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Jon Rucker of Ultra I&C & Anthony Robbins of NVIDIA Touted for Wash100 Wins by Executive Mosaic
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Jon Rucker of Ultra I&C & Anthony Robbins of NVIDIA Touted for Wash100 Wins by Executive Mosaic

Today, Executive Mosaic publications commemorated the Wash100 Award wins for two noteworthy private sector leaders: Jon Rucker of Ultra Intelligence and Communications and Anthony Robbins of NVIDIA.

The Wash100 Award is an annual recognition of the foremost figures in government contracting and the federal sector. Its recipients include CEOs, military generals, agency heads, the quiet VIPs of industry and many more. Reading through the list every year, you will gain a sense not just of those currently dominating the GovCon space, but those poised to do so in the year ahead.

GovCon Wire published a profile this morning detailing the award-worthy qualifications of Ultra I&C CEO Rucker, who has over the last year primed the mid-sized organization to compete with the power players in the command, control, communications and cybersecurity sector.

Over at ExecutiveBiz, Robbins, who serves as NVIDIA’s vice president of federal business, was spotlighted for his efforts to enable the adoption and proliferation of artificial intelligence in the public sector. This includes a research resource pilot collaboration with the National Science Foundation.

Executive Mosaic congratulates these two outstanding individuals on their Wash100 wins and thanks them for their contributions to GovCon.

If you’d like to place votes for Rucker, Robbins, or any of the other 98 incredible names in the 2024 Wash100 roster, participate in the popular vote contest now! It runs through April 30, after which a crowning champion will be announced.

DOE Allocates $309M to 4 Pilot Projects Aimed at Capturing CO2
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DOE Allocates $309M to 4 Pilot Projects Aimed at Capturing CO2

Four pilot projects focused on innovative carbon dioxide capturing methods will receive a cumulative total of $309 million in funding from the Department of Energy.

DOE announced Friday that its Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations chose four proposals in two power plants, a pulp and paper mill and an oil refinery in Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas and Wyoming as part of the Carbon Capture Large-Scale Pilot Projects Program.

One of the pilot projects is led by energy company PPL and will be carried out in its natural gas combined-cycle power plant in Kentucky. Its team will purify and convert captured CO2 into beverage-grade CO2.

RTI International will work with Amazon, International Paper and oil field services firm Schlumberger, or SLB, to trap 120,000 metric tons of CO2 annually and place it in a permanent geologic storage facility.

Israeli conglomerate Delek‘s U.S. business is utilizing its Big Spring Refinery Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Unit in Texas to transport residual CO2 through pipelines leading to a permanent storage site.

The fourth project, which is led by TDA Research and also supported by SLB, will set up a carbon capture system and use pipeline transport to move CO2 at the Wyoming Integrated Test Center.

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SAMHSA, ONC Launch New Initiative to Advance Behavioral Health IT
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SAMHSA, ONC Launch New Initiative to Advance Behavioral Health IT

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology have launched a new initiative to advance health information technology in behavioral healthcare, HealthITbuzz reported Monday.

The Behavioral Health Information Technology, or BHIT, program will receive up to $20 million in SAMHSA funding over the next three years to identify a new set of data elements specific to behavioral health.

Under the BHIT initiative, SAMHSA and ONC will pilot the data sets with recipients of the Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant and Community Mental Health Services Block Grant.

The program will create a new U.S. Core Data for Interoperability Plus domain for behavioral health to coordinate the new set of data elements to enhance the effectiveness of data capture, use and exchange among behavioral health providers.

GAO Publishes 2024 Revisions to Government Auditing Standards
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GAO Publishes 2024 Revisions to Government Auditing Standards

The Government Accountability Office has released a new revision of the Government Auditing Standards, also known as the Yellow Book, which contains standards and guidance for federal audit organizations.

The 2024 revision includes a risk-based process for achieving quality management goals, a shift to a quality management approach, provisions for optional engagement quality reviews of generally accepted government auditing standards engagements and application guidance on audit matters for financial audits, the GAO said Thursday.

“This latest update enhances and modernizes the standards to perform high-quality audit work with competence, integrity, objectivity, and independence using a proactive and risk-based approach,” said Gene Dodaro, comptroller general of the United States and the head of the GAO.

Audit organizations must design and implement their system of quality management by Dec. 15, 2025, in accordance with the new revision.

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Joseph Pelfrey Assumes Permanent Directorship of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
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Joseph Pelfrey Assumes Permanent Directorship of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

NASA has made Joseph Pelfrey the permanent director of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, effective immediately.

His oversight includes the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, which manufactures some of the critical components of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis Moon-to-Mars program, the agency said Monday.

Pelfrey joined NASA in September 2000 as systems engineer at Marshall. He was later appointed to higher roles, becoming manager of Exploration and Space Transportation Development Office in 2015 and associate director of operations at MSFC’s Engineering Directorate in 2016.

He was deputy center director until he was chosen to lead the facility on a temporary capacity in July.

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DOD, International Partners Test Robotic Vehicles & Sensors in Joint Trial
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DOD, International Partners Test Robotic Vehicles & Sensors in Joint Trial

The Department of Defense has partnered with its U.K. and Australian counterparts to demonstrate various uncrewed robotic vehicles and sensors during a joint trial held at Cultana Training Area, South Australia.

The Trusted Operation of Robotic Vehicles in a Contested Environment, or TORVICE, trial was conducted in late 2023 to evaluate the ability of autonomous systems to operate and support missions in a contested electronic warfare environment, DOD said Monday.

TORVICE featured a network of U.K.- and U.S.-made robotic ground vehicles representing autonomous multi-domain launchers and uncrewed ground vehicles designed to carry out long-range precision fires and associated missions.

Australian scientists tested the resilience of the autonomous vehicles by simulating attacks from electronic warfare, electro-optical and position, navigation and timing systems.

“During this exercise, we performed rigorous red teaming of our autonomous/AI systems to assess and mitigate vulnerabilities and to improve their resilience in contested and complex environments,” said Kimberly Sablon, principal director for trusted artificial intelligence and autonomy at DOD.

POC - 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit

Sablon is set to speak at the Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 21. Register here to learn about cutting edge AI innovations from government and industry experts.

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DOT Seeks to Advance Development of Decision-Support Tools Through Complete Streets AI Initiative
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DOT Seeks to Advance Development of Decision-Support Tools Through Complete Streets AI Initiative

The Department of Transportation has launched a multiphase initiative through the Small Business Innovation Research program to advance the development of artificial intelligence tools to help address transportation challenges.

Under the Complete Streets AI Initiative, DOT said Thursday it will award up to 10 Phase I contracts to small businesses to develop analytics and data capabilities that would enable state, local and tribal transportation agencies to derive insights as they develop complete streets.

Complete streets are networks and streets that enable and prioritize safety, connectivity to destinations and comfort for all users.

“Innovation in the AI and transportation sector is happening at unprecedented speed and has the potential to address some of our most pressing transportation challenges,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “This funding supports our country’s small businesses and startups to harness cutting-edge technologies, deploy them in local communities, and make our streets safer.”

Small businesses can submit technical questions regarding the proposed research topics through March 1, according to a presolicitation notice published Thursday on SAM.gov.

The department anticipates the release of a solicitation for the initial phase of the $15 million Complete Streets AI Initiative by March 11 and plans to hold a webinar about the solicitation by March 21.

POC - 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit

Register here to attend the Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 21 and hear federal leaders and industry experts discuss the latest developments in the field.

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Doug Bush: Army Eyes Twofold Production Increase of 155mm Munitions
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Doug Bush: Army Eyes Twofold Production Increase of 155mm Munitions

Doug Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, said the service branch aims to increase by twofold the production of 155mm artillery shells by October, Defense One reported Monday.

The shells are being used by Ukraine to counter Russian aggression and Bush associated the planned increase with a new manufacturing facility the Army is constructing in Texas, which the assistant secretary said will “have an entirely new way of making the shell, using entirely new tech we’ve never used before.”

According to a slide shared at an event, U.S. production of 155mm munitions is expected to increase from 28,000 in October 2023 to approximately 60,000 this October and 100,000 by October 2025.

Bush, a previous Wash100 awardee, noted that the large use of such shells may prompt the U.S. to reassess how much it needs in its own munition stockpiles.

“If larger stockpiles are a way to mitigate risk for an extended conventional conflict, then that needs to be looked at,” he said.

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DTRA Posts Plan for Follow-On Cooperative Threat Reduction Integrating Contract
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DTRA Posts Plan for Follow-On Cooperative Threat Reduction Integrating Contract

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency plans to launch a competition for the fourth iteration of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Integrating Contract.

Through CTRIC IV, DTRA intends to facilitate the procurement and delivery of a range of products and services designed to provide chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threat reduction capabilities in collaboration with partner countries, according to a special notice published Friday on SAM.gov.

Per the draft solicitation, the agency expects the contract vehicle to help prevent the proliferation of materials related to weapons of mass destruction and chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and facilitate the elimination, storage and safe transportation of nuclear weapons.

The procurement vehicle will serve as a follow-on to the multiple-award CTRIC III indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract.

In June 2018, DTRA awarded six companies spots on the CTRIC III contract to help counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Questions and other comments on the draft solicitation are due Feb. 23.

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CSO Chief Col. Richard Kniseley Discusses Business Opportunities With Space Servicing Companies
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CSO Chief Col. Richard Kniseley Discusses Business Opportunities With Space Servicing Companies

A U.S. Space Force official said in a recent interview that many of the companies reaching out to the Space Systems Command Front Door align with the various dimensions of space servicing, a key element in sustaining maneuverability in the space domain and achieving what has been described as dynamic space operations.

Col. Richard Kniseley, head of the SSC Commercial Space Office, which houses the Front Door initiative, told C4ISRNet on Tuesday that his organization is working to evaluate the maturity level of the technologies offered by these companies, which, he noted, feature “a great deal of innovation and expertise.”

The CSO chief added that Front Door is also looking into the investments the companies are receiving. Kniseley explained that the government is keeping an eye out for businesses that enjoy “potential nefarious capital” or those that do not enjoy wide patronage, where the government would effectively become “a crutch to lean on.”

The SSC Front Door describes itself as “the first point of contact for early-stage start-ups and innovative commercial enterprises” seeking to do business with the Space Force. Front Door takes the ideas that these companies offer and tries to align them with a customer or mission with a matching requirement, such as the Assured Access to Space team or the Space Systems Integration Office, Kniseley noted.

“We’ve been bridging that gap between the companies and the mission areas,” the CSO leader said.

CSO Chief Col. Richard Kniseley Discusses Business Opportunities With Space Servicing Companies

Col. Richard Kniseley will speak at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Space Summit, which is set to take place on March 5. Register now to attend the event!

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