Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo said the service plans to launch several initiatives that seek to incorporate into its systems technologies developed by small businesses and one of these is Project Vista, which intends to help small companies get through the “valley of death,” Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

“We felt that the Army needed to do something in addition to help bridge that valley of death, because often, we’ve talked about it only in the context of direct contract awards to small business,” Camarillo told FNN in an interview.

“But that neglects the fact that many of the opportunities available to small businesses are to team with integrators that can marshal together the innovation and the technology that our small businesses provide into a capability that can be used by our warfighter,” he added.

With Project Vista, the Army plans to give higher technical ratings to offerors whose proposals include technologies from companies that have been funded through Small Business Innovative Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs as part of the source selection process.

Camarillo also discussed the service’s plans to launch the Catalyst program, which will offer direct investment to tech platforms that have “fallen through the cracks” and establish an “IP cell” of experts that will advise procurement officials on how to structure intellectual property agreements with industry.

The State Department has announced a new initiative between the U.S. and the U.K. governments to strengthen cooperation on data transfer and technology development.

Ned Price, spokesperson for the State Department, said in a statement published Friday that the U.S.-U.K. Comprehensive Dialogue on Technology and Data initiative builds on a commitment made in 2021 to establish a landmark bilateral Technology Partnership.

Price said the meeting of senior-level representatives from the U.S. and U.K. in 2023 will focus on three key areas, which are data, critical and emerging technologies and secure and resilient digital infrastructure.

Officials from the departments of State and Commerce and the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport will attend the annual dialogue session.

Price said the U.S.-U.K. Technology Partnership has pave the way for the governments to expand their collaboration on shared priorities including the development of privacy-enhancing technologies, responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence and the diversification of the telecommunication supply chain.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has partnered with the General Services Administration to procure 140 solar-powered electric vehicle charging stations at 34 locations across the U.S.

GSA said Friday each station will be equipped with four charging ports that will power the zero-emission vehicles operated by the VA and will be procured through the Multiple Award Schedule contract vehicle.

The charging stations will be installed at medical centers and other locations nationwide as part of the transition of the federal fleet to zero-emission electric vehicles.

“VA’s fleet of vehicles help us serve Veterans, and these solar-powered charging units are a great first step in making that fleet more sustainable,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough.

GSA offers a variety of solar electric vehicle supply equipment to government agencies preparing for the electrification of the federal fleet.

“President Biden’s Federal Sustainability Plan requires all light duty vehicle acquisitions be electric by 2027, and GSA and VA actions today keep us on a solid path to meet that goal,” said Andrew Mayock, federal chief sustainability officer.

The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy has released a national strategy outlining a vision to establish U.S. leadership in advanced manufacturing by creating more job opportunities, strengthening supply chains and developing innovative technologies.

The National Strategy for Advanced Manufacturing identifies three key goals and 11 strategic objectives to revitalize the U.S. manufacturing sector and address global competition, the Department of Commerce said Friday.

The strategy also outlines 37 national technical and program priorities and recommendations for the next four years.

Specifically, the strategy seeks to spur advanced manufacturing technology development and implementation, create high-paying jobs to grow the U.S. advanced manufacturing workforce and build resilience into manufacturing supply chains.

The release of the strategy follows the recent passage of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which seeks to provide incentives for semiconductor research, development and production efforts.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said the service needs to do six fundamental things to transform into the Army of 2030 and the first two are seeing and sensing more at every echelon than adversaries and concentrating “highly lethal, low signature combat forces rapidly from dispersed locations to overwhelm adversaries.”

Wormuth noted that the Army should deliver as part of the Joint Force precise, longer-range fires against deep targets, protect troops from missile, drone and air attacks and rapidly share data and communicate with other services and coalition partners.

“And sixth, we’ve got to sustain the fight across contested terrain for both short, sharp operations as well as for protracted conflict,” she said Monday during the opening ceremony for the 2022 AUSA meeting.

Wormuth stated that the Army will use advances in data analytics to speed up the decision-making process and closely work with industry to build technological capabilities to realize the Army of 2030 vision.

“With systems like ARES, ARTEMIS, TITAN, and Air Launched Effects we are developing a network of manned and unmanned sensors that will enable us to sense more, farther, and more persistently than our enemies,” she said.

Wormuth mentioned that the service is advancing platforms like the Mobile Protective Firepower and Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle to improve the survivability of maneuver forces and is pursuing the development of long-range hypersonic weapon, Extended Range Cannon Artillery and Precision Strike Missile to enable the Army to increase the range of fires and avoid conventional air defense systems.

She offered updates on the Army’s efforts to modernize its air defense capabilities and strengthen its capability to deliver logistics and sustainment support to the Joint Force in the Indo-Pacific as well as the service’s progress across its six modernization priorities.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will work with Battelle, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and San Diego State University on a three-phase research project to explore bioengineering methods for separating and purifying rare earth elements.

The goal of the four-year Environmental Microbes as a BioEngineering Resource program is to conserve the supply of REEs, which are critical components of defense weapons, devices and systems, DARPA said Thursday.

Research teams will explore bioengineering, biomining and other biotechnology approaches to enhance the selectivity and specificity of biomolecules and microbes.

“The selected projects each offer a different approach to developing new, safe biomining and bioprocessing methods for REEs that will enhance the use of complex, domestic sources. If successful, EMBER researchers will be able to not just purify REEs but also recover other critical metals, including those in recycled electronics,” said Linda Chrisey, a DARPA program manager.

Her remarks are in reference to DARPA’s Recycling at the Point of Disposal program, which is looking into end-of-life electronics hardware and other e-waste in search of potential low-volume fraction critical elements.

The agency also teamed up with the U.S. Geological Survey on a competitive effort that will use machine learning and artificial intelligence to expedite the assessment of critical mineral resources found in the country.