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Laura Stanton Discusses How GSA Will Support Federal Chief AI Officers in Light of New Executive Order
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Laura Stanton Discusses How GSA Will Support Federal Chief AI Officers in Light of New Executive Order

General Services Administration official Laura Stanton said the GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service could help federal chief artificial intelligence officers buy the AI tools and services they need to support missions and enable their agencies to comply with an executive order that seeks to advance the responsible use of AI.

In a blog post published Wednesday, Stanton, assistant commissioner for the Office of IT Category at FAS, announced the appointment of Zach Whitman, chief data scientist at GSA, as the agency’s chief AI officer, or CAIO.

Prior to GSA, Whitman was chief data officer at the U.S. Census Bureau. He previously served as a senior associate at Deloitte.

According to Stanton, CAIOs will drive the development of AI strategies at agencies, serve as senior AI advisers to agency leaders and work with chief information officers and chief information security officers to establish safeguards on AI use to meet cybersecurity best practices and standards.

She noted that CAIOs will also assess products, compile inventories, document use cases, review performance, ensure compliance of AI initiatives with existing policies and laws and implement internal controls, among others.

Stanton mentioned the Multiple Award Schedule – IT Category and governmentwide acquisition contracts such as Alliant 2 and VETS 2 as some of the acquisition tools that CAIOs can use to buy AI products and services.

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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NOAA, Parsons Fully Transition Cloud-based Ground SaaS Platform to Operate Polar Satellites
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NOAA, Parsons Fully Transition Cloud-based Ground SaaS Platform to Operate Polar Satellites

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has deployed a cloud-based ground system-as-a-service, or GSaaS, capability to operate three of its weather and climate prediction satellites.

The GSaaS platform, which was developed by Parsons and its subcontractors in 2022, will bridge data from the legacy Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellites, a.k.a. POES, to the next-generation Joint Polar Satellite Series until 2025, the agency said Wednesday.

The cloud-based system is part of the POES Extended Life contract. It uses the Microsoft Azure application for remote operations, while Arctic Slope Technical Services provides mission architecture support and Kongsberg Satellite Services manages ground antenna services.

Parsons on Tuesday fully assumed operations of the POES satellite trio, delivering their data to the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service.

POES Extended Life will “lay the groundwork for the future of Low Earth Orbit missions” such as said the Near Earth Orbit Network, Quicksounder and Series 1 missions,” said Tim Walsh, director of NOAA’s Office of Low Earth Orbit Observations.

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Rear Adm. James Downey on New Navy Office Focused on Nuclear Carrier Dismantlement
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Rear Adm. James Downey on New Navy Office Focused on Nuclear Carrier Dismantlement

Rear Adm. James Downey, special assistant to the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said the service has created a new office to inactivate and dismantle nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.

The new office was formed in the past two to three months after the Navy decided to push through with its plan to dismantle the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) nuclear carrier.

“That [office] will take on the final disposal of Enterprise, but it’s setting it up for Nimitz and then for Ford,” Downey said at an event Wednesday.

“So in those programs of record … we just stood up a program office that has about 100 years of work … If we execute those programs of record and they perform to the schedule, [the office] has a century of work ahead of them,” he added.

Downey noted that disposal efforts associated with the nuclear-powered ships account for billions of dollars in additional work and hinted at the opportunity for future industry involvement in the dismantlement process.

House Committee Passes Bill to Reauthorize National Quantum Initiative Act
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House Committee Passes Bill to Reauthorize National Quantum Initiative Act

The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology has unanimously voted to pass a bipartisan bill introduced by Reps. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., to reauthorize the National Quantum Initiative Act.

Committee Chairman Lucas said the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act would build on the accomplishments of the 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act to “conduct breakthrough research, drive new quantum applications, bolster industry partnerships, and invigorate the quantum ecosystem.”

Under the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act, the Office of Science and Technology Policy must develop a quantum research strategy to advance U.S. leadership in quantum sciences.

“As China and Russia are actively making notable investments in quantum systems, we must maintain our momentum to secure our leadership position in this revolutionary field, and this bill does just that,” Lucas said.

The House panel also passed the Commercial Space Act of 2023, which aims to modernize government oversight of the commercial space sector.

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NASA Revises Roadmap for Dragonfly Mission to Saturn’s Moon
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NASA Revises Roadmap for Dragonfly Mission to Saturn’s Moon

NASA is on track to proceed with the final design and fabrication phase of its Dragonfly rotocraft, which will be sent to Saturn’s moon, Titan, in 2028.

The agency announced Tuesday that the mission’s total cost, schedule and overall formal confirmation will be announced in mid-2024 by its program management council.

The Dragonfly mission will be the first to use a rotocraft-lander to investigate whether Titan is habitable or if hydrocarbon-based life previously existed on the moon.

Modifications to the expedition’s timeline were made after an assessment of projected fiscal year 2024 funding as well as the Biden administration’s FY 2025 budget request.

“The Dragonfly team has successfully overcome a number of technical and programmatic challenges in this daring endeavor to gather new science on Titan,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “I am proud of this team and their ability to keep all aspects of the mission moving toward confirmation.”

The program is led by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, with partners including Lockheed Martin’s space business and Sikorsky subsidiary.

DOE Issues Solicitation for HALEU Deconversion Services
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DOE Issues Solicitation for HALEU Deconversion Services

The Department of Energy has begun seeking proposals from industry sources capable of providing deconversion services needed to establish a domestic fuel supply for advanced reactors.

Selected vendors will deconvert high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU, as uranium hexafluoride gas to various chemical forms during a 10-year performance period under the HALEU Deconversion Services contract, DOE said Tuesday.

Each awardee will receive a minimum guarantee of $2 million and conduct deconversion and storage services at locations within the continental U.S.

Interested parties have until Jan. 30 to respond to the request for proposals.

A second RFP is scheduled for release later this year to acquire, store and transport HALEU to the deconverters.

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Defense Health Agency PEO Seeks Industry Feedback on Potential Program Management & Enterprise Architecture Solutions
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Defense Health Agency PEO Seeks Industry Feedback on Potential Program Management & Enterprise Architecture Solutions

Program Executive Office – Defense Healthcare Management Systems is seeking industry input regarding the initial phase of its Workplace 3.X Reboot effort, which seeks the delivery of great mid- and back-office tools as part of a broader modernization program.

PEO DHMS seeks feedback regarding two “brand name” tools it is looking into, namely Atlassian Solutions for its project management requirement and Cameo Enterprise Architecture for its enterprise architecture requirement, according to a request for information posted Tuesday on SAM.gov.

The government wants to know if alternative project management and enterprise architecture solutions are available, if they are compliant with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, if they can easily interface with existing systems and if they can be easily learned to use.

Interested parties have until Dec. 7 to respond. The new tools are expected to be in use by the second quarter of fiscal year 2025.

Through WP3.X, PEO DHMS aims to modernize its management, technologies, processes and physical spaces to bring about what it deems the “managed office of the future.” The effort succeeds the Workplace 3.0 effort from 2021, whose result was reportedly more expensive and less innovative than desired.

PEO DHMS is attached administratively to the Defense Health Agency and directly reports to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.

Defense Health Agency PEO Seeks Industry Feedback on Potential Program Management & Enterprise Architecture Solutions

The Potomac Officers Club will hold the 2023 Healthcare Summit on December 6. The event will feature public and private sector healthcare experts, who will discuss what’s on the horizon for healthcare innovation. Register now.

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GAO Releases Updated Agile Assessment Guide
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GAO Releases Updated Agile Assessment Guide

The Government Accountability Office has published an updated guide that provides federal auditors and other officials with best practices to assess the use of Agile approach to software development across the federal government.

GAO said Tuesday the guide is also intended for organizations and programs that have developed protocols and policies for Agile adoption and implementation and those that are in the process of adopting Agile software development practices.

The guide classifies Agile adoption best practices into three categories: team dynamics and activities; program operations; and organization environment.

Under team dynamics and activities, team composition supports Agile methods, repeatable processes are in place and work is prioritized to maximize value for the customer.

The document also covers Agile and contracting best practices including tailoring acquisition planning and contract structure to align with Agile practices, incorporating Agile metrics, tools and lessons learned from retrospectives during the contract management process and integrating the program office and the developers.

To align acquisition and contract structure with Agile practices, the guide calls on the government to encourage the use of modular contracting, enable flexibility for contract requirements and decide to structure the contract for goods or services.

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AFWERX, NASA Tap ResilienX to Create Digital Advanced Air Mobility Operations Center
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AFWERX, NASA Tap ResilienX to Create Digital Advanced Air Mobility Operations Center

AFWERX, a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory, and NASA are collaborating with ResilienX on the development of a digital operations center meant to support future efforts focused on Advanced Air Mobility or AAM.

ResilienX was awarded $4.8 million in AFWERX and NASA funding through the Civilian Commercialization Readiness Pilot Program, or CCRPP, and will work on the project until October 2025, the Air Force Materiel Command said Tuesday.

The resulting system from the project is meant to boost base security, enhance special forces efforts and modernize emergency disaster response, and passenger and cargo transportation planning.

“Through a dedicated systems engineering approach, we intend to develop a dual-use solution to the core digital infrastructure needed for advanced air mobility that is inherently scalable and extensible,” said Ryan Pleskach, CEO of ResilienX. “Through this pioneering effort and with support of all the federal stakeholders that AFWERX is bringing to the table, we believe this solution will be turnkey and available to government and commercial markets in late 2024.”

ResilienX will conduct a detailed need and task assessment, feature development with user interviews and observations, initial integration of baseline technologies and testing during the project’s first phase. It will move to user testing of human factors, safety development, prototype testing and a live demonstration of the system during the succeeding phase.

Work is under CCRPP, a NASA Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer program.

Join Potomac Officers Club’s 10th Annual Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 31 to learn about the other research and development efforts of the U.S. military. Register here for the 2024 event.

POC - 10th Annual Defense R&D Summit
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DHS S&T Secures Patent for Homeland Explosive Consequence Assessment Tool
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DHS S&T Secures Patent for Homeland Explosive Consequence Assessment Tool

The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate was awarded a U.S. patent for a DHS-developed tool designed to predict consequences and potential outcomes from terrorist use of explosives in the U.S.

DHS said Tuesday the Homeland Explosive Consequence Assessment Tool, a.k.a. the HExCAT, is a fully integrated modeling system that helps emergency managers and response planners prepare communities for large-scale, scenario-specific hazards.

The tool was developed under the Homeland Security Presidential Directive-19 Combating Terrorist Use of Explosives in the United States, which aims to prevent, detect, respond and protect communities against explosive attacks.

“With the HExCAT, response planners are now equipped with a fully integrated system that predicts the likely consequences of an explosion, including human injuries, structural damages, and medical responses, helping us evaluate a range of what-if scenarios and focus our energy on the most effective means of prevention, detection, mitigation and response,” said Helen Mearns, deputy director of DHS S&T’s Chemical Security Analysis Center.

CSAC developed the HExCAT with support from S&T’s Explosives Threat Assessment Program, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Battelle and Leidos.

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