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Latest GMU Center for Government Contracting Paper Discusses AI, Predictive Maintenance Military Usage; GovCon Expert Jerry McGinn Quoted
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Latest GMU Center for Government Contracting Paper Discusses AI, Predictive Maintenance Military Usage; GovCon Expert Jerry McGinn Quoted

GovCon Expert Jerry McGinn, a two-time Wash100 Award winner, has revealed the publication of the newest white paper from George Mason University’s Center for Government Contracting.

Entitled, “Don’t Get Ahead of the Data: Artificial Intelligence and Predictive Maintenance in United States Department of Defense,” the study explores the advantages and adjustments that come with applying AI technologies in military settings, McGinn explained in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday.

“The trajectory is promising, but the complexity and heterogeneity of maintenance data and numerous other factors make it clear that the utilization of AI/ML techniques in this area requires continued iteration and user feedback,” GovCon Expert McGinn elaborated.

Alongside McGinn, the white paper was co-authored by GMU CGC Senior Fellows Benjamin McMartin and Richard Beutel. McMartin is also a managing partner at Public Spend Forum and Beutel is a managing principal and founder of government market strategy and legislative advisory firm Cyrrus Analytics.

In the paper, McMartin, Beutel and McGinn detail how improved data sets, refined algorithms and strengthened tools have caused predictive maintenance strategies to blossom. The authors additionally put forward their suggestions on data, metrics, prioritization and establishing faith in maintenance systems, aiming to help the DOD achieve their implementation goals.

You can read the white paper here and, if interested, register for a webinar on the subject occurring July 14, hosted by McGinn and special guests.

The predictive maintenance-focused white paper follows the May publication of the GMU CGC’s last white paper edition, which discussed responsible approaches to artificial intelligence-based data licensing.

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Curtiss-Wright Adds Aircraft Emergency System Capabilities to Arsenal with Safran Aerosystems Buy
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Curtiss-Wright Adds Aircraft Emergency System Capabilities to Arsenal with Safran Aerosystems Buy

Curtiss-Wright Corporation has finalized its $240 million, all-cash purchase of fixed-wing aircraft emergency system manufacturer Safran Aerosystems Arresting Company.

The acquisition is positioned to expand the market reach of Curtiss-Wright’s services, given that SAA conducts the majority of its business internationally, including to many NATO allies, the Davidson, North Carolina-headquartered company said Tuesday.

Lynn Bamford, CEO and president of Curtiss-Wright, shared that the buy bolsters the company’s ability to meet defense clients’ needs for the maintenance of equipment such as the F-35 and said SAA’s offerings are “a logical extension to our existing helicopter landing and recovery systems.”

“SAA’s critical safety systems have a strong alignment to our strategic priorities,” Bamford, who is a previous recipient of the Wash100 Award, concluded.

With over 5,000 systems produced for customers in over 70 countries, SAA brings an established track record of global sales to Curtiss-Wright. The former company is also historically significant for its development of the premier aircraft arresting system in 1960. In addition to this technology, SAA’s team furnishes aircrafts with energy absorbers, retractable hook cable systems and net-stanchion systems, as well as mobile systems for aircraft carriers.

Through the acquisition, Curtiss-Wright is gaining SAA’s staff of almost 140 and production facilities in Aston, Pennsylvania and Merpins, France. It will be absorbed by Curtiss-Wright’s Naval & Power business arm and is aimed to ameliorate revenue — SAA’s 2021 sales amounted to around $70 million and its accretive addition to Curtiss-Wright’s adjusted diluted earnings per share is expected to result in a free cash flow conversion rate that exceeds 100 percent.

The completion of the SAA acquisition follows Curtiss-Wright’s appointment of Bamford to chair its board in May, succeeding David Adams.

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US to Provide $820M in Additional Military Aid to Ukraine; Antony Blinken Quoted
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US to Provide $820M in Additional Military Aid to Ukraine; Antony Blinken Quoted

The U.S. government will provide an additional $820 million in military assistance to support Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion.

J. Todd Breasseale, deputy assistant to the secretary for public affairs at DOD, said in an announcement published Friday the latest security assistance package includes $50 million in assistance through the use of a presidential drawdown authority and $770 million in funds from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

The assistance is the fourteenth drawdown of military equipment from the Pentagon’s inventories and consists of additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems.

The Pentagon will also procure two National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, up to 150,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition and four additional counter-artillery radars through the USAI program.

The additional funds bring the total U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to approximately $7.6 billion since the beginning of the Biden administration.

Antony Blinken, secretary of the State Department and a 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, said in a separate announcement that the U.S. government continues to stand by the Ukraine government and its citizens to maintain their independence, security and territorial integrity.

“Our commitment to the Ukrainian people will not waver, and we will continue to stand united with Ukraine,” Blinken added.

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Office of Naval Research Taps Nakupuna for Award Management System Maintenance Support
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Office of Naval Research Taps Nakupuna for Award Management System Maintenance Support

Nakupuna Solutions has secured a seven-year, $24 million contract to help the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research maintain a computer system for managing awards given to universities and nonprofit organizations.

The company will administer payments, review purchasing methods and support indirect cost negotiations for ONR through the Contract/Grant Award Management Information System, the Department of Defense said Friday.

CAMIS is designed to help the ONR University Business Affairs monitor the spending of grant funds and also supports tracking of other awards delegated by DOD from issuance to the closeout process.

The first task order under the sole-source, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract is valued at $3.1 million.

Nakupuna Solutions is a Native Hawaiian Organization-owned small business that offers management consulting, business analytics and IT system design services to the government sector.

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Vectrus, Vertex Company Complete Merger to Form Global Mission Services Company V2X; CEO Chuck Prow Quoted
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Vectrus, Vertex Company Complete Merger to Form Global Mission Services Company V2X; CEO Chuck Prow Quoted

Vectrus has closed its transaction to merge with fellow defense and aerospace contractor the Vertex Company, together forming the new company V2X Inc.

The business combination is intended to yield an enterprise offering wide-ranging national security and technology modernization services to defense, civilian and international customers, the newly formed organization said Tuesday.

“We created a company with the scale and ability to compete for large integrated business opportunities by providing full life-cycle support across the converged environment,” commented Chuck Prow, the former CEO of Vectrus and eight-time Wash100 Award winner who is now CEO of V2X.

The converged environment Prow mentions is an element carried over from Vectrus that was introduced earlier this year. The concept aims to offer a unified physical and digital approach to address U.S. Department of Defense technological and operational needs. V2X’s team will perform services in operations and logistics, aerospace, training and technology.

The 11-member board of directors of V2X are populated by six Vectrus-appointed figures and five Vertex-assigned executives. Melvin Parker, Eric Pillmore, Chuck Prow, Stephen Waechter, Phillip Widman and Chairman Mary Howell are Vectrus’ instatements, while Vertex elected Ed Boyington, Dino Cusumano, Lee Evangelakos, Joel Rotroff and Neil Snyder.

V2X will inherit responsibilities such as the $250 million task order from the U.S. Army awarded to Vectrus for logistics support in February. Work under the contract will potentially extend through December 2026.

As a result of the merger’s finalization, prior Vertex stockholders now retain about 62 percent of V2X and past Vectrus investors own approximately 38 percent of the new company’s common stock. The transaction’s close moved 18.6 million shares of Vectrus common stock to Vertex shareholders. V2X’s stock will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “VVX,” effective July 8.

Vectrus was financially advised by Goldman Sachs & Co., with additional advisement by Ernst & Young and Wolf Den Associates, while Vertex received financial appraisal from RBC Capital Markets, LLC and Evercore, with additional advisement from Fairmont Consulting Group.

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Robert Costello: CISA Poised to Secure Procurement Authority
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Robert Costello: CISA Poised to Secure Procurement Authority

Robert Costello, chief information officer at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said CISA’s component acquisition executive is set to receive its initial procurement authority in early July and that the agency will operate with its own contract specialists, Federal News Network reported Monday.

“There’s a lot of work to do internally just on our own identity and culture,” Costello said. “Now we’re a component of equal rank to [the Transportation Security Administration] or CBP, so we’re developing our own culture here as well.”

According to CISA’s website, David Patrick, the agency’s chief acquisition executive, oversees the realignment of CISA’s procurement and acquisition initiatives and the transformation of the office of chief acquisition executive.

Budget documents indicate that CISA is seeking $6.2 million in funds for fiscal year 2023 to hire 50 personnel to form a procurement team within the office of the chief acquisition executive.

The new team will work with other CISA programs and divisions to help streamline procurement planning and implementation and identify and use existing contractual methodologies to meet the needs of end users, according to justification documents.

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Department of the Navy Holds Tabletop Exercise for Reducing Threat of Climate Change
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Department of the Navy Holds Tabletop Exercise for Reducing Threat of Climate Change

The Department of the Navy has conducted a tabletop exercise to prepare military and industry partners for the implementation of the recently released climate strategy.

DON said Wednesday war game experts at the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab created the scenario used in the Climate Tabletop Exercise held at Marine Barracks Washington to evaluate climate change impacts on warfighter readiness.

The scenario was sent in October 2030 when a typhoon disrupts an amphibious exercise between the Navy and a partner nation in the Western Indo-Pacific area of responsibility.

Representatives from the Department of Defense, Congress, federal agencies, think tanks, private companies and non-governmental organizations participated in the tabletop exercise to examine how to put the Climate Action 2030 into action.

The strategy, which was unveiled in May, is aimed at building a climate-ready force by reducing the threat of climate change on mission, readiness and warfighting capacity.

“The Navy and Marine Corps must address climate change in our readiness and operations in order to maintain every advantage to fight and win,” said Meredith Berger, assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment.

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Tyler Technologies Justice, Public Safety Platforms Adopted by Central Ohio County
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Tyler Technologies Justice, Public Safety Platforms Adopted by Central Ohio County

Two Fairfield County, Ohio government institutions have selected public sector-serving software development company Tyler Technologies to install programs intended to streamline their information systems.

Fairfield County Probate and Juvenile Court has opted to utilize Tyler’s Enterprise Justice suite and the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office has decided to operate Tyler’s Enterprise Public Safety suite, the Plano, Texas-based company said June 14.

“The [Fairfield County] courts and sheriff’s office are already doing impressive work serving their constituents, and we are excited to help them increase efficiency, improve processes, and help their staff focus on the most crucial tasks,” shared Rusty Smith, president of Tyler’s justice group.

The Columbus suburb’s sheriff’s office has elected to introduce programs from Tyler’s Enterprise Public Safety arsenal to establish a more functional streamlined workflow and functional dispersal of information throughout the department. The programs are designed to enable secure and precise resources for dispatchers, first responders and command staff while maintaining the office’s compliance with state and federal legislature.

Meanwhile, the company’s Enterprise Justice and Enterprise Supervision platforms will replace a legacy case management apparatus at the Probate and Juvenile Court that has aged out of its usefulness. With Tyler’s programs’ implementation, the court hopes to increase the effectiveness of its case management, render its daily functions more efficient and handle supervision protocols and pretrial procedures in a more economical fashion.

“Deploying the solutions in the cloud gives us the added benefits of less strain on our internal IT resources and knowing we’re always receiving the latest software updates,” explained Fairfield County Probate and Juvenile Court Judge Terre Vandervoort.

Tyler Technologies’ new agreement at these central Ohio locations marks the 11th Ohio county to take up the Enterprise Public Safety platform and the sixth Ohio court jurisdiction to embrace the Enterprise Justice programs.

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EUCOM Names Gen. Christopher Cavoli Commander; Lloyd Austin Quoted
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EUCOM Names Gen. Christopher Cavoli Commander; Lloyd Austin Quoted

Gen. Christopher Cavoli, former commanding general of the U.S. Army’s Europe and Africa divisions, has been sworn in to lead the U.S. European Command.

The new appointment was commemorated in a ceremony at Patch Barracks, Germany on Friday, where Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin passed the American flag from predecessor General Tod Wolters to Cavoli to symbolize the transition, USEUCOM said.

“General Cavoli is exceptionally well-prepared to further strengthen NATO’s posture on its Eastern Flank—and to help forge a truly 21st-century security architecture for Europe,” Austin effused.

Austin, who is a two-time recipient of the Wash100 Award, also expressed confidence in the timing of Cavoli’s instatement and in the viability of his skill set and experience.

Across his over three-decade military career, Cavoli has occupied posts such as director for Russia on the Joint Staff and Major General, with additional deployments in Bosnia and Afghanistan.

Cavoli has served as a foreign area officer fluent in Italian, Russian and French. He has garnered awards and recognitions such as the Army Distinguished Service Medal with one bronze oak leaf cluster, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with three service stars.

The general has earned fellowships at National Defense University, the George C. Marshall Center for European Security Studies and the Army Chief of Staff’s Strategic Studies Group.

In succeeding Wolters as commander, Cavoli is inheriting a position that has endured a trying few years, a span including Russia’s unsubstantiated invasion of Ukraine as well as Operation Allies Refuge/Welcome and Afghanistan’s non-combatant evacuation.

During the Patch Barracks ceremony, Austin commended Wolters’ accomplishments as noteworthy and “historic,” adding, “you’re meeting Russian aggression with unity, with spine, and with steel.”

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GovCon Expert Mark Amtower: Building Your Subject Matter Expert Platform
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GovCon Expert Mark Amtower: Building Your Subject Matter Expert Platform

Mark Amtower, a managing partner of advisory firm Amtower & Co. and a member of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Expert program, recently posted his most recent featured article via LinkedIn to discuss how to build a platform to establish credibility as a subject matter expert (SME) in the government space.

More specifically, GovCon Expert Mark Amtower detailed his more than three decades of work to become a SME in the government market, which includes producing 100 events and conferences as well as writing over 700 articles on various aspects of GovCon across multiple publications and has been quoted in 250 publications worldwide over his more than 38 years of experience.

“You cannot be a recognized industry expert unless and until the industry at large knows who you are. The industry keeps growing, adding new people, and each of us needs to work hard to maintain, much less grow, our name recognition in the market,” GovCon Expert Mark Amtower explained.

Amtower also strongly emphasized that importance for government contractors to take control of the visibility process and offered to work with a handful of people to provide direct coaching and specific deliverables.

“Why do I work at staying on the radar? It opens doors. Many people in GovCon already know my name. It leads to keeping the pipeline full. It helps close business,” GovCon Expert Mark Amtower added.

Click here to read the full article from GovCon Expert Mark Amtower.

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