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GSA’s Laura Stanton: 2nd-Gen IT BPA Transactions Reach Over 59K
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GSA’s Laura Stanton: 2nd-Gen IT BPA Transactions Reach Over 59K

The General Services Administration has processed more than 59,000 transactions under its Second Generation Information Technology blanket purchase agreements via the GSA Advantage! online shopping platform, according to GSA official Laura Stanton.

Forty-three agencies have used the governmentwide 2GIT vehicle and over $127 million in sales, or 74 percent of the total revenue, going to small businesses, the assistant commissioner for the Federal Acquisition Service’s Office of IT Category wrote in a blog post published Tuesday.

Stanton noted the program supports a diverse pool of more than 50 small-business partners. Her office has offered assistance and training sessions to over 800 customers worldwide, including Pacific and European Air Force units.

The training covers various aspects of the 2GIT acquisition program, best practices on market research and the procurement process through the GSA eCommerce portal, Stanton added.

She added the agency applies supply chain risk management principles to the BPA and has worked with industry partners to remove approximately 75,000 unauthorized offerings from the GSA Advantage! ordering system.

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NTT DATA Agrees to Buy Digital Design Company Umvel; Wayne Busch Quoted
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NTT DATA Agrees to Buy Digital Design Company Umvel; Wayne Busch Quoted

Information technology and consulting company NTT DATA has entered into an official agreement to acquire digital design and engineering organization Umvel.

The transaction is projected to close in the coming weeks and is susceptible to typical closing conditions, the Tokyo, Japan-based company said Tuesday.

Wayne Busch, president of the consulting and digital transformation group at NTT DATA Services, described Umvel’s added value as boosting the former’s digital engineering capabilities as well as its strategies to take project proposals from concept to execution.

Busch also said the buy was part of a desire to bring NTT DATA’s clientele first-rate digital services.

After the acquisition is complete, Umvel’s staff of over 140 will begin working under the NTT DATA umbrella. Its currently Mexico City-based team of designers and engineers specialize in high-end design and digital product development.

NTT DATA’s yearly $3.6 billion average of funds directed toward research and development will be opened up to Umvel’s customers and team members once ownership is locked down, as will its network of 5,000 international research personnel, along with the company’s six innovation facilities and Plano, Texas Innovation Studio, which concentrate on complex technology development.

“Joining the NTT DATA family of companies is a recognition of the excellence in digital product development we have strived for since our inception,” remarked Umvel CEO Jaime Reixach Arias, while Umvel Chief Strategy Officer Frank van de Ven predicted that together, they will assist customers to “excel in the digital economy.”

With this latest purchase, NTT DATA’s portfolio of digital design forces continues to grow. It has previously acquired Nexient and Postlight.

In March, the company signaled its intent to buy Detroit, Michigan-based digital transformation specialists Vectorform.

Such portfolio additions will help the company better realize assignments such as their September contract award from the Federal Communications Commission to offer application support services. This work will primarily be carried out by their subsidiary Net ESolutions.

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CISA’s Protective DNS Resolver Service Now Available to Federal Agencies
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CISA’s Protective DNS Resolver Service Now Available to Federal Agencies

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has announced the general availability of the Protective Domain Name System Resolver service designed to help federal government agencies safeguard their networks and devices against cyberthreats.

CISA said Tuesday the Protective DNS service protects users’ network connections to prevent them from reaching suspected malicious websites and provides better visibility into their internet traffic.

The service features modernized capabilities, including expanded coverage, enhanced threat intelligence, real-time alerts, increased visibility and accessibility and zero-trust alignment.

The availability of the service follows beta testing with limited partner agencies.

Federal civilian executive branch agencies can use Protective DNS, the latest offering from CISA’s Cybersecurity Shared Services Office, to keep up with the ever-evolving digital threat landscape.

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Equifax CISO Jamil Farshchi Named Strategic Engagement Adviser to FBI
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Equifax CISO Jamil Farshchi Named Strategic Engagement Adviser to FBI

Jamil Farshchi, executive vice president and chief information security officer at consumer credit reporting firm Equifax, has been appointed strategic engagement adviser to the FBI.

In this role, Farshchi will work with the law enforcement agency to address cybersecurity threats facing U.S. businesses by strengthening partnerships with the private sector, Equifax said Tuesday.

“Over the last four years, Equifax and the FBI have created a powerful blueprint for public-private partnership,” Farshchi said.

He noted that a collective effort between the private and public sectors will “improve information sharing, bolster corporate resilience, and strengthen national security.”

Farshchi previously held information security leadership roles at companies including Visa and government agencies including NASA and the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory.

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Deltek Releasing Webinar Series Detailing Top Federal Opportunities for FY 2023; GovCon Expert Kevin Plexico Quoted
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Deltek Releasing Webinar Series Detailing Top Federal Opportunities for FY 2023; GovCon Expert Kevin Plexico Quoted

Deltek announced on Tuesday that the company will be releasing an upcoming webinar series to highlight and present the potential 50 most impactful opportunities in the government contracting (GovCon) industry during the 2023 fiscal year.

The webinar entitled ‘Top Opportunities’ will explore the leading federal contracting opportunities for each fiscal year in order to educate government officials and sellers. The series is being produced by the Deltek Federal Market Analysis team and leverages data drawn from Deltek’s GovWin IQ database.

“GovWin has a long history of providing detailed analysis of these valuable contract opportunities, and our best-in-class research analysts have spent countless hours vetting these opportunities to provide the broadest and deepest opportunity research in the government contracting marketplace,” explained Kevin Plexico, senior vice president of Information Solutions for Deltek and a key member of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Expert program.

The series will feature a number of senior manager and directors from Deltek such as Kathleen Sievers, Shadi Shakibai, Rachel Doherty and Carey Webster. It will also cover opportunities across the federal sector, including those that are unrestricted, set-aside, professional services and federal AEC opportunities.

“If one of these unrestricted, small business set-aside, AEC or professional services opportunities is a good fit for your business, it’s more important than ever to take the time to understand these contract vehicles to ensure you are positioned for success,” said GovCon Expert Kevin Plexico, also a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient.

Deltek’s research has found that while federal government spending has continued to remain stable, consolidation has continued to be a major factor in the government. As a result, the opportunities available for businesses will become increasingly important for government sellers to research and properly identify the best-fit opportunities.

GovWin’s Top Federal Opportunities webinars will begin after the start of the 2023 fiscal year.

About Deltek 

Better software means better projects. Deltek is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for project-based businesses.

More than 30,000 organizations and millions of users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek for superior levels of project intelligence, management, and collaboration.

Our industry-focused expertise powers project success by helping firms achieve performance that maximizes productivity and revenue.

Army Stands Up New Command to Provide Global Counterintelligence Support
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Army Stands Up New Command to Provide Global Counterintelligence Support

The U.S. Army has activated a new command tasked with providing counterintelligence support that aligns with the Department of Defense modernization efforts.

The Army Counterintelligence Command conducts counterintelligence activities to identify and neutralize insider threats facing the Army and DOD forces worldwide, the service branch said Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Rhett Cox took over the responsibility of the ACIC as its first commanding general during a ceremony at the command’s headquarters at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland.

Cox, a graduate of Virginia Military Institute, was commissioned in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Corps and has been assigned to various military units, including the 10th Mountain Division, the 513th Military Intelligence Brigade and the 704th MI Brigade.

“Today’s military environment is defined by rapid technological change and intense strategic competition from our adversaries. We must do our part to ensure we are competing, imposing costs and shake our enemy’s belief that they can operate uncontested,” Cox said.

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DOD-Backed R&D Center for 6G Systems Launched at Northeastern University
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DOD-Backed R&D Center for 6G Systems Launched at Northeastern University

A Northeastern University institute has launched Open6G, a research hub that is focused on advancing sixth generation mobile networks and is supported by the Department of Defense.

The federal-industry-university cooperative facility seeks to drive research and development of beyond-5G systems through funding from the Innovate Beyond 5G program of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the university’s Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things said Tuesday.

Open6G is expected to be a center for R&D, demonstration and commercialization of open, programmable and disaggregated 6G applications. Studies will include mmWave and terahertz systems, Web 3.0, future spectrum access and exploitation, artificial intelligence and machine learning as well as augmented and virtual reality.

It will be headquartered at the university’s Burlington, Massachusetts innovation campus, near other technology facilities such as Colosseum, the biggest emulator of virtualized wireless systems in the world.

Some of WIoT’s industry partners for the initiative are Raytheon Technologies, Mitre, NVIDIA, Dell Technologies, AT&T, Dell Technologies and Red Hat.

“The Open6G Center will accelerate core beyond-5G protocol stack components that serve both DOD and commercial wireless requirements and applications,” said Sumit Roy, program director for Innovate Beyond 5G at OUSD(R&E).

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GAO Urges NNSA to Implement Cybersecurity Risk Management for Nuclear Weapons IT
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GAO Urges NNSA to Implement Cybersecurity Risk Management for Nuclear Weapons IT

The National Nuclear Security Administration should fully implement foundational cybersecurity practices to protect its digital environments from malicious actors, the Government Accountability Office said.

In a report released Thursday, GAO found that while NNSA has been digitizing and automating its services and equipment, there were gaps in the latter’s cybersecurity policies as well as those of its contractors and subcontractors.

Federal laws require the agency to follow six key principles to mitigate IT security risk. These include assigning risk management roles and responsibilities, establishing an organization-wide risk management strategy, and creating and maintaining cybersecurity program policies.

The government watchdog found that NNSA only partially implemented the foundational practices across its traditional IT, operational technology and nuclear weapons IT environments.

GAO’s audit came after a Senate committee called for a review of the NNSA’s cybersecurity “posture”. As a result, the office issued nine recommended actions, including involving the NNSA Office of Information Management in monitoring strategies, and revising and reviewing its baseline IT security program directive at least every three years.

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Iris Ferguson on DOD’s Move to Form Arctic Strategy & Global Resilience Office
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Iris Ferguson on DOD’s Move to Form Arctic Strategy & Global Resilience Office

The Department of Defense created an office to protect U.S. interests in the Arctic and Iris Ferguson, the newly appointed deputy assistant secretary for Arctic and global resilience at DOD, described the region as critical for homeland defense and power projection, DOD News reported Tuesday.

“It’s important to have an office like this now to try to start laying the groundwork for how we can best prepare ourselves and to know what the challenges of the future may be,” said Ferguson, formerly a senior adviser on Arctic and climate security issues for U.S. Air Force Futures.

“There might not be conflict now – and there hopefully will never be conflict in the Arctic – but we need to be prepared to operate there,” she added.

Ferguson said DOD is witnessing coastal erosion and other geophysical changes that have an impact on its radar sites and other infrastructure and operations and is working to mitigate problems related to melting permafrost foundations.

Ferguson mentioned geopolitical activities by strategic competitors like Russia and China in the Arctic and the U.S. defense strategy in the region.

“The priorities for that defense strategy are in protecting the homeland, ensuring that our national interests are safeguarded and protected, and working with nations on shared challenges,” Ferguson said. “The overarching goal is to ensure we maintain peace and stability in the region.”

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House Lawmakers Ask FCC to Delay Consideration of Potential Orbital Debris Mitigation Rules
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House Lawmakers Ask FCC to Delay Consideration of Potential Orbital Debris Mitigation Rules

A group of bipartisan House lawmakers sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission to postpone consideration of potential rules to mitigate the risk of orbital space debris at its upcoming meeting on Thursday.

“As leaders of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, we understand the importance of supporting a safe, sustainable space environment. However, we are concerned that the Commission’s proposal to promulgate rules on this matter could create uncertainty and potentially conflicting guidance,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter dated Tuesday.

According to the letter, the FCC does not have clear congressional authority to implement regulations with regard to orbital debris mitigation and NASA is tasked with reviewing the country’s standards and practices for such matters.

Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas; Frank Lucas, R-Okla.; Don Beyer, D-Va.; and Brian Babin, R-Texas, signed the Sept. 27 letter, which was addressed to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

Johnson and Lucas respectively serve as chairwoman and ranking member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. Beyer acts as chairman and Babin as ranking member of the House subcommittee on space and aeronautics.

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