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Federal CIO Clare Martorana Shares Top Priorities for 2023
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Federal CIO Clare Martorana Shares Top Priorities for 2023

Clare Martorana, federal chief information officer and a 2022 Wash100 awardee, said increasing collaboration among the information technology community, scaling best practices and removing silos are among her top priorities for 2023 as part of efforts to improve customer experience and advance IT modernization, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

The Office of Management and Budget CIO said her office intends to initiate actions in areas that could support agencies in their procurement and recruitment efforts. She cited as examples a repository of best-in-class contract vehicles, a library of position descriptions and a platform that could make it easier for technologists to find and apply for a job in government.

“We’ll also be doubling down on maximizing the impact we can make with every IT investment, buying down technical debt, improving security and modernizing legacy IT,” Martorana told FNN in an interview.

“By partnering with our agency teams and our budget colleagues, we’ll be able to identify where agencies are on their IT modernization journeys and ensure they’re on a path to enable digital transformation — one that will span from fiscal year to fiscal year and administration to administration,” she added.

When asked about the focus areas she would like to address from a policy perspective in 2023, Martorana cited artificial intelligence, the Federal Risk Authorization Management Program and continued engagement with agencies to identify their needs.

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US Senate Confirms Terrence Edwards as NRO Inspector General
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US Senate Confirms Terrence Edwards as NRO Inspector General

Terrence Edwards, former chief of staff to the principal deputy director of national intelligence, has been appointed and confirmed as the new inspector general of the National Reconnaissance Office.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Edwards’ nomination on Friday, making him the official successor to Susan Gibson, NRO’s inspector general from 2016 to 2022.

Prior to his appointment, Edwards worked at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. He joined the agency as deputy general counsel for management, ensuring that customers complied with U.S. law on acquisitions, human resources and technology issues. He later ascended to the position of chief of staff to Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence and two-time Wash100 Award winner Stacey Dixon.

He also held legal roles in other federal agencies, including the National Security Agency, Communications Electronic Command and Army Sustainment Command.

As inspector general, Edwards will lead NRO’s oversight division, which is responsible for investigating fraud, abuse or other reported violations within the agency.

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Peraton Secures Seat on $1.7B NCI BPA for IT Services; Tarik Reyes Quoted
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Peraton Secures Seat on $1.7B NCI BPA for IT Services; Tarik Reyes Quoted

Peraton has won a spot on a five-year, unrestricted $1.7 billion blanket purchase agreement from the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute.

Under the agreement, Peraton is expected to deliver information technology and professional IT services to the agency’s Center for Biomedical Informatics and Technology, the Reston, Virginia-based organization said Wednesday.

“As a leading mission capability integrator and enterprise IT provider, our team is poised and ready to support the agency,” said Tarik Reyes, president of Peraton’s defense mission and health solutions sector.

Through the BPA, customer value partners and Peraton are responsible for providing DevSecOps, cloud support , IT operations and service desk assistance as well as cybersecurity, engineering and data management capabilities.

Services performed by the company are intended to help progress NCI’s mission of leading, conducting and supporting cancer research to progress scientific understanding and promote longer, healthier lives.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to deliver impactful outcomes to NCI’s critical mission and meet the agency’s requirements,” Reyes remarked.

Alongside its research efforts, work conducted by the institute includes training and information-sharing, which supports improvements in cancer detection, diagnosis and care and contributes to reducing rates of cancer-related deaths and new cancer cases in the U.S.

This award follows Peraton’s multiple contract wins for IT support services this year. Earlier this month, Perspecta Enterprise Solutions, a Peraton subsidiary, booked a $342.7 million Transportation Security Administration contract to operate, maintain and improve the agency’s IT equipment, services and processes.

Perspecta also received a potential 10-year, $2 billion contract from the Defense Health Agency to bolster its military health database by standardizing enterprise-wide IT processes and procedures.

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IARPA Sets Proposers Day for ReSCIND Cyber Program
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IARPA Sets Proposers Day for ReSCIND Cyber Program

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity will hold a proposers day on Feb. 28 to discuss with industry partners a new program aimed at developing new cyber network defenses through cyberpsychology-determined practices.

Reimagining Security with Cyberpsychology-Informed Network Defenses seeks to apply cyberpsychology to defend against cyber threat actors by analyzing their human limitations, such as cognitive weaknesses and inherent decision-making biases, according to a notice posted Friday on SAM.gov.

Through the ReSCIND program, IARPA aims to develop novel methods to identify and model attackers’ human limitations or cognitive biases as well as measure and induce changes in cyber attack behavior and success.

The agency also seeks to provide algorithms for automated adaptation of cyberpsychology-informed defense platforms based on observed attack behavior.

Interested companies have until Feb. 13 to register for the event.

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U.S. Senate Passes Bipartisan Bill to Clear Space of Dangerous Debris; John Hickenlooper Quoted
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U.S. Senate Passes Bipartisan Bill to Clear Space of Dangerous Debris; John Hickenlooper Quoted

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed legislation that would authorize a NASA-run demonstration program to remove dangerous orbital debris from space.

The Orbital Sustainability or ORBITS Act was proposed in September by Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., along with Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; Roger Wicker, R-Miss.; and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo, Hickenlooper’s office said Thursday.

“From satellite communications to rockets carrying humans into deep space, space debris is a massive threat to space operations,” said Hickenlooper, chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Space and Science. “I’m over the moon that our ORBITS Act passed and we can start cleaning up this space junk.”

In 2022 alone, NASA has been ordering the International Space Station to conduct a number of pre-determined debris avoidance maneuvers because of the increasing amount of debris. The most recent PDAM was done on Wednesday.

Under the ORBITS Act, NASA will launch a research and development program in search of technologies that can safely execute active debris remediation missions.

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Jennifer Swanson Offers Update on Army’s Unified Data Reference Architecture Program
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Jennifer Swanson Offers Update on Army’s Unified Data Reference Architecture Program

Jennifer Swanson, deputy assistant secretary for data, engineering and software at the U.S. Army, said the service received 31 industry responses to its request for information on the initial version of its planned unified data reference architecture, Defense News reported Monday.

The RFI opened in late October and closed on Dec. 2.

“Our intent, by the end of this fiscal year, is to have this unified data reference architecture completed and included as a requirement for programs that are going out on the street, meaning you have to plug into this, industry, so tell us how you’re going to do that as part of your proposal,” said Swanson.

“Also, we’ll be looking at how we pivot programs that are already out there to leverage the data mesh,” she added.

Swanson talked about data mesh and the role of data centricity in facilitating the decision-making process.

“So I think data centricity is really about being able to equip users with the data that they need to be able to make the decisions that they need to make, and do the things that they need to do, at a very high level,” she noted.

The Army leader also mentioned the industry’s feedback on the Army’s emerging tech and digital transformation strategy.

2023 DoD: Digital Modernization Forum

GovCon Wire Events will host the 2023 DoD: Digital Modernization Forum on Jan. 12. Click here to register and hear notable industry and government leaders talk about the department’s digital transformation journey in support of its missions.

DTRA Posts Sources Sought Notice for WMD Integrated Advisory, Assistance Support Services
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DTRA Posts Sources Sought Notice for WMD Integrated Advisory, Assistance Support Services

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Strategic Integration Directorate has begun seeking information on companies capable of providing integrated advisory and assistance support services to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. 

A sources sought notice posted Friday on SAM.gov states that DTRA aims to acquire subject matter expertise to enhance the agency’s countering WMD capabilities and aid in the development and execution of CWMD mission goals and strategies.

The selected contractor will provide technical and scientific advice and administrative support to committees, groups, organizations and inter-agency coordination functions focused on combatting and eliminating WMD. 

Contract work will include operations research analysis, strategic planning and policy integration, as well as strategy management and implementation, performance management and measurement analysis and organizational assessment support.

DTRA will additionally require subject matter expertise to conduct and coordinate CWMD studies, special projects and activities.

Responses to the request for information are due Jan. 3. The notice made clear it is not asking for “proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations.”

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GAO: Army, Marine Corps Need Better Guidelines & Tracking to Keep Cyber Personnel
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GAO: Army, Marine Corps Need Better Guidelines & Tracking to Keep Cyber Personnel

A study conducted by the Government Accountability Office found that the U.S. Army and Marine Corps are not getting their return on investment in financing advanced cyber training for military personnel.

In a report published Wednesday, GAO suggested that the two branches may have cyber staffing gaps because they do not have clear guidance on active duty service obligations for personnel who receive Interactive On-Net Operator training.

The U.S. Cyber Command has deemed ION operators as critical roles in the Department of Defense. Because of the length and cost of ION training, the U.S. Navy and Air Force have set an active duty service requirement of three years for officers and enlisted men who receive such education.

The obligation is not the same in the Army and Marine Corps. Army officials admitted that their service requirements are not based on any standard guidance or calculation. The government watchdog also found that apart from the Navy, the three branches do not keep inventory of staffing data by work role, and therefore cannot decide cyber mission assignments based on job designations.

GAO recommended that the branches directly act on these gaps to keep cyber-trained military personnel on staff. The agency called on the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force to lead the establishment of clear service obligation guidelines for ION education and tailor an inventory of IT personnel according to CYBERCOM work roles.

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DOD’s John Plumb Stresses Importance of Establishing Norms in Space
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DOD’s John Plumb Stresses Importance of Establishing Norms in Space

As numerous entities make efforts to move into space, common practices must be established to ensure the safety of the domain for those who wish to operate there, according to John Plumb, assistant secretary of defense for space policy.

Following the approval of a United Nations resolution urging nations to refrain from conducting destructive direct-ascent antisatellite missile tests, Plumb emphasized the importance of a cooperative commitment to building necessary norms in the space arena, the Department of Defense reported earlier this month.

“I think the more we can develop norms that make sense for protection of a safe, secure, stable space environment, the better it is for all spacefaring nations. It lowers the risk of miscalculation and potential escalation, accidental escalation,” Plumb stressed.

Only nine nations voted against the resolution, including China and Russia. Plumb said that this does not necessarily mean these countries will completely reject its guidelines and that norms can take hold without a vote.

Established norms serve not only to prevent collisions, but to provide a guide for determining if another body is hostile, said Plumb.

While the land, sea and air domains have built up these necessary norms over time, the space environment has not been occupied long enough to allow standards to develop. 

A major issue the federal government and its partners have encountered while venturing into the space environment is the over classification of information. This makes it harder for federal agencies, international allies and private sector organizations to share information, according to Plumb.

“I think there’s clearly industry ramifications. Especially companies that might have to build entire architectures of classified information handling that can’t talk to other parts of their company,” he said.

“We have to solve these problems so we can have our industrial base be able to move faster,” urged Plumb.

Plumb’s office is currently collaborating with the intelligence community to diminish some of the classification issues to enable better information sharing with operational partners. He said that the department has made the overclassification problem a top priority. 

“When I talk about that DOD/intelligence community cooperation, this is one of those things that is … it’s the right time, it’s the right place, it’s the right window of opportunity to fix it,” Plumb reiterated.

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Executive Order to Implement 4.6% Average Pay Raise for Federal Employees
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Executive Order to Implement 4.6% Average Pay Raise for Federal Employees

President Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order to provide federal civilian personnel an average salary increase of 4.6 percent in January, Government Executive reported.

The figure includes an average 0.5 percent rise in locality pay and an across-the-board increase of 4.1 percent to basic pay.

The raise will take effect during the first pay period in January and is the largest salary increase for federal employees since 2002. In 2022, federal personnel received an average 2.7 percent pay raise.

According to the EO, the head of the Office of Personnel Management should initiate actions to implement the salary adjustments and publish a notice in the Federal Register regarding the move.

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