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David Pekoske Nominated for 2nd TSA Term
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David Pekoske Nominated for 2nd TSA Term

President Biden has announced his intent to nominate David Pekoske for a second term as administrator of the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration.

Pekoske, who was sworn in as the seventh TSA administrator in 2017, oversees the agency’s 60,000-strong workforce and leads the security operations at nearly 440 airports nationwide, the White House said Friday.

During his tenure as TSA administrator, Pekoske assumed the role of DHS secretary on an acting basis and performed the duties of deputy secretary of the department.

The 33-year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard also served as a commissioner on the congressionally mandated intergovernmental body Cyberspace Solarium Commission.

Prior to his retirement from the Coast Guard, Pekoske served as vice commandant, chief operating officer and component acquisition executive of the service.

Pekoske has experience providing security, intelligence and counterterrorism support services to various government agencies.

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JetBlue COO, President Joanna Geraghty to Aid Growth Strategy on L3Harris Board of Directors; Christopher Kubasik Quoted
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JetBlue COO, President Joanna Geraghty to Aid Growth Strategy on L3Harris Board of Directors; Christopher Kubasik Quoted

Longtime airline executive Joanna Geraghty has been appointed to the board of directors of L3Harris Technologies.

The addition of Geraghty, which was agreed upon by-election, will leverage her facility with business, operations, technology and talent and brings the L3Harris board to 14 leaders, the Melbourne, Florida-headquartered contractor said Monday.

“Joanna’s intimate knowledge of the aerospace industry and first-hand experience leading a global organization will be invaluable assets as we continue to grow our international market presence and address our customers’ critical missions,” remarked Christopher Kubasik, vice-chair and CEO of L3Harris and a multi-time recipient of the Wash100 Award.

Geraghty is currently president and chief operating officer of JetBlue Airways Corporation. In this role, she is charged with leading the company’s safety and commercial divisions in addition to spearheading its daily activities and frontline team. Geraghty also directs the network, brand and marketing and income management for the company.

The executive has been with JetBlue for over 17 years, throughout which time she has helped coax the company from a regional operation to an international airline that lands over 1,000 planes every day. L3Harris is looking to capitalize on these transformational leadership capabilities through Geraghty’s counsel as a board member.

She feels that L3Harris is poised to answer the demand for fast-acting manufacturing and services in an ever-shifting business landscape.

“I am excited to be a part of L3Harris’ Board of Directors and to contribute to the company’s long-term growth strategy,” Geraghty commented.

Geraghty’s strengths lie in contract negotiation, mergers and acquisitions, program management and employee relations.

The board’s election of the JetBlue executive follows its December welcome of retired Navy admiral Harry Harris to its fold. Harris was also a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea.

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ECS Tops 2022 100 MSPs List for Fourth Consecutive Year; President John Heneghan Quoted
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ECS Tops 2022 100 MSPs List for Fourth Consecutive Year; President John Heneghan Quoted

ECS announced on Monday that the company was named the top managed service provider (MSP) for the fourth year in a row on the annual Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs 2022 list, which identifies and honors the top 100 MSPs in healthcare, legal, government, financial services, and manufacturing-based vertical market expertise to drive annual recurring revenues (ARR).

“We continue to see a shift in the public sector market toward managed services as a preferred service delivery model for access to transformative solutions driving mission outcomes,” said ECS President John Heneghan, who is also a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient. 

“As the top MSP, we have demonstrated our expertise and experience in delivering best-in-breed technologies and enterprise-wide solutions for automation, AI, cybersecurity, cloud, ServiceNow, and advanced analytics,” Heneghan added.

ECS delivers complete cloud infrastructure and application migration services—from design and implementation to management and 24/7 support. With an eye on consulting, security and compliance, we’ll help you stay one step ahead, no matter where you are on your cloud adoption journey.

Recently, ECS release the three reasons to invest in Managed Cybersecurity in 2022, which are for federal leaders to focus on protecting their enterprise immediately as well as reduce the complexity for cyber analysts and securing your data from cyberattacks. 

“ECS is honored to be once again recognized as the top MSP,” said Andy Woods, ECS vice president of enterprise managed services.“By implementing a 24x7x365 managed solution from a global provider, organizations get the advantage of automation, orchestration, and analysis of the threat landscape impacting all verticals. Organizations also continue to achieve cost stability while gaining access to a bench of subject matter expe

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Terri Malone Joins Serco as Chief Growth Officer; Chairman Dave Dacquino Quoted
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Terri Malone Joins Serco as Chief Growth Officer; Chairman Dave Dacquino Quoted

Serco announced on Monday that Terri Malone, former Northrop Grumman executive, has joined the company as its chief growth officer and senior vice president to oversee the corporate strategy to drive business growth. In the role, Malone will report to Chairman, CEO and a two-time Wash100 Award winner Dave Dacquino.

“Terri Malone has a tremendous record for driving growth.  She brings to Serco proven successes in entering new markets and winning new business,” said Dave Dacquino.  “We are excited to have Terri join Serco’s team and contribute to our innovative, collaborative, diverse, and inclusive culture.”

Malone is bringing more than 20 years of knowledge and experience to Serco and she will be responsible for maintaining a pipeline of business and growth opportunities for the company as well as critical initiatives for strategic planning activities, business development operations, capture and proposals management as well as market intelligence, mergers and acquisitions efforts.

Across her long career in the federal landscape, she has been responsible for the growth and overall business performance across portfolios valued at more than $500 million. Specifically, in her vice president and business development positions, Malone also has exceeded over three billion dollars in her book-to-bill goals year-over-year. 

Previously, Terri Malone held a wide range of roles with Northrop Grumman during her 17-year tenure with the corporation. That includes 14 years in a variety of leadership roles for Northrop Grumman’s Information Systems business as well as a tenure with its Mission Solutions division between 2016 and 2020. 

Most recently, Terri Malone was the vice president of Mission Readiness and Protective Systems business unit for her last two years at Northrop Grumman. Prior to the corporation, she also held engineering roles in commercial consulting and federal contracting.

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HHS Solicits Comments on Certain HITECH Act Provisions
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HHS Solicits Comments on Certain HITECH Act Provisions

The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking public feedback on certain provisions of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act.

HHS is soliciting comments on recognized security practices being implemented or plan to implement by regulated entities, according to a request for information published on April 6.

The RFI also seeks public insights on issues relating to the distribution of a percentage of civil money penalties or monetary settlements collected pursuant to the HITECH Act.

The department also wants information on standards, best practices, guidelines and processes developed under a section of the NIST Act do regulated entities rely on when implementing recognized security practices as well as other programs that address cybersecurity.

Comments are due June 6th.

HHS Solicits Comments on Certain HITECH Act Provisions

Health IT will be the focal point of discussion at a June 2 event to be hosted by GovCon Wire, sister publication of GovConDaily. Vidyut Desai, chief information officer of the Food and Drug Administration, will deliver his keynote address at the “Healthcare IT — Digital Transformation” forum.

Register here.

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DOD Gets Over 300 Responses to RFI on Weapons Systems for Ukraine Military Aid; William LaPlante Quoted
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DOD Gets Over 300 Responses to RFI on Weapons Systems for Ukraine Military Aid; William LaPlante Quoted

The Department of Defense received over 300 responses to its request for information issued in April on weapons systems and other commercial capabilities as part of efforts to meet Ukraine’s requests for security assistance amid Russian invasion, Defense News reported Friday.

William LaPlante, undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment at DOD, said the influx of responses will help meet strategic objectives, accelerate production lines and mitigate supply chain challenges.

“We did put out a request for information about two weeks ago, in different categories of timeframes 30 days, 60 days, 90 days to industry, and what they could provide. We’ve received and are looking at well over 300 proposals, and we’re going through those right now in this book,” LaPlante, a 2022 Wash100 Award winner, said Friday during a press briefing.

Of the $300 million in funding for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, LaPlante said the Pentagon has obligated $181.8 million, including a $17.8 million contract that DOD planned to award to AeroVironment for its Switchblade unmanned aircraft system.

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VA Unveils New Website for Contractors; Michael Parrish Quoted
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VA Unveils New Website for Contractors; Michael Parrish Quoted

The Department of Veterans Affairs is launching Pathfinder, a new website designed for vendors seeking to work with VA, Federal News Network reported Friday.

Michael Parrish, chief acquisition officer and principal executive director at VA, said the Pathfinder site will help contractors easily find department-specific solicitations and get certified through the System for Award Management website, or SAM.gov.

“For those that are interested in trying to help break that that black hole mold of trying to figure out how to do business, we’re rolling out — and it’s ready to use now, there’s still some processes that we have to go through on the [operational technology] side for compliance — but there’s a new website, it’s a single entry point into VA, both for innovation and selling,” Parrish said at an event Thursday.

He said there are upcoming updates to the website, including a feature for future forecasting and a function that would allow vendors to submit questions and receive responses within a week from a VA employee.

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State Department, Treasury Partner With Nonprofit for Anti-Corruption Tech Program
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State Department, Treasury Partner With Nonprofit for Anti-Corruption Tech Program

A Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization has teamed up with the departments of State and Treasury to host a virtual competition that will explore technology innovations that can help authorities stop corruption across the globe.

The Alliance for Innovative Regulation seeks to help the two federal governments facilitate the Anti-Corruption Solutions through Emerging Technologies sprint for agencies, companies and civil society organizations, the State Department said Thursday.

Specifically, the ASET program will focus on developing financial technology prototypes for potential implementation on a global scale.

AIR will collaborate with the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes on the tech sprint in support of the U.S. Strategy on Countering Corruption.

Jo Ann Barefoot, former deputy comptroller of the currency, co-founded the alliance with fintech entrepreneur David Ehrich in 2019 with the intent to connect industry leaders and regulatory agencies in efforts to modernize the country’s financial regulatory system.

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Joint NIST-NSF Grant Program to Support 20 Disaster Resilience Research Projects
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Joint NIST-NSF Grant Program to Support 20 Disaster Resilience Research Projects

Twenty university-led research projects won grants from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Science Foundation to develop tools or methods to make structures and communities resilient to natural hazards.

A review panel chose the Disaster Resilience Research Grant awardees from 260 assessed applications to receive $7.6 million in total grants, NIST said Wednesday.

NIST will provide funds to eight projects and NSF will back the remaining efforts, with a total of 24 academic institutions tasked with carrying out research work.

Efforts covered by the DDRG initiative include the development of a wildfire evacuation computer model, a coastal hurricane wind simulation database and an artificial-intelligence earthquake resilience assessment technology.

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Raytheon BBN Wins DARPA Contract to Conceive and Realize AI-Powered Medical Device; Brian VanVoorst Quoted
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Raytheon BBN Wins DARPA Contract to Conceive and Realize AI-Powered Medical Device; Brian VanVoorst Quoted

A Raytheon Technologies subsidiary has been awarded a DARPA contract to design and construct an artificial intelligence-powered medical device for field use.

Scheduled to be ready for demonstration in 18 months, the Medical Assistance, Guidance, Instruction and Correction (MAGIC) tool is intended to aid combat field medics with 50 consequential skills and the key knowledge frequently needed for procedures, Raytheon BBN said Thursday.

Brian VanVoorst, a scientist at Raytheon BBN, said the tool could bolster order and efficiency for “challenging and chaotic” medical combat duties.

“Our goal for the Raytheon BBN MAGIC AI tool is to help support personnel to provide guidance as needed without disrupting their concentration,” VanVoorst continued.

Raytheon BBN will conceptualize and produce the tool in partnership with Valkyries Austere Medical Solutions. It will take the form of augmented reality goggles — via a consumer off-the-shelf product from DARPA — that utilize AI in order to analyze the medical situation at hand with visual and auditory sensors.

The headset will track alongside a medic’s physical progress and provide suggestions, notifications and helpful interventions that may prove life-saving. In order to properly equip MAGIC and mitigate any errors, the AI aspect will be trained via the introduction of data sets of over 2,500 videos with 3D data and almost 50 million images that will help sync the technology to understand the proper sequencing of procedures.

This training data will subsequently be made available to the research community.

In effect, MAGIC is aimed to empower field medics with more resources, focus and readily available information.

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