//
AWS, Google, Microsoft, Oracle Land $9B Multi-Award DOD Contract
Published on
AWS, Google, Microsoft, Oracle Land $9B Multi-Award DOD Contract

Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft and Oracle have been selected for a multi-award, potential $9 billion cloud procurement vehicle from the Department of Defense.

The Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability program aims to provide military personnel with enterprise-wide, globally available cloud offerings across all security domains and classification levels from the strategic level to the tactical edge, the department said Wednesday.

Within the period of performance, contractors will be able to obtain global accessibility, available and resilient services, centralized management and distributed control, ease of use, commercial parity, elastic computing, advanced data analytics, fortified security and tactical edge devices as well as elastic computing, storage and network infrastructure capabilities.

Services under the contract will be carried out in Reston, Virginia and are expected to be completed in June 2028. The four hybrid firm-fixed-price and time-and-materials, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity awards will enable mission owners to directly acquire authorized commercial cloud services from all four companies.

The award follows a request for bids from Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle to help address the Pentagon’s cloud computing requirements.

All four recipient organizations have recently expanded their cloud services work with the Department of Defense.

In August, the AWS Wickr program was made available on the department’s Cloud One. 

Earlier this year, numerous Oracle cloud services were granted Impact Level 5 provisional authorizations by the department to expand its line of offerings for defense and intelligence customers, while Microsoft received the Impact Level 6 provisional authorization for additional cloud services within its Azure Government Secret platform.

Google also received authorization for cloud services, earning an Impact Level 4 authorization for Google Workspace in July.

/
Air Force Awards Akima, Amentum Joint Venture $334M Contract for AFB O&M Services; Scott Rauer Quoted
Published on
Air Force Awards Akima, Amentum Joint Venture $334M Contract for AFB O&M Services; Scott Rauer Quoted

Akima and Amentum’s joint venture, Akima Range Readiness Operations, has received a $333.9 million award from the U.S. Air Force for operations and management services at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The contract, which is the Air Force’s largest facility operations and management contract, has a performance period of seven years and was awarded by the 72nd Civil Engineer Squadron, the Herndon, Virginia-based company said Thursday.

“Akima is honored by this contract award, and the expansion of our support to the U.S. Air Force at a hub for sustainment as well as a home to many major flying units,” said Akima Facilities Solutions Group President Scott Rauer.

“This award demonstrates the expertise and deep resources that Akima and Amentum bring to ensure the readiness of our nation’s most critical military facilities,” Rauer continued.

Under the award, ARRO will deliver responsive installation and support services covering both natural and built infrastructure at Tinker Air Force Base facilities while supervising about 400 employees as they execute modernization efforts, continuous enhancement and operations support. The contract’s duties span 19 million square feet across over 425 major facilities.

Tinker Air Force Base is the primary site for the Air Force Sustainment Center, which delivers warfighting expeditionary capabilities to the warfighter through depot maintenance, supply chain management and installation support.

Akima’s logistics services department won an earlier Air Force award in July. Under the ongoing, $109.7 million contract, the organization is providing maintenance assistance to 58 U.S. Air Force Academy aircraft at two different locations.

Amentum has also been working alongside the Air Force. As stipulated by a $46 million contract awarded in June, the company has been supporting back shop maintenance operations for aircraft used in the 316th Wing and 89th Wing at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

//
DHS S&T to Test New Remote Identity Validation Technologies
Published on
DHS S&T to Test New Remote Identity Validation Technologies

The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate will host a series of technology challenges in 2023 to evaluate remote identity validation platforms designed to combat identity fraud.

DHS S&T said Tuesday the Remote Identity Validation Technology Demonstration program will test the performance and fairness of systems to authenticate identity documents and assess identity verification attempts made by users using smartphone images.

RIVTD aims to develop secure, accurate remote identity validation technologies for use in commercial or government applications. 

DHS S&T intends to use the test results to inform efforts to standardize and certify technologies capable of preventing identity theft.

The agency will conduct the technology demonstration in collaboration with the Transportation Security Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Homeland Security Investigations Forensic Laboratory and other federal agencies.

88 Projects Receive $136M in Funding to Increase Coastal Resilience
Published on
88 Projects Receive $136M in Funding to Increase Coastal Resilience

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s National Coastal Resilience Fund has awarded a total of more than $136 million to 88 projects in 29 states and U.S. territories to help restore and expand natural infrastructure.

The awards were administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NFWF to restore and create more than 16,000 acres of coastal habitats, including living shorelines to protect military facilities in Florida and Mississippi and coastal dunes in Texas and California, NOAA said Tuesday.

This year’s funding includes $93.7 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and an additional budget from NOAA and the Department of Defense.

Private funding consists of contributions from Shell USA, TransRe and Oxy.

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law unleashes a historic opportunity for NOAA and our partners to make sure our coasts, and the communities and economies that depend on them, are ready and resilient in a changing climate,” said Gina Raimondo, secretary of the Department of Commerce.

Rick Spinrad, administrator of NOAA, said the funding “allows communities to invest in keeping their coasts healthy for generations to come and helps build a Climate-Ready Nation.”

Of the 88 grants, 60 will focus on planning, engineering and design projects to increase coastal resilience, while 28 will fund construction activities.

/
AWS Partners with Sumo Logic to Provide Cloud-Based Support for Amazon Security Lake
Published on
AWS Partners with Sumo Logic to Provide Cloud-Based Support for Amazon Security Lake

Amazon Web Services tapped Sumo Logic to lend its information technology protection and observability capabilities to Amazon Security Lake, a new security data centralization service for organizations.

Sumo Logic announced that its Cloud SIEM and Cloud SOAR platforms will provide additional analytics of cloud and on-premises information that are logged into Security Lake.

The partnership aims to help security teams modernize their operations through cloud-native detection, investigation and response.

Cloud SIEM ranks by urgency and correlates threat alerts from multiple environments. Cloud SOAR gathers data from SIEM and other sources, and uses machine learning to eliminate false positives and duplicates from the reported threats.

“Our early support of AWS Security Lake is another milestone in our partnership to accelerate cloud and digital transformation. It showcases our commitment to incorporate new models in pursuit of customer scale and flexibility,” said Dave Frampton, senior vice president and general manager of Sumo Logic’s security business unit.

/
OMB Memo Outlines CDM Automated Reporting Requirements for Agencies
Published on
OMB Memo Outlines CDM Automated Reporting Requirements for Agencies

The Office of Management and Budget has issued a memorandum requiring agencies to report at least 80 percent of their government-furnished equipment through the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program by the end of fiscal year 2023.

CDM is a Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency-managed program that seeks to help agencies detect, monitor and counter cyber vulnerabilities using commercial off-the-shelf tools.

According to the memo, CISA should provide agencies with a list of software categories that meet the “critical software” definition no later than Jan. 15.

CISA should also provide OMB with information on scanning cadence and other performance data beginning in the third quarter of FY 2023 and work with OMB and the CISO Council FISMA Metrics Subcommittee to “identify future metrics for automation in FY 2024.”

The document directs agencies to submit information on assets in an automated manner starting in the current fiscal year’s first quarter and meet all reporting requirements of the CDM Federal Dashboard.

“Agencies are encouraged to provide the CDM PMO with feedback on existing tools and input on additional tools that may prove valuable for current or future CDM acquisition vehicles,” the memo states.

The OMB memo seeks to provide agencies with FY 2023 reporting guidance and deadlines in compliance with the Federal Information Security Modernization Act.

/
SIPRI Study Shows Continued Global Arms Sales Growth Despite Supply Chain Issues
Published on
SIPRI Study Shows Continued Global Arms Sales Growth Despite Supply Chain Issues

The top 100 arms and military services providers raked in $592 billion in sales in 2021, despite global supply chain disruptions, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute revealed.

The latest SIPRI Arms Industry Database released on Monday showed a 1.9 percent increase in global arms sales, rising for the seventh year in a row.

The 40 U.S. companies in the list accounted for $299 billion in sales, while 27 firms in Europe recorded a combined total of $123 billion. 

Of the 100 largest companies, 21 were from Asia and Oceania, whose share totaled $136 billion. Eight businesses from China reported $109 billion in sales last year.

The report also mentioned regional financial results from Russia, the Middle East, South Korea and Taiwan. Six Russian companies grossed $17.8 billion, while five enterprises from the Middle East shared $15 billion. Four firms based in South Korea generated $7.2 billion, while a Taiwanese company grossed $2 billion in its first time to be included in the SIPRI top 100.

SIPRI experts cited the Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic as two of the biggest obstacles to global supply chain. They said that sales growth in the past year would have been higher if not for these events, and that they will likely cause more shortages.

/
Jen Easterly Leads Discussions at CISA Cybersecurity Advisory Committee’s 5th Meeting
Published on
Jen Easterly Leads Discussions at CISA Cybersecurity Advisory Committee’s 5th Meeting

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Cybersecurity Advisory Committee held its fifth meeting to discuss its 2023 strategic priorities to defend the nation against emerging cyberthreats. 

CISA said Tuesday Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and a 2022 Wash100 awardee, led the discussion with members of CSAC, which comprises industry and government leaders who advise the agency on policies and programs related to cybersecurity.

“I look forward to working with the Committee in the new year to ensure we are continuing to build a more cyber resilient nation to confront the challenges we face in cyber space,” Easterly said. 

Established in 2021, CSAC is chaired by Tom Fanning, president and CEO of Southern Company, and is tasked with supporting the development and implementation of recommendations, policies and programs related to CISA’s cybersecurity mission.

“The Committee members and I look forward to providing strategic recommendations to CISA’s Director Jen Easterly in the coming year to advance CISA’s mission, as they continue to strengthen the cybersecurity posture of the United States,” Fanning said.

/
Raj Iyer: Army Completes Migration to Office 365, Google Workspace
Published on
Raj Iyer: Army Completes Migration to Office 365, Google Workspace

Raj Iyer, chief information officer of the U.S. Army, said the military branch has completed its transition from the Defense Enterprise Email system to Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace.

Iyer, a two-time Wash100 awardee, said in a LinkedIn post that the migration enabled the Defense Information Systems Agency to decommission DEE.

In July, Google Workspace received a Department of Defense authorization to handle controlled unclassified information at Impact Level 4.

He announced that the service has moved to discontinue use of Army Knowledge Online and started the process of moving to SharePoint Online by sunsetting hundreds of SharePoint sites.

According to Iyer, the Army has stopped using Unclassified Video Tele Conference worldwide following its move to Microsoft Teams and plans to do the same for Secret VTC in fiscal year 2023.

The military branch has begun divesting more than 70 percent of its desktop hardwired phones and legacy systems as it implements soft phones.

“Each of these divestments is resulting in tens of millions of dollars of savings for the Army that we are pumping back in for further modernization efforts,” Iyer said.

He also mentioned plans for whiteboarding capability and intent to adopt smart collaboration tools.

“We will be replacing all of the legacy display screens with smart collaboration devices with one-touch joining for Teams meetings,” Iyer noted.

Dynetics Joins Forces With Northrop Grumman to Compete for NASA HLS Contract; Steve Cook Quoted
Published on
Dynetics Joins Forces With Northrop Grumman to Compete for NASA HLS Contract; Steve Cook Quoted

Dynetics, a subsidiary of Leidos, has submitted a bid on NASA’s Human Landing System Sustaining Lunar Development contract for the agency’s Artemis Mission.

The Huntsville, Alabama-based organization said Wednesday that it will pursue the award in collaboration with Northrop Grumman.

Commenting on the collaborative bid, Steve Cook, president of Leidos’ Dynetics Group, emphasized Northrop Grumman’s history of working in the space field, which includes being the sole company to have successfully built a crewed lunar lander.

“We will leverage their expertise and legacy of human space exploration, including their ongoing contracts to build the Habitation and Logistics Outpost for NASA’s lunar Gateway and to provide commercial resupply services to the International Space Station, significantly bolstering our pursuit,” Cook said.

Dynetics has been a prime contractor for HLS for over three years. In 2019, the company was selected as one of eleven organizations to work under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration partnership Appendix E task order. It was also selected for the NextSTEP-2 Appendix H contract in 2020 with SpaceX and Blue Origin.

In 2021, the enterprise was one of five companies chosen under Appendix N, a program enabling industry organizations to work with NASA in maturing lander designs and performing risk reduction activities to aid in sustainable lander development.

Northrop Grumman also has a history of serving HLS and has been awarded prime contracts under Appendix E and Appendix H.

More recently, Northrop launched its seventh cargo flight as part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract, an endeavor to deliver over 8,000 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station.

“Our capabilities and experience in pioneering human exploration and space logistics will help provide a lunar transportation system that our nation can rely on for years to come,” said Steve Krein, vice president of civil and commercial space at Northrop Grumman.

1 … 755 756 757 758 759 … 2,703