The U.S. Army will host an industry day on Aug. 24 to engage with vendors as the service branch looks to integrate augmented and virtual reality technology into its Family of Maintenance Trainers.

In a notice posted Tuesday on SAM.gov, the Army said its Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation will facilitate the event with the goal of identifying potential contractors that could modernize the FMT product line used to train military vehicle maintainers.

The suite is designed with a government-owned architecture, a common baseline for hardware and software.

Diagnostic troubleshooting, part task and hands-on training applications make up the product line, the notice states.

An Army product director is reportedly developing a multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract vehicle for support services necessary to update the trainers.

The service branch said the target award date is the third quarter of the government’s 2025 fiscal year.

The U.S. Air Force has put out a call for technology companies to propose solutions that would enable an active and effective yet secure data and information sharing environment for its geographically disparate workforce.

Once submissions are screened and reviewed, the USAF will select eight companies to form a cohort that will participate in a three-month accelerator program at the Catalyst Campus for Technology and Innovation in Ogden, Utah, the latter organization announced on Wednesday.

The service branch is looking for systems that will enhance productivity and user experience while engaging and establishing unified lines of communication in remote and hybrid work set-ups. They are open to proposals that implement elements of generative artificial intelligence, the Metaverse, augmented reality and virtual reality and automation, as well as aspects of real-time collaboration tools, productivity visualization or metrics, cybersecurity and employee engagement strategies.

Candidates may apply through Aug. 22 and the eight approved cohort participants will be named on Sept. 1.

Officially commencing on Sept. 18, the Catalyst Accelerator wraps up with a demonstration day on Jan. 25, 2024, where government and industry members will be invited to view the progress and end results of the cohort’s work. The cohort provides an opportunity to collaborate directly with the Department of Defense and its slew of aficionados, as well as representatives from both government and commercial industry. This cross-sector involvement is intended to allow the companies to promote their products and gain a sense of what stakeholders are looking for.

The project is fully funded by the Air Force and is being carried out in partnership with its Digital Transformation Office.

General Services Administration official Laura Stanton said of that of 222 evaluated agencies, 123 had migrated from legacy contracts such as WITS 3 and Networx to the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract vehicle for telecommunications and information technology products and services as of April.

By June 26, eight agencies had sought a two-year extension to complete their transition to EIS, giving them until May 31, 2026, to finalize their adoption of the contract, Stanton, assistant commissioner for the office of IT category at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, wrote in a blog post published Thursday.

She noted that by the end of May 2024, continuity of service will end for agencies that signed a memorandum of understanding with GSA.

For those authorized to use extended CoS beyond May 31, 2024, the end of service will occur on May 31, 2026.

According to Stanton, agencies that have completed their EIS transition have implemented Trusted Internet Connection 3.0 architectures and improved their cyber resilience.

In the post, Stanton also announced the appointment of Jake Marcellus as executive director of the Office of Enterprise Technology Solutions in February.

She said Marcellus brings to the role his experience managing telecommunications initiatives at the Department of Defense and oversees GSA’s enterprise telecommunications, satellite communications and mobility services, including the EIS program.

“I have asked Jake, as lead executive for EIS, to place his initial focus on improving the customer agency EIS transition experience and outcomes. His team developed a system to use disconnect data to identify the most significant transition risks and make the appropriate executive engagements with agencies,” Stanton wrote.

She noted that Marcellus’ team is helping agencies identify problems, consult on technical platforms and facilitate requests for 2026 extensions.

An independent panel of 27 experts assessed the Microelectronics Quantifiable Assurance efforts of the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and found that combining such initiatives with the Trusted Foundry approach could help the Department of Defense reduce the risks found in the commercial microelectronics supply chain.

The Department of the Air Force’s chief scientist assembled the independent committee in accordance with the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, the service said Wednesday.

“The work of the independent panel – confirming what we need in the Department of Defense and what areas present opportunities, and gaps, for mitigation – has been an essential part in the overall Microelectronics Quantifiable Assurance effort and will inform evolving standards such as the Department of Defense Manual 5200 series,” said Heidi Shyu, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and a three-time Wash100 Award recipient.

For the study, the panel identified three overlays on commercial flows that could help meet DOD’s microelectronics requirements. They are: a Microelectronics Quantifiable Assurance for components that demand higher integrity protection; a Trusted Foundry for classified microelectronics; and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations/Export Administration Regulations for export-controlled components.

Trusted Foundry is a regulated process that protects against unauthorized disclosure of intellectual property and other classified data.

Microelectronics Quantifiable Assurance is a data-centric approach that could enable DOD to gain additional assurance on a component’s integrity.