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DOD Awards Funding for Hypersonic Materials & Processing Technologies Development
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DOD Awards Funding for Hypersonic Materials & Processing Technologies Development

Nine performers have been awarded $26.6 million in total by the Manufacturing Technology office within the Office of the Secretary of Defense for the Joint Acceleration of Hypersonic Vehicle Aerostructure Alternatives program, which seeks to develop materials and processing technologies for hypersonic systems.

Under JAHVAA, the awardees will work to develop and test non-carbon/carbon thermal protection systems materials with the aim of establishing trusted design allowable data, the Department of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program website said Monday.

JAHVAA will feature a 36-month period of performance split into three phases, each of which will pose a challenge problem that the awardees will have to address using the material and processing capabilities they have proposed.

The program was awarded through the Strategic & Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems other transaction authority contract vehicle, which is managed by the National Security Technology Accelerator.

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Anne Marie Schumann Begins Role as DON Principal Cyber Adviser
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Anne Marie Schumann Begins Role as DON Principal Cyber Adviser

Anne Marie Schumann, a cybersecurity professional, took oath Monday as the Department of the Navy’s principal cyber adviser.

In this capacity, she will advise the secretary of the Navy, chief of naval operations and the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps on all matters related to cybersecurity while working in close coordination with DON’s chief information officer and the Department of Defense’s CIO and principal cyber adviser, the Navy said Monday.

Schumann has over 20 years of experience in the military, public service and industry as a national security and cybersecurity professional.

She most recently served as the senior cyberthreat adviser to the director for command, control, communications and computers/cyber and CIO, Joint Staff J6.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Schumann joined the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2010 as a senior analyst focused on cyber intelligence after spending three years as a program manager at BAE Systems.

POC - 2024 Cyber Summit

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Cyber Summit on June 6 and hear cyber experts, government and industry leaders discuss the latest trends and the dynamic role of cyber in the public sector. Register here.

Alpha Omega Spotlights Partnership With USDA
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Alpha Omega Spotlights Partnership With USDA

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.

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High-Growth Friday Saved GovCon Index From Continuing Downward Trend
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High-Growth Friday Saved GovCon Index From Continuing Downward Trend

GovCon Index recovered from a streak of losses last week, growing by 0.13% overall and averaging at $4,786.97.

GovCon Index is an aggregate index that tracks real-time data from 30 major government contracting enterprises. With this information, users are empowered to evaluate not only the success of each individual company but also the current trends shaping the GovCon marketplace.

Last week’s top performer was V2X, which grew by a notable 7.13%. Lockheed Martin followed with an increase of 2.90%, and AeroVironment achieved the third spot in the ranks, rising by 1.93%. Fourth and fifth place were taken by Maximus (+1.77%) and RTX (+1.44%), respectively.

GovCon Index began the week with a decline of 0.69%. An upward shift occurred on Tuesday, but the GovCon Index dropped again on Wednesday and Thursday. An increase of 1.08% on Friday brought GovCon Index back to an upward direction.

Check out last week’s market reports to get a closer look at daily GovCon Index performance. Click here to access the full list of tracked organizations.

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FEMA’s Charles Armstrong Discusses Strategies to Complete Cloud Migration
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FEMA’s Charles Armstrong Discusses Strategies to Complete Cloud Migration

According to Federal Emergency Management Agency Chief Information Officer Charles Armstrong, agency applications that are not yet ready for cloud migration will first have to undergo re-platforming — the process of upgrading them to become cloud-native — Federal News Network reported Friday.

Armstrong said during an interview on the Ask the CIO program that five to six workloads, including the agency’s training system, are expected to have completed the process by the end of the calendar year.

Re-platforming is one of the methods that FEMA plans to implement to deal with the applications that have yet to be moved out from the agency’s data center, which Armstrong says he hopes to eventually decommission.

The FEMA CIO said that 60 percent of the applications previously housed by the data center have already been moved to the cloud.

As for the remainder that would be too costly to re-platform and would likely be shut down following modernization, one option is their transfer from the data center to a co-location facility.

“It’s more cost efficient to move to a co-location facility so that we can shut down an aging facility and not have to recapitalize things like the power and heating and cooling, and things like that,” Armstrong explained.

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Space Operations Command Takes Control of SBIRS Baseline Release Initiative
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Space Operations Command Takes Control of SBIRS Baseline Release Initiative

The Missile Warning Mission Area Team within the Space Operations Command’s Space Operations Center has taken over control of the Space-Based Infrared System Baseline Release, or SBR 23-1, from Space Systems Command.

SBR 23-1, also known as Virtualized Processing Environment Release, is aimed at addressing obsolescence issues, cybersecurity requirements and sustainment concerns within the SBIRS ground system and ensuring uninterrupted, secure operations of the mission control station and backup data processing subsystem system hardware, SSC said Thursday.

The program replaces obsolete hardware, transitions to a Linux-based operating system running on virtual machines and uses the VM environment to provide a consistent cyber update capability.

The Space Force’s SBIRS constellation will supply near real-time, high-fidelity Overhead Persistent Infrared data worldwide to enable warfighters to respond to threats rapidly.

“Strategic competitors and adversaries are rapidly developing and deploying more advanced and diverse missile capabilities around the world,” said Space Force Lt. Col. Robert Smith, director of operations of the 2nd Space Warning Squadron.

“This includes detecting and reporting ballistic missiles, space launches, nuclear detonations, and infrared data with operational importance to the President, Secretary of Defense, combatant commanders, intelligence agencies, global warfighters, and allies. ViPER’s acceptance ensures the space-based missile warning community is postured and ready for Great Power Competition,” Smith said.

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GAO Urges Federal Agencies to Complete IT Security Requirements Implementation
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GAO Urges Federal Agencies to Complete IT Security Requirements Implementation

The Government Accountability Office has recommended that the federal government complete the implementation of the leadership and oversight requirements outlined in a 2021 executive order on protecting federal information technology systems from cyberattacks.

In a new report published Thursday, GAO said the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Office of Management and Budget have fully completed 49 of the 55 requirements and partially completed five.

One requirement related to standardizing a playbook for responding to cybersecurity vulnerabilities and incidents was flagged not applicable.

GAO recommended that the director of CISA issue its list of software and software product categories considered critical software and improve the operations of the Cyber Safety Review Board.

The agency also outlined three recommendations for OMB, including demonstrating that it has coordinated with pertinent agencies regarding resourcing needs for implementing an endpoint detection and response capability and logging, log retention and log management capabilities.

POC - 2024 Cyber Summit

The Potomac Officers Club will host the 2024 Cyber Summit on June 6 to hear from government and industry experts about the dynamic and ever-evolving role of cyber in the public sector. Register here!

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DOD Cyber Crime Center, DCSA to Back Defense Industrial Base Through Vulnerability Disclosure Program
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DOD Cyber Crime Center, DCSA to Back Defense Industrial Base Through Vulnerability Disclosure Program

The Department of Defense’s Cyber Crime Center, also known as DC3, and the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency have partnered to create a program that seeks to bring vulnerability disclosure capabilities to the defense industrial base.

DC3 said Friday that under the Defense Industrial Base – Vulnerability Disclosure Program — a.k.a. DIB-VDP — participants can voluntarily subject their platforms and assets to vulnerability threat assessments and ethical researcher analyses.

DIB-VDP seeks to help organizations facilitate the sharing of vulnerabilities with other DIB companies and mitigate vulnerabilities in internet-facing information systems.

The DCSA-DC3 partnership expects the efforts under the program to align and address the 2024 Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity Strategy and cyber policies and strategies at the national level.

DCSA oversees about 12,500 cleared companies under the National Industrial Security Program.

Through the newly created program, DC3 will help address cyberthreats facing the DIB by building on its pilots, policies and public-private collaboration efforts.

In 2022, the two agencies conducted a 12-month pilot that leveraged the relationship between the DIB and DOD’s Defense Industrial Base Collaborative Information Sharing Environment.

POC - 2024 Cyber Summit

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Cyber Summit on June 6 and hear cyber experts and government and industry leaders discuss the latest trends and the dynamic role of cyber in the public sector. Register here.

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NOAA & Partner to Study Mitigation of Data Corrupting RF Emissions
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NOAA & Partner to Study Mitigation of Data Corrupting RF Emissions

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has tapped Boulder Environmental Sciences and Technology to study the corruption of radio frequency bands used by Earth-observing satellites for passive sensing.

NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, or NESDIS, said the agency awarded a Joint Venture Partnerships broad agency announcement to the contractor for the delivery of a report on possible efforts that could assist in detecting, identifying, characterizing and mitigating the RF bands corruption.

Boulder Environmental Sciences and Technology is expected to inform NOAA about the identification, characterization and reduction of emissions that interfere or corrupt within a passive band.

The report will also detail associated risks, processes and modifications needed to conduct emission mitigation initiatives on an international basis, as well as processes and resources required to implement the approach.

The $1 million contract was made under the Joint Venture Partnerships program, which is operated by NESDIS.

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Agile Principles Help Mitigate Risk to Army Enterprise Training System
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Agile Principles Help Mitigate Risk to Army Enterprise Training System

Mitigation mechanisms informed by Agile principles were put into effect to address a risk that could have impacted a system overseen by Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems that works to provide an enterprise training capability to the U.S. Army.

According to a feature article posted Thursday on the PEO EIS website, the Army Training Information System program encountered an issue involving the ATIS system’s inability to exchange data with the Army Training Management System, a problem that could have resulted in data duplication.

For leaders within EIS, one of the best practices for risk management involves making continuous risk assessment a part of program increment — or PI — planning. As part of the ATIS program’s Agile Release Train process, risks are put up on a PI planning board for monitoring by development teams, which work to determine if they can resolve the risks on their own or if the risks need to be elevated to the ART team.

The ART team itself has its own tool called a Resolved, Owned, Accepted, Mitigated board, which it uses to monitor and, if necessary, elevate risks to the program level. The use of a ROAM board is part of the recommendations under the Scaled Agile Framework, which PEO EIS had adopted.

The issue ultimately had to be elevated to the program level, and using Agile methods, the ATIS team was able to implement a remedy that has resulted in a near-complete resolution.

David Bridges, a contractor and ATIS operations and risk manager, said, “First it was a critical risk, but now it’s a low to moderate risk, improving every day and unlikely to happen because it is tracked at the program level.”

Prior to the adoption of Agile, the issue’s near-complete resolution would have taken over a year. With the help of Agile, it took six months.

Agile Principles Help Mitigate Risk to Army Enterprise Training System

Army officials, government leaders and industry executives will discuss priorities, strategies and solutions to challenges at the Potomac Officers Club’s 9th Annual Army Summit, which will take place in June. Register now to be part of this important conversation!

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