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CBO Reports Federal Deficit of $1.4T in FY 2022
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CBO Reports Federal Deficit of $1.4T in FY 2022

A Congressional Budget Office infographic shows that the federal budget deficit in fiscal year 2022 reached $1.4 trillion, which is equivalent to 5.5 percent of gross domestic product.

CBO said in another infographic published March 28 the federal government’s mandatory outlays totaled $4.1 trillion in FY 2022 with Social Security and Medicare programs accounting for nearly 50 percent of the figure.

According to the agency, mandatory outlays represented 16.5 percent of GDP.

Discretionary spending in the previous fiscal year amounted to $1.7 trillion and the government recorded higher nondefense outlays at $910 billion in FY 2022 driven by spending on programs meant to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

The federal government received $4.9 trillion in FY 2022 revenues and receipts from individual income taxes hit $2.6 trillion, which represented more than half of the total revenues recorded in the previous fiscal year.

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Tiffany Hixson: GSA Weeks Away From Issuing Final RFP for OASIS+
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Tiffany Hixson: GSA Weeks Away From Issuing Final RFP for OASIS+

Tiffany Hixson, assistant commissioner of the office of professional services and human capital categories at the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service, said GSA is set to release in the next few weeks the final request for proposals for a multiple-award contract that will replace the One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services contract vehicle, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

Hixson told FNN in an interview the final solicitation for OASIS+ will reflect GSA’s two years of work on the vehicle, including efforts to integrate industry comments and feedback into the RFP.

“Given the amount of feedback that we got, it took us most of January and February to process that and so then we issued a second draft RFP on March 6. And the intent of that draft really was to say, ‘this is what we heard, here are the things that changed, here’s why we changed them based on feedback that we had received from an industry,’” Hixson said.

She noted that approximately 2,700 attendees joined an industry day on March 15, which she said provided GSA an opportunity to inform vendors of some of the details of the second draft RFP.

“We’re still getting feedback from industry on that second draft and we are crossing our T’s dotting our I’s, getting these last minute changes into the final RFP so we can get ready to release it,” she added.

Industry feedback helped drive changes to the upcoming final RFP and Hixson discussed some of those changes, including modifications to the evaluation of contractors, changes to the North American Industry Classification System codes structures and supply chain risk management requirements.

2023 GSA Forum

Join thought leaders as they talk about tech priorities, supply chain initiatives and acquisition reform efforts at GovCon Wire’s 2023 GSA Forum on May 23. Register here.

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GSA Posts RFP for U.S. Army Europe Cyber Workforce Training Program
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GSA Posts RFP for U.S. Army Europe Cyber Workforce Training Program

The General Services Administration is seeking small businesses that can provide cybersecurity and information technology training to the U.S. Army Europe and Africa Command and its areas of responsibility.

GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service on Friday issued a request for proposal to enhance the skills and capabilities of USAREUR’s cyber workforce.

The USAREUR Information Technology Training Program is divided into two training areas for career development and industry standard certification. GSA intends to award a hybrid contract consisting of firm-fixed-price and time-and-materials/cost reimbursement provisions. 

The chosen vendor would be given a 12-month base period of performance beginning Aug. 10, as well as four options with a period of 12 months each. Work will be performed outside the continental U.S.

Interested companies may submit their RFP responses until May 1.

CISA’s National Supply Chain Integrity Month to Emphasize Resilience Through Risk Management
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CISA’s National Supply Chain Integrity Month to Emphasize Resilience Through Risk Management

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is focusing on risk management and resilience for this year’s National Supply Chain Integrity Month.

The April appreciation is calling for stakeholders and partners to implement comprehensive supply chain risk management approaches to fortify the overall security posture of the industry, CISA said Monday.

CISA established the National Supply Chain Integrity Month in 2018 in collaboration with industry and government partners, which include the Department of Defense, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence National Counterintelligence and Security Center and the Office of the National Cyber Director.

CISA has issued various guide materials to align with its weekly themes, such as SCRM cybersecurity and other essentials, and SC resilience in information and communication technology for small and medium-sized businesses. Other themes include vendor/supplier trustworthiness and SCRM threat scenarios.

“As organizations introduce technology into their operations, they must take a comprehensive approach in their strategy for supply chain resilience, which includes being smart about their procurement process, knowing who makes up their extended supply chains, and applying basic cyber hygiene,” said Mona Harrington, CISA assistant director for the National Risk Management Center. “Government and industry must work together to shift from a reactive to a proactive approach for supply chain risk management.”

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OSTP Releases Action Plan for Improving NEO Impact Preparedness
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OSTP Releases Action Plan for Improving NEO Impact Preparedness

The Office of Science and Technology Policy has unveiled a national strategy and action plan to prepare for the impact of hazardous near-Earth objects, such as asteroids and comets, that could come close to the Earth’s orbit.

The National Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan for Near-Earth Object Hazards and Planetary Defense outlines six key objectives, including enhancing NEO detection, characterization, modeling and prediction capabilities and developing technologies for reconnaissance and deflection missions, the White House said Monday.

Developed by the Planetary Defense Interagency Working Group, the action plan also seeks to increase U.S. preparedness to address NEO impacts by increasing international cooperation, exercising emergency procedures and action protocols and enhancing interagency collaboration to improve planetary defense management.

To support each goal, the working group has developed a set of strategic actions, including desired timelines for completion to aid concerned government agencies.

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INSA Publishes Recommendations for Government-Industry Collaboration on Cyber Defense
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INSA Publishes Recommendations for Government-Industry Collaboration on Cyber Defense

The Intelligence and National Security Alliance has published a paper highlighting the importance of the private sector in strengthening cybersecurity in U.S. government operations.

Public-private collaboration, such as what has been demonstrated in the support of Ukraine during the Russian invasion, can improve the cyber resilience of U.S. critical infrastructure, INSA said Tuesday.

The paper, entitled “Industry Contributions to U.S. Government Offensive Cyber Operations,” suggested that commercial entities’ experience from online attacks have enabled them to gain technical background to preempt or prevent security threats.

In order to effectively leverage private-public IT defense cooperation, INSA’s Cyber Council recommended the creation of a Cyber National Guard for state, local and federal deployment. It also called for the establishment of a Corporate Cyber Reserve, which will leverage private IT defense capabilities to support government institutions.

Other possible approaches include forming a private sector advisory committee under the U.S. Cyber Command, or a whole-of-nation alliance to gain input from the tech and commercial industries, as well as the academic and scientific communities.

The Potomac Officers Club will tackle cybersecurity at its annual summit on June 8. To register for the 2023 POC Cyber Summit, click on the image below.

POC - 2023 Cyber Summit
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AFRL, Northrop Flight Test Terahertz Band Frequencies for Aircraft Communications
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AFRL, Northrop Flight Test Terahertz Band Frequencies for Aircraft Communications

The Air Force Research Laboratory has partnered with Northrop Grumman and Calspan Flight Research to test the ability of aircraft to communicate at radio frequencies above 300 gigahertz.

AFRL said Monday the team conducted flight experiments as part of the Terahertz Communications program to prove the viability of using THz band frequencies to address future aircraft communications requirements.

During the event, AFRL’s Information Directorate researchers measured propagation loss between two aircraft to determine if frequency intensity was reduced at different altitudes and ranges.

Northrop supported the three-day experiment through its Terahertz Electronics program, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-backed initiative to develop critical device and integration technologies necessary to produce electronic circuits operating at various frequencies.

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Col. Jennifer Krolikowski on Leveraging Data, Addressing IT Talent Gap Within SSC
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Col. Jennifer Krolikowski on Leveraging Data, Addressing IT Talent Gap Within SSC

Col. Jennifer Krolikowski, chief information officer of U.S. Space Systems Command, said transforming the information technology organization within SSC means establishing data fabric as part of efforts to leverage data and facilitating the decision-making process.

“I’m all about the data: How you work to automate it, accelerate it, and exploit it is exciting to me. Turning data into knowledge to make better decisions is the whole purpose of collecting it,” Krolikowski said in an interview with Deloitte published Friday in The Wall Street Journal.

She talked about the CIO office’s efforts to address tech talent challenges, such as reskilling and focusing on knowledge management.

“I’m still working to fill talent gaps and am pulling in more contract support—I love leveraging talent in industry to push IT forward,” she noted.

When asked about the budget, she said the command created a non-tax-based funding line for fiscal year 2024 to help broaden the IT organization’s capabilities.

Krolikowski also explained that her organization prefers “buy” to the “build” approach so as to accelerate the adoption of tech capabilities.

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DIU’s Cherissa Tamayori Says DOD Should Introduce Reforms to 3 Parts of Defense Acquisition System
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DIU’s Cherissa Tamayori Says DOD Should Introduce Reforms to 3 Parts of Defense Acquisition System

Cherissa Tamayori, director of acquisition at the Defense Innovation Unit, said the Department of Defense must adopt commercial technology systems and culture and make changes to the requirements, budgeting and acquisition aspects of the defense acquisition system to become a “fast follower” as prescribed by the 2022 National Defense Strategy.

Tamayori wrote in an opinion piece published in the April edition of the Contract Management Magazine that DOD should simplify the procurement process and implement commercial best practices by using flexible acquisition authorities.

“This includes the use of the other transaction (OT) authority through commercial solutions openings (CSO), which maximizes competition while minimizing the opportunity costs of participating vendors,” she noted.

Tamayori said the department should replace the requirements process with a “more rapid validation of needs” for dual-use technologies and enable a flexible budgeting process for commercial platforms.

She also called on DOD contracting professionals to understand industry partners by putting themselves in the shoes of commercial stakeholders as well as enhance market research and conduct outreach efforts.

“The DoD needs to proactively build bridges with the private sector to make sure companies are aware of the potential that exists in the federal marketplace and can find opportunities with ease. This is key to ensuring that we are reaching nontraditional defense companies,” Tamayori added.

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Oliver Wise: FY23 Action Plan Covers 3 ‘Plays’ to Accelerate Value From Commerce Department’s Data
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Oliver Wise: FY23 Action Plan Covers 3 ‘Plays’ to Accelerate Value From Commerce Department’s Data

Oliver Wise, chief data officer at the Department of Commerce, said the Commerce Data Governance Board and the office of the CDO devised a fiscal year 2023 action plan, which comes with three “plays” to scale value from the department’s data.

Wise wrote in a blog post published Monday that one of those plays is transitioning from a siloed to a “more coordinated approach to data management.”

He said the department is advancing that course of action through its strategic acquisition of commercial data with the aid of the commercial data working group.

“Second, we need move from a data ecosystem that is bespoke to narrow use cases, and instead standardized for interoperability and reuse,” he noted.

Wise said the third step is moving from manual to automated data processing and analysis.

He stated that the department is using cloud computing to automate data sharing functions to advance evidence-based decision-making.

Wise went on to note that the department is working to address several questions with regard to data, such as establishing an integrated data ecosystem that offers proactive intelligence on near-term supply shocks and maximizing the potential of artificial intelligence to democratize insights from public data.

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