The General Services Administration is working with the Department of Defense in an effort to simplify the process for federal agencies to buy environment-friendly products.

Erv Koehler, assistant commissioner of the GSA Office of General Supplies and Services, wrote in a blog post published Thursday that DOD’s Sustainable Technology Evaluation and Demonstration program STED endorses manufacturers of sustainable offerings to military installations so that their innovations may be tested for performance and market demand.

The evaluation results are sent by STED to acquisition professionals at the GSA who will determine the companies’ eligibility for the Multiple Award Schedule program. The innovators may also be given a national stock number to expedite future orders, Koehler noted.

He added that the program has led to the discovery and fast-track introduction of nature-friendly commodities to the federal marketplace.

David Asiello, a director in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy Installations and Environment, oversees STED.

The General Services Administration is planning to give the departments of Homeland Security and Justice a two-year extension to complete their transitions to the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract vehicle.

Laura Stanton, the assistant commissioner for the Federal Acquisition Service’s Office of Information Technology Category, said in a blog post published Friday that DHS and DOJ will have until May 31, 2026 to finalize their EIS transition plans.

Stanton said that both agencies have requested the extensions, citing multiple factors including disruptions in the global supply chain and challenges brought by the pandemic.

GSA has agreed to create the extensions to help the departments carry out their plans without disrupting the delivery of critical services.

The agency expects there are more than 60 contracts that will need extensions after the May 31, 2024 deadline. 

“GSA will execute modifications to extend each contract. The justification for these modifications will detail the current status, the delays and obstacles agencies have faced in their transitions, and the timeline in which they expect to have their transitions completed,” Stanton said.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has published draft guidelines to inform the development of secure, privacy-protective digital identity platforms to help combat fraud and cybercrime.

Laurie Locascio, director of NIST and undersecretary of commerce for standards and technology, said in a statement published Friday that the agency is seeking industry input on the potential impacts of the technologies on members of marginalized groups and underserved communities.

The fourth revision to the four-volume Special Publication 800-63 Digital Identity Guidelines document suite covers technical requirements for identity proofing and authentication of real-life people, such as government contractor employees.

It also includes privacy requirements and outlines recommendations for enhancing equity and usability of digital identity platforms and associated equipment and processes.

“This draft update reinforces that NIST’s guidelines have always allowed for alternatives to facial recognition as well as appropriate and fair use of facial recognition technologies and that NIST will be more fully defining these alternatives in the final guidelines,” said Jason Miller, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget.

Responses to the draft publication are due March 24, 2023.

The U.S. Department of Defense has provided an update on the work of the newly established All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office to collect and examine reports of “unidentified anomalous phenomena” that might threaten military and national security operations.

Sean Kirkpatrick, the director of AARO, said the office has developed and employed an analytic framework to analyze both old and new reports of unidentified objects and is working to expand UAP reporting across the land, sea, air and space domains, DOD reported Saturday.

“We have an important and yet challenging mission to lead an interagency effort to document, collect, analyze and when possible, resolve reports of any unidentified anomalous phenomena,” Kirkpatrick said.

He noted that the newly reorganized office is collaborating with both the defense sector and the intelligence community to prevent the misreporting of government activities as UAP.

“We are setting up very clear mechanisms with our ‘blue’ programs, both our DOD and IC programs, to deconflict any observations that come in with ‘blue’ activity to ensure that we weed those out and we can identify those fairly early on,” Kirkpatrick explained.