A new Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program aims to explore the potential of quantum heterostructures and other manmade metamaterials to regulate the temperature of superconducting electronic devices.

The Synthetic Quantum Nanostructures program will cover demonstration, testing and validation of experimental technologies from the disruption opportunity phase previously announced by DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office, the agency said Wednesday.

DARPA introduced the SynQuaNon effort to address obstacles in cooling down devices used in quantum computing. Such equipment need to stay at a fraction of degree above zero Kelvin, or -460 degrees Fahrenheit, which normally requires large, power-consuming refrigeration units.

The agency expects participants to come up with scalable prototypes that use energy-efficient, synthetic nano patterned structures to manage the temperature of the devices.

“If we can increase the operating temperature for new superconducting nanoelectronic devices by a factor of 10, for example, the size of the refrigerator required for cooling goes down by more than a factor of 100,” said Mukund Vengalattore, program manager at the Defense Sciences Office.

“By reducing the power and cooling overhead required, we can reduce the [size, weight and power] significantly as well as improve other device-relevant metrics.”

The Department of Defense, General Services Administration and NASA have jointly released a proposed rule to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require contracting officers to provide explanations to unsuccessful offerors on certain contracts.

A Federal Register notice posted Wednesday states that the rule implements a section of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2020 mandating that the FAR be revised to include the post-award explanation requirements.

Unsuccessful awardees on task orders or delivery orders issued under an indefinite-quantity/indefinite-delivery contract may submit a written request for an explanation as to why they did not win the award.

The explanation must be concise and include a summary of the rationale for the award and an evaluation of the significant deficient factors in the offeror’s offer.

The rule covers offers on task orders or delivery orders exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold but not greater than $6 million.

Interested parties have until Oct. 10 to comment on the proposed rule.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs Office has lifted certain restrictions on commercial remote sensing satellite operations.

The Office of Space Commerce said Monday that Tier 3 restrictions on “most capable, unmatched commercial remote sensing systems” expired on July 19, three years after NOAA adopted a three-tier approach to licensing commercial remote sensing systems.

“We said these temporary restrictions would last no more than three years, and three years later, we lifted them. U.S. capabilities lead the world in this important market, and this licensing change will maintain that lead,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad.

NOAA reduced global imaging restrictions to permit imaging and distribution for all except less than 1 percent of the Earth’s surface, removed restrictions on non-Earth imaging and rapid revisit, as well as removed temporary conditions on X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar.

Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget, has released a memorandum announcing the establishment of an interagency forum to improve coordination, transparency and accountability for federal financial assistance programs.

The Council on Federal Financial Assistance will serve as a leadership body tasked with informing policy, oversight and grant-related activities across the federal government.

According to the memorandum, the COFFA will be chaired by the OMB deputy director for management and comprised of senior financial assistance officers from each of the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies.

The SFAO from the Department of Health and Human Services will serve as the first co-chair of the council for a two-year term. Council members will select successor co-chairs.

Vice President Kamala Harris has announced that the Department of Labor is issuing a new rule to boost wages and protections for workers on federally funded or assisted construction projects.

The rule will update the prevailing wage standards issued under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts to ensure fair wages for over 1 million construction workers, the White House said Tuesday.

The legislation requires payment of locally prevailing wages and any fringe benefits to workers on $200 billion government-funded infrastructure projects.

The administration expects the number of workers covered by the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage regulations to increase with new projects under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.