Navy Commissions Austal-Built LCS 32 at Port Hueneme
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Navy Commissions Austal-Built LCS 32 at Port Hueneme

The U.S. Navy has commissioned its 32nd Independence-class littoral combat ship built to operate in near-shore environments during a ceremony held at Port Hueneme in California, DVIDS reported Saturday.

The USS Santa Barbara (LCS 32), manufactured by Austal‘s U.S. ship manufacturing business, was christened in October 2021 and delivered to the Navy in July 2022 to support maritime security and deterrence missions.

LCS 32 is the third Navy ship to bear the name of its namesake city in California and arrived at its homeport on Jan. 18 after completing operations on the east coast.

Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said the Navy’s LCS fleet is “ideal for integrating into joint, combined, manned and unmanned teams to support maritime security operations and humanitarian missions around the globe.”

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Castellum Completes Acquisition of Engineering, Technical & Management Services Provider GTMR; Mark Fuller Quoted
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Castellum Completes Acquisition of Engineering, Technical & Management Services Provider GTMR; Mark Fuller Quoted

Cybersecurity and electronic warfare services provider Castellum has closed its acquisition of Global Technologies Management Resources, a $10 million revenue contractor in close proximity to Naval Air Station Patuxent River.

This transaction is immediately accretive on a revenue per share, recurring cash operating profit per share and net income per share basis to Castellum, the Bethesda, Maryland-headquartered company announced on Monday.

“In addition to adding significant new capability to Castellum, strengthening our presence at Pax River and being immediately accretive for our shareholders, we also have a new, important prime contract vehicle through which we plan to accelerate our organic growth,” said Castellum President and CEO Mark Fuller.

He said that Jim Morton, who currently serves as CEO of GTMR, is an “excellent addition” to Castellum’s leadership team and that the addition of GTMR’s staff will expand the organization’s workforce as it scales.

With the purchase of GTMR, Castellum’s revenue run rate is now over $50 million. Under SEC Rule 3-05 of Regulation S-X, GTMR’s 2022 financials are being audited as a significant transaction. The process is expected to conclude within 60 days.

The acquisition was designed to be a “tax-free” reorganization under Section 368 of the Internal Revenue Code with slightly more than 80 percent of the consideration in the form of Castellum restricted common stock.

“We look forward to fully integrating GTMR into Castellum. We now shift our focus to closing our other pending non-binding LOI, which we expect to do within the next 10-20 days, as well as looking for our next acquisition,” said Fuller.

Prior to this purchase, Castellum completed the acquisition of Lexington Solutions Group in April 2022, which deepened the former’s portfolio of information warfare/information operations offerings.

Executive Mosaic Celebrates 2023 Wash100 Award Winners Phebe Novakovic of General Dynamics & Doug Bush of US Army
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Executive Mosaic Celebrates 2023 Wash100 Award Winners Phebe Novakovic of General Dynamics & Doug Bush of US Army

Executive Mosaic brought General Dynamics Chairman and CEO Phebe Novakovic and Douglas Bush, assistant secretary of the U.S. Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, into the spotlight on Monday in recognition of their 2023 Wash100 Awards.

As a forward-looking accolade, the Wash100 is annually bestowed upon the top 100 executives of consequence in the government contracting sector. Each individual named to the elite list demonstrates outstanding leadership, innovation and vision and is well-positioned to shape the GovCon landscape in the coming year.

This year, Novakovic secured her ninth Wash100 Award, placing her in the top echelon of all Wash100 winners in the award’s 10-year history. The General Dynamics leader earned her spot on the Wash100 list for spearheading record-breaking backlog growth and aligning the company’s defense offerings to address evolving threats and priorities.

Read more about General Dynamics’ accomplishments under Novakovic’s leadership in 2022 here.

Bush earned his debut Wash100 Award this year for his role in spearheading technology innovation efforts within the Army and delivering critical support to Ukraine. Bush officially assumed his current position in February 2022, and throughout the past year, he has been “laser-focused” on program execution and performance in support of getting capabilities to warfighters more quickly.

We compiled some of Bush’s most notable achievements in his Wash100 profile here.

Don’t forget to cast your ten votes for your favorite 2023 Wash100 Award winner as part of this year’s popular vote competition! Winners will be announced at the end of April, so visit Wash100.com to vote today.

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White House Unveils National Low Earth Orbit R&D Strategy
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White House Unveils National Low Earth Orbit R&D Strategy

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has issued a national strategy outlining the current administration’s vision to maintain U.S. leadership in low Earth orbit through research and development efforts.

The strategy has five policy objectives to enable the country to realize the economic, scientific, educational and diplomatic benefits of LEO research initiatives, the White House said Friday.

The first three objectives are advancing groundbreaking science and technology; strengthening U.S. government collaboration and partnerships; and promoting market opportunities, innovation and sustainability.

To achieve the first objective, the strategy calls for the U.S. government to promote transformational R&D and enable rapid, repeatable space experiments by advancing automation and in-situ sample preparation and complex, high-performing in-situ analysis hardware.

The strategy’s last two objectives are expanding international cooperation and stimulating science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and workforce development.

POC - 2023 Industrial Space Defense Summit

Hear government and industry leaders talk about advancements in space defense technologies and the critical role of public-private partnerships in the country’s defenses across the space domain at the Potomac Officers Club’s 3rd Annual Industrial Space Defense Summit on April 27. Register here for the in-person event at Hilton-McLean in Virginia.

US, EU Antitrust Leaders Hold Joint Technology Competition Policy Dialogue; Lina Khan Quoted
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US, EU Antitrust Leaders Hold Joint Technology Competition Policy Dialogue; Lina Khan Quoted

Officials from the U.S. and the European Union discussed ways to boost global cooperation and promote fair competition in the technology sector during the third Joint Technology Competition Policy Dialogue.

The delegates tackled a range of issues facing the digital sector, including competition concerns due to mergers between major industry players, exploitation of market power, abuse of dominance and monopolization, the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday.

“The Joint Dialogue continues to provide an invaluable forum for the U.S. agencies to engage with the European Commission on challenges in digital markets,” said Lina Khan, chair of FTC.

“Exchanging our experiences and ideas on how best to anticipate and address the fast-moving trends in tech markets is vital for achieving the shared goal of a fair, inclusive and pro-competitive digital transformation, to the benefit of consumers and businesses in both the EU and U.S.,” said Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president of the European Commission.

TCPD was launched in 2021 to strengthen cooperation on antitrust enforcement and policy.

The U.S. and European Union also established a Trade and Technology Council to focus on digital issues, technology and supply chains and work on international standards development.

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New GSA Guidance Shares Secure 5G Procurement Vehicles for Government Agencies
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New GSA Guidance Shares Secure 5G Procurement Vehicles for Government Agencies

The General Services Administration issued guidelines to assist federal agencies in procuring 5G network technology.

The Acquisition Guidance for Procuring 5G Technology was developed by the wireless mobility solutions program of GSA’s Office of Information Technology Category and was designed to share best practices for deploying 5G, the agency announced Thursday.

GSA created the guidance in compliance with the Secure 5G and Beyond Act of 2020 and its corresponding National Strategy to Secure 5G. 

The document is geared toward government agencies’ acquisition teams, IT managers and procurement and contracting officers. The guide also includes possible requirements that need to be met by vendors, manufacturers and IT service providers.

According to GSA, 5G technology can be procured through other transaction authorities, as well as Federal Acquisition Regulation parts 12 and 15, as commercial contracts or non-commercial negotiated purchases. There are also provisions for including Trade Agreements Act clauses when the acquisition includes equipment or supplies.

“5G networks have the potential to be faster, more reliable, and serve many more devices — and could provide infrastructure to help with everything from smart buildings to telemedicine,” said Sonny Hashmi, commissioner of the GSA Federal Acquisition Service. “We’re pleased to be issuing this guidance to ensure that government can make the most of secure 5G in its efforts to deliver for the American people,” the Wash100 awardee added.

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Biden Administration Publishes New Private & Public Sector Commitments to Support EV Acceleration Challenge
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Biden Administration Publishes New Private & Public Sector Commitments to Support EV Acceleration Challenge

The Biden administration unveiled a series of initiatives that will help advance its Electric Vehicle Acceleration Challenge.

The new public and private investments will focus on fleet expansion, commercial and multifamily battery charging, and consumer education, support, tools and resources, the White House announced Thursday.

Large and small businesses and organizations have made commitments to support the administration’s 2030 EV target. Amazon said it has deployed 3,000 out of the 100,000 electric delivery vehicles it pledged to roll out over the next seven years. School bus supplier First Student committed to converting 30,000 of its gas-powered units to electric by 2035.

To support community charging, Prologis vowed to incorporate EV charging capabilities in its eligible real estate properties, and also switch to clean energy-powered vehicles for its maintenance operations. SWTCH pledged to deploy more than 20,000 EV chargers to underserved communities with multi-family buildings by 2024.

A number of organizations have collaborated to disseminate information and promote electrified automobiles to the public. Consumer Reports launched the online Electric Vehicle Savings Finder, which discusses federal, state and local incentives for purchasing EVs. Google said it is working on a new search engine that will primarily yield information on federal guidelines, passenger vehicle tax credits and other critical facts. 

The Electric Vehicle Association teamed up with the Sierra Club, Plug in America, and EVHybridNoire to organize more than 300 networking events this year alone.

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Space ISAC Creates Operational Watch Center to Track Potential Threats to Assets; Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting Quoted
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Space ISAC Creates Operational Watch Center to Track Potential Threats to Assets; Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting Quoted

The Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center inaugurated an operational watch unit to analyze data feeds and imaging for potential vulnerabilities and report them to government and industry partners and members.

Space ISAC’s Operational Watch Center will enable a unified defense of space-based assets with rapid response times, the organization announced Thursday.

The watch center is comprised of 10 analysts and mobilized in collaboration with over 30 government agencies around the world. It will use the Aerospace Corporation’s Space Attack Research & Tactic Analysis platform to enhance the team’s information and communication capabilities.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of Space Operations Command, said the information sharing initiative will help the space enterprise become “smarter, faster and more safe.”

“The vision of Space ISAC is precisely what is needed if we’re going to stay ahead of pacing threats as well as strengthen the cyber resilience of systems in space and supporting the infrastructures on the ground,” he remarked.

Officials from MITRE, Microsoft and Battelle have expressed support for the center.

“As we work to help protect our networks and critical infrastructure across all domains, we’re thrilled to support the Space ISAC in their mission of bringing cyber resilience to the space community,” said Wen Masters, MITRE’s vice president of cyber technologies.

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Alejandro Mayorkas Highlights CISA Initiative Against Transnational Repression During Recent Summit
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Alejandro Mayorkas Highlights CISA Initiative Against Transnational Repression During Recent Summit

Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and a Wash100 awardee, has detailed new U.S. initiatives to fight the misuse of technology.

During a recent summit in Washington, D.C., Mayorkas stated that the U.S. has launched a new approach to address digital authoritarianism and ensure that technology advances human rights and democracy, according to a DHS release published Thursday.

“We are changing our policies, deepening our collaboration with democratic partners to accelerate our efforts and creating new initiatives to protect vulnerable communities here and abroad,” said Mayorkas.

He noted a Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency initiative that seeks to strengthen cybersecurity of U.S. civil society organizations and other communities facing increased risk of transnational repression as a part of the strategy.

In support of CISA’s High Risk Community Protection Initiative, the U.S. and the U.K. will co-host a strategic dialogue to facilitate information sharing on transnational repression-related threats facing high-risk communities, enhance the cybersecurity of civil society organizations and identify collaboration opportunities.

CISA expects the first meeting to occur in the coming months with the participation of the agency’s counterparts from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and the U.K.

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DOE To Invest in Advanced Technologies for Underground Electric Grid Construction; Evelyn Wang Quoted
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DOE To Invest in Advanced Technologies for Underground Electric Grid Construction; Evelyn Wang Quoted

The Department of Energy will invest up to $40 million to finance a new initiative to develop technologies for the construction of underground medium-voltage power distribution grids in urban and suburban communities.

On Thursday, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy said that the funding will support the creation of technologies to automate installation, prevent damage and eliminate errors and underground obstacles.

“We know that by undergrounding our grid, we can create a more resilient and reliable U.S. power grid. But right now, we need to develop the solutions to make the process safer and more cost-effective,” said Evelyn Wang, director of ARPA-E.

Selected teams under the Grid Overhaul with Proactive, High-speed Undergrounding for Reliability, Resilience and Security program will create high-speed construction tools, advanced look-ahead sensors and automated cable splicing systems.

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