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Data Sharing Technology Linking US & Allies Wins Annual SSC Innovation Competition
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Data Sharing Technology Linking US & Allies Wins Annual SSC Innovation Competition

The U.S. Space Systems Command has selected the winner of its second annual Fight Tonight innovation competition.

The Allied Exchange Environment is designed to establish a unified interface that would enable the U.S. and its allies to share near real-time data from the Space Force’s Secret Unified Data Library, to which partners currently have no access, the SSC said on Tuesday.

Representing the winning team, SSC Cross Mission Data Deputy Branch Chief and Chief Engineer Sage Adorka said the win “will ensure delivery of a much needed data-sharing capability for our coalition partners.”

The AXE team received $2.8 million in fiscal year 2024 funding to develop and implement the proposed system in support of Australia and Japan.

AXE was selected from 28 proposals, with five others being chosen as finalists. Those not selected were sent to relevant program executive offices for possible implementation using other sources of funding.

Proposals had to be operationally relevant and actionable within a one-year timeframe. Civilian and military personnel from the SSC were eligible for participation.

Congressional Leaders Urged to Include Outbound Investment Screening Measure in 2024 NDAA
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Congressional Leaders Urged to Include Outbound Investment Screening Measure in 2024 NDAA

A bipartisan group of Senate lawmakers has called on congressional leaders to add language in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act to prevent adversaries like China from acquiring sensitive U.S. technologies with dual-use applications.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, joined colleagues in writing a letter to chairmen and ranking members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees to include an outbound investment screening measure in the defense spending bill, King’s office said Tuesday.

According to the lawmakers, the Senate has voted to include Amendment No. 931 in the NDAA to create an outbound investment screening program led by the Departments of the Treasury and Commerce.

The measure would require U.S. organizations to notify the government of outbound investments in specific technology sectors in foreign countries of concern.

“In order to protect our interests, we need to evaluate the full scope of our vulnerabilities and use the data and insight provided by outbound investment screening to implement tools that ensure sensitive technologies with dual-use applications are not further ceded to adversaries,” the letter reads.

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New Joint Cybersecurity Advisory Warns About Exploit of Citrix Bleed Vulnerability by LockBit Affiliates
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New Joint Cybersecurity Advisory Warns About Exploit of Citrix Bleed Vulnerability by LockBit Affiliates

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI, the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center and the Australian Cyber Security Center have issued a joint cybersecurity advisory concerning the ongoing exploit of the Citrix Bleed vulnerability by LockBit 3.0 ransomware affiliates and multiple other threat actors.

CISA said Tuesday that the advisory contains indicators of compromise and tactics, techniques and procedures used by ransomware attackers.

The joint advisory explains that the Citrix Bleed vulnerability enables malicious actors to take over legitimate user sessions of Citrix NetScaler web application delivery control and Gateway appliances by bypassing passwords or multifactor authentication.

The advisory goes on to note that Citrix Bleed is typically taken advantage of by actors using LockBit, which, as of 2022, was the most deployed type of ransomware around the world, according to CISA. Attackers using LockBit have targeted various organizations across different sectors, including critical infrastructure, government, manufacturing and education.

Network defenders should work to detect malicious activity on their systems, the cyber advisory says, adding, “If a potential compromise is detected, organizations should apply the incident response recommendations. If no compromise is detected, organizations should immediately apply patches made publicly available.”

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ARPA-H Deputy Director Susan Monarez Discusses Agency’s Adoption of Generative AI
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ARPA-H Deputy Director Susan Monarez Discusses Agency’s Adoption of Generative AI

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health is increasingly integrating generative artificial intelligence into its operations and looking into use cases across the wider health sector, Federal News Network reported on Tuesday.

According to ARPA-H Deputy Director Susan Monarez, the agency is already leveraging these technologies.

During a webinar hosted by the Association for Federal Information Resources Management, she explained that ARPA-H is working to learn from the technology while harnessing it as information and “translating that into knowledge” in order to shape its programs, from recruitment to project development.

Generative AI will also help the agency design unique, high risk, high reward programs that can benefit the healthcare ecosystem, Monarez added.

“How could we actually help improve those patient outcomes through improved access to high quality primary care, help access screening diagnostics, help accessing monitoring for someone who has a chronic disease,” she said. “So we are looking at that particular space. We don’t have any programs yet, but it is something that we’re super excited about.”

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DOD Making Progress in Becoming More Agile, Says Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks
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DOD Making Progress in Becoming More Agile, Says Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks

According to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, the U.S. Department of Defense is advancing in its work to become more agile.

DOD leaders are pushing these efforts forward to promote change within the department, the three-time Wash100 Award winner told the Defense Writers Group Tuesday.

Hicks noted the replicator initiative — a program that aims to field thousands of self-piloting ships and uncrewed aircraft over the next few years — as an example of this progress. Replicator and other similar projects that are designed to accelerate the process of moving technologies from research to fielding are the future of the DOD, she said.

Despite some setbacks, there “has been phenomenal work that’s happened across the department.”

“One of the great things about our defense system is that innovation happens all across it,” said Hicks.

Simultaneous advancements both within the DOD and in the private sector are another factor in the department’s increased agility, Hicks stated. A major part of bringing all of these elements together, she said, is “predictable, reliable and appropriately strategically driven resources.”

Hicks also highlighted the benefits of working alongside international partners. She said it is important to “leverage that alliance structure” to maintain an asymmetric advantage, offering the U.S.-Philippine defense relationship as an example of “incredible progress.” The Australia-United Kingdom-United States agreement and partnership with India are also areas in which there is “lots of really positive momentum and real gains.”

Leadership, Hicks added, is critical to moving this process forward. She said the message to individuals advancing these efforts must be consistent.

Navy Aims to Achieve Cyberspace Superiority With Inaugural Cyber Strategy; Carlos Del Toro Quoted
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Navy Aims to Achieve Cyberspace Superiority With Inaugural Cyber Strategy; Carlos Del Toro Quoted

The U.S. Department of the Navy has released its first-ever cyber strategy outlining key goals for establishing information and cyberspace superiority.

In line with the Department of Defense Cyber Strategy and National Defense Strategy, the DON Cyber Strategy is built on seven lines of effort primarily surrounding information technology, critical infrastructure and partnership, the Navy said on Tuesday.

“This inaugural strategy builds on years of lessons learned from cyber domain operations across the globe,” said Carlos Del Toro, secretary of the Navy and a 2023 Wash100 awardee. “We are focused on aggressively enhancing our cyber enterprise, while fostering cooperation and collaboration with our allies and partners.”

Specific target areas include supporting the cyber workforce, shifting from compliance to cyber readiness and defending enterprise information technology, data and networks.

Through the framework, the Navy also aims to protect defense critical infrastructure and weapon systems, conduct and facilitate cyber operations, partner to secure the defense industrial base and foster cooperation and collaboration.

The strategy, which covers both Navy and Marine Corps cyber operations, was jointly developed by the Office of the Principal Cyber Advisor and Office of the Chief Information Officer.

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DOD OIG Releases Audit of Navy’s Management of MQ-25 Aerial Refueling Drone Program
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DOD OIG Releases Audit of Navy’s Management of MQ-25 Aerial Refueling Drone Program

The U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General has recommended that the U.S. Navy delay the production phase of its MQ-25 Stingray drone program until relevant tests are completed or the program’s risk management documentation is updated.

Suggestions were made after a DOD OIG audit that found that the Navy had planned to finalize production decisions before the completion of tests and evaluations necessary to ensure that the program meets operational capability requirements, the office said on Monday.

“The audit underscores the risks associated with premature decision-making and emphasizes the importance of comprehensive testing to ensure the MQ-25 program meets operational capability requirements, avoids deployment delays and manages costs effectively,” said DOD IG Robert Storch.

“The MQ-25 program’s risk documentation, including the risks contained in the acquisition strategy, did not identify, assess or develop mitigation plans for significant risks associated with the Navy’s scheduling decisions,” he added.

The DOD OIG also called on the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition to ensure that the program’s risk documentation is updated to account for risks of additional delays in receiving the MQ-25A aerial refueling drone, according to the audit report.

The office recommends that these steps be made prior to the Milestone C decision, which determines if the program will move to the production and deployment phase, and the initial operating capability decisions.

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HHS Begins Market Research for Zero Trust Implementation Support Services
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HHS Begins Market Research for Zero Trust Implementation Support Services

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Chief Information Officer has asked for information regarding potential sources of support services for the department-wide implementation of zero trust architecture.

To comply with a 2021 cybersecurity executive order, the OCIO is seeking information on the establishment and maintenance of a program management office that would support ZTA implementation efforts, according to a request for information published on Monday.

The task scope and bjectives of the RFI include identifying zero trust capabilities and gaps in each operating division, developing and maintaining a zero trust maturity scorecard and providing a secure test and data environment to enable the testing of multiple products to support ZTA implementation, among numerous others.

Interested offerors should provide a summary of their technical capabilities to meet the requirements, share information on current ZTA and cybersecurity contracts or task orders and state how they would use performance monitoring and reporting tools to perform contract work.

Responses to the RFI are due Dec. 6.

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OFPP Seeks Comments on Draft OMB Acquisition Data Management Circular
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OFPP Seeks Comments on Draft OMB Acquisition Data Management Circular

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy within the Office of Management and Budget has requested feedback on a proposed OMB circular aimed at expanding federal agencies’ access to relevant acquisition data.

The circular is also intended to create a centralized strategy for data management to develop comprehensive knowledge and data banks, enhance agency access to resources and tools for decision-making associated with acquisition and establish common data sharing processes, according to a Federal Register notice published Friday.

Currently, the OMB is developing a framework for Hi-Definition acquisitions to foster enterprise wide data analysis, data interoperability and data sharing across agencies.

According to the notice, the proposed circular would create an acquisition data management policy to encourage Hi-Def acquisitions to enable agencies to easily access data when procuring supplies and services.

It would also direct agencies to develop yearly strategic plans, promote data-sharing technologies, implement policies for agency collection and sharing of acquisition data, create an interagency working group and facilitate other collaborative actions and workforce development with data management.

Comments are due Jan. 16, 2024.

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GSA Aims to Emphasize Best Value in MAS Acquisitions
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GSA Aims to Emphasize Best Value in MAS Acquisitions

The General Services Administration has issued a legislative proposal that aims to modify language within the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 to reduce the use of the lowest price, technically acceptable method of selection, Federal News Network reported Friday.

The proposed update is intended to ensure that acquisitions made under the Multiple Award Schedule program emphasize best value for the government rather than lowest price.

Specific changes suggested include striking references to “lowest overall cost alternative” – which the agency says is often confused with “lowest price” – and replace them with “best value” instead, a term defined by the Federal Acquisition Regulation as “the expected outcome of an acquisition that, in the Government’s estimation, provides the greatest overall benefit in response to the requirement.”

These updates would align MAS standards with Congress’ preference for best value to become the “acquisition objective” of the government. They would also enable contractors to offer their solutions without being worried about price, GSA Senior Procurement Executive Jeff Koses told Federal News Network in an interview.

“Over the last 40 years, we’ve moved to a best value mindset. Acquisition is not about trying to buy the lowest priced item,” said Koses.

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