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Jeff Rothblum Joins Office of the National Cyber Director as Head of Cyber Policy & Plans
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Jeff Rothblum Joins Office of the National Cyber Director as Head of Cyber Policy & Plans

Jeff Rothblum, most recently a senior professional staff member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has joined the Office of the National Cyber Director within the Executive Office of the President as director of cyber policy and plans.

He announced the move in a LinkedIn post published Friday.

During his five years in the Senate, Rothblum served as lead adviser to Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of HSGAC, on cybersecurity, intelligence and other emerging technology security issues.

Before joining the Senate panel as a legislative fellow, he worked at Mitre, where he served as a project leader, cybersecurity lead and senior domain specialist.

His industry career included time as an associate at Booz Allen Hamilton and systems engineer at Lockheed Martin’s space systems business.

AFGSC to Receive Funding for 4 Approved SBIR Solicitations
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AFGSC to Receive Funding for 4 Approved SBIR Solicitations

Air Force Global Strike Command has secured up to $18 million in Small Business Innovation Research allocation from the U.S. Air Force’s innovation arm to partner with commercial vendors to modernize legacy systems and integrate new warfighting capabilities.

The SBIR funding will be available for AFGSC’s four approved solicitations under AFWERX’s SBIR Specific Topic call for B-52 pylon modification, electromagnetic pulse hardening, advanced battery development and integration for airborne platforms and readiness spares package deployment improvements, the Air Force said Friday.

AFGSC’s Commercial Capabilities Integration Transition Division, or CCIT, will spearhead the effort to scout new technology platforms from small commercial businesses.

“Global Strike has proven their mission needs in the innovation space, and we must look at all means, to include high caliber small businesses, to accelerate procuring the right capabilities for the warfighter,” said Nate Dawn, division deputy chief of CCIT.

“That’s the beauty of leveraging the Specific Topic process. We can actually talk to companies doing research and development, find funding through these AFWERX SBIR grants, and then shape product attributes to Striker needs,” Dawn said.

AFGSC could receive another $7 million in SBIR grants from AFWERX for two pending applications.

POC - 10th Annual Defense R&D Summit

The Potomac Officers Club will host the 10th Annual Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 31 to discuss the latest developments in the defense technology sector. Register here and save a seat at the highly anticipated event.

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Department of Defense in Search of Technologies for Collecting, Processing, Transmitting Data
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Department of Defense in Search of Technologies for Collecting, Processing, Transmitting Data

The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering is calling on technology developers to submit brief descriptions of proposed solutions that would address the U.S. military’s need for capabilities that would enable the speedy collection, storage, processing, monitoring, analysis and communication of data at scale.

The brief descriptions — in 100 words or fewer — will be the basis for selection of developers for participation in an Innovation Outreach Solutions Meeting titled “Unleashing Data at Speed and Scale” to be held by the OUSD(R&E) on April 15 and 16, where the chosen developers will be given the chance to make technical presentations about their solutions, according to a special notice posted Friday on SAM.gov.

The technologies sought by the government include edge computing, resilient networking, multi-domain communications, data security, data tagging, data orchestration, information visualization and tools for the ingestion of data into existing artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities.

Interested parties have until Feb. 22 to submit proposals.

The meeting will be conducted in coordination with Joint Staff Intelligence and the U.S. Army Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Task Force.

NASA Concludes Latest Hot Fire Test of RS-25 Certification Engine
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NASA Concludes Latest Hot Fire Test of RS-25 Certification Engine

NASA has conducted a full-duration hot fire test of an RS-25 certification engine to demonstrate and validate its capability to power the agency’s Space Launch System rocket for future deep space missions.

The test was carried out on the Fred Haise Test Stand at Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to evaluate the performance capabilities of the Aerojet Rocketdyne-manufactured engine’s hydraulic actuators, flex ducts, turbopumps and other components, NASA said Thursday.

During the test, the RS-25 engine was powered for about eight and a half minutes, which is the same amount of time needed to launch the SLS rocket, and fired at power levels ranging between 80 and 113 percent.

The hot fire is the fourth in a 12-part certification series that began in October to certify the production of the redesigned RS-25 engine by L3Harris Technologies’ Aerojet Rocketdyne subsidiary for future deep space exploration missions, starting with Artemis V.

NASA expects to conclude the test campaign in 2024 to kick off the production of 24 new RS-25 engines for the Artemis mission.

OUSD, Naval Surface Warfare Center to Lead Tour of Microelectronics Commons Hubs
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OUSD, Naval Surface Warfare Center to Lead Tour of Microelectronics Commons Hubs

The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering will lead site visits to eight regional innovation hubs as part of an initiative to speed up advanced microchip prototyping for military technologies.

OUSD(R&E) will send representatives along with delegates from the Naval Surface Warfare Center – Crane Division and National Security Technology Accelerator to the Microelectronics Commons Hubs in a three-week tour that starts on Monday, the Department of Defense announced.

The Commons hub network earmarked $2 billion over four years from fiscal 2023 to fund prototyping and workforce development in domestic microelectronics hardware. The budget was approved under the CHIPS and Science Act.

The hubs cover more than 430 academic institutions and other organizations across 35 states as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The representatives will begin the visit at the California Defense Ready Electronics and Microdevices Superhub, which is led by the  the University of Southern California. The final stop will be at the Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons Hub, managed by the Applied Research Institute in Indiana.

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Gen. Michael Guetlein: Space Force Eyes Commerce’s Collected Data to Improve Space Domain Awareness
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Gen. Michael Guetlein: Space Force Eyes Commerce’s Collected Data to Improve Space Domain Awareness

Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations, said the U.S. Space Force is considering using data collected by the Department of Commerce to improve its initiative to enhance space domain awareness, or SDA, Breaking Defense reported Friday.

DOC is working on a new space tracking system designed to help commercial satellite operators address the risk of on-orbit smashups.

“I can’t comment on what the Department of Commerce is doing, that’s kind of out outside of my lane. But under space domain awareness … we are really trying to take advantage of all data. So, if the Department of Commerce or any other agency or international partner, whatever, has data that we think has value, we want that data,” Guetlein said at an event.

“So, I would imagine that as Department of Commerce continues to mature this concept, we will definitely want to take advantage of what they’re doing.”

The general noted that U.S. Space Command’s Joint Commercial Operations Cell, formerly the Joint Task Force-Space Defense Commercial Operations Cell, is trying to gain access to any SDA data.

POC - 2024 Space Summit

Hear government leaders, space experts and industry executives discuss the latest space technologies, commercial investments and urgent issues facing the space domain at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Space Summit on March 5. Register here.

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Weaknesses in Ivanti’s Connect Secure, Policy Secure Platforms Prompt CISA Emergency Directive; Jen Easterly Quoted
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Weaknesses in Ivanti’s Connect Secure, Policy Secure Platforms Prompt CISA Emergency Directive; Jen Easterly Quoted

A new emergency directive from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is urging all federal civilian agencies to implement measures to mitigate online threats associated with vulnerabilities found in Ivanti’s Connect Secure and Policy Secure platforms.

CISA on Friday published the directive after Ivanti disclosed two vulnerabilities that malicious cyber actors use to infiltrate and move laterally through a target network, exfiltrate data and set up a persistent system access.

The agency has laid out a mitigation guidance that includes a downloadable and importable .xml file into the affected Ivanti Secure appliance. Federal departments should also run the Ivanti External Integrity Checker Tool to reboot the product. Suspected compromised appliances should be reported to CISA’s central e-mail address at central@cisa.dhs.gov.

Agencies can still restore and revive compromised platforms using Ivanti’s instructions in the emergency directive.

“The vulnerabilities in these products pose significant, unacceptable risks to the security of the federal civilian enterprise,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly. “Even as federal agencies take urgent action in response to this Directive, we know that these risks extend to every organization and sector using these products. We strongly urge all organizations to adopt the actions outlined in this Directive,” the three-time Wash100 awardee added.

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Bipartisan Senate Bill Seeks to Streamline Procurement Process for Federal Agencies, Contractors
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Bipartisan Senate Bill Seeks to Streamline Procurement Process for Federal Agencies, Contractors

Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, have proposed a bill that seeks to streamline the solicitation process and procedures for awarding delivery and task orders for federal agencies.

The bipartisan Conforming Procedures for Federal Task and Delivery Order Contracts Act seeks to accelerate the awarding process by simplifying the procedures for vendors, including small businesses, that bid on government contracts, the Senate panel said Friday.

The proposed legislation also aims to address duplication of documentation requirements and streamline the evaluation of offers.

“This bipartisan bill streamlines the contracting process for federal government agencies, and as a result will boost small businesses trying to stay competitive and will increase efficiency for all government agencies, benefitting people across the nation,” said Peters.

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GovCon Index Rebounded After Losses Early Last Week
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GovCon Index Rebounded After Losses Early Last Week

Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index closed last week with a 0.04% uptick to $4,609.49 after a decline earlier in the week. The S&P 500 Index shattered its all-time high with a 1.23% increase to 4,839.81 points while the Dow Jones climbed by 1.05% and the Nasdaq Composite rose by 1.70%.

GovCon Index is an aggregate index that tracks real-time data from 30 major government contractors, offering users a look into the performance of individual companies and the wider trends characterizing the industry today. This groundbreaking tool enables users to evaluate the financial success of the GovCon market.

By the end of the week, top gainers included the Carlyle Group and Palantir Technologies, which saw increases of 2.37% and 2.32%, respectively. Boeing followed with an uptick of 1.61%, and the next two spots were taken by CGI (+1.30%) and CACI (+1.26%).

These gains follow a slump that began on Tuesday and ended with the GovCon Index increasing by 1.04% to $4.607.73 on Thursday. This rise was led by Boeing (+4.21%) and HII (+2.11%).

Check out last week’s market reports for more information on daily GovCon Index performance. To access the extended list of tracked companies, click here.

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New DOE Funding Opportunity Seeks New Cybersecurity Technologies for Clean Energy Delivery Infrastructure
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New DOE Funding Opportunity Seeks New Cybersecurity Technologies for Clean Energy Delivery Infrastructure

The Department of Energy unveiled a $30 million funding opportunity for research, development and demonstration projects that can produce cybersecurity tools to defend clean energy delivery infrastructure against online threats.

DOE said Wednesday that its Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response plans to grant an estimated 10 awards as part of the Biden administration’s initiative to strengthen both the energy sector and national security.

The agency is looking for proposals that involve bolstering virtual power plant cybersecurity as well as enhancing communications security between distributed energy resources and distributed energy resource aggregations.

Projects may also focus on identifying and reducing the risk of attacks on inverter-based energy generation such as wind and solar and novel forensic approaches for infected renewable energy field devices.

“This funding will drive the development of next generation cyber technologies that keep our nation at the forefront of innovation, while protecting our energy infrastructure from increasing cyber threats,” DOE Undersecretary for Infrastructure David Crane remarked. “This work could not be more important or timely as our nation transitions to the clean energy economy.”

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