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CISA Launches Election Security Toolkit for State, Local Officials; Jen Easterly Quoted
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CISA Launches Election Security Toolkit for State, Local Officials; Jen Easterly Quoted

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has released a toolkit providing state and local officials with access to free services and tools designed to help them improve the cybersecurity and resilience of U.S. election infrastructure.

The Protecting U.S. Elections: A CISA Cybersecurity Toolkit was developed through CISA’s Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative to enable election officials to protect voting systems against ransomware, phishing and distributed denial-of-service attacks, the agency said Wednesday.

Election officials can also use the toolkit to assess cybersecurity risks using an Election Security Risk Profile Tool developed by CISA and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and find tools to protect voter information, email systems, websites and networks.

“Each day, state and local election officials confront threats to their infrastructure from foreign interference, nefarious actors, insider threats, and others. This is one more resource to help them in their ongoing efforts to ensure American elections remain secure and resilient,” said Jen Easterly, director of CISA and a 2022 Wash100 Award win. 

CISA compiled the resources in collaboration with private and public sector organizations, including in the election community and JCDC alliance members.

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Suzette Kent to Assist SkillStorm with Fostering Tech Talent on Advisory Board
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Suzette Kent to Assist SkillStorm with Fostering Tech Talent on Advisory Board

Former U.S. Chief Information Officer Suzette Kent, a two-time recipient of the Wash100 Award, has been added to the advisory board of SkillStorm, a training and recruitment company for technology personnel.

Kent is expected to leverage her knowledge of the digital and technological needs of the government along with her time spent in the private sector to inform SkillStorm’s attempts to foster talent, the Jacksonville, Florida-headquartered company said Thursday.

In a statement, Kent explained that areas such as cybersecurity and data analytics are hurting for qualified workers, which she says impedes both government and commercial entities from maintaining a modernized technology infrastructure.

Kent added that she believes SkillStorm is working to break down barriers of access for technology training so as to prepare for a future workforce that is increasingly defined by this industry.

The newly appointed executive’s career spans senior-level finance roles at companies such as Accenture, where she was a partner; JPMorgan, where she was managing director; and Ernst & Young, where she held the role of principal in the financial services division.

In the latter position especially, Kent combined banking capabilities in payments, core banking, transaction banking and treasury management to facilitate strategic initiatives as well as evolve technological approaches for the firm.

She then served for two and half years as federal CIO, working out of the U.S. Office of Budget and Management within the executive branch. After her time as CIO, she has served in a number of advisory roles on the boards of companies like UiPath and Rubrik, in addition to joining the board of the Louisiana State University Foundation.

Most recently, in March, Kent was appointed as senior adviser to the national security technology practice of Beacon Global Strategies.

“Suzette’s distinguished track record as a technology and workforce leader will bring invaluable insight to our work with both government organizations and employers,” shared Justin Vianello, CEO of SkillStorm.

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CGI Federal’s Horace Blackman Named Rector With George Mason University
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CGI Federal’s Horace Blackman Named Rector With George Mason University

Horace Blackman, senior vice president with CGI Federal and head of its Defense, Intelligence and Space Business Unit, has been named Rector of the Board of Visitors (BOV) for George Mason University.

“I’m looking forward to helping further strengthen Mason’s position as a top-tier academic destination, and to help nurture the talent needed in the workforce,” Blackman explained.

Horace Blackman has worked with government and public sector organizations for more than 20 years to support their missions and deliver impactful change through business and information technology solutions, including supporting the mission-critical programs within the DoD and Intelligence sectors.

In the new position, Blackman will work hands-on to influence GMU’s overall strategy, which includes its policies and organizational vision. Previously, he also help the role of vice Rector and is a alumni of the university after graduating in 1993.

“It is a tremendous honor to serve as Rector of my alma mater at this exciting juncture of growth and innovation,” stated Blackman. “Through my federal client work at CGI Federal, I bring a unique, insiders’ perspective on how the university can prepare students for current and future challenges.”

George Mason University is regularly voted as the best “young” university, which includes more than 38,000 students from 130 countries and 50 states.

GMU is also known to be a top producer of cyber talent and has been ranked #1 in the nation in that area as well as in the top 30 for innovation and diversity.

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Army Soliciting Proposals for Ground Soldier Technology Effort
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Army Soliciting Proposals for Ground Soldier Technology Effort

The U.S. Army is seeking proposals from small businesses to support an effort to develop ground soldier-centric information technology envisioned to augment warfighters’ lethality, mobility, protection, logistics and communication capabilities.

In an Army notice posted on SAM.gov, the service branch said the Ground Soldier Technology Workflow, Integration and eXperience initiative will aim to optimize warfighter functions by focusing on data flow, equipment, network, systems and software.

“GS-TWIX specifically seeks to design, develop and analyze solutions associated with small unit ground soldier systems and devices as they impact soldier sub-systems integration, soldier workflow and soldier experience,” the solicitation reads.

The effort is anticipated to impact Sensored Soldier, Nett Warrior, Integrated Visual Augmentation System; Soldier Integration Facility; and other efforts and collaborations led by the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Soldier Center.

Proposals are due Aug. 22.

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USGS Accepts Control Authority of Northrop-Built Landsat 9 Satellite From NASA
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USGS Accepts Control Authority of Northrop-Built Landsat 9 Satellite From NASA

NASA has completed the transition of operational responsibility for a Northrop Grumman-built Landsat 9 Earth observation satellite to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The newest remote sensing satellite under the joint NASA-USGS program works to capture images of the planet’s surface at 30 meter resolution every eight days and offers data to support research in areas such as water resource management, land use mapping and disaster relief, the space agency said Friday.

“For more than fifty years now, Landsat satellites have helped us learn more about how Earth systems work, how human activities affect those systems, and how we can make better decisions for the future,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. 

The fourth spacecraft Northrop built for the program lifted off in September 2021 aboard an Atlas V rocket and completed the commissioning phase last month.

Steve Krein, vice president of commercial and civil satellites at Northrop, said the satellite builds on the five-decade legacy of the Landsat mission that helps monitor natural resources on Earth.

NASA and USGS are gearing up for the development of Landsat Next, Landsat 9’s proposed successor. 

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Cori Zarek to Assume Deputy Administrator Post at US Digital Service
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Cori Zarek to Assume Deputy Administrator Post at US Digital Service

Cori Zarek, executive director of the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University, has announced her upcoming move to the U.S. Digital Service to serve as its deputy administrator.

In a blog post published Wednesday, Zarek said her return to public service is set later in August and is focused on working within the White House unit to provide U.S. citizens with services through design and technology.

She was the deputy chief technology officer of the U.S. prior to joining Georgetown University. In that role, she was responsible for creating a more digital, open and collaborative government.

At the Beeck Center, Cori provides fellows, students and staff with leadership in action-oriented research projects and partnerships. Their work includes the use of data, design and technology as well as policy to drive more equitable societal outcomes.

“Having previously spent eight years in public service, I know well the need for strong partnerships and collaboration across all sectors and I’m proud of what we’ve built here at the Beeck Center,” she noted.

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House Committee Seeks Briefing on Federal Response to Log4j Vulnerability
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House Committee Seeks Briefing on Federal Response to Log4j Vulnerability

The House Energy and Commerce Committee sent an inquiry Wednesday to the heads of five federal agencies on what measures they have implemented to identify and mitigate the critical vulnerability in Java-based Log4j software.

Leaders of the committee and its subcommittees invited the departments of Health and Human Services, Energy and Commerce as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to hold a staff briefing on the matter by Aug. 24.

The inquiry comes nearly eight months after the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency directed all federal civilian organizations to immediately apply patches to internet-facing government networks due to the discovered exploitation.

“The risk to federal network security is especially concerning because nationstate threat actors have attempted to exploit this Log4j vulnerability,” the lawmakers wrote. They seek to better understand the scope of the cybersecurity incident and mitigation efforts.

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LMI to Deepen Involvement With STEM Scholarship Program Under $450M DOD Contract; Doug Wagoner Quoted
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LMI to Deepen Involvement With STEM Scholarship Program Under $450M DOD Contract; Doug Wagoner Quoted

Business and logistics management consulting firm LMI has secured a $450 million contract from the Department of Defense to continue its work on a science and mathematics mentor and scholarship program.

The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company said Thursday that through the contract award it will be responsible for designing and sustaining the web and information technology architecture for the DOD’s Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation scholarship-for-service endeavor, as well as facilitating the program’s operations and distributing scholarship funds.

“We are thrilled to continue supporting this impactful and collaborative program. It has proven to develop some of the best and brightest innovators we have seen in the federal government,” remarked Doug Wagoner, CEO and president of LMI and a three-time Wash100 Award winner.

LMI has been involved in the SMART program for the last five years. With 480 students already inducted in 2022, DOD is currently looking to expand the project, with its sights set on widening the amount of scholars awarded as well as deepening auxiliary offerings such as mentorship and research funding and connecting individuals with DOD-affiliated resources. The department has identified LMI as crucial to the program’s growth.

The SMART program provides high-achieving STEM students throughout the U.S. with college benefits such as full tuition, annual stipends, internships and pledged employment with the DOD post-graduation. It has awarded 3,800 students in total throughout the life of the initiative.

During the new contract period, LMI’s team is also expected to participate in attempting to impact underserved communities and institute new diversity, equity and inclusion policies for SMART. They will be assisted with a variety of aspects of the contract work by iTechAG, Scholarship America and Ernst and Young.

LMI is currently working under another contract from the DOD, handed out in March, for efforts involving the management and maintenance of weapon systems and military equipment such as industrial base assessments and data analytics.

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BigBear.ai Posts 18 Percent Growth for Analytics Revenue in Q2 2022 Financial Report; GovCon Expert Reggie Brothers Quoted
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BigBear.ai Posts 18 Percent Growth for Analytics Revenue in Q2 2022 Financial Report; GovCon Expert Reggie Brothers Quoted

Artificial intelligence technology services company BigBear.ai has released its second quarter 2022 financial report, which includes a revenue result of $37.6 million.

The Columbia, Maryland-headquartered company said Thursday that its Q2 gross margin was 25 percent and analytics revenue grew at a rate of 18 percent ($2.9 million) from the prior year period, but that geopolitical events such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as an unstable economic climate hindered other areas of income.

Reggie Brothers, CEO of BigBear.ai and a GovCon Expert, noted second quarter triumphs such as the company’s acquisition of modeling, simulation and planning application manufacturer ProModel; the widespread usage of BigBear.ai software in hospitals; and a new deal with “one of the largest health systems in the Eastern U.S.”

The company also reported a net loss of $56.8 million — compared to a loss of $3.2 million in the comparable period in 2021 — and a non-GAAP adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of negative $7.7 million, as opposed to a positive $0.5 million for the same quarter last year.

GovCon Expert Reggie Brothers, who is a multiple-time recipient of the Wash100 Award, pointed to the significant revenues that the company normally generates from government customers who have been preoccupied with the conflict in Ukraine as a major factor in reducing earnings, though he also said that ultimately the military’s missions and objectives overseas will likely call for the adoption of many of the AI tools and technologies BigBear offers.

For the time being, though, BigBear.ai’s team has altered its expectations and outlook for 2022 to accommodate hold-ups in contracts from the government and protracted sales cycles. It is looking to tighten spending and extricate unnecessary costs going forward.

Recently appointed chief financial officer Julie Peffer predicted that contract work for which BigBear is currently developing prototypes will pay off in the form of “large multi-year contracts with considerably higher margins” in the coming year.

BigBear.ai additionally reported a solid backlog of $325 million for the second quarter of 2022.

“While the second quarter presented challenges to our 2022 performance and slowed the pace of our transformation, we remain confident in our ability to capture larger, higher-margin projects with both federal and commercial customers to drive long-term growth,” Brothers commented.

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Navy Demonstrates Snakehead LDUUV Prototype for Autonomous Missions
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Navy Demonstrates Snakehead LDUUV Prototype for Autonomous Missions

Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport has demonstrated the ability of the U.S. Navy’s Snakehead large displacement unmanned undersea vehicle prototype to support an end-to-end intelligence preparation of the operational environment mission at the Narragansett Bay Test Facility.

During the mission, the Snakehead LDUUV conducted long-distance ingress, performed a sonar survey box, collected sonar data and then egressed back to the test facility, Naval Sea Systems Command said Wednesday.

The Snakehead LDUUV is the Navy’s modular, reconfigurable and multi-mission system designed to deliver navigation, guidance and control, maneuvering, situational awareness, propulsion and sensors during IPOE missions.

“The success of Snakehead testing is a direct result of the time and energy spent designing the vehicle. In-lab hardware and software simulations are major contributors to the success in water,” said Allison Philips, the test and evaluation lead for Snakehead at NUWC Division Newport.

In 2020, the Navy issued a solicitation for a contract to design, develop and fabricate two prototypes of the Snakehead LDUUV. The service branch christened the first prototype in February.

Snakehead has since conducted 155 in-water sorties and more than 78 hours of runtime using a government-owned and controlled modular open system architecture.

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