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Amentum Secures Spot on $3.2B IDIQ to Provide Engineering Services for DOD, Other Federal Organizations; Jill Bruning Quoted
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Amentum Secures Spot on $3.2B IDIQ to Provide Engineering Services for DOD, Other Federal Organizations; Jill Bruning Quoted

Amentum has been selected for a spot on a 10-year, potential $3.2 billion contract for the development, engineering and deployment of technologies for multiple Department of Defense and federal civilian organizations.

Under the multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity vehicle, Amentum is expected to deliver aggressive, scaled and agile engineering offerings to the U.S. Army Communications and Electronics Command, Defense Logistics Agency and other government agencies, the Chantilly, Virginia-based company announced on Tuesday.

Jill Bruning, president of the engineering, science and technology group at Amentum and a Wash100 Award recipient, said that the Gateway to Sustainment contract is “another great opportunity” for the company to deliver its services to the U.S. Army while harnessing its experience in technology and engineering modernization.

“G2S offers Amentum the ability to work with the government to sustain our operational forces,” added Jack Kasiski, the organization’s senior vice president of operations.

Amentum’s work is intended to support the accelerated acquisition and deployment of counter-IED and mine detection, electronic warfare, aircraft survivability and training systems. The contract leaves room for the enterprise to receive additional orders for ancillary engineering, obsolescence monitoring and test and evaluation services.

As an awardee, Amentum will leverage its experience in science, technology and engineering modernization to support the IDIQ’s focus areas of supply chain agility, hybrid organic contractor support, Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages and Form, Fit and Function replacement parts.

This award closely follows multiple DOD contract wins for Amentum. Yesterday, the department announced that the company was issued a $591.6 million Navy award to provide foreign military sales customers with systems integration, systems improvement, sustainment material, training and associated support services for foreign military sales customers.

Just weeks earlier, Amentum booked an $818 million contract also from the Navy to modernize and maintain F-16 aircraft that are used for Navy air combat training and assist the Viper Maintenance Group with adversary training fleet expansion.

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GSA Launches Equity Study on Remote Identity Proofing; Sonny Hashmi Quoted
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GSA Launches Equity Study on Remote Identity Proofing; Sonny Hashmi Quoted

The General Services Administration is conducting a study to test six remote identity-proofing technologies with up to 4,000 participants as part of efforts to evaluate the impact of race, ethnicity, income, gender and other socio-demographic and socio-economic factors on the identity proofing process.

The Equity Study on Remote Identity Proofing will be performed for 12 weeks between the summer and fall of fiscal year 2023.

GSA said it will analyze the collected data from research participants and work with the Center for Identification Technology Research at Clarkson University to look for any algorithmic bias.

“This is an important study and initiative to test and validate facial recognition and matching algorithms and technology to identify barriers across demographic lines,” said Sonny Hashmi, commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service at GSA.

“The results will not only inform government strategy moving forward, but will also lower barriers for more Americans when they interact with their government digitally,” added Hashmi, a previous Wash100 awardee.

GSA intends to release a report in 2024 that will offer a statistical analysis of proofing checks’ performance and look at the causes behind any inconclusive results.

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DHS, Army, DOE Collaborate on Hydrogen-Powered Emergency Response Vehicle Development
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DHS, Army, DOE Collaborate on Hydrogen-Powered Emergency Response Vehicle Development

A hydrogen-powered emergency relief vehicle prototype backed by the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Energy has completed road testing.

The H2Rescue truck made its way from California to Washington, D.C., stopping at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Denver headquarters along the way, DHS’ science and technology directorate said Thursday.

H2Rescue was conceptualized in 2021 as part of an initiative by the DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office.

Accelera, the energy technology business of Cummins, built the vehicle under a cooperative agreement with USACE’s Engineer Research and Development Center-Construction Engineering Research Laboratory.

DHS S&T, DOE, FEMA, the Army Ground Vehicle Power and Mobility and the Naval Research Laboratory provided design and funding assistance to the project.

The truck houses a mobile command center, can carry up to 33,000 pounds of load into a disaster zone and generate power at a 15-home, three-day capacity.

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CISA’s Christine Lai, Jonathan Spring: AI Software Must Be Secure by Design
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CISA’s Christine Lai, Jonathan Spring: AI Software Must Be Secure by Design

Christine Lai and Jonathan Spring of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said technology developers should ensure that artificial intelligence software are secure by design.

The AI engineering community should apply Secure by Design practices, which other safety principles and other guardrails rely on, and institute Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures and other vulnerability identifiers, Lai and Spring wrote in a blog post published Friday.

“Since AI is software, AI models – and their dependencies, including data – should be captured in software bills of materials. The AI system should also respect fundamental privacy principles by default,” they noted.

They discussed the importance of AI-specific assurance issues and the difference between adversarial inputs that drive misclassifications and security detection bypass.

Lai is AI security lead and Spring is a senior technical adviser at CISA.

Trusted AI and Autonomy Forum

Listen to public sector leaders and technology experts as they talk about the opportunities and risks associated with generative AI and related tools at ExecutiveBiz’s Trusted Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy Forum on Sept. 12. Register here.

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Johns Hopkins APL Exploring Conversational AI’s Potential to Support Tactical Combat Care
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Johns Hopkins APL Exploring Conversational AI’s Potential to Support Tactical Combat Care

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is using large language modeling to develop technology that can help soldiers with no medical training to administer care to injured comrades on the battlefield.

APL said Thursday the Clinical Practice Guideline-driven Artificial Intelligence project uses an algorithm based on the Tactical Combat Casualty Care guidelines, which the Department of Defense Joint Trauma System developed.

The lab’s Research and Exploratory Development Department is leading the project, which leverages the Reconfigurable APL Language model Framework designed by the laboratory’s Intelligence Systems Center. The software allows users to create LLM-based applications and their corresponding conversational AI agents.

CPG-AI has demonstrated its ability to answer medical care questions in plain English while guiding soldiers through the tactical field care process.

The researchers plan to use the next phase of the study to improve accuracy in collecting and categorizing data from clinical practice guidelines they obtained from DOD’s Joint Trauma System.

Trusted AI and Autonomy Forum

On Sept. 12, ExecutiveGov’s sister site ExecutiveBiz will host the Trusted AI and Autonomy Forum in person in Fall Church, Virginia. Register to join the event.

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Navy, General Dynamics Kick Off Construction of 32nd Virginia-Class Submarine
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Navy, General Dynamics Kick Off Construction of 32nd Virginia-Class Submarine

The U.S. Navy and General Dynamics Electric Boat have initiated construction of Virginia-class submarine SSN 805.

Naval Sea Systems Command said Thursday that it held a keel-laying ceremony at GD Electric Boat’s Groton, Connecticut, shipyard for the future USS Tang submarine, named after two predecessors that made combat history.

The vessel will be a Virginia-class Block V submarine, which is nuclear-powered to displace up to 8,000 tons of shore-based targets at stealth mode.

Such underwater craft are also designed for stealth surveillance as well as mine delivery and mapping.

The two previous USS Tang ships were commissioned in 1943 and 1951, respectively. The first one, SS 306, hit or sunk more than 30 enemy vessels in the Pacific during World War II, earning four battle stars and two Presidential Unit Citations.

SS 563, the second USS Tang, was used during the Vietnam War, and was ultimately decorated with four battle stars.

PCAST Outlines Recommendations for Federal Nanotechnology R&D Coordination
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PCAST Outlines Recommendations for Federal Nanotechnology R&D Coordination

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has released its assessment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative outlining a set of recommendations to coordinate nanotechnology research and development efforts across the federal government.

PCAST recommends that the government consider sunsetting or streamlining the directives in the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, including ending the mandated reviews and the annual Supplement to the President’s Budget, the White House said Friday.

According to the council, the heads of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science and Technology Council should work together to direct the Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology Subcommittee to more fully utilize its authority to facilitate federal nanotechnology coordination.

The NSET Subcommittee is responsible for establishing and updating a nanotechnology strategic plan every three years, establishing research centers, awarding grants and promoting the adoption of nanotechnology for commercial applications.

To help create a multi-disciplinary workforce, agencies in the NSET Subcommittee should enhance and expand experiential learning programs for high schools, community colleges, universities and industry, per PCAST’s analysis.

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NSF Official Sean Jones Named Argonne Deputy Laboratory Director for Science & Technology
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NSF Official Sean Jones Named Argonne Deputy Laboratory Director for Science & Technology

Sean Jones, assistant director of the National Science Foundation’s Mathematical and Physical Sciences directorate, has been named deputy laboratory director for science and technology at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.

He will assume responsibilities as Argonne’s senior science strategist, adviser and chief research officer on Oct. 9, the national laboratory said Wednesday.

At NSF, Jones manages a $1.86 billion portfolio encompassing five science divisions, interdisciplinary research programs and domestic and international research facilities and centers.

During his 14-year career at the agency, Jones oversaw the construction of two major astronomy facilities, led the operation of national user facilities and major instruments and developed new initiatives in biotechnology, precision sensing and other emerging fields.

Before joining NSF, he held leadership roles at the University of Florida, Norfolk State University, Lucent Technologies, Luxcore Networks and Applied Plasmonics.

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Interagency Bulletin Alerts US Space Sector Against Foreign Intelligence Entity Threats
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Interagency Bulletin Alerts US Space Sector Against Foreign Intelligence Entity Threats

The FBI, National Counterintelligence and Security Center and U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations released a bulletin to warn the U.S. space industry about potential threats to their research and trade secrets, particularly from Russia and China, Reuters reported Friday.

The two-page bulletin listed indicators of malicious cyberactivity from unknown sources, as well as recommended mitigation solutions to safeguard the data of space companies for the long term.

With the global space economy projected to surpass $1 trillion by 2030, the U.S. and China are racing to be at the forefront of the sector by the year 2045, according to the bulletin.

The agencies warned companies to beware of foreign intelligence entities masked as legitimate businesses to steal data and technical experts, or acquire or invest in order to infiltrate their organization.

U.S. enterprises should report any suspicious activity to the FBI or AFOSI, and create monitoring and insider threat programs to protect their data and talent from FIEs.

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Reggie Robinson Elevated to SVP of Government Relations at BAE Systems
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Reggie Robinson Elevated to SVP of Government Relations at BAE Systems

Reggie Robinson has been selected to supervise the full range of BAE Systems’ government work as senior vice president of government relations.

Effective immediately, Robinson will lead BAE Systems’ relationships with Congress members, the White House, the Department of Defense and other public sector organizations and officials, the company announced from Falls Church, Virginia on Monday.

“Reggie is a proven leader with extensive experience and a unique blend of industry, military, congressional, and diplomatic expertise,” said Tom Arseneault, president and CEO of BAE Systems and a two-time Wash100 Award winner.

He added that in the position, Robinson will “play a crucial role” in cultivating strong relationships with government officials, regulatory bodies and policy makers “to create a favorable environment for BAE Systems, Inc. to operate and grow.”

Robinson’s appointment is a continuation of his nine years with BAE Systems. He joined the organization in 2014 as director of government relations, and after seven years in the role, he was promoted to his most recent position as vice president of executive branch and international government relations.

In his new role, Robinson will report to Arseneault. He will also serve as a director on BAE Systems’ board.

Prior to joining the company, Robinson spent over 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, during which his assignments included combat zone deployments, policy-related roles and positions at both the State Department and Capitol Hill. He retired from the Air Force as a colonel.

BAE Systems has recently made multiple leadership changes. In May, the enterprise appointed Elaine Luria, a former congresswoman and retired Navy commander, to its board, and days earlier, Craig Brower was selected as senior vice president of U.S. sales for the company’s Bohemia Interactive Simulations subsidiary.

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