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DOD Taps MP Materials for Rare Earth Plant Construction Project
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DOD Taps MP Materials for Rare Earth Plant Construction Project

The Department of Defense has awarded MP Materials a $35 million contract to establish a facility for processing heavy rare earth elements on the company’s Mountain Pass mining site in California.

DOD said Tuesday the public-private partnership envisions a first-of-its-kind plant equipped with domestic technologies that would extract, separate and integrate HREE products into military and commercial applications.

“The primary applications for HREEs include permanent magnets used in products ranging from electric motors in electric vehicles – to the energy generators within wind turbines,” said Deborah Rosenblum, acting defense undersecretary for industrial base policy.

To date, the department has poured more than $100 million into efforts aimed at growing the country’s rare earth sector.

“This effort will enable new domestic industrial capacity, to improve supply chain resilience and to operationalize the policies in Executive Order 14017 on America’s Supply Chains,” said Andrew Hunter, acting defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment.

As part of the agreement, MP will aim to identify approaches to match the production costs of similar elements sold in the global market within a five-year period.

One future customer for the HREE processing services is automotive manufacturing company General Motors, which signed an agreement with MP in December for the supply of rare earth materials and magnets to help power electric motors.

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CISA Releases Advisory on Iran-Based Cyber Threat
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CISA Releases Advisory on Iran-Based Cyber Threat

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and its partners advise organizations to implement protective measures against an advanced persistent threat from Iran’s government.

The MuddyWater APT group — also known as Earth Vetala, Seedworm, MERCURY, Static Kitten and TEMP.Zagros — has performed malicious cyber acts to government and commercial entities across defense, telecommunications, oil and local sectors, CISA said Thursday.

MuddyWater operates as a subordinate component of Iran’s intelligence and security ministry, which has received the APT group’s support through broad cyber campaigns since approximately 2018, according to CISA.

CISA, the FBI, U.S. Cyber Command and the U.K.’s national cybersecurity center have observed the group’s activity in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

These agencies, as well as the National Security Agency, recommend organizations inspect for compromise indicators, employ antivirus tools, patch all systems, apply multi-factor authentication and train employees to recognize phishing attempts.

CISA used Mitre’s Adversarial Tactics, Techniques and Common Knowledge or ATT&CK framework to develop the advisory.

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DHS to Lead Conflict Readiness Coordination Amid Russia Tension
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DHS to Lead Conflict Readiness Coordination Amid Russia Tension

The Department of Homeland Security has been tasked to coordinate domestic preparedness efforts as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine develops.

President Biden gave this task to ensure federal unity and readiness in case of similar threats reaching the U.S. homeland, DHS said Thursday.

The department has created the Unified Coordination Group to keep federal, state, local, territorial and tribal agencies coordinated and united against potential homeland threats.

UCG will also coordinate with organizations from non-government and private sectors. DHS also recommends the use of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Shields Up webpage, a source of information on boosting cybersecurity.

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DOJ’s Matthew Olsen: National Security Division to Launch New Threat-Counter Strategy
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DOJ’s Matthew Olsen: National Security Division to Launch New Threat-Counter Strategy

Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said his team at the Department of Justice’s National Security Division will implement a new strategy for countering nation-state threats.

The new threat-driven strategy will focus on NSD’s current work and provide resources to tackle threats while maintaining flexibility, he said at an event with the National Security Institute in a statement shared Wednesday by the Justice Department.

“We are deploying this strategy to focus on those areas where the department’s authorities can have the most impact in combatting the greatest threats to our national security,” Olsen said.

The assistant attorney general noted that Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are increasing their capabilities to conduct malicious activities while seeking to compromise core U.S. institutions.

“Defending American institutions and values against these threats is a national security imperative and a priority for the department,” he stated.

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Deltek Reports $629B Spent on U.S. Federal Government Contracts in 2021; GovCon Expert Kevin Plexico Quoted
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Deltek Reports $629B Spent on U.S. Federal Government Contracts in 2021; GovCon Expert Kevin Plexico Quoted

Deltek’s GovWin IQ service tracked and tabulated U.S. federal government contract spending over the course of the 2021 fiscal year and has determined a $629 billion total, including a defense spending sum of $383 billion.

The total figure is an incremental step down from 2020’s federal government contract spending but a notable increase from 2019, the company said Thursday.

“2021 was again a strong year for federal contracting. While overall contract spending dipped slightly compared to 2020, several departments and market segments saw a significant increase in spending, especially from within civilian agencies,” observed GovCon Expert Kevin Plexico, senior vice president of Information Solutions at Deltek and three-time winner of the Wash100 Award.

Visit Wash100.com to cast a vote for Kevin Plexico as one of your TEN votes to advocate for your favorite leaders in the federal and government sectors.

The company reported that treasury spending on government contracts increased by 44 percent as a result of precious metal-related projects and spending by the interior increased at a 12 percent clip based on technological and infrastructure investments.

In addition, spending by the state department climbed 11 percent because of embassy construction and relocation task forces for Afghani refugees.

Defense spending was down nine percent from 2020’s $422 billion total, while the team at Deltek that runs the GovWin IQ platform found that civilian spending stayed almost the same, declining only a slight zero point eight percent from $248 billion to $246 billion.

Decreases in spending during 2021 as opposed to 2020 were reportedly due to COVID-19-related apprehensions among contract providers.

Defense decreases were mainly attributable to a waning in U.S. Navy contract spending, which had a large profile in 2020 but whose aircraft, ship and submarine programs dipped over the course of 2021. Deltek says all other military branches’ contract spending remained stable.

Agriculture and commerce sectors also experienced downturns in spending numbers for government contracts.

The source of the data, Deltek’s GovWin IQ platform, not only tracks contract award information but also assists companies in identifying new income and project opportunities through its algorithm and interface. The program underwent several notable upgrades and enhancements in 2021.

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GovCon Expert Emily Murphy Named to Board of Directors for Medical Properties Trust
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GovCon Expert Emily Murphy Named to Board of Directors for Medical Properties Trust

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. announced on Thursday that former GSA Administrator Emily Murphy, Senior Fellow with the Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University Business School, who serves as a partner of CEO Coaching International and is a key member of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Expert program, has joined the company’s board of directors.

Murphy, a three-time Wash100 Award recipient, was appointed as an independent member of MPT’s Board of Directors based on the unanimous recommendation from MPT’s Ethics, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Murphy will be nominated for re-election at the company’s annual meeting in May.

“We are pleased to add Emily’s superb understanding of transactional law and her deep experience managing the growth of large organizations to our board,” said Edward Aldag, Jr., MPT’s chairman, president and CEO.

During her tenure as the administrator for the General Services Administration (GSA) between 2017 through 2021, Murphy led a workforce of more than 11,000 federal employees and $75 billion in annual contracts.

Murphy increased GSA contract sales by over 36 percent, from $55 billion to $75 billion in three years. Revenues grew from $21.8 billion in FY 2017 to $29 billion in FY 2020, and customer agencies realized $21.6 billion in savings in three years.

In addition, GovCon Expert Emily Murphy led the agency to significantly increase its sales and reportedly saved federal agencies more than $20 billion over her four years in the role. The GSA also recorded the highest customer and employee satisfaction scores in the history of the GSA.

Most recently, Murphy joined CEO Coaching International in Sept. 2021 as its newest partner and coach. In her new role, she continues to utilize her experience in GovCon and federal agency leadership to coach growth-focused CEOs in optimizing their organizations’ performance.

“I am passionate about helping people and organizations fulfill their highest potential and achieve the greatest amount of success,” GovCon Expert Emily Murphy explained. “I’ve spent my career focused on delivering tangible results across a variety of industries, with a record of significantly increasing revenues, decreasing costs, and improving customer satisfaction.“

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IRS Ends Use of Third-Party Facial Recognition Software for Online Account Registration
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IRS Ends Use of Third-Party Facial Recognition Software for Online Account Registration

The Internal Revenue Service has dismissed its plans to require taxpayers to use a third-party facial recognition service to register for online accounts.

Taxpayers can now create online accounts without the use of facial recognition and any biometric data and instead verify their identity through a live virtual interview with agents, the agency said Monday.

The IRS noted that taxpayers will still be able to select the option to use ID.me’s self-assistance tool for automatic biometric data verification. Taxpayers’ images and biometric data will be deleted for the account being created.

The alternative sign-up verification process comes less than a month after the IRS announced its decision to transition away from using facial recognition software following concerns from taxpayers regarding their privacy and security.

The IRS said it working with the General Services Administration to finalize the rollout of Login.Gov as an authentication tool.

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U.S. Ambassador Eric Nelson to Join Marshall Center in Germany
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U.S. Ambassador Eric Nelson to Join Marshall Center in Germany

Eric Nelson, formerly the State Department’s ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, will serve as an associate director at the Germany-based George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.

The ambassador-in-residency will share the department’s perspective with the center to help the latter’s security partners address global, regional and transnational challenges, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Wednesday.

He led efforts to bolster economic prosperity and regional security during his time as the U.S. ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“I’m delighted to return to Bavaria and join the team at the Marshall Center to continue my commitment to leadership development, to once again contribute to strengthening the German-American partnership and to continue working on regional security in Europe and transnational threats,” Nelson said.

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Rep. Lori Trahan Proposes Bill to Oversee Digital Services
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Rep. Lori Trahan Proposes Bill to Oversee Digital Services

Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., has presented a new bill that would establish a Federal Trade Commission bureau dedicated to monitoring the digital services offered by companies online.

The Digital Services Oversight and Safety Act would create a bureau in charge of mandating transparency and risk assessment reports, annually reporting systemic risks, guiding trust and safety processes and protecting whistleblowers who present evidence of act violations, Trahan’s office said Tuesday.

The bureau would also perform other enforcement actions that promote the transparency of these services. A minimum of 500 employees would compose the bureau’s workforce of lawyers, technology experts and interdisciplinary professionals.

“The Digital Services Oversight and Safety Act will be a shot of expertise in the arms of enforcers and legislators alike, helping to inform comprehensive and long overdue updates to the laws that govern the internet,” Trahan said.

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NASA, Axiom Space to Preview 1st ISS Private Astronaut Mission
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NASA, Axiom Space to Preview 1st ISS Private Astronaut Mission

NASA and Axiom Space are scheduled Monday to offer a virtual preview of the company’s first mission to send four private astronauts to the International Space Station under an agreement signed in May 2021.

The multinational team for Axiom Mission 1 will fly on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule aboard the Falcon 9 rocket March 30 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency said Wednesday.

Ax-1 astronauts aim to conduct over 25 research experiments of health and science applications in microgravity within a 10-day period that includes staying on the orbiting laboratory for eight days.

The upcoming mission is part of NASA’s efforts to develop a commercial economy in low-Earth orbit and the agency is negotiating with Axiom Space on a mission order agreement for the second private astronaut mission that could occur between fall 2022 and late spring 2023.

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