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BCG Exec Danny Werfel Nominated as IRS Commissioner
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BCG Exec Danny Werfel Nominated as IRS Commissioner

President Joe Biden has nominated Danny Werfel, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group, to lead the Internal Revenue Service as commissioner.

Werfel previously served as acting IRS commissioner and controller at the Office of Management and Budget during the Obama administration, the White House said Thursday.

His over 15 years of service in the government included time with the Bush administration. He helped implement the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

Werfel has been with BCG since 2014 and helped launch the firm’s U.S. public sector practice.

If confirmed, he will succeed IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, whose term is set to expire on Nov. 12 after assuming the role in 2018.

In his final statement as head of IRS, Rettig cited some of the efforts the agency has taken during his term, including the expansion of digital services as part of the agency’s information technology modernization strategy.

Biden Administration Proposes Climate Change Reporting Requirement for Federal Contractors
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Biden Administration Proposes Climate Change Reporting Requirement for Federal Contractors

The Biden administration is proposing a rule that would require government contractors to publish their greenhouse gas emissions and reduction goals as well as financial risks from climate change.

The Federal Supplier Climate Risks and Resilience Rule was drafted in an aim to address and mitigate climate risks while fortifying federal supply chains, the White House said Thursday.

Under the draft policy, companies that are awarded more than $50 million in contracts per year would be required to report scope 1 or direct GHG emissions, scope 2 or indirect emissions, and relevant areas of scope 3, which are emissions resulting from activities not controlled or owned by the contractors. Federal suppliers that receive less than $7.5 million in annual contracts would be excluded from the mandate.

Existing third-party standards and systems such as the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures Recommendations and the Science Based Targets Initiative criteria will be employed in the public disclosures.

The Federal Acquisition Regulation would also be amended to accommodate the new rule.

President Joe Biden mentioned the proposed policy at the 27th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in Egypt. 

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NOAA JPSS-2 Satellite, NASA’s LOFTID Heat Shield Tech Demo Launch Aboard ULA’s Atlas V
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NOAA JPSS-2 Satellite, NASA’s LOFTID Heat Shield Tech Demo Launch Aboard ULA’s Atlas V

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration polar-orbiting weather satellite and a demonstration of NASA’s heat shield technology took off Thursday aboard a United Launch Alliance-built Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System 2 will be called NOAA-21 once it reaches its final orbit and will join the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership and NOAA-20 satellites in providing forecasters data to help track climate change and predict extreme weather events as they move around the globe 14 times each day, NASA said Thursday.

According to the space agency, JPSS-2 will begin gathering data a month after liftoff.

After the deployment of the JPSS-2 satellite, NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, also known as LOFTID, autonomously inflated and splashed down off the coast of Hawaii after its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere just over two hours after liftoff.

The space agency said the inflatable LOFTID heat shield, also known as aeroshell, could someday help land payloads on Mars and other planets and return samples and other components to Earth.

A team of researchers will evaluate data from the LOFTID tech demo to assess the performance of the heat shield.

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NSA Recommends Use of Memory-Safety Languages in Software Development
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NSA Recommends Use of Memory-Safety Languages in Software Development

In newly issued guidance, the National Security Agency has recommended that software developers and operators use memory-safe languages and code-hardening techniques to protect computer systems from cyberattacks.

NSA said Thursday that the use of memory-safe languages can help address memory-related issues that cyberthreat actors can exploit to access sensitive information, execute unauthorized codes and cause other deleterious effects on the system.

The agency noted that poor memory management can also result in the potential degradation of software performance, random program crashes and incorrect program results.

“We have to consistently use memory-safe languages and other protections when developing software to eliminate these weaknesses from malicious cyber actors,” said Neal Ziring, cybersecurity technical director at NSA.

The cybersecurity information sheet comes after NSA published a recommended security practices guide intended for software suppliers in collaboration with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

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DOE Requests Info on Approaches to Accelerating Emerging Technology Innovations
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DOE Requests Info on Approaches to Accelerating Emerging Technology Innovations

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science is seeking industry input on a new program aimed at developing fresh approaches to accelerating innovations in artificial intelligence, autonomy, advanced manufacturing and other emerging technologies in support of clean energy development.

A notice posted Tuesday on the Federal Register states that DOE wants to form trans-disciplinary teams of scientists and engineers from national laboratories, the industry and academia to help transform early-stage research into deployable technologies in the marketplace.

The research initiative will focus on key areas of interest to DOE including AI, advanced nuclear technologies, advanced manufacturing, data storage and cybersecurity and quantum information science.

DOE aims to bridge the gap between the technology research and commercialization phases to progress ideas into an innovation continuum.

“Bridging these gaps requires a holistic, ‘end to end’ approach that closely integrates basic scientific and engineering research across multiple disciplines with applied and industrial activities to ensure that innovations reach the marketplace,” the request for information notice states.

Responses are due Dec. 23.

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CBO: FY23 Navy Shipbuilding Plan to Cost $30B to $33B Per Year Over 3 Decades
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CBO: FY23 Navy Shipbuilding Plan to Cost $30B to $33B Per Year Over 3 Decades

A Congressional Budget Office report estimates that the U.S. Navy’s fiscal year 2023 shipbuilding plan to expand its fleet size to between 316 and 367 aircraft carriers, surface combatants, submarines and other battle force ships would cost approximately $30 billion to $33 billion in 2022 dollars annually over three decades.

CBO said Thursday the figures were based on its analysis of three alternative projections of the Navy’s future fleet in the service’s FY 2023 shipbuilding plan.

The alternatives in the plan “would require average annual shipbuilding appropriations that were 23 percent to 35 percent more than the average over the past five years” and the military branch’s total budget would jump to approximately $290 billion in 2052, up from the current $220 billion, according to the CBO report.

According to the report, the Navy would buy more large surface combatants under alternative 1, purchase more submarines under alternative 2 and procure more vessels of all types under alternative 3, except for submarines.

CBO said the military branch would see the firepower of its fleet of ships reduced over the next 10 years but would broaden its missile capability by raising the number of missile cells and fielding them on more vessels under all three alternatives.

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GSA, Partners to Test Solar Tracking, Off-Grid Mobile Charging Tech
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GSA, Partners to Test Solar Tracking, Off-Grid Mobile Charging Tech

The General Services Administration’s Center for Emerging Building Technology is piloting two programs at the Bean Federal Center in Indianapolis to test solar tracking technology and off-grid mobile charging technologies.

GSA said Thursday it is collaborating with the Sandia National Laboratories to pilot a renewable, transportable electric vehicle charging station from BEAM Global and a single-axis solar tracker from Rocking Solar for the Applied Innovation Learning Laboratory program.

BEAM Global’s charging infrastructure combines solar, battery storage and emergency power and can be operated on and off-grid while Rocking Solar’s solar energy system is designed to produce energy for both commercial and industrial buildings.

The AILL pilot programs have reportedly been assembled to support the administration’s goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 and transitioning to an all-electric federal fleet by 2035.

“Providing the space for practical testing of sustainable technologies is vital to accelerating the transition to an all-electric fleet and building a cleaner, healthier future for the country,” Nina Albert, commissioner of the public buildings service at GSA.

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B&A CGO Michael Polmar Highlights Importance of Close Public-Private Partnerships in Government Innovation
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B&A CGO Michael Polmar Highlights Importance of Close Public-Private Partnerships in Government Innovation

Bart & Associates’ Chief Growth Officer, Michael Polmar, sat down recently with the Potomac Officers Club to discuss the pillars of his executive leadership style, the challenges of staying ahead of rapid technological advancements and the changes he would enact within the GovCon landscape to better facilitate innovation. Polmar joined B&A in April 2022 after serving as CEO of PCI Technology Services.

In this excerpt from his Executive Spotlight interview, B&A’s Michael Polmar shared the importance of close collaboration in the federal government’s modernization and innovation efforts:

“One of the key challenges for injecting innovation into any effort from a business perspective is determining the value of that innovation to the client. It is critical that industry understands the value that U.S. government decision makers assign for specific innovations. This is not always apparent in the procurement process, nor through the contract lifecycle. There are often disconnects, which make it more difficult for the government customer to take full advantage of innovations being offered by industry. Consistent and detailed communications between government decision makers and industry, especially new market entrants, will help ensure that industry fully understands where clients want innovation and how they value it.”

Click here to read the full interview with B&A’s Michael Polmar, and visit PotomacOfficersClub.com to learn more about the platform’s membership options and benefits.

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12 Teams From U.S., U.K. Win in Phase 1 of Privacy-Enhancing Tech Prize Challenges
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12 Teams From U.S., U.K. Win in Phase 1 of Privacy-Enhancing Tech Prize Challenges

Twelve groups won in the initial phase of the U.K-U.S. privacy-enhancing technologies prize challenges for proposing platforms that can either improve financial crime detection or predict infection risk levels in people in the event of a pandemic.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, one of the administrators of the PET prize challenge, said Thursday that the competition’s goal is to encourage the creation of artificial intelligence technologies that can manage sensitive data without violating privacy laws.

Aside from NIST, the challenges were prepared by the U.K. Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, Innovate UK, the U.S. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the U.S. National Science Foundation.

The agencies reviewed 76 technical paper submissions vying for the $1.6 million prize pool. The chosen entries received a combined total of $157,000 for Phase 1 of the competition.

For the U.S. challenge, one of the winning teams comprised of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Harvard Business School, the University of Texas Austin, and the University of Toronto. Two other prizes went to representatives of IBM Research and machine learning software developer Inpher.

The winning organizations in the U.K. are:

  • Corvus Research Limited
  • Diagonal Works
  • GMV
  • Faculty
  • Featurespace Limited
  • OpenMined and DeepMind
  • Privitar Limited
  • University of Cambridge
  • University of Liverpool

“AI is driving rapid technology change that is based on ever-increasing amounts of disparate data, making privacy-enhancing technologies increasingly important,” said Laurie Locascio, under secretary of Commerce for standards and technology and director of NIST. “The U.S.-U.K. PET prize challenge provides a global venue to build and showcase cutting-edge and scalable solutions that respect human rights and civil liberties,” she commented.

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CAES Teams Up with Nonprofit to Support Disabled Veterans; Mike Kahn Quoted
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CAES Teams Up with Nonprofit to Support Disabled Veterans; Mike Kahn Quoted

CAES, an aerospace and defense systems provider, has partnered with Homes for Our Troops, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building and donating custom homes tailored to the needs of injured post-9/11 veterans.

As a partner to the organization, CAES aims to raise awareness for Homes for Our Troops’ mission and support the construction of new homes for qualified veterans, the Arlington, Virginia-based company announced on Friday.

“Supporting the warfighter is at the heart of what we do at CAES, and we’re honored to be partnering with an organization that extends this mission to when our servicemen and women return home,” said Mike Kahn, president and CEO of CAES and two-time Wash100 Award winner.

To support injured veterans even after they move into their new homes, Homes for Our Troops provides a pro-bono financial planner to aid in financial planning and budgeting for three years. Additionally, those aided by the nonprofit receive homeownership education and warranty coverage to empower long-term success.

The organization is also connected to a large network of other nonprofits, corporations and government entities that provide support for employment, education, health and other areas.

Tom Landwermeyer, president and CEO of Homes for Our Troops, expressed his excitement for the new partnership.

“The company’s enthusiasm for our cause – which I witnessed personally at the recent Association of the United States Army conference – will generate more awareness, enabling us to advance our mission of Building Homes and Rebuilding Lives,” he stated.

A video released by CAES highlighted the thoughts of a family who received a home, who emphasized the custom home’s role in encouraging family togetherness. They also commented on the benefits of accessibility features in allowing disabled veterans to perform daily tasks and partake in their hobbies.

Landwermeyer additionally stressed the importance of the partnership in the video.

“We couldn’t do what we do without patriotic individuals and patriotic organizations like CAES. It’s only through that support that we can continue to build these homes and put them on the ground for these veterans and their families,” Landwermeyer shared.

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