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Big Data & Analytics News/News
State Department Turns to Data to Modernize Federal Procurement Efforts
by Naomi Cooper
Published on December 14, 2022
State Department Turns to Data to Modernize Federal Procurement Efforts

Jaime Gracia, director of strategic enterprise programs at the State Department, has highlighted the importance of data analytics to streamline the department’s information technology procurement and contracting process, Federal News Network reported Tuesday. 

Speaking at an ACT-IAC Federal Insights Exchange event, Gracia said that gathering data-driven insights will enable contracting officers to select the appropriate contract vehicles for procurement efforts and provide fair contracting opportunities to small, disadvantaged businesses. 

According to Gracia, the State Department is looking to digitize its acquisition forecasts and modernize its procurement analytics data architecture to provide contractors with real-time updates on contracting opportunities.

The department is modernizing its contracting process ahead of a major IT services procurement effort. 

Early in December, the State Department began seeking bids for a potential seven-year, $10 billion indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to procure IT services from the commercial sector.

The Evolve contract seeks to provide services in areas of IT management, cloud and data center, application development, network and telecommunication, and customer and end user support.

Government Technology/News
Lawmakers Propose Measure to Ban TikTok Over National Security Concerns
by Jane Edwards
Published on December 14, 2022
Lawmakers Propose Measure to Ban TikTok Over National Security Concerns

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has proposed a bipartisan bill that would prohibit TikTok from operating in the U.S., citing the social media platform’s threat to national security.

Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., unveiled companion legislation in the lower chamber, backing Rubio’s measure – Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act or ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act.

“The federal government has yet to take a single meaningful action to protect American users from the threat of TikTok. This isn’t about creative videos — this is about an app that is collecting data on tens of millions of American children and adults every day,” said Rubio.

The lawmaker also cited how TikTok can influence elections and the platform’s ties to China.

In November, FBI Director Christopher Wray told a House panel about the bureau’s national security concerns over TikTok, saying the Chinese government could potentially exploit the video app to control data collection on millions of users.

Brendan Carr, a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, called on the Council on Foreign Investment in the United States to initiate action to ban TikTok due to concerns over the security of data of U.S. users.

The Department of the Treasury’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is conducting a review of TikTok over national security issues as the app owned by Chinese company ByteDance negotiates to continue its operations in the U.S.

In September, a Senate panel held a hearing over the video platform’s access to U.S. user data and links to the Chinese government.

News
VA to Replace Medical Logistics IT System With Cloud-Based Application
by Jamie Bennet
Published on December 14, 2022
VA to Replace Medical Logistics IT System With Cloud-Based Application

The Department of Veterans Affairs will discontinue a local server-based application it is using for supply chain management in response to regulatory scrutiny of the system’s cost and effectiveness, FedScoop reported Tuesday.

VA has posted a notice on SAM.gov to solicit vendors that can develop a cloud-based replacement for the Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support system.

In November 2021, the Office of the Inspector General published a report citing the failure of DMLSS to meet 44 percent of key priority business requirements at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in Chicago. This prompted Congress to order VA to review the system’s productiveness.

The agency said it is considering a new system that will operate in its cloud server or a similar environment certified by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program. It intends to award a contract for the project by 2023.

News
DOE Announces New Programs to Advance CO2 Removal Technologies; Jennifer Granholm Quoted
by Naomi Cooper
Published on December 14, 2022
DOE Announces New Programs to Advance CO2 Removal Technologies; Jennifer Granholm Quoted

The Department of Energy has announced new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded programs worth a combined $3.7 billion to advance the commercialization of carbon dioxide removal technologies. 

DOE said Tuesday the new efforts aim to advance monitoring and verification best practices for carbon management technologies, provide grants for procuring and using products developed from captured carbon emissions, develop regional direct air capture facilities and accelerate private-sector investment in the carbon dioxide removal industry.

According to DOE, $3.5 billion will be invested in the establishment of four domestic regional hubs that will work to demonstrate the commercial viability of direct air capture technologies. 

DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management will hold a competition with $115 million in total prize awards to accelerate research and development of direct air capture technologies.

FECM will also manage a grants program to fund the efforts of state and local governments to support the commercialization of technologies that reduce emissions, as well as partner with the Office of Technology Transitions to issue a lab call to advance measurement, reporting and verification practices in the industry.

“President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides the transformative investments needed to scale up the commercial use of technologies that can remove or capture CO2, which will bring jobs to our regions across the country and deliver a healthier environment for all Americans,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Government Technology/News
DOD Announces Integration of FAPIIS With System for Award Management
by Jane Edwards
Published on December 14, 2022
DOD Announces Integration of FAPIIS With System for Award Management

The office of the undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment at the Department of Defense has released a memorandum announcing the integration of the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System with the System for Award Management as part of the ongoing modernization of the Integrated Award Environment.

The General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service oversees IAE, which unifies and manages the federal awards process for the government acquisition workforce and business partners and seeks to modernize the award experience through the use of innovative platforms.

The integrity records will be part of SAM’s entity information domain and will be renamed Responsibility/Qualification upon completion of the integration as part of efforts to provide users with a single point to access information on R/Q, exclusions and entity management, according to the memo.

“Users can download a report from SAM showing the entity’s basic identification information as well as the entity’s R/Q information. Additionally, R/Q and proceedings data is available via a new Entity Management application program interface (API) at https://open.gsa.gov/api/entity-api/,” the memo reads.

According to the document, government employees will continue to encode non-responsibility determination and other required data into FAPIIS through the input module the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System.

John Tenaglia, principal director of defense pricing and contracting, signed the memo Tuesday.

Contract Awards/News
Coalfire Federal Lands NHLBI Contract Under NIH BPA; Bill Malone Quoted
by Ireland Degges
Published on December 14, 2022
Coalfire Federal Lands NHLBI Contract Under NIH BPA; Bill Malone Quoted

Coalfire Federal has won a contract to provide cybersecurity risk management and authority to operate services for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to aid the organization in maintaining its operational readiness and advancing its mission.

The award falls under a five-year, $86 million National Institutes of Health Office of the Chief Information Officer risk management framework blanket purchase agreement issued in 2021, the Reston, Virginia-based company announced on Tuesday.

“We’re honored to be selected for this strategic NHLBI program and believe our experience and trusted advisor reputation align well with NHLBI’s mission. We look forward to a long and successful partnership with NHLBI and NIH,” commented Bill Malone, president of Coalfire Federal.

As the third-largest institute within NIH, NHLBI is dedicated to providing global leadership for a research, training and education program focused on the prevention and treatment of heart, lung and blood diseases as well as improving health for all individuals.

“The NHLBI’s mission contributes toward the effectiveness of our nation’s medical system, and our team has already made a significant impact supporting its mission in the program’s early stages,” Malone stated.

He also emphasized that Coalfire Federal was selected for its experience in delivering enterprise-wide, strategic cybersecurity services to federal clients.

Coalfire Federal is one of six organizations selected under the BPA to provide related services to 27 NIH institutes and centers through 2026.

Executive Moves/News
Military, Civilian Intelligence Exec Mario Contreras Joins Exovera as Chief Data Officer; Bob Sogegian Quoted
by Charles Lyons-Burt
Published on December 14, 2022
Military, Civilian Intelligence Exec Mario Contreras Joins Exovera as Chief Data Officer; Bob Sogegian Quoted

Experienced intelligence and special operations executive Mario Contreras has been named chief data officer at analytics and artificial intelligence software provider Exovera.

As CDO at this subsidiary company of defense contractor SOSi, Contreras will prioritize acquisition, governance and management as aspects of Exovera’s data initiatives, the Vienna, Virginia-based organization said Tuesday.

“Mario brings exceptional insight into the importance and use of data by the defense and national security agencies,” remarked Exovera CEO Bob Sogegian.

Sogegian went on to say that he predicts Contreras will play a vital role in influencing the direction of the company’s offerings and thus its growth efforts.

Contreras began his career in the U.S. Army, retiring as a chief warrant officer in 2010 after two decades of service. His work with the service branch was primarily intelligence-focused in multiple special operations units and he was deployed in combat in a range of theaters.

After his Army retirement, Contreras continued in the military as a civilian, leading the development and administration of the Special Operations Forces Digital Ecosystem of Publicly Available Information. He also created what is the most expansive open-source intelligence exploitation program in the Joint Special Operations Command.

In his most recent role before Exovera, Contrera was the operations lead for the Chief of Digital and Artificial Intelligence at the U.S. Special Operations Command, presiding as its chief data officer for nearly two years.

The executive shared his eagerness to join a company that is offering new data-focused technologies and said that his career has demonstrated the “importance of open-source data to critical operations.”

“[I] look forward to delivering solutions that inform and empower our customers’ missions,” Contreras added.

Government Technology/News
NSA, CISA Officials Publish Assessment on 5G Network Configuration Strategies
by Regina Garcia
Published on December 14, 2022
NSA, CISA Officials Publish Assessment on 5G Network Configuration Strategies

Cross-sector working group Enduring Security Framework — which includes representatives from the National Security Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — has issued its evaluation of possible threats with 5G network slicing for the creation of best practices to implement in order to maintain network security. 

The report, which pinpoints management strategies to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of each network slice, was calculated for mobile service providers, hardware manufacturers, software developers and system integrators working on the deployment of 5G networks, NSA said Tuesday. 

ESF intends the assessment to serve as a base to craft a methodology to design, deploy, operate, and maintain secure network slicing across private, hybrid, and public networks.

“The Department of Defense is transitioning 5G into its enterprise. Being able to do network slicing across the entire 5G system is a critical new capability that 5G provides over [Long Term Evolution],” shared Andrew Thiessen, chief economist at the Defense Department’s 5G cross-functional team. 

News
Future Navy Amphibious Assault Ship Named After Battles of Fallujah
by Naomi Cooper
Published on December 14, 2022
Future Navy Amphibious Assault Ship Named After Battles of Fallujah

The U.S. Navy has named a future America-class amphibious assault ship after the first and second Battles of Fallujah during the Iraq War. 

The future USS Fallujah (LHA 9) is the fourth ship to belong to the America class and will support the U.S. Marine Corps concept for ship-to-objective maneuvers and operational maneuver from the sea, the Navy said Tuesday.

“This namesake deserves to be in the pantheon of iconic Marine Corps battles and the LHA’s unique capabilities will serve as a stark reminder to everyone around the world of the bravery, courage, and commitment to freedom displayed by those who fought in the battle,” said Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro. 

The LHAs are the largest of all amphibious warfare ships and are capable of taking off and landing vertically.

HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division designs and develops the amphibious assault ship LHA 9 for the Navy under a potential $2.4 billion contract modification awarded in October.

Ingalls Shipbuilding has delivered the America-class ships LHA 6 and LHA 7 and has started the construction of LHA 8, the future USS Bougainville.

Government Technology/News
Bonnie Evangelista: Tradewind an Attempt to Accelerate Tech Procurement, Drive Cultural Change Within DOD
by Jane Edwards
Published on December 13, 2022
Bonnie Evangelista: Tradewind an Attempt to Accelerate Tech Procurement, Drive Cultural Change Within DOD

Bonnie Evangelista, Tradewind execution lead within the Department of Defense’s chief digital and artificial intelligence office, said DOD needs to change its culture to accelerate the acquisition of military technologies and capabilities and Tradewind is one of the initiatives that could help drive that cultural change within the department.

She wrote in a commentary published Monday on Defense News that Tradewind is an “attempt to clear a way out of the bureaucratic contracting labyrinth” and “a movement to take intentional action that drives not only the procurement and acquisition of leading-edge technology, but also the cultural change the DoD so desperately needs.”

According to Evangelista, Tradewind comes with a set of services and tools designed to speed up the acquisition and adoption of new technologies and one of those tools is the Tradewind Solutions Marketplace.

She said the marketplace allows industry innovators to quickly bring their technology platforms to government purchasers by submitting a short video of their platform explaining its potential use in addressing DOD’s problem sets.

“For government, this means a searchable inventory of potential technology solutions that have met competition standards for Federal Acquisition Regulation and non-FAR based contracting methodologies,” Evangelista noted. “No more time spent in source selections and downselects — just find a solution and buy it.”

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