Alpha Omega reflected on its work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a Sunday blog post acknowledging Earth Day.

The company highlighted its partnership with the Forest Service, which began in 2019. While collaborating with the agency, Alpha Omega has assisted with a variety of initiatives ranging from emergency response execution to research and development endeavors.

Supporting systems such as iNAP, OIS and FAMAuth, which help firefighters and other responders execute their missions, is one of Alpha Omega’s contributions to the Forest Service’s emergency response mission. The company’s R&D assistance has provided the Forest Service with greater access to information relevant to decision-making and land management.

Public engagement is another element of Alpha Omega’s ongoing collaboration with the Forest Service, under which the company manages the agency’s website.

Alpha Omega has recently taken several steps to deepen its relationships with environment-focused federal organizations. On Tuesday, the enterprise appointed Joanne Gladden as vice president of climate science.

Earlier this year, Alpha Omega secured a potential $43 million award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information to deliver data stewardship services for the agency’s Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Services organization.

In June 2023, Alpha Omega and partner Dynamo Technologies received a five-year, $70 million contract from the USDA Office of the Chief Information Officer to provide cybersecurity services for agencies across the department.

The Department of Defense, General Services Administration and NASA have issued a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require federal agencies to purchase and use sustainable products and services identified or recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Under the final rule, federal agencies are required to purchase WaterSense-label water-efficient products and services and Safer Choice-certified products that contain safer chemical ingredients, the White House said Friday.

The final rule also mandates that agencies follow the EPA’s recommended environmental standards and ecolabels, updated in October 2023, to help purchasers correctly identify and procure environmentally preferable products and services.

“Through these enhanced purchasing standards, we are advancing the Administration’s environmental objectives while supporting U.S. manufacturing and generating significant economic benefits across the country,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan.

“As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to support U.S. manufacturing and climate action, these new standards will help Federal agencies prioritize the purchase of sustainable products and services certified to EPA-recommended standards and ecolabels that create good-paying jobs right here at home,” said Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

The final rule will help advance the Biden administration’s Federal Sustainability Plan, which aims to achieve net-zero emissions and other procurement goals by 2050.

President Biden on Saturday signed into law a bill that seeks to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and introduce reforms to better protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan issued a statement calling FISA’s Section 702 one of the country’s “most vital intelligence collection tools.”

“The Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act will retain essential authority to understand and protect against a wide range of dangerous threats to Americans while enhancing safeguards for privacy and civil liberties through the most robust set of reforms ever included in legislation to reauthorize Section 702,” Sullivan added.

The president signed the measure hours after the Senate cleared the reauthorization legislation in a 60-34 vote, The Hill reported.

Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that Section 702 plays an “indispensable” role in the Department of Justice’s efforts to protect citizens from cyberthreats, nation-state actors and terrorists.

“This reauthorization of Section 702 gives the United States the authority to continue to collect foreign intelligence information about non-U.S. persons located outside the United States, while at the same time codifying important reforms the Justice Department has adopted to ensure the protection of Americans’ privacy and civil liberties,” Garland added.