/
CBO Reports FY24 Navy Shipbuilding Plan Will Cost $34B to $36B Per Year Over 30 Years
Published on
CBO Reports FY24 Navy Shipbuilding Plan Will Cost $34B to $36B Per Year Over 30 Years

A Congressional Budget Office report estimates that the U.S. Navy’s fiscal year 2024 shipbuilding plan to expand its fleet size to between 319 and 367 aircraft carriers, submarines, surface combatants and other battle force ships would cost approximately $34 billion to $36 billion in 2023 dollars annually over three decades.

CBO said Thursday the figures were based on its analysis of three alternative projections of the Navy’s future fleet in the service’s FY 2024 shipbuilding plan.

According to the report, the projections rose by 5 percent to 10 percent in real terms compared with CBO’s estimates for the 2023 plan.

The Navy’s total budget would climb to approximately $315 billion to $330 billion by 2053 to support the 2024 plan, up from the current budget of $245 billion.

The Navy would purchase more large surface combatants under alternative 1, buy more submarines under alternative 2 and procure more vessels of all types under alternative 3, except for submarines, according to the report.

CBO said the military branch would see the firepower of its fleet of ships reduced over the next 10 years but would increase the number of missile cells and field them on more vessels under all three alternatives to expand its missile capability.

Cyber Innovation Center Secures $129M in Federal Funding to Expand Key Cybersecurity Initiatives
Published on
Cyber Innovation Center Secures $129M in Federal Funding to Expand Key Cybersecurity Initiatives

The Cyber Innovation Center has secured five-year funding grants worth $129 million combined for its cybersecurity workforce development initiative and Air Force Global Strike Command’s national innovation hub.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency awarded the nonprofit CYBER.org $34 million in funding through the Cybersecurity Education and Training Assistance Program to provide cybersecurity education and training for K-12 learners to address the nation’s cybersecurity workforce shortage, CIC said Monday.

With the CISA funding, CYBER.org aims to expand its network of educators from 30,000 to 50,000 over the next five years to support the Biden administration’s National Cybersecurity Workforce and Education Strategy.

Meanwhile, CIC received $95.6 million in funding through a partnership intermediary agreement with AFGSC to enable the STRIKEWERX innovation hub to continue to serve as the command’s technology transfer, technology transition and innovation resource.

/
ODNI, DOD Reveal FY23 Appropriated Funds for National, Military Intelligence Programs
Published on
ODNI, DOD Reveal FY23 Appropriated Funds for National, Military Intelligence Programs

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Defense have released the aggregate amount of congressional appropriations for their respective intelligence initiatives in fiscal year 2023.

ODNI said Monday that Congress allocated $71.7 billion in FY 2023 funds to the National Intelligence Program, a.k.a. NIP, including supplemental funding.

In a separate release, DOD revealed that the total budget appropriated for the department’s Military Intelligence Program, or MIP, in FY 2023 reached $27.9 billion.

Breaking Defense reported that the FY23 NIP reflected a $3 billion increase from ODNI’s budget request and the MIP figure was over $1 billion more than the Pentagon had requested in the previous fiscal year.

ODNI is seeking $72.4 billion in FY 2024 funds for the NIP and DOD is requesting $29.3 billion for the MIP, according to the report.

/
Redhorse Corporation Acquires Allied Associates International; John Zangardi Quoted
Published on
Redhorse Corporation Acquires Allied Associates International; John Zangardi Quoted

Redhorse Corporation has acquired Gainesville, Virginia-based Allied Associates International, which will operate as a Redhorse business unit under the oversight of the current A2I leadership team.

A2I is a cybersecurity and engineering company focusing on cyber data analytics and software development, with customers in the defense, federal law enforcement and intelligence sectors, Redhorse said Tuesday.

The acquisition results in the addition of cyber intelligence to Redhorse’s existing data analytics, engineering and artificial intelligence/machine learning capabilities.

A2I CEO Aaron Winters said the merger will result in new opportunities to serve customers.

For his part, Redhorse CEO and Wash100 winner John Zangardi praised the expertise that A2I brings to his company, adding: “The combination of A2I’s highly qualified and respected team with Redhorse’s analytics capabilities firmly establishes the combined entity as a premier National Security platform that has an extensive track record of delivering comprehensive and innovative solutions that address our nation’s most complex challenges.”

//
Andrea Fletcher Shares How CMS Is Centering Customer Experience
Published on
Andrea Fletcher Shares How CMS Is Centering Customer Experience

The way American citizens interact with the government has changed dramatically over the past decade as the digital world expands. Executive Mosaic spoke with Andrea Fletcher, chief digital strategy officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to learn more about how the agency is working to transform the customer experience.

Andrea Fletcher Shares How CMS Is Centering Customer Experience

Andrea Fletcher will be a keynote speaker at the 2023 Healthcare Summit hosted by the Potomac Officers Club on Dec. 6! Join this event to be a part of the conversation with public and private sector healthcare experts, decision makers and innovators. Register here.

“I’ve become really passionate lately about customer experience and the way that we are engaging with the people that we serve,” Fletcher told Executive Mosaic’s Summer Myatt in a new video interview.

“So making sure that when somebody comes to a website to again, fill out a form or sign up for something, that it’s the most delightful experience,” she added. “I don’t think people often associate government websites with excellent user experience and are excited about it. How do we change that?”

Fletcher said part of looking at the customer experience includes prioritizing accessibility. Many of the populations CMS serves use screen readers, speak languages other than English or have disabilities. In her role, Fletcher is passionate about providing these individuals and the broader public with the tools they need to have a “delightful” experience interacting with the agency.

“I hope that in the future, somebody sits down to sign up for health care and they have their kid sitting on their lap, dinner’s in the oven and they only have a couple of minutes to fill this form out, and they get it done and they move on with their day and it is a wonderful experience rather than, I think what we often feel, which is, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so stressful,’” Fletcher shared.

Meet and learn from Andrea Fletcher in person on Dec. 6 at the Potomac Officers Club’s Healthcare Summit! Save your seat today — register here.

NOAA, BSEE Seek to Promote Environmental Sustainability of Offshore Energy Activities Through MOU
Published on
NOAA, BSEE Seek to Promote Environmental Sustainability of Offshore Energy Activities Through MOU

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement will work together on areas with regard to environmental stewardship and energy activities on the Outer Continental Shelf under a memorandum of understanding.

The MOU supports the current administration’s commitment to advancing improvements in the environmental sustainability and safety of offshore energy development initiatives, NOAA said Thursday.

Under the agreement, areas of possible collaboration and mutual interest include environmental planning, preparedness, forecasting, monitoring and response; maritime policy coordination; ocean data and observations; science and research; outreach and engagement; compliance and enforcement; sustainability; environmental justice; and rulemaking.

NOAA Administrator Richard Spinrad and BSEE Director Kevin Sligh signed the MOU, which calls for both agencies to advance data sharing, develop additional agreements outlining cooperation on individual projects and programs and support interagency training.

/
Margarita Brose Appointed SEC Deputy Chief Data Officer
Published on
Margarita Brose Appointed SEC Deputy Chief Data Officer

Margarita Brose, agile transformation lead at the Securities and Exchange Commission since December 2015, has been appointed deputy chief data officer at the SEC.

“I am looking forward to working with Austin Gerig again, and overseeing the data governance program, as well as supporting the data management program,” Brose wrote in a recently published LinkedIn post.

Brose led the SEC’s agile transformation and program and project management community of practice for nearly eight years. This marks Brose’s second stint at the SEC, having previously served as a senior counsel at the commission’s enforcement division.

Before rejoining SEC, she served as a management consultant at IBM and PwC and as a director at Barclays and Fannie Mae.

/
CISA White Paper Discusses Activities Encouraging Advanced Encryption Standard Adoption by SLTT Agencies
Published on
CISA White Paper Discusses Activities Encouraging Advanced Encryption Standard Adoption by SLTT Agencies

Work is being carried out to encourage state, local, tribal and territorial agencies to optimize their use of federal grants to acquire, implement or expand services and equipment that enable the Advanced Encryption Standard, or AES, as a replacement for the Data Encryption Standard, or DES, according to a white paper issued Friday by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Federal Partnership for Interoperable Communication.

Due to budgetary constraints and other factors, SLTT agencies have continued to use DES rather than AES to secure land mobile radio communications even though DES is a compromised encryption algorithm, whose use has been discouraged by the National Institute of Standards and Technology since 2005, the FPIC white paper said.

The continued use of DES exposes sensitive information to unnecessary risk and disrupts interoperability with agencies using AES, the paper went on to say, adding: “The transition to AES encryption is the only solution that would provide a lowest common denominator of available interoperable encryption for LMR voice and data communications for all public safety entities at all levels of government.”

Other efforts underway to encourage the adoption of AES include coordinating with federal agencies with the aim of establishing a multi-year AES transition grant program for SLTT entities; determining whether cybersecurity funding can be repurposed to finance SLTT AES transitions; and formulating a stakeholder engagement strategy to increase awareness about the need to adopt AES.

/
AFMC Forms Task Force to Accelerate Digital Materiel Management Implementation
Published on
AFMC Forms Task Force to Accelerate Digital Materiel Management Implementation

Air Force Materiel Command has formed a new task force to advance the implementation of AFMC’s digital materiel management objectives and help drive digital transformation initiatives across the service branch.

The Digital Acceleration Task Force will focus on modernizing information technology infrastructure, establishing industry consortia, creating a DMM playbook and identifying common data standards and data sharing structures, AFMC said Friday.

DATF aims to collaborate with defense and industry partners to accelerate its efforts across all focus areas and identify best practices for acquiring and implementing digital technologies.

“By working in collaboration with the defense industrial base, we can address legacy defense processes and more rapidly implement newer, faster ways of doing business across the life cycle,” said Lt. Col. Ryan Pospisal, deputy director of DATF.

In June, AFMC released a white paper detailing its approach to harnessing the power of data, models and infrastructure to deliver warfighting capabilities.

/
DOE Invites Public Comment on Proposed Acquisition Regulation Amendment
Published on
DOE Invites Public Comment on Proposed Acquisition Regulation Amendment

The Department of Energy is inviting external comments on its plan to streamline its procurement rules in order to complement or supplement the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

In a notice published Thursday on Federal Register, DOE unveiled its proposal to eliminate obsolete policies as well as rules that are also found in FAR.

The Department of Energy Acquisition Regulation was established with the National Nuclear Security Administration to create mutual procurement rules in compliance with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act.

To keep the agency-specific regulation up-to-date, the Energy Department is drafting provisions including new instructions for the preparation and submission of requests for individual or class deviations from DEAR.

DOE also proposed a new section that requires contractor self-identification when communicating on the agency’s behalf, as a supplementary rule to the FAR Contractor Code of Business Ethics and Conduct.

Interested parties may submit their comments until Dec. 26, the agency said.

1 … 471 472 473 474 475 … 2,656