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Christopher Cleary Returns to Industry in VP Role at ManTech
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Christopher Cleary Returns to Industry in VP Role at ManTech

Christopher Cleary, who has garnered deep experience in the public and private sectors and the military, has been appointed vice president of the global cyber practice at ManTech.

Following an over four-year stint in the Department of the Navy as chief information security officer and principal cyber advisor, successively, he is now positioned to oversee and execute the technical strategy at ManTech in order to augment and strengthen its cyber innovation and capabilities wing, the Herndon, Virginia-based company told ExecutiveGov on Wednesday.

Cleary continues an established tradition of U.S. Navy veterans at ManTech. His blend of defense and intelligence knowledge and technical and business bona fides is seen as a considerable asset for the organization.

At large-scale operations like Leidos, Verizon and Sparta (now a part of Parsons), Cleary reportedly help achieve revenue growth and significant technological developments. Meanwhile, on the government side, he has administered cyber initiatives for not only the Navy, but also U.S. Cyber Command, the intelligence community and other federal branches.

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GSA Releases Memo on Verifying Company’s Status as Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business
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GSA Releases Memo on Verifying Company’s Status as Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business

The General Services Administration has issued a memorandum requiring GSA contracting officers to verify whether a company is eligible for consideration for a set-aside or sole-source award under the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business program.

Starting in 2024, GSA contracting officers should confirm that an entity is certified by the Small Business Administration as an SDVOSB within SBA’s Veteran Small Business Certification system or that a company represented its status as an SDVOSB in SAM.gov and submitted to SBA a complete application for SDVOSB certification on or before the end of December 2023, according to the Dec. 22 memo.

“SDVOSBs that are not certified by SBA, and do not have a pending complete application for certification with SBA on or before December 31, 2023, are not eligible to receive SDVOSB set-asides or sole-source awards under the SDVOSB Program,” the document reads.

The memo was signed and issued by Jeffrey Koses, senior procurement executive at GSA’s Office of Acquisition Policy.

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New National Science Foundation Program Seeks to Support Researchers in Designing Integrated Circuits
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New National Science Foundation Program Seeks to Support Researchers in Designing Integrated Circuits

The National Science Foundation is calling for proposals for the Enabling Access to the Semiconductor Chip Ecosystem for Design, Fabrication and Training program, which seeks to establish infrastructure that would support the entire process of designing integrated micro/nano-electronic circuits, or ICs. The tools are seen as a key element of U.S. national security and an enabler of various emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.

The Chips Design Hub program is open to institutions of higher education and non-profit, non-academic organizations and envisions infrastructure that would, among other things, provide students and academic researchers with various tools, design kits and educational materials that would facilitate IC design, according to the solicitation posted by the NSF.

The solicitation is expected to result in two cooperative agreement awards to be issued within fiscal year 2024. Each award will be worth up to $8 million and have a performance period of up to five years, depending on the scope of the proposal.

Interested parties have until April 4 to submit proposals.

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NASA Advances Work on Earth System Observatory Missions; Karen St. Germain Quoted
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NASA Advances Work on Earth System Observatory Missions; Karen St. Germain Quoted

NASA is moving forward with its work on a series of Earth System Observatory missions meant to carry out the five designated observables cited in the 2018 Earth science decadal survey. The activity is occurring amid the budget uncertainty the agency faces under a continuing resolution, SpaceNews reported Sunday.

The Atmosphere Observing System-Storm, AOS-Sky, Surface Biology and Geology and Mass Change, which is now called GRACE-Continuity, or GRACE-C, are the four Earth System Observatory missions that are in the development phase and are valued at approximately $3.5 billion.

Surface Deformation and Change is the fifth mission and is under the extended study phase.

Karen St. Germain, director of the Earth science division at NASA Headquarters, said the missions seek to answer a wide variety of Earth science-related queries and “to integrate observations, science and applications for societal benefit.”

For fiscal year 2024, NASA sought $287 million in funding for Earth System Observatory missions, which are expected to launch between the late 2020s and early 2030s, according to the report.

“We are counting on an increase to cover that development,” Germain said of the budget for the missions.

According to the NASA executive, several international partners will support the effort by providing spacecraft and other instruments worth $1.2 billion.

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DOT Establishes Transforming Transportation Advisory Committee; Pete Buttigieg Quoted
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DOT Establishes Transforming Transportation Advisory Committee; Pete Buttigieg Quoted

The Department of Transportation has established a new advisory committee tasked with providing insights and recommendations — as well as approaches to improve — transportation innovation to the department’s leadership.

The Transforming Transportation Advisory Committee, also known as TTAC, will hold its first meeting on Jan. 18 to discuss matters related to pathways to safe and secure deployments of emerging transportation technologies, DOT said Friday.

TTAC will also explore approaches to promote greater cross-modal integration of emerging technologies, new frameworks to encourage the secure exchange of transformative transportation data, methods to identify cybersecurity and privacy tools to protect transportation systems and policies to grow and support the U.S. workforce.

Members of the new advisory committee include experts from government, industry, academia and labor unions and will serve two-year terms with the possibility of reappointment.

“The deep expertise and diverse perspectives of this impressive group will provide advice to ensure the future of transportation is safe, efficient, sustainable, equitable, and transformative,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Ted Kaouk, John Coughlan Take on Leadership Roles at CFTC Division of Data
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Ted Kaouk, John Coughlan Take on Leadership Roles at CFTC Division of Data

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has expanded the leadership team of its Division of Data, or DOD, with the appointment of Ted Kaouk as chief data officer and director of DOD and John Coughlan as chief data scientist.

CFTC said Kaouk will oversee the DOD’s data integration efforts and facilitate collaboration among offices and divisions to help the CFTC leadership make informed policy decisions.

He was chief data officer at the Office of Personnel Management and oversaw the development of OPM’s inaugural human capital data strategy.

Kaouk also held the same position at the Department of Agriculture and served as the first chair of the Federal Chief Data Officers Council.

Meanwhile, Coughlan has held data science and analytical roles at CFTC for eight years. Before joining the DOD, he was a market analyst within the Division of Market Oversight’s Market Intelligence Branch.

In his new role, Coughlan will help advance the DOD’s data science capabilities and drive the adoption of artificial intelligence-powered tools across the agency.

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FinCEN Begins Accepting Beneficial Ownership Information Reports
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FinCEN Begins Accepting Beneficial Ownership Information Reports

The Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, also known as FinCEN, has started accepting reports on beneficial ownership information, or BOI, as part of efforts to address illicit finance.

Existing companies have until Jan. 1, 2025, to file their initial reports and newly registered or created businesses have 90 days to file following receipt of public notice of registration or creation, the Treasury said Monday.

Reporting companies should provide information on their beneficial owners, including the name, date of birth, address and the identifying number and issuer from a non-expired U.S. passport or driver’s license.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the launch of the country’s beneficial ownership registry is a key step in protecting U.S. economic and national security.

“Having a centralized database of beneficial ownership information will eliminate critical vulnerabilities in our financial system and allow us to tackle the scourge of illicit finance enabled by opaque corporate structures,” Yellen added.

In December, FinCEN released a final rule on BOI access and safeguards in accordance with the provisions of the Corporate Transparency Act.

NIST CHIPS Program Office Finalizes Material Expansion Scope in CHIPS Act Funding Use Law
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NIST CHIPS Program Office Finalizes Material Expansion Scope in CHIPS Act Funding Use Law

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s CHIPS Program Office has finalized the definition of material expansion in a rule aimed at preventing the improper use of federal funding for semiconductor manufacturing.

The final rule clarifies the scope of material expansion to include existing as well as new semiconductor production facilities with a capacity increase of more than 5 percent, according to the CHIPS Program Office’s notice on Federal Register.

The agency initially issued a request for comment in March about the definition of terms in the Preventing the Improper Use of CHIPS Act Funding. The rule has a provision on expansion clawback, which prohibits significant manufacturing capacity material expansion by U.S. entities in foreign countries.

In the polished definition, material expansion was clarified to cover newly constructed chip facilities. The agency reiterated the term as the “increase of the semiconductor manufacturing capacity of an existing facility by more than five percent of the capacity memorialized in the required agreement due to the addition of a cleanroom, production line or other physical space, or a series of such additions.”

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CDAO in Pursuit of Electronic Filing Platform for Contract Files Management
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CDAO in Pursuit of Electronic Filing Platform for Contract Files Management

The Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office has begun pursuing a digital platform to facilitate the management of contract files to enhance contract procedures and processes.

CDAO wants the electronic filing platform to help streamline the process of reviewing, storing, documenting and labeling contract files to facilitate access and plans to adopt commercial best practices to implement procurement actions to meet mission requirements, according to a notice published Friday on Tradewinds AI.

Some of the desired operational capabilities for the platform are maintaining records of contract-related documents and tracking changes made to contract files, tracking and reporting on contract workflow progress and ensuring the confidentiality and security of contract documents.

The call may result in pilot project awards that could be carried out through other transaction authority agreements for prototype projects.

The initiative has three rounds and the first focuses on the submission of a discovery paper. For the second round, selected offerors will pitch their proof of concept to a government panel. The pilot project awards will serve as the final round.

Responses to the open call to industry are due Jan. 15.

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Space Command Unit Changes Name to Better Reflect Collaborative Mission
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Space Command Unit Changes Name to Better Reflect Collaborative Mission

The Joint Task Force-Space Defense Commercial Operations has adopted a new name to reflect its collaborative mission to use commercial space domain awareness capabilities.

Now known as the Joint Commercial Operations, or JCO, the U.S. Space Command-led initiative will continue strengthening its global network of partners that purchase and use commercial data and analytics to boost space operations worldwide, JCO said Friday.

Maj. Gen. Richard Zellmann, deputy combined joint force space component commander at U.S. Space Command, said the name change aligns the component within the command’s new operational command structure without disrupting its current mission.

“The abbreviated name captures the joint, operational nature of the organization as well as the JCO’s continued collaboration with our global Allies and partners, who are crucial to supporting the protect and defend mission,” Zellmann said.

JCO partners with allies, industry and academia to strengthen the National Space Defense Center’s space tracking capabilities to provide timely space domain awareness data.

Space Command Unit Changes Name to Better Reflect Collaborative Mission

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