Dan Ford Named CEO of Capgemini Government Solutions
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Dan Ford Named CEO of Capgemini Government Solutions

Dan Ford, who previously served as vice president of U.S federal and national security sectors at Capgemini Government Solutions, has been elevated to CEO of the company.

During Ford’s nearly 20-year tenure at Capgemini, he has worked to help government agencies evolve using new technologies, the McLean, Virginia-based organization announced Wednesday.

Jim Bailey, CEO of Capgemini in the Americas and group executive board member, said, “Dan has been a key driver behind the growth in the Capgemini Government Solutions business, and we have every confidence that he will successfully continue strengthening and deepening the company’s long-term value.”

Ford will succeed Bill Webner, who stepped down from the role to pursue new ventures.

“His leadership will bring a new perspective while we continue to innovate with our clients and compete in the federal marketplace,” Bailey added.

Throughout his career, Ford has worked within the civilian, health, national security and defense sectors. He received a Master of Engineering in Logistics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Davidson College.

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Senator Plans to Introduce AI Evaluation Standards Bill
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Senator Plans to Introduce AI Evaluation Standards Bill

Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., is planning to introduce legislation that would require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to help agencies develop voluntary guidelines for third-party AI evaluations.

The Validation and Evaluation for Trustworthy AI Act would mandate an interagency effort to set standards and recommendations for certifying third-party evaluators to collaborate with AI developers to assess and verify their systems, Hickenlooper’s office said Monday.

Under the bill, NIST would work in partnership with the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation to create AI testing specifications and guidelines with a focus on data privacy protections, mitigations against potential risks from an AI system, dataset quality and governance.

The VET AI Act would also establish an advisory committee to review and suggest criteria for auditors looking to receive certification to conduct internal or external AI evaluations.

“AI is moving faster than any of us thought it would two years ago,” said Hickenlooper. “But we have to move just as fast to get sensible guardrails in place to develop AI responsibly before it’s too late. Otherwise, AI could bring more harm than good to our lives.”

State Department Seeks Comments on Proposed Contractor & Grantee Counterterrorism Vetting Rule
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State Department Seeks Comments on Proposed Contractor & Grantee Counterterrorism Vetting Rule

The State Department has started soliciting public feedback on a proposed rule that seeks to amend federal regulations by including namecheck vetting provisions in solicitations and awards for both contracts and grants as part of counterterrorism mitigation efforts.

“This regulatory action will boost national security by helping the Department to mitigate the risk that agency funds and other resources do not inadvertently benefit terrorist groups, their members, or their supporters,” according to a notice posted Monday in Federal Register.

The State Department is asking the public to respond to several questions related to costs associated with namecheck vetting and the Office of Risk Analysis and Management’s current vetting procedures.

Questions include the estimated time an organization spends submitting the completed Risk Assessment Information Form—DS-4184—through the RAM Portal and whether vetting requirements have resulted in potential contractors and grantees choosing to drop out of the application process.

Comments are due July 31.

Mistral Initiates THOR UAS Production at Maryland Facility
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Mistral Initiates THOR UAS Production at Maryland Facility

Mistral has begun the production of a vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial system for the U.S. Army.

THOR, a commercial off-the-shelf Group 2 UAS, was created as part of an Army program to build medium-range reconnaissance drone systems, Mistral announced from Nottingham, Maryland on Friday.

This technology will be manufactured at the Bethesda-based company’s facility in Nottingham ahead of the planned demonstration of its capabilities at the Edge 2024 experiment at Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona.

Mistral will also participate in the Project Convergence Capstone 5 joint and multinational force experiment, which will begin in January and run through March 2025.

Along with THOR, Mistral’s Nottingham location houses the production of Roboteam’s Micro Tactical Ground Robot for the U.S. Marine Corps and the Blast Mitigation Vessels for the government and law enforcement sectors.

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Manuel Gauto: Navy’s Black Pearl Software Factory Eyes Impact Level 6 Accreditation
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Manuel Gauto: Navy’s Black Pearl Software Factory Eyes Impact Level 6 Accreditation

Manuel Gauto, chief engineer for the Department of the Navy’s Black Pearl software factory program, said the program is looking to secure accreditation for Impact Level 6 in order for it to work with secret-level classified workloads, Federal News Network reported Friday.

“So the folks who aren’t able to operate on unclassified [networks] also have an option,” he told FNN.

As the Black Pearl program works to secure authority-to-operate packages, it has developed partnerships with authorizing officials across the Navy.

“We have a cyber team on Black Pearl. We’ve built relationships with the authorizing official team. They now work together to figure out how to get to ‘yes.’ It’s much less adversarial,” Gauto said.

The chief engineer noted that Black Pearl has created guidance for organizations within the military branch to facilitate communications with authorizing officials about the cloud, software containers, Kubernetes and other edge technologies.

Gauto also noted that the program is working on Shipyard, a new offering that will serve as the Navy’s software factory for delivering to the cloud.

“It will be the policies and procedures, it will be the rules for the code scanners, it will be a little dashboard or something that’s like, ‘you are good to go or you are not good to go because XYZ,’” he said of Shipyard.

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CISA Adds 3 New Topic Areas to Secure Tomorrow Series Toolkit
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CISA Adds 3 New Topic Areas to Secure Tomorrow Series Toolkit

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has chosen three new topics for its Secure Tomorrow Series Toolkit, a set of interactive products to help critical infrastructure stakeholders identify and mitigate emerging risks.

These additions will focus on information and communications technology supply chain resilience, advanced manufacturing and water availability as factors that could impact national critical functions, CISA Associate Director of Strategic Foresight Erin Walsh shared in a blog post published Monday.

Existing topic areas include anonymity and privacy, trust and social cohesion, data storage and transmission, brain-computer interfaces, synthetic biology and quantum technologies.

The toolkit offers game templates, guides for facilitators, players and controllers, read-ahead materials and other resources to help critical infrastructure operators conduct matrix games, scenarios workshops, cross-impacts sessions and threat timelines activity.

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NASA Taps University of Hawaii to Operate Infrared Telescope Facility
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NASA Taps University of Hawaii to Operate Infrared Telescope Facility

The University of Hawaii has secured a potential 10-year, $85.5 million contract from NASA to maintain and operate the Infrared Telescope Facility, or IRTF, on Mauna Kea in Hilo, Hawaii.

NASA said Friday the university will create and execute an operations strategy to enable the scientific community to use the telescope to help the agency achieve its scientific discovery, mission support and planetary defense goals.

The contract has a one-year base period of performance with nine option years, which could extend these activities until the end of 2033 if exercised.

IRTF is a 3.2-meter telescope designed to provide infrared observations of the solar system in support of NASA’s mission objectives.

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National Space Intelligence Center Undergoes Change of Command, Redesignation as Field Operating Agency
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National Space Intelligence Center Undergoes Change of Command, Redesignation as Field Operating Agency

Col. Marcus Starks has assumed the role of commander of the National Space Intelligence Center, succeeding Col. Marqus Randall.

A ceremony took place at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on June 28 to mark the change in command, according to an article published to the U.S. Space Force website on Monday.

Starks expressed his excitement at assuming the leadership of NSIC, saying, “I’m looking forward to serving the intelligence community and our local communities, and forging partnerships that will innovate problem solving and bring about the success we envision.”

Also known as Space Delta 18, the NSIC works to support the Space Force by providing intelligence and technical understanding.

During the same ceremony, the NSIC was redesignated as a USSF field operating agency.

Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Intelligence Maj. Gen. Gregory Gagnon said the redesignation “postures NSIC for increased effectiveness both inside the service and with our national intelligence community partners” amid increased demand for space-related intelligence driven by emerging threats.

Gagnon oversees all intelligence activities for the Space Force. As an FOA, the NSIC will report directly to him.

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DIU Solicits Tech Proposals for Autonomous Collaborative Teaming
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DIU Solicits Tech Proposals for Autonomous Collaborative Teaming

The Defense Innovation Unit is seeking proposals for collaborative autonomy systems integration technologies and command and control user interfaces to improve coordination among unmanned assets in challenging environments, including in areas where navigation and communication capabilities are degraded or denied.

According to a DIU solicitation posted on Monday, the technologies will address a lack of autonomous collaborative technologies within the Department of Defense.

DOD is inviting industry players with experience in developing and deploying large-scale distributed autonomy solutions to submit proposals.

Interested companies are advised to offer technologies that can meet the required core features, including mission management and prioritization, communications management and the capability to combine all targets detected by various sensors into a single target track.

For C2, DOD is interested in user interfaces designed to manage hundreds of vehicles, enable extensive mission planning and support real-time interaction with data from various vehicle and track sources.

Responses to the solicitation are due July 19.

Commerce Department to Support Microdevices Manufacturing With CHIPS & Science Act Investment
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Commerce Department to Support Microdevices Manufacturing With CHIPS & Science Act Investment

Rogue Valley Microdevices is set to receive $6.7 million in proposed direct CHIPS and Science Act funding, the first such investment for a women- and minority-owned business.

The Department of Commerce said Monday that it has signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms with RVM to facilitate the funding, which would aid in the construction of a pure-play microelectromechanical systems, or MEMs, and sensor foundry facility in Palm Bay, Florida.

The investment is intended to help bolster the domestic supply of microelectronics and increase U.S. supply chain resilience. Projected for mid-2025, the completion of the facility is expected to result in additional employment opportunities in Florida.

Commenting on the investment, RVM Founder and CEO Jessica Gomez said the company is “deeply committed to the onshore manufacturing of advanced microelectronics.”

“We plan to use this capital infusion to increase production of the miniature, intelligent sensors that are critical to markets for which a robust supply chain is essential, including automotive, biomedical, and industrial,” she said.

Laurie Locascio, under secretary of commerce for standards and technology and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology said, “As one of the only U.S. based MEMS foundries, RVM is positioned to support the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem with its 300mm MEMS foundry services.”

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