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DHS Releases 7 Small Business Innovation Research Program Topics; Dusty Lang Quoted
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DHS Releases 7 Small Business Innovation Research Program Topics; Dusty Lang Quoted

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a presolicitation notice inviting small enterprises to submit questions on seven topic requirements for the fiscal year 2023 Small Business Innovation Research program.

DHS said Friday six of the seven topics deal with science and technology and the remaining topic focuses on countering weapons of mass destruction.

The six S&T topics are accurate and real-time hardware-assisted detection of cyber attacks; air cargo manifest analysis to aid screeners; first responder credentialing; machine learning based integration of alarm resolution sensors; mission critical services server-to-server communication, voice communications, 3GPP-standards; and reduced order modeling of critical infrastructure protect surfaces.

The CWMD topic focuses on theoretical classification methodologies to enable detection with predicted signatures.

“The SBIR program provides an opportunity for small businesses, including those that have never partnered with us before, to engage with DHS and make a real-world impact by addressing some of our most pressing homeland security challenges,” said Dusty Lang, director of DHS SBIR.

DHS will host a webinar on Dec. 13 to discuss the upcoming solicitation with interested offerors.

Technical questions should be submitted through Dec. 15.

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Department the Air Force Preps for AFWERX 3.0 Transition
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Department the Air Force Preps for AFWERX 3.0 Transition

AFWERX, the Department of the Air Force’s innovation arm, is set to release a series of efforts representing its updated priorities aimed at expanding technology, workforce and capabilities across the U.S. Air Force and Space Force. 

Col. Elliott Leigh, the incoming commander of AFWERX, said the unit’s new approach will support innovation within DAF and industry commercialization by building on the foundation set by the current AFWERX team, the Air Force Research Laboratory reported Friday. 

The AFWERX 3.0 evolution will focus on five specific lines of effort: increase funding opportunities aligned with DAF operational imperatives; bridge the “valley of death” in innovation; expand existing tools through AFWERX AFVentures, AFWERX Spark and AFWERX Prime; widen industry’s access to classified work with DAF; and enhance the data architecture for process improvement. 

“It has been incredible to see so many Airman and Guardian innovation experiments evolve into institutionalized programs that are not only adding amazing new capabilities to the force, but maybe more importantly, they are creating more agile structures for how we accelerate the development of the future force,” said Col. Nathan Diller, the outgoing AFWERX director. 

Diller and Leigh will provide further details on the AFWERX 3.0 approach at an event scheduled for Dec. 14.

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Report: Biden Admin Working on EO Prohibiting Spyware Operational Use
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Report: Biden Admin Working on EO Prohibiting Spyware Operational Use

Top legislative affairs officials from the Departments of Commerce and State have revealed in a letter to Reps. Jim Himes, D-Conn., and Jackie Speier, D-Calif., that the Biden administration is planning to issue an executive order to prohibit the U.S. government from using spyware that poses counterintelligence and security risks, CyberScoop reported Friday. 

Susie Feliz, assistant secretary of commerce for legislative and intergovernmental affairs, and Naz Durakoglu, assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, sent the letter in response to a September request from a bipartisan group of lawmakers to address threats posed by foreign commercial cyber surveillance technologies.

According to the officials, several regulatory and diplomatic measures have been implemented to counter spyware threats. Among them are the inclusion of foreign companies on the Department of Commerce’s Entity List and the launch of the Export Controls and Human Rights Initiative.

Two of the designated companies are NSO Group and Candiru, which were added to the list in November 2021 for developing and supplying spyware to foreign governments.

The State Department is also working with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on the implementation of a 2022 National Defense Authorization Act measure that “involves the identification of contractors that have knowingly assisted or facilitated certain cyberattacks or conducted surveillance activities on behalf of relevant foreign governments against the United States or for the purposes of suppressing dissent or intimidating critics.”

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DOE Opens $13B in Funding Opportunities for Grid Resilience, Transmission Projects
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DOE Opens $13B in Funding Opportunities for Grid Resilience, Transmission Projects

The Department of Energy is awarding $13 billion in grants for projects that will support the Grid Resilience Innovative Partnership and Transmission Facilitation programs.

Part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the funding opportunities are are open to states, tribes and utilities, DOE announced Friday.

The GRIP program includes projects to increase capacity and create new technologies to improve the transmission of electricity. It accounts for $3.8 billion of the new funding round, dedicated for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.

Through the Transmission Facilitation Program, the Energy Department is authorized to borrow up to $2.5 billion to help fund initiatives focused on the construction of sustainable and high-capacity transmission lines. The initial round of solicitation is slated to enable DOE to offer capacity contracts and own 50 percent of a transmission line’s generated power in order to minimize the risk of under-sizing or under-building such projects.

“We are moving swiftly to deliver cleaner, cheaper energy to every American community by building a modern and reliable electric grid,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said.

DOE will provide additional information on the two programs through a public webinar on Nov. 29 and 30. Concept papers for GRIP are expected to be submitted by Jan. 13, while proposals for the Transmission Facilitation Program are due by Feb. 1, 2023. 

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Former NASA Talent Director Elizabeth Kolmstetter Becomes CISA’s 1st Chief People Officer
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Former NASA Talent Director Elizabeth Kolmstetter Becomes CISA’s 1st Chief People Officer

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has chosen former NASA executive Elizabeth Kolmstetter as its first-ever chief people officer.

The brand new position was established to help CISA’s executive leadership team coordinate with the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer and the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility, CISA Director Jen Easterly announced Thursday.

Kolmstetter brings 29 years of public service experience to her new role. She is a 13-year member of the U.S. Senior Executive Service, having worked in leadership positions at the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as well as the Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Labor’s National Skill Standards Board.

Her most recent post was director of talent strategy and engagement at NASA’s Human Capital Office, wherein Kolmstetter led the creation of programs for people analytics, employee engagement and culture, and workforce strategy and planning. During her tenure, the space agency was deemed the Best Place to Work in Government among large federal agencies for ten consecutive years.

“[Kolmstetter’s] extensive experience in innovating talent management programs that support employee engagement, development, and collaboration make her an ideal executive to lead our important work to build an enduring ‘People First’ culture at CISA,” Easterly commented.

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NSA, CISA Disclose Customer Supply Chain Guidance
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NSA, CISA Disclose Customer Supply Chain Guidance

The National Security Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the Department of Homeland Security have unveiled supply chain best practices for customers. 

The document, titled “Securing the Software Supply Chain: Recommended Practices for Customers,” aims to foster communication between software developers, suppliers, customers and cybersecurity professionals that may facilitate streamlining the software supply chain process, NSA said Thursday. 

NSA said customers should examine threats by conducting supply chain risk management activities and define risk profiles during the security requirements process.

Enduring Security Framework is a public-private partnership that issues suggestions for securing the U.S. critical infrastructure and improving national security. The NSA and CISA guidelines were developed via collaboration with ESF.

The framework is the last segment of ESF’s three-part joint publication series. The partnership released a version of the guidance for software developers in September and will debut an edition for software customers in the future.

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BAE Systems Partners with Purisolve to Launch Promoveo Solutions; Al Whitmore Quoted
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BAE Systems Partners with Purisolve to Launch Promoveo Solutions; Al Whitmore Quoted

BAE Systems, a defense, aerospace and security organization has joined forces with Purisolve, an information technology service provider and historically under-utilized business zones-certified small business, to form Promoveo Solutions.

The joint venture was brought about as a result of a U.S. Small Business Administration-approved mentoring arrangement between BAE Systems and Purisolve, the organizations announced from Atlanta, Georgia on Monday.

“Promoveo means to move forward. As the name suggests, with our experience as a leading systems integrator and Purisolve’s expertise in strategic IT support, this JV is poised to provide forward-thinking IT services to the federal government,” commented Al Whitmore, BAE Systems’ Intelligence & Security sector president and a five-time Wash100 Award winner. 

Promoveo’s first initiative will be competing to aid the Department of Treasury utilizing Purisolve’s long-standing relationship with the agency and BAE’s federal contracting experience. The new organization will be based in Atlanta, Georgia and will provide government agencies with an opportunity to meet their small business contracting objectives.

“We are excited about working with BAE Systems and enjoying many years of shared success,” said Purisolve owner and President Wallace Jones.

Promoveo’s collaborative launch with Purisolve follows BAE’s entry into multiple partnerships within the past few years. In August 2021, the enterprise partnered with Sarcos Robotics to develop sensors to enable collaboration between autonomous platforms for the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Earlier that year, BAE worked with Spirent Communications’ federal sector to Spirent’s CRPA Test System in support of the development M-code and additional positioning, navigation and timing applications as ordered by a Defense Logistics Agency contract.

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OSTP Unveils National Cislunar Science & Technology Strategy
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OSTP Unveils National Cislunar Science & Technology Strategy

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has issued a new strategy outlining S&T objectives to help ensure U.S. leadership in cislunar space and support sustainable and responsible use and exploration of the region.

The National Cislunar Science and Technology Strategy comes with four objectives and the first one is the need to support research and development to enable long-term growth in cislunar space, OSTP said Thursday.

Under this objective, OSTP recommends several actions to carry out, such as developing and demonstrating emerging technologies and capabilities that enable an enduring human presence in cislunar space and establishing programs to train and retain diverse future generations of the space workforce.

The other three objectives of the strategy are expanding international S&T cooperation in cislunar space; extending U.S. space situational awareness capabilities into cislunar space; and implementing cislunar communications and positioning, navigation and timing capabilities with scalable and interoperable approaches.

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IT Industry Council Suggests Limiting Scope of CISA’s Cyber Incident Reporting Policy
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IT Industry Council Suggests Limiting Scope of CISA’s Cyber Incident Reporting Policy

The Information Technology Industry Council has published recommendations to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s rulemaking process for the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022.

In response to CISA’s request for information, ITI urged the security agency to examine the domestic and international incident reporting landscape in order to align with federal agencies and non-U.S. alliances.

CIRCIA was signed into law in March to require “covered entities” to alert CISA of data breaches and ransomware payments so that it can immediately respond, analyze the report and share information to warn other potential targets.

Within the scope of “covered entities,” the council suggested that CISA only include multinational companies’ U.S. subsidiaries, as well as products and services that are considered critical infrastructure. Third-party manufacturers of consumer products should be excluded, according to the recommendations.

“Covered cyber incident” should be limited to severe and significant attacks resulting in actual loss or disruption of U.S.-based networks, ITI said. The definition should concentrate on an incident’s cybersecurity consequences or impacts on frequently used platforms or cross-sector dependencies, the council commented.

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DHS Works on ECLIPS Cloud Services Procurement Program
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DHS Works on ECLIPS Cloud Services Procurement Program

Beth Cappello, deputy chief information officer of the Department of Homeland Security, said DHS is working on a new contract vehicle that will enable its component agencies to procure cloud capabilities, FCW reported Thursday.

Cappello issued the Enterprise CLoud Infrastructure Provider Suite program will provide the 22 DHS components with a streamlined process for ordering cloud infrastructure services.

DHS plans to award up to eight cloud service providers or resellers spots on the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, which will have a five-year base period of performance along with both a three-year and two-year option.

ECLIPS will include infrastructure as a service, software as a service and platform as a service. It will also cover other services such as cloud migration and key management as well as data encryption and multi-cloud environment management. 

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