arctic region to help with its persistent surveillance of the location.

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Pentagon Concludes 9th Global Information Dominance Experiment for CJADC2
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Pentagon Concludes 9th Global Information Dominance Experiment for CJADC2

The Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office has concluded its ninth Global Information Dominance Experiment, or GIDE 9, delivering an initial version of the Pentagon’s Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control initiative, also known as CJADC2, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

GIDE 9 demonstrated a new minimum viable capability for CJADC2 that enables a vendor-agnostic data integration layer designed to allow DOD components and international partners to access and exchange data that can be integrated into the military’s technology development pipeline.

“The data mesh services that we are trying to bring to bear allow us to be able to have data in common between the combatant commands so that one command doesn’t have their kind of program of record that they’re working with that has data in a stovepipe. They may have, for example, some logistics data or munitions data that is relative to that force that they have,” said Air Force Col. Matthew Strohmeyer, who leads the GIDE series.

During GIDE 9, Strohmeyer’s team tested and demonstrated data mesh services for the U.S. military’s joint operating system, which enables combatant commands to analyze data they use for decision-making.

In February, Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of defense and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, said DOD has delivered its initial iteration of the CJADC2 initiative representing a minimum viable capability combining live data integration, software applications, real-world networks and cross-domain operational concepts.

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Labor Department to Open Contractor Portal for Affirmative Action Certification in April
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Labor Department to Open Contractor Portal for Affirmative Action Certification in April

The Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, or OFCCP, will open on April 1 the online Contractor Portal for its third annual Affirmative Action Program compliance certification for federal contractors and subcontractors.

Contractors should complete their certification by July 1, the department said Monday.

Launched in December 2021, the Contractor Portal will also allow companies meeting certain jurisdictional thresholds to submit to OFCCP their Affirmative Action Programs for each functional unit or establishment.

Affirmative action requirements sought to ensure that covered contractors take certain affirmative measures to provide equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants regardless of their race, sex, color, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity and national origin.

The second annual cycle of affirmative action certification opened in March 2023.

State Department Debuts National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct
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State Department Debuts National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct

The State Department has announced the release of the U.S. government’s 2024 National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct, demonstrating the government’s commitment to expanding the use of green energy, improving respect for human rights and labor rights, countering corruption, fostering rights-respecting use of technology, protecting human rights defenders and advancing gender equality and equity.

The second national action plan has four priority focus areas: establishing a federal advisory committee on responsible business conduct; strengthening respect for human rights in federal procurement policies and processes; strengthening access to remedy; and providing resources to businesses, the State Department said Monday.

Under the first priority area, the State Department will use the committee to strengthen coordination with the private sector, academia, civil society and other stakeholders on responsible business conduct.

For the second priority area, the Department of Defense will perform a review to assess requiring or encouraging membership within the International Code of Conduct Association for Private Security Providers’ Association for vendors.

The plan also highlights the need for businesses to perform human rights due diligence across value chains based on international standards.

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CISA-FBI Alert Calls for Elimination of SQL Injection Vulnerabilities in Software
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CISA-FBI Alert Calls for Elimination of SQL Injection Vulnerabilities in Software

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI have released a joint alert urging technology manufacturers to eliminate SQL injection vulnerabilities in software.

The Secure by Design Alert was issued in response to a recent exploitation of SQLi vulnerabilities in a managed file transfer application to target users of the application, CISA said Monday.

The bureau and CISA called on senior executives at tech manufacturing firms to conduct a formal review of their code to determine its risks to SQLi compromises.

“If they discover their code has vulnerabilities, senior executives should ensure their organizations’ software developers immediately begin implementing mitigations to eliminate this entire class of defect from all current and future software products. Building security into products from the beginning can eliminate SQLi vulnerabilities,” the alert states.

The two agencies urged manufacturers to assess the joint guidance’s three principles: taking ownership of customer security outcomes, embracing radical transparency and accountability and building organizational structure and leadership to achieve the goals.

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Nuclear Modernization Needed Amid Threats From Russia, China & Other Adversaries, Defense Officials Say
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Nuclear Modernization Needed Amid Threats From Russia, China & Other Adversaries, Defense Officials Say

The head of the U.S. Strategic Command recently impressed upon lawmakers the need to continue modernizing the country’s nuclear triad, noting the threats posed by Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton said at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on March 21 that this modernization effort covers not only the nuclear weapons themselves and their delivery platforms but the nuclear command, control and communications system as well, the U.S. Space Command website reported Friday.

Echoing Cotton’s sentiments, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb said during the same hearing, “We have competitors who are modernizing and diversifying and expanding their nuclear arsenals.”

Plumb went on to discuss the fiscal year 2025 budget the Department of Defense is requesting for the modernization effort. The budget request includes $49.2 billion for the nuclear triad, $33.7 billion for space capabilities and $28.4 billion for missile defeat and defense.

“All of these capabilities — nuclear, space and missile defense — remain central to our ability to deter and also central to our ability to prevail in conflict if deterrence fails,” Plumb said.

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