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Sancorp to Support DOD AI Endeavors Under $250M BPA; President Frank Sanchez Quoted
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Sancorp to Support DOD AI Endeavors Under $250M BPA; President Frank Sanchez Quoted

Sancorp Consulting has landed a spot on a potential five-year, $250 million blank purchase agreement from the Department of Defense to administer test and evaluation support.

The Falls Church, Virginia-based company said Wednesday that it is under agreement to offer artificial intelligence-based services, including machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision and robotics, among others.

Sancorp founder and President Frank Sanchez said the company is excited to build on their support of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center and the DoD more broadly via AI T&E.

“We look forward to this continued partnership with the DoD to support our warfighters and ensure that the U.S. smartly leverages AI to outperform our adversaries,” Sanchez said.

The current award follows a previous JAIC and DoD award for Sancorp, announced in April 2021. That contract is a $100 million Artificial Intelligence Talent BPA that funds work with cognitive and systems engineering, operations research and user experience design.

The services Sancorp routinely provides to DoD clients include counterintelligence and security, in addition to insider threat and identity operations. They have working relationships with the U.S. Army, the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security and the DoD Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.

Sancorp has recently formulated a Solutions Lab that is primed for work on artificial intelligence projects such as the work mandated by their recent BPAs.

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GAO Reviews VA EHR Data Migration Initiative
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GAO Reviews VA EHR Data Migration Initiative

The Government Accountability Office has found problems with the quality of electronic health data migrated to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ new records system that could pose risks to patient safety and jeopardize the accuracy, appropriateness and accessibility of information.

GAO said in a report published Tuesday VA transferred health data from its legacy systems to Cerner’s new electronic health records system as part of its EHR modernization program but risks to patient safety were identified during the initial deployment of the new system due to incomplete data migration.

The challenges were, in part, due to a failure to establish performance measures and goals for migrated data quality.

“Until VA uses such measures and goals to better ensure the quality of migrated data, the department could deploy a new EHR system that does not meet clinicians’ needs and poses risks to the continuity of patient care,” the report reads.

Moreover, VA started maintaining reporting capabilities and delivering new ones from the new system without identifying and engaging all key stakeholders.

The congressional watchdog has recommended that VA set performance measures and goals to ensure data quality and use a stakeholder register to improve the identification and engagement of all relevant stakeholders.

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NASA to Launch Educational CubeSats on Feb. 5th
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NASA to Launch Educational CubeSats on Feb. 5th

NASA plans to send two pairs of CubeSats into orbit on Feb. 5 as part of Astra Space‘s first operational satellite launch.

The satellites represent the space agency’s 41st mission under the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites or ELaNa initiative, Jason Costa wrote in a NASA blog post published Tuesday.

Astra’s Rocket 3.3 launch vehicle will carry the four CubeSats from Florida-based Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, under the Venture Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 contract. NASA awarded a total of $16.7 million to Astra and two other companies in 2020 for the VCLS 2 program.

The launch will also mark the first VCLS mission from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 46.

ELaNa aims to boost the interest of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics areas. The new ELaNa CubeSats will perform demonstrations and scientific investigations in the areas of space weather, rapid spacecraft deorbiting, quantum gyroscopes and in-space inspection.

BAMA-1, one of the CubeSat missions, will demonstrate a drag sail technology designed to rapidly deorbit a satellite.

Participants of the 41st ELaNa mission are:

  • Johnson Space Center
  • University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • New Mexico State University, Las Cruces
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Dell, Intel Back AI Incubator Program for Community Colleges
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Dell, Intel Back AI Incubator Program for Community Colleges

The American Association of Community Colleges has partnered with Dell Technologies and Intel to help educational institutions set up physical, virtual or hybrid laboratories where students can learn about artificial intelligence and develop their digital skills.

AACC said Tuesday its AI Incubator Network initiative with the two technology companies aims to provide one-year, $40,000 grants to 10 eligible colleges.

For its part, Dell intends to offer technical assistance for the configuration of labs equipped with AI computing tools and educational materials.

Intel pledged to share the curriculum from its AI for Workforce program to teach students about model training, data analytics, natural language processing, model training and other lessons related to the technology.

The association expects its new initiative to support the nationwide expansion of Intel’s program, which has signed 31 participating schools in 18 U.S. states since its inception in 2020.

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SambaNova Systems GPT Training Program Earns High Marks; CEO Rodrigo Liang and SVP Marshall Choy Quoted
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SambaNova Systems GPT Training Program Earns High Marks; CEO Rodrigo Liang and SVP Marshall Choy Quoted

Palo Alto, California-based software company SambaNova Systems has demonstrated best-in-its-class numbers for speed and performance of GPT training.

The company, whose programs specialize in artificial intelligence applications, announced Tuesday that its Dataflow-as-a-Service GPT training software has been exercising 2.1x faster performance than its competitors.

“The reality is, ultimately these metrics don’t matter the most. At SambaNova, we measure success by the value we deliver for our customers, who are achieving real, transformational business impact from AI, today,” said Marshall Choy, SambaNova Systems senior vice president of product.

SambaNova says its customers are additionally rewarded by the program’s low-code/no-code API interfaces, its boosted speed of completion via elimination of complexities and its fast-paced time to train and throughput.

“SambaNova’s DaaS offering delivers what organizations want – the ability to deploy state-of-the-art deep learning capabilities to solve real business problems in weeks, not months or years,” said Rodrigo Liang, SambaNova Systems CEO.

According to Dan Fagella, CEO and head of research at Emerj Artificial Intelligence Research, AI technologies have made sizable gains in prominence for regular workplaces in the last four years.

Fagella says that as AI technologies become a focal point for business strategies, workloads and work life are going to see major shifts. Programs like Dataflow-as-a-Service and others like it, such as those offered by Nvidia, are seeing a similar increase in usage.

Echoing this, in survey results released in January 2022, SambaNova said that about 78 percent of companies have deemed AI and machine learning as significant revenue drivers for the next year.

In November 2021, the company also began accepting applications for an AI membership program called ELEVAITE that aims to provide guidance and support on companies beginning their AI programs. Dataflow-as-a-Service will most likely play a role in such training.

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Axiom Space Astronauts Approved by NASA for Inaugural Private ISS Mission; VP of BD Michael López-Alegría Quoted
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Axiom Space Astronauts Approved by NASA for Inaugural Private ISS Mission; VP of BD Michael López-Alegría Quoted

Crew members poised to take flight in Axiom Space’s inaugural private astronaut mission to the International Space Station have been approved by NASA and its international affiliates.

Axiom Vice President of Business Development Michael López-Alegría will be mission commander of Axiom Mission 1 or Ax-1, while Larry Connor will pilot the craft and Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe will act as mission specialists, the space infrastructure developer announced on Wednesday.

López-Alegría, who is a former NASA astronaut, reports he is proud of the training the team has gone through to prepare for traveling to and performing research at the International Space Station.

He added that he is “glad to see them meet the standards required of all astronauts flying to station since Expedition 1. Ax-1 is focused on a huge amount of science and outreach activities, and we look forward now to finalizing that flight program.”

The four Axiom Space astronauts will be spending eight days aboard the ISS conducting a mix of science, education and commercial duties.

Axiom has said the crew will also be participating in an ISS U.S. National Laboratory-sponsored study regarding microgravity. Other activities are still under review and will be approved leading up to launch.

The crew is expected to take off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 30 on a tested SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, flying the route to and from the space station in Crew Dragon Endeavour.

Axiom Space has thus far been a key player in NASA’s goal to establish a low-Earth orbit economy. There are approved plans already underway for a second Axiom-led private astronaut mission and in January 2020 Axiom was chosen by NASA to conceive and realize commercial modules to attach to the ISS.

NASA’s ultimate goal is to create a sustainable commercial marketplace in low-Earth orbit that can be used as a training ground for deep space missions as well as facilitate trade and government transactions with a variety of customers.

Axiom Space Astronauts Approved by NASA for Inaugural Private ISS Mission; VP of BD Michael López-Alegría Quoted

If you’re interested in this topic, make sure to check out ExecutiveBiz’s upcoming event, the Dual-Use Technology in Space Defense Forum.

At this event, you’ll hear conversations and probing lines of questioning about how to the U.S. Space Force and private sector companies are attempting to create a viable industrial base in the space domain through dual-use technology with competing military and commercial appeal.

Click here to register for the forum now!

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Joseph Chapa Promoted to Chief Responsible AI Ethics Officer at Air Force
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Joseph Chapa Promoted to Chief Responsible AI Ethics Officer at Air Force

Joseph Chapa, lead for Air Staff’s artificial intelligence cross-functional team since July 2021, took on a new role as chief responsible AI ethics officer at the Department of the Air Force, FedScoop reported Tuesday.

The USAF lieutenant colonel previously served as staff officer at AF Warfighting Integration Capability, an organization responsible for identifying investment opportunities to expand the service’s warfighting capability portfolio.

Chapa logged more than 1,400 pilot hours, supported several military combat and humanitarian missions, and earned a PhD from the University of Oxford, according to his official website.

His appointment comes more than two months after the Defense Innovation Unit released Responsible AI Guidelines in a move to help the Department of Defense apply ethical principles of the technology to prototyping and acquisition programs with industry partners.

Joseph Chapa Promoted to Chief Responsible AI Ethics Officer at Air Force

Our sister site GovCon Wire is scheduled to host its 2nd Annual Air Force IT: Plans and Priorities Forum on March 9. Lauren Knausenberger, chief information officer at the Department of the Air Force and a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient, will headline the event to overview information technology initiatives for the Air and Space Forces. Visit the GovCon Wire Events page to sign up for the upcoming forum.

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Noblis Taps Bowhead to Market RunAcquisitions Program, Streamline Transactions; SVP Mile Corrigan Quoted
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Noblis Taps Bowhead to Market RunAcquisitions Program, Streamline Transactions; SVP Mile Corrigan Quoted

Science, technology and strategy services company Noblis has chosen Bowhead Cybersecurity Solutions to market its RunAcquisitions program.

The company announced Wednesday that Bowhead, which specializes in cyber technology within a stable of technical and professional services, will be a licensed reseller for the government transaction software.

“Bowhead has a strong presence within the federal government and specifically within the Department of Defense. This agreement will help significantly expand our presence and mission impacts in that area,” said Mile Corrigan, senior vice president of Noblis.

RunAcquisitions operates by facilitating interactions between vendor and government parties throughout the acquisition timeline. It guides users from application submission to task order close-out, striving to make the process more efficient while processing both smaller and governmentwide contracts.

The software also aims to be customizable based on a given contract and agency’s needs as well as delegate workloads to certain participants.

Mike Hundley, senior vice president of UIC Government Services, an organization of which Bowhead is a member, said Noblis and Bowhead were already collaborating to bring the product to customers prior to the deal. Hundley says the deal cements a fruitful partnership.

ExecutiveBiz recently conducted an interview with Mile Corrigan, where she discussed IT modernization efforts, her goals at Noblis and the launch of the company’s latest program, RunGrants.

In the interview, Corrigan said, “we’re also working to develop smart product integrations that meet the speed, scale and mission requirements at both the agency and enterprise level. Ultimately, Noblis’ objective is for our customers to feel like they hit the ‘easy’ button when working with us.”

This statement of purpose speaks to Noblis’ intentions with a program like RunAcquisitions.

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Air Force’s Luke Cropsey: FMS Enterprise to Undergo Digital Revolution in 2022
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Air Force’s Luke Cropsey: FMS Enterprise to Undergo Digital Revolution in 2022

Brig. Gen. Luke Cropsey, director of the Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate, is expecting the service’s Foreign Military Sales enterprise to experience a digital revolution in 2022, the Air Force Materiel Command reported Tuesday.

Cropsey, the Air Force’s FMS lead, stated that the data visualization and analytics capability and enterprise case portal developed in early 2019 will expand ubiquitous access and data transparency in FMS business systems in the following years.

DVA combines FMS data sources into a single feed for executive analysis and decision making, while ECP serves as a one-stop-shop for storing and sharing FMS case documents.

The two capabilities, Cropsey pointed out, are helping the Air Force change its workforce from its reactive posture to a proactive one in which the service could quickly respond to its partners’ requirements.

Aside from digitalization, the general is also eying the integration of FMS and acquisition operations in 2022, a milestone he said would improve synergy in personnel training and cross-flowing while minimizing overhead for meeting new defense FMS requirements.

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Lawmakers Push Congressional Leadership to Extend Pandemic Telehealth Authorities
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Lawmakers Push Congressional Leadership to Extend Pandemic Telehealth Authorities

A bipartisan group of 45 Senate and House members has urged congressional leaders to extend telehealth authorities as the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic remains indefinite.

In a joint letter published Friday, the lawmakers said Congress should ensure the government spending package they must pass this month will include expanded coverage of technology-based care and offer access certainty for Medicare beneficiaries.

“An extension of the telehealth authorities would provide assurance that the investments will be sustainable over the long term. It would also reassure patients that their care will not end abruptly,” the letter states.

The lawmakers noted an extension would give stakeholders more time to conduct an analysis of telehealth impact data and produce information that may guide Congress’ next legislative actions on the matter.

They added that more than 170 members of Congress support the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies for Health Act.

The missive was addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

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