Eight projects across the Department of Defense are selected to receive more than $55 million in federal funding to improve energy efficiency and resilience at military installations globally.

About $10 million will be invested in efforts such as recommissioning heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment; installing heat pump systems; and establishing solar infrastructure to provide uninterruptible power sources and improve the energy footprint of DOD’s headquarters, the Pentagon said Monday.

The DOD projects are among the 31 projects across 11 federal agencies to receive over $104 million in funding under the first phase of the Department of Energy’s Assisting Federal Facilities with Energy Conservation Technologies — a.k.a. AFFECT — program.

AFFECT is a $250 million funding program that aims to help government establishments achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2045.

“Our buildings support where people live, where our forces, allies and partners train and where our families raise and educate their children. Promoting the operational resilience of our joint force and improving quality of life for our people are top department priorities,” said Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of defense and a three-time Wash100 awardee.

A new engineering strategy from the U.S. Air Force Materiel Command will push for technical process transformation, talent development and digital acceleration.

The AFMC Engineering Directorate on Friday published the three lines of effort for its 2024 Engineering Strategic Plan to provide guidance to the unit’s 15,000 scientists and engineers.

The team plans to boost command and center integration as well as overhaul technical processes and policies to innovate, streamline and sustain cutting-edge warfighting capabilities. It will also grow its workforce and leverage digital methods to achieve its missions.

“Our capability development pipelines are being outpaced by China, and our ability to effectively sustain fielded capabilities has decreased in recent decades,” said Robert Fookes, Jr., director of AFMC Engineering and Technical Management. “We must take a hard look at our current technical development processes to root out inefficiencies and be willing to take greater risks in order to regain our capability development advantages.”

Information technology company NuAxis Innovations zeroed-in on the customer experience, or CX, and human-centered design, or HCD, in 2023.

This shift in focus helped NuAxis secure new contracts, cultivate a practitioner community and provide government agencies with new technologies, the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company said on Friday.

“We hypothesized a few years ago that CX would have a huge impact on citizen services, and despite facing skepticism at that time, we’re thrilled to see the impact our team and our partners have had for our federal customers this year,” said Raza Latif, CEO of NuAxis.

The organization initially decided to prioritize CX and HCD in its government technology programs five years ago. Its strategy is centered around connecting subject matter experts from the private sector and working alongside federal leaders to consider and implement new ideas.

One related accomplishment for NuAxis was its addition of teams of CX and HCD specialists to contracts from the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Small Business Administration and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

The company also established the GovCX Collective, a group designed to promote collaboration between experts from across industries to operationalize outcomes for CX in the public sector, and received outside recognition.

“Our success this year is a testament to our team’s hard work and dedication, as well as the strong partnerships we have forged with industry experts and government agencies,” Latif said.

At the Potomac Officers Club’s CX Imperative Forum on Jan. 25, experts will dive into the importance of CX for federal agencies. At the event, public and private sector leaders will come together to consider the challenges and opportunities shaping government CX efforts. To learn more and register to attend the forum, click here.

The Biden administration has launched new initiatives to cut the cost of electric vehicles and ensure the reliability of the U.S. EV charging network, including updated guidance on EV charger tax credit eligibility for individuals and businesses and new investments in EV technologies.

The Department of the Treasury intends to propose regulations related to the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credit, which provides up to 30 percent off the EV charger cost to individuals and businesses in eligible census tracts, the White House said Friday.

Treasury proposes intended definitions for eligible census tracts that will clarify the eligibility of the tax credit to Americans in low-income communities and non-urban areas.

To support the Biden administration’s clean transportation mission, the departments of Energy and Transportation are investing $46 million in funding through their Ride and Drive Electric program to accelerate the development of a reliable EV charging network.

DOT is also investing $149 million in grants to repair or replace non-operational EV chargers nationwide.