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CGI Secures $159M DHS Task Order for USCIS Records Systems Modernization; Clay Goldwein Quoted
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CGI Secures $159M DHS Task Order for USCIS Records Systems Modernization; Clay Goldwein Quoted

CGI Federal has booked a potential five-year, $159 million task order from the Department of Homeland Security to optimize digital immigration records systems.

Under the award, CGI’s agile development teams will help the department’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services advance its multi-year modernization plan by building, expanding and managing related technologies, CGI Federal shared with ExecutiveGov in an email sent Tuesday.

Clay Goldwein, senior vice president and national security and justice business unit lead at CGI Federal, said the organization is proud to broaden its longstanding partnership with USCIS and looks forward to expanding its support for federal missions through the digital transformation of U.S. immigration processes.

“CGI Federal’s ongoing innovation on behalf of USCIS ensures its systems and solutions meet current requirements and are ready for future growth and evolution,” he said.

Part of the Alliant 2 vehicle, the task order centers the streamlining and digitization of the current immigration benefits claim process. CGI’s efforts are expected to reduce processing times, protect resources and boost the accuracy of immigration claims through agile development systems integration and infrastructure services while also assisting USCIS with the accurate capture of records for preservation by the National Archives and Records Administration.

CGI’s previous work with USCIS has helped to connect agencies involved in the management of immigration processes. Most recently, the enterprise participated in a collaborative effort to deliver a technology that enables USCIS and the Department of State to electronically process Special Immigrant Visas and other digital tools for the border. For this work, the team was recognized with the USCIS Director’s Award for Ingenuity and Innovation in 2023.

The new task order follows multiple contract wins for CGI earlier this year. Last month, the company won a $49.7 million award from the U.S. Strategic Command for research and development support and sustainment services to improve its Global Integration Enterprise. CGI also won a $40 million contract from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March, under which it is providing continuous support for the commission’s financial management systems.

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Potomac Officers Club Announces Addition of AT&T’s Jill Singer to All-Star Lineup for Unmissable 9th Annual Intel Summit
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Potomac Officers Club Announces Addition of AT&T’s Jill Singer to All-Star Lineup for Unmissable 9th Annual Intel Summit

Potomac Officers Club is thrilled to announce that Jill Singer, vice president of defense and national security at AT&T Public Sector and a Wash100 Award winner, has been confirmed as an introductory speaker for the highly anticipated 9th Annual Intel Summit. The event is scheduled to take place on Sept. 21, at the beautiful McLean Hilton.

As the Vice President of Defense and National Security at AT&T, Singer brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table. With her impressive background as the former chief information officer of the National Reconnaissance Office, her extensive experience and insights make her a valuable addition to the lineup of distinguished speakers at the summit. Register here; you don’t want to miss this!

Potomac Officers Club Announces Addition of AT&T's Jill Singer to All-Star Lineup for Unmissable 9th Annual Intel Summit

During the event, Singer will have the honor of introducing the industry icon and fellow Wash100 winner, Frank Whitworth, the Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. With her deep understanding of the intelligence community, Singer is perfectly positioned to highlight the significant contributions made by a renowned figure like Whitworth.

Now in its ninth year, Potomac Officers Club’s Annual Intel Summit is universally recognized for its ability to bring together luminary representatives from various intelligence agencies. This exclusive, executive-only event serves as an unmissable opportunity for professionals to engage in high-level networking and gain unique insights from leaders in the field.

Attendees can look forward to thought-provoking discussions, invaluable knowledge-sharing sessions, and the chance to foster connections with key figures in the intelligence community. A complete list of speakers and sponsors can be found on the Potomac Officers Club’s official website.

“We are honored to have Jill Singer join our esteemed lineup of speakers for the 9th Annual Intel Summit,” said Jim Garrettson, President and Founder of Potomac Officers Club and CEO of Executive Mosaic. “Her inclusion further solidifies the event’s stature as a premier gathering for top-tier intelligence professionals dedicated to advancing the field.”

Singer and Whitworth, are joined on the event’s lineup by Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Dr. Stacey Dixon, the CIA’s Jennifer Ewbank, the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Doug Cossa and Suzanne White and many more important figures.

Potomac Officers Club Announces Addition of AT&T's Jill Singer to All-Star Lineup for Unmissable 9th Annual Intel Summit
ARPA-H Invests in CUREIT Project Leveraging mRNA to Improve Immunotherapy
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ARPA-H Invests in CUREIT Project Leveraging mRNA to Improve Immunotherapy

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health is investing up to $24 million in an Emory University-led project that specializes in the use of mRNA to treat cancer and other diseases that have limited treatment options.

ARPA-H on Wednesday debuted the Curing the Uncurable via RNA-Encoded Immunogene Tuning project, which is part of the Biden administration’s Cancer Moonshot initiative.

CUREIT, which is the first award funded through ARPA-H’s Open Broad Agency Announcement, will work toward an mRNA and gene modulation delivery toolkit for illnesses related to immune dysregulation. The technology is expected to activate immune cells to target tumors or diseased cells responsible for autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases.

“CUREIT aims to develop entirely new tools and methods to improve therapies so that fewer families experience loss from cancer,” said Amy Jenkins, mission office director of ARPA-H. “The advances in programming immune cell function that may result from CUREIT could also be broadly applied to many other health conditions affecting Americans.”

DOE Devotes $126M to SBIR/STTR Phase II Clean Energy Projects; Jennifer Granholm Quoted
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DOE Devotes $126M to SBIR/STTR Phase II Clean Energy Projects; Jennifer Granholm Quoted

The Department of Energy is distributing $126 million in grants to small businesses working on clean energy research and development projects.

The funding will be divided among 106 awards involving 90 small businesses with initiatives focused on cybersecurity, grid reliability, nuclear nonproliferation, fusion energy and decarbonization, DOE announced Friday.

The agency is investing an average of $1.1 million over two years in individual Phase II R&D projects under the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. The studies are scattered across 27 states, mostly in California and Massachusetts.

Several DOE offices are involved, including the National Nuclear Security Administration; Office of Electricity; Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; and Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response.

“Small businesses tackle monumental issues all over the country, including climate change,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm remarked. “DOE’s small business grants help companies across the country to develop the technologies, products, and infrastructure we will need for the transition to clean energy.” 

Deborah Rosenblum: DOD Must Take Proactive Approach to Nuclear Modernization
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Deborah Rosenblum: DOD Must Take Proactive Approach to Nuclear Modernization

Deborah Rosenblum, assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs, said her top priority is ensuring that the Department of Defense takes a proactive, integrated approach to nuclear modernization initiatives, DOD News reported Friday.

“This work is so important and so vital and is really a no-fail mission for us, we need to make sure that the senior-most leadership of the department remains focused on it, is actively working on it [and] is solving problems and challenges,” said Rosenblum, who additionally serves as executive secretary of the Nuclear Weapons Council.

She noted that DOD considers nuclear deterrence its top priority as the U.S. deals with the challenges posed by Russia and China.

Rosenblum also said positioning the Nuclear Weapons Council as the principal focus of implementing modernization is a key step in ensuring that senior DOD leaders have collective visibility to manage risks in a proactive manner.

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Interior Department Installs Stan Lowe as CISO
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Interior Department Installs Stan Lowe as CISO

The Department of the Interior appointed the role of chief information security officer to Stan Lowe, former CISO and chief privacy officer at Synchronoss Technologies, he announced in a LinkedIn post.

Lowe has more than 18 years of experience in information security, serving in both the private and public sectors.

He previously worked at the Interior Department from 2005 to 2007, formulating, implementing, and improving IT security policies and controls. He moved on to the Federal Trade Commission as chief information officer, and spent five years in various roles at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In December 2015, Lowe joined Booz Allen Hamilton as principal cybersecurity adviser, and two years later became global CISO of PerkinElmer. He was in a similar role at cloud security firm Zscaler.

Lowe holds a bachelor’s degree in information systems from Strayer University and a master’s certificate in program management, computer/IT administration and management from George Washington University.

GAO Report Suggests Areas for Improvement in DHS Acquisition Risk Management
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GAO Report Suggests Areas for Improvement in DHS Acquisition Risk Management

The Department of Homeland Security should improve its communication with acquisition stakeholders in order to refine its procurement programs, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report.

GAO on Tuesday published findings which showed that while DHS has been implementing leading acquisition risk management principles, its guidelines fell short of taking into account the potential obstacles at enterprise level.

The government watchdog studied the procurement risk management process of DHS and eight of its components at the program and portfolio levels. GAO found that there were instances where DHS was overly optimistic in assessing risks, which led to the underestimation of cost and schedule for the development and fielding of capabilities.

GAO recommended that DHS add provisions to its risk management guidance, including how to communicate acquisition milestones to leadership, how to manage realized risks and their consequences, and creating more principles on portfolio-level risk management. The agency also cited areas for improvement in cost-benefit analysis of developing versus acquiring technologies, as part of a risk management knowledge sharing approach across the department.

IARPA to Discuss New Initiative to Examine Generative AI Threat Modes
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IARPA to Discuss New Initiative to Examine Generative AI Threat Modes

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity will hold a proposers day on Oct. 24 in Washington, D.C. to discuss with the industry a new program that aims to identify the safe uses of large language models for applications relevant to the intelligence community.

A notice posted Friday on SAM.gov states that the BENGAL initiative seeks to develop novel technologies and methodologies to detect, characterize and mitigate threats and vulnerabilities associated with using LLMs.

Program participants will create a taxonomy of LLM threat modes within their selected topic domains and develop tools to probe LLM models to identify biases, threats or vulnerabilities.

The U.S. government plans to use LLMs for a range of applications including the rapid summarization and contextualization of IC documents.

IARPA will introduce topic areas and additional program requirements on the proposers day.

Interested parties have until Oct. 18 to register for the event.

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Voyager Space Subsidiary Wins Spot on $900M Air Force IDIQ; Frank Morgan Quoted
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Voyager Space Subsidiary Wins Spot on $900M Air Force IDIQ; Frank Morgan Quoted

A Voyager Space subsidiary has been selected by the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center for a spot on a potential $900 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for yielding cost-effective warfighting capabilities. 

As an awardee, Valley Tech Systems, a part of Voyager Space’s defense arm that was acquired in 2021, will assist the AFLCMC’s Architecture and Integration Directorate with the development of multidomain systems, the company announced from Denver, Colorado on Monday.

Voyager Space Chief Operating Officer Frank Morgan said this contract is an important milestone for the organization. The award, he added, “reinforces the importance of growing solutions we deliver in support of the U.S. Air Force.”

“We are thrilled to continue our contributions from concept development, through design, development, implementation, fielding and support,” said Morgan.

Work under the award will cover numerous areas, including modeling, simulation and analysis, capability development/planning and cost analysis/trades. The company will also be responsible for technical risk reduction, test engineering and the creation of synthetic simulator environments for operational test and training as well as the development and curation of standards, architecture and software.

Contracting activities will support AFLCMC/XA’s mission to provide new methods for acquiring multi-domain systems capabilities and related technologies.

“We are proud to be selected by the AFLCMC/XA to develop innovative open architecture ISR systems using new and existing technologies,” commented Mike O’Brien, president of defense systems at Voyager Space.

He added that the enterprise is looking forward to teaming with the directorate as well as the larger defense community “to solve hard problems and protect our national security interest in a world of increasingly sophisticated adversaries.”

Navy Capt. Anthony Saxon Assigned as Commander of DISA Joint Interoperability Test Command 
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Navy Capt. Anthony Saxon Assigned as Commander of DISA Joint Interoperability Test Command 

U.S. Navy Capt. Anthony Saxon assumed duties as the new commander of the Joint Interoperability Test Command during a change of command ceremony held Aug. 17 at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

Saxon replaced Navy Capt. Robert Matthias, who took the helm at JITC in July 2021, and will lead the Department of Defense component that tests and certifies information technology and national security systems for the joint force, the Defense Information Systems Agency said Friday.

“Building upon past achievements and eagerly facing future challenges encapsulate our organizational essence,” Saxon said.

Saxon most recently served as assistant chief of staff for command, control, communications, computers and intelligence for the 3rd Fleet. In this role, he oversaw the Navy’s strategic communications centers.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, director of DISA and a 2023 Wash100 Award recipient, presided over the ceremony and commended Matthias’ leadership.

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