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ICF Earns Spot on $320M NIH Contract for Cancer Research Activities; Mark Lee Quoted
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ICF Earns Spot on $320M NIH Contract for Cancer Research Activities; Mark Lee Quoted

Consulting and digital services company ICF has secured a spot on a potential 10-year, $320 million contract award from the National Institutes of Health to conduct epidemiological and clinical operations activities for cancer research.

Under the multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, ICF will compete with four other organizations for research task orders assisting the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, the Fairfax, Virginia-based company said Monday.

Mark Lee, executive vice president and public sector lead at ICF, shared that the work will build on a long line of partnerships with the NIH carrying out epidemiological and clinical research spanning “statistical data management, digital modernization of data collection systems and more.”

“We are excited to bring all of these skills to support DCEG in meeting its mission—to discover the causes of cancer and inform future prevention,” Lee added.

The contract work will involve three primary focus areas: field preparation and study management; exposure assessment; and clinical services. ICF’s roster of health research and public health aficionados will collaborate with DCEG’s epidemiologists, geneticists and biostatisticians on the various projects that will be assigned.

ICF has reportedly worked with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for more than four decades, completing missions related to public health, epidemiology, survey research, genetics, biostatistics, clinical informatics and digital modernization, among others.

The latest NIH contract has a five-year base period, with the potential to expand to 10 years if all options are exercised. It was given to the company, as well as the four other awarded organizations, in the second quarter of 2022.

It follows ICF’s June win of a four and a half year, $30 million recompete contract from the Defense Health Agency, under which their team will conduct research and operational assistance for mental health research endeavors within the Department of Defense.

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CACI Pledges to Provide Resources, Education Assistance to Alabama Tech Magnet School; CEO John Mengucci Quoted
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CACI Pledges to Provide Resources, Education Assistance to Alabama Tech Magnet School; CEO John Mengucci Quoted

CACI has entered into an agreement to support a Huntsville, Alabama-based residential magnet high school that specializes in cyber technology and engineering training and preparation.

In conjunction with the Alabama School of Cyber Engineering and Technology Foundation, CACI has pledged to offer internships, mentorships and constructive input to curriculums, among other contributions, the Reston, Virginia-headquartered company said Friday.

John Mengucci, CEO and president of CACI, commented that the company’s involvement is intended to foster talent in the technology field, which he said is critically needed.

“As we grow our presence in Huntsville, I am confident that this partnership will provide students with cutting-edge technology and resources and will also build an invaluable talent pipeline for government and industry,” three-time Wash100 Award winner Mengucci continued.

Through the partnership, the CACI team has agreed to furnish interim teachers for certain courses and conduct career coaching for students. Additionally, they plan to initiate an ASCTE Speaker Series and provide professional development for the Huntsville school’s staff.

ASCTE is distinguished as the sole Alabama public high school with full-fledged advanced engineering and cyber technology programs. It was created in order to fill gaps and make up for deficiencies in national security personnel.

“We are thrilled and thankful for this investment into our students and community…CACI’s position as a technology and national security leader supports and aligns with ASCTE’s mission to produce graduates who will drive the innovation needed to secure tomorrow’s prosperity,” remarked Matt Massey, president of ASCTE.

The partnership announcement comes on the heels of CACI’s win of a $31.3 million U.S. Navy contract for the performance of naval force logistics services for the U.S. Fleet Forces Command earlier this week.

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NASA Selects Four Mission Proposals to Study Stellar Explosions, Galaxies Under Explorers Program
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NASA Selects Four Mission Proposals to Study Stellar Explosions, Galaxies Under Explorers Program

NASA has selected four mission proposals for the Explorers Program to conduct study on exploding stars, distant clusters of galaxies and nearby galaxies and stars.

The space agency said Friday two studies will each receive $3 million under the program’s Medium Explorer project and two proposals will each secure $750,000 as part of the Explorer Missions of Opportunity segment to carry out nine-month mission concept studies.

The agency will choose one from each mission type in 2024 for the implementation phase.

A team led by Fiona Harrison of the California Institute of Technology has submitted the UltraViolet EXplorer proposal to conduct a deep survey of the whole sky in two bands of ultraviolet light to gather insights on stars life cycle and galaxy evolution.

The research team of William Zhang at Goddard Space Flight Center has proposed the development of the Survey and Time-domain Astrophysical Research Explorer spacecraft. 

For the Mission of Opportunity project, principal investigator Chiumun Michelle Hui at Marshall Space Flight Center will study the development of the Moon Burst Energetics All-sky Monitor, known as MoonBEAM, that would see gamma rays earlier or later than telescopes on Earth or in low orbit.

Mark McConnell from the University of New Hampshire also serves as the principal investigator of a mission to deploy a polarimeter on the International Space Station.

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Pentagon Announces Applied Research Awards for Hypersonics Technology Development
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Pentagon Announces Applied Research Awards for Hypersonics Technology Development

The Department of Defense has selected four universities to perform research and development projects aimed at advancing the development of hypersonic weapons technology. 

Each university secured one-year, $500,000 applied research awards focused on several research areas including navigation systems, scramjets, velocity and altitude control mechanisms and hypersonic aeroshells monitoring, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Texas A&M University will work with Pennsylvania State University, the University of Michigan, Ohio State University, Sandia National Laboratories and Boeing, to develop navigation systems designed to maintain the stability of the feedback control system for hypersonic vehicles.

The University of Virginia, University of South Wales, Ohio State University and the University of Arizona will collaborate with the Air Force Research Laboratory, FGC Plasma Solutions and Lockheed Martin to create a scramjet system improvement to make hypersonic vehicles operational across various flight conditions.

DOD also selected the University of Alabama in Huntsville and the CFD Research Corporation to design and develop novel concepts and technologies for enabling hypersonic vehicles to achieve precise velocities and altitudes.

Moreover, the Florida International University, the University of Rhode Island and Raytheon Technologies Research Center have been tapped to demonstrate a method for monitoring the health and status of hypersonic aeroshells.

The research awards will be managed by the University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics and the Joint Hypersonics Transition Office.

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GSA Names Charles Hardy as New Chief Architect
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GSA Names Charles Hardy as New Chief Architect

Charles Hardy, a more than three-decade General Services Administration veteran, has been appointed chief architect responsible for advising the leadership team on matters related to federal architecture and capital construction programs.

Hardy, a licensed architect and certified construction manager, has been performing the responsibilities of the chief architect role on an acting basis prior to the permanent appointment, the GSA said Thursday.

He held several leadership positions during his more than 31-year career at GSA, most recently serving as the chief workplace officer and director of the Center for Workplace Strategy. Hardy is also a retired intelligence officer of the U.S. Air Force.

“He brings the leadership and vision necessary to deliver on GSA’s mission of providing high-quality buildings and effective, sustainable workplaces to Federal agencies at the best value for the American taxpayer,” Public Buildings Service Commissioner Nina Albert said.

In his new role, Hardy will be responsible for administering GSA’s Design Excellence, historic preservation and art-in-architecture initiatives.

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Navy Tests Maritime Expeditionary Use of Northrop-Built Autonomous Helicopter
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Navy Tests Maritime Expeditionary Use of Northrop-Built Autonomous Helicopter

The U.S. Navy tested the possibility of deploying a Northrop Grumman-built autonomous helicopter from a ship to land to support maritime expeditionary operations at a recent joint service training.

An MQ-8C Fire Scout took part in the demonstration of the Navy’s Expeditionary Advance Base Operations concept during the Resolute Hunter exercise, the company said Wednesday.

Navy personnel performed a ship-based departure simulation with the unmanned vehicle from a naval base in Point Mugu, California, and handed the system off to a portable ground control station located on San Clemente Island.

“We are supporting MQ-8C deployments on littoral combat ships while assisting the Navy with Fire Scout mission expansion efforts to include operations from other surface ships and shore-based sites,” said Lance Eischeid, director of Northrop’s Fire Scout program.

Naval Air Systems Command said the Fire Scout platform is currently operating with the Independence-variant USS Jackson littoral combat ship.

The service plans to deploy the helicopter aboard other LCS units and Constellation-class guided-missile frigates as well as to operate the autonomous vehicle from shore sites as part of the EABO strategy.

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US, Mexico to Further Advance Cybersecurity Collaboration
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US, Mexico to Further Advance Cybersecurity Collaboration

The governments of the U.S. and Mexico have issued a joint statement declaring their commitment to strengthening cooperation in addressing cyberthreats.

The U.S.-Mexico Working Group on Cyber Issues held its first meeting on Aug. 10th to drive bilateral cooperation on cybersecurity-related matters and the two governments vowed to reinforce coordination on initiatives focused on digital economy and cyber issues, the State Department said Thursday.

The two governments also committed to advancing technical coordination mechanisms for response to cyber incidents involving national and shared critical information infrastructures; increasing bilateral cooperation to facilitate the exchange of cyber threat intelligence data; continuing bilateral training programs to promote cybersecurity for state and federal agencies. 

This also includes improving cooperation between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its Mexican counterparts on ransomware, incident response management and information sharing, among other issues.

Other commitments are sharing information on cybersecurity resources; continuing dialogue and collaboration with regard to multilateral cybersecurity processes; and coordinating with Canada to hold a Trilateral Cyber Experts Meeting in 2022.

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DARPA Seeks to Protect Military Assets in Extreme Cold Weather Via ICE Program
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DARPA Seeks to Protect Military Assets in Extreme Cold Weather Via ICE Program

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has launched a four-year program that seeks to discover and optimize biologically sourced or inspired molecules that limit ice crystal growth, formation and adhesion to help develop technologies that could address operational challenges facing the Department of Defense in extreme cold environments.

Researchers under the three-phase Ice Control for cold Environments program will work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory to test and assess candidate molecules, DARPA said Tuesday.

“Insects, fish, plants and freeze-tolerant organisms have evolved natural mechanisms to prevent ice formation and thrive in extreme cold,” said Anne Cheever, ICE program manager.

“These properties could be leveraged as part of the ICE program to develop persistent anti-icing coatings for surfaces and even produce specialized small molecules that work synergistically with biodegradable antifreeze proteins,” Cheever added.

DARPA will hold a Proposers’ Day on Aug. 22th and accept proposal abstracts through Sept. 22th, according to a presolicitation notice.

Full proposals for the ICE program are due Nov. 8th.

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NIST Solicits Comments on Draft AI Risk Management Framework, Playbook
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NIST Solicits Comments on Draft AI Risk Management Framework, Playbook

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is soliciting feedback from the public on the second draft of the Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework, which seeks to address risks in the design, development, assessment and use of AI systems and services.

NIST said Thursday feedback from the first AI RMF draft and discussions at the second workshop held in March were used to inform the development of the latest draft.

The agency is also asking the public to submit comments on the draft NIST AI RMF Playbook, an online resource that offers recommendations on the framework’s implementation.

NIST will accept comments on the draft framework and playbook through Sept. 29th. It will also hold a two-day virtual workshop on the framework that will kick off on Oct. 18th.

The agency intends to publish the first iteration of the AI Risk Management Framework in January 2023.

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KPMG, Red Hat Combine Forces to Evolve North Carolina Healthcare Applications; Mark Calem Quoted
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KPMG, Red Hat Combine Forces to Evolve North Carolina Healthcare Applications; Mark Calem Quoted

KPMG has been chosen by the State of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to lead the integration of various health care digital applications.

During the collaboration, the NC department will utilize KPMG’s Resource Integration Suite Connected Platform, which is founded in Red Hat’s OpenShift program, to unite disparate healthcare functions, evolve the current Medicaid software and give the state’s citizens a more accessible interface, KPMG said Thursday.

Mark Calem, advisory managing director of health and government solutions at KPMG, explained that the KRIS Connected Platform appeals to health and government organizations of all sizes for its customizable and modular features as well as its shared services capabilities.

“Most importantly, it supports the future of hybrid cloud integration, and we are glad to work with Red Hat to bring these transformational opportunities to our clients,” Calem added.

The new partnership will find KPMG and Red Hat working alongside NCDHHS to retool and modernize its legacy healthcare programs into a centralized, cloud-based service. They will align their modifications with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regulations and NCDHHS hopes that the KRIS Connected Platform will strengthen application and data interoperability.

Additionally, the finished, fully integrated product is intended to allow patients and healthcare providers to access their records and personal information with both security and speed. RedHat OpenShift’s cloud-native, containerized workloads are expected to help the NCDHHS and state to cut down expenses and reduce their technology footprint.

Chris Gray, vice president of the North America Partner Ecosystem at Red Hat, elucidated how the combined forces of KPMG’s KRIS platform and Red Hat OpenShift will merge cloud, legacy and on-site systems to “streamline operations and provide better user experiences for care providers and patients.” Gray said the collaboration with KPMG will be a fruitful one and likely proliferate throughout the public sector and extend into other industries.

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