The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory recently achieved 100 years of operation, reflecting its strong history of impactful scientific research for the military services.

Originally titled as the Naval Experimental and Research Laboratory, the organization was commissioned on July 2, 1923, the NRL announced from Washington, D.C. late last month.

Plans for the laboratory were largely driven by the events of World War I and a recommendation from Thomas Edison, who said that the U.S. government should invest in a “great research laboratory” in a 1915 New York Times article. Edison was then selected by former Navy Secretary Hon. Josephus Daniels to head the Naval Consulting Board, which played a leading role in the NRL’s establishment.

In its early years, the organization had two divisions, radio and sound, which conducted research on high-frequency radio and underwater sound propagation and developed multiple related technologies, most notably the first U.S.-built practical radar equipment. These advancements played a key role in numerous Naval victories during World War II.

Since then, the laboratory has widened the range of its activities across the earth, sea, sky, space and cyberspace environments. These developments dramatically expanded the spectrum of NRL’s projects, which grew to include programs to monitor the sun’s behavior, analyze marine atmospheric conditions and measure parameters of the deep oceans, among other initiatives.

Many issues, such as submarine habitability, lubricants, shipbuilding materials, firefighting and the study of sound in the sea, have been continuous concerns for the NRL. Recently, virtual reality, superconductivity, biotechnology and nanotechnology have also become major focus areas.

In the years following World War II, the organization was restructured to ensure that it was equipped to support long-term Navy demands. Now, the NRL prioritizes Navy strategic interests in the evolving 21st century warfighting environment. Current programs surround ongoing Naval needs as well as emerging technologies, including solar energy, hypersonics and quantum information science.

Emily Murphy, a senior fellow with the Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University, said Congress should immediately act to save Section 876 of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act to support competition and mitigate administrative burden on contracting officers and small businesses.

Murphy, former administrator of the General Services Administration, wrote in a commentary published Monday on Federal News Network that Section 876 is meant to ensure that vendors with the best technical ability secure positions on multiple-award contracts and advance price competition at the task order level.

She made the call in response to a decision by the Court of Federal Claims that restricted the applicability of the NDAA provision on multiple-award contracts such as Polaris and Oasis-Plus.

“As it pursues its legislative agenda, Congress can save Section 876 with a simple clarification that the authority extends to any services contract where pricing will be thoroughly competed prior to awarding each task order,” noted Murphy, a three-time Wash100 awardee.

“This could easily be accomplished as an amendment to the NDAA,” she added.

Click here to read some of Murphy’s featured articles for Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Expert program.

The General Services Administration has unveiled a new tool designed to enable government buyers to search for commercial products and services under Native business categories.

GSA said Wednesday the search tool aims to make Native American-owned businesses visible in the agency’s acquisition tools, including GSA Advantage!, GSA eBuy and GSA eLibrary, where they can offer products and services to federal and tribal governments.

The search identifiers work for multiple search criteria, such as office supplies and 8(a) status.

“Making it easier for buyers to obtain quality commercial products and services from Native-owned businesses is good for federal agency missions, good for the federal marketplace, and good for the communities we serve,” said GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan.

According to GSA, the new feature will allow federal agency partners to achieve compliance with the Buy Indian Act.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is soliciting feedback on its draft proposal to broaden public access and availability of federally funded scientific publications and research data.

The plan aims to align with a 2022 memorandum issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which calls for free and immediate access to scientific research results, according to a notice posted Friday on Federal Register.

NIST is looking to update its Public Access Plan, which has been in place since 2015. It originally focused on maintaining the integrity of the institute’s research data, as well as making its measurement, research and S&T activities more visible.

Under the new NIST Plan for Providing Public Access to the Results of Federally Funded Research, the institute would eliminate embargo periods for obtaining information from studies that it financed.

To finalize the policy, NIST is looking for recommendations on how to ensure equal access to publication opportunities. It is also taking suggestions for monitoring the impact of the policy on authors, readers and other affected communities.

The request for comment will close on Aug. 14.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations is seeking public input on its plan to invest $1 billion in developing a demand-side support mechanism for regional hubs that produce and deploy commercial-scale clean hydrogen.

Launched as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the program aims to develop measures to strengthen demand for clean hydrogen and increase revenue certainty that Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs need to secure private sector investment, DOE said Wednesday.

According to the notice of intent, the mechanism would work to accelerate the commercialization of clean hydrogen and support a national clean hydrogen network that would facilitate the development of job opportunities in communities across the nation.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the demand-side initiative will “help our private sector partners address bottlenecks and other project impediments,” unlocking the full potential of hydrogen as a versatile energy resource and supporting the development of H2Hubs.

In September 2022, DOE launched a $7 billion initiative funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to establish regional hubs for hydrogen production.