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ManTech Lands $118M Navy Contract to Offer ISR Support to Unmanned Aircrafts; EVP David Hathaway Quoted
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ManTech Lands $118M Navy Contract to Offer ISR Support to Unmanned Aircrafts; EVP David Hathaway Quoted

Information technology company ManTech has won a five-year, $118 million contract from the U.S. Navy to apply their technological services to unmanned aircraft systems.

The contract is offered by the Naval Surface Warfare Center and expects ManTech to support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in aircraft systems such as the MQ-4C Triton, the company announced Tuesday.

“Under this important recompete win, our aim is to ensure battle-space dominance at speed across the full range of combat scenarios,” said David Hathaway, executive vice president and general manager of ManTech’s defense sector.

Hathaway also emphasized intelligent systems engineering as a key proficiency in ManTech’s toolbox.

NSWC’s contract will see ManTech employing model-based systems engineering alongside the company’s cyber range environment, ACRE. ManTech’s work will also utilize electro-optical infrared sensors that bolster vision in any light condition.

The project comes as part of the Department of Defense Information Analysis Center’s multiple award contract vehicle.

It arrives on the heels of an $88 million task order under which ManTech is providing test and evaluation support to Navy weapons and combat systems. That contract is also a product of the Naval Surface Warfare Center and was announced in January 2022.

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SBA Announces February Deadline for Targeted EIDL Advance Program Reevaluation Requests
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SBA Announces February Deadline for Targeted EIDL Advance Program Reevaluation Requests

The Small Business Administration has announced that small businesses that were declined for the Targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance program can submit requests for reevaluation.

The Targeted EIDL Advance program was introduced to provide additional financial help to small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and provides applicants up to $10,000 in funding that does not need to be repaid, SBA said Tuesday.

Applicants should be located in a low-income community, have 300 or fewer employees and can demonstrate a reduction of more than 30 percent in revenue during an eight-week period starting on March 2, 2020, or later.

Submissions of reassessment requests are due Feb. 15th. Under the current administration, the Targeted Advance program has distributed approximately $5 billion to nearly 600,000 small businesses, especially those in underserved communities.

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Experts Share Insights on New Cybersecurity Questions in FY 2022 CIO FISMA Metrics
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Experts Share Insights on New Cybersecurity Questions in FY 2022 CIO FISMA Metrics

Cybersecurity experts shared their thoughts on new questions and items outlined in fiscal year 2022 chief information officer metrics, including the document’s increased focus on multifactor authentication and encryption, Federal News Network reported Monday.

In December, the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency released the FY 2022 CIO metrics to assess agencies’ efforts to improve their cybersecurity posture under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014.

Grant Schneider, senior director of cybersecurity services at Venable and former federal chief information security officer, acknowledged the document’s emphasis on MFA methods that are resistant to phishing.

“If I were to consult with an organization, and they could only do one thing, that would be the thing,” he said of phishing-resistant MFA. “Encryption is also really important, being able to be sure that your information is secure while it’s inside the environment.”

Chris DeRusha, federal chief information security officer and a previous Wash100 Award winner, said penetration testing, blue teaming, vulnerability disclosure programs and other new items in the FY 22 metrics are “getting to a greater focus on capabilities that are leading to observable security outcomes.”

“We need to make sure that we’re emphasizing the growth of these capabilities,” said DeRusha. “And that’s a lot of what the metrics are doing is first taking a temperature of where agencies actually at with those so we can understand what we may need to do as interventions to help them support the build out of this capabilities.

The metrics in the document have been updated to reflect some of the priorities and requirements outlined in the cybersecurity executive order released in May 2021. Meanwhile, House lawmakers recently introduced a bipartisan bill to update FISMA as part of efforts to improve the federal government’s defenses against cyberattacks.

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NIST Seeks Members for NICE Career Guidance Project Teams
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NIST Seeks Members for NICE Career Guidance Project Teams

The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education seeks members for five project teams that will work on career guidance efforts in cybersecurity.

The teams will consist of NICE community members who will perform implementation activities that support the initiative’s strategic plan, the National Institute of Standards and Technology said Friday.

The first project team will work to increase understanding of multiple cybersecurity pathways included in the NICE Framework.

The second team will help NICE boost the availability and quality of cybersecurity credentials including certifications and diplomas. The third team will support multidisciplinary approaches to integrating cybersecurity into a wide range of curricula.

The fourth and fifth teams will work on career entry guidance for employers and job seekers, respectively. These teams will foster the creation of entry-level opportunities that allow for early career growth in the cybersecurity industry.

The projects will occur for six months through the end of summer this year.

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Army Office Accepts 2nd Long-Range Radar for Scanning Moving Targets
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Army Office Accepts 2nd Long-Range Radar for Scanning Moving Targets

The U.S. Army’s Project Director Sensors-Aerial Intelligence office received in December its second long-range radar system for detecting moving two targets across long distances from the air.

The newly delivered Long Range Radar-Enhanced technology will be installed on the Army’s Airborne Reconnaissance Low-Enhanced aircraft to support various intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, the service branch’s Program Executive Officer Intelligence Electronic Warfare & Sensors said Friday.

Developed by Northrop Grumman, the LRR-E features Ground Moving Target Indications, Dismount Moving Target Indications and synthetic aperture radar capabilities to scan for both large and small targets in the X band frequency.

The radar system also comes with a non-mechanical antenna that Bryan Farley, LRR lead for PD SAI’s Program Manager Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System, would require fewer parts replacement.

The Army expects to receive its third and final LRR-E platform before the end of 2022.

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Professional Services Council CIDC Issues White Paper on Locally Led Development Goals
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Professional Services Council CIDC Issues White Paper on Locally Led Development Goals

A group within the Professional Services Council has released a new paper that discusses roles and contributions to the U.S. Agency for International Development’s localization goals.

PSC said Monday its Council of International Development Companies encourages USAID to make local organization funds part of the agency’s locally led development goals.

USAID wants to achieve allotting 25 percent of its assistance work to local partners. The paper, titled “Grants Under Contracts and Local Subcontracts: Helping Meet USAID’s Locally Led Development Goals,” states that implementing partners contribute to this percentage by programmatically involving local organizations.

This contribution aligns with USAID’s draft policy for local capacity development. In August last year, CIDC published a paper about perspectives on localization.

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Space Power, University of Surrey Develop Wireless Satellite Power Beaming Technology
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Space Power, University of Surrey Develop Wireless Satellite Power Beaming Technology

Space Power is working with the University of Surrey to develop and demonstrate a wireless power beaming prototype for space satellites under the U.K. SPace Research and Innovation Network for Technology program.

The University of Surrey said Thursday the project will use lasers and optic systems developed at the institution’s Department of Physics and Advanced Technology Institute to provide additional power to smaller satellites in low Earth orbit during their eclipse period.

The project will gather data about the efficiency benefits of laser-based power beaming to guide Solar Power in designing a prototype for small satellites in space.

The team is expected to demonstrate the first private sector-developed wireless, laser-based power beaming prototype before commercializing the technology by 2025.

The Solar Power product will be available as a plug-and-play system for LEO satellite constellations manufacturers.

“The University of Surrey has a long track record in photonics and space research and brings unique expertise in both high power lasers and photovoltaics technologies. We have many years of experience in optical wireless power and are delighted to work with Space Power to help develop such technologies for space-based applications,” said Stephen Sweeney, a physics professor at the University of Surrey.

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GDIT Lands $518M Task Order to Aid U.S. Army Field Support Brigade Regions; President Amy Gilliland Quoted
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GDIT Lands $518M Task Order to Aid U.S. Army Field Support Brigade Regions; President Amy Gilliland Quoted

General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) has been awarded a $518 million task order from the U.S. Army Communications Electronics Command to offer continuance services to Army Field Support Brigade regions.

Under the task order, the company will be responsible for logistics, sustainment and maintenance aid to U.S. and coalition forces, the Falls Church, Virginia-based business arm of General Dynamics said Monday.

GDIT President and five-time Wash 100 Award winner Amy Gilliland anticipates the program will draw efforts and resources from across General Dynamics.

Gilliland also says the company will be “focusing our collective hardware and software systems solutions on providing CECOM with an innovative and cost-effective approach to supporting the Warfighter’s mission.”

GDIT will be expected to provide C5ISR support, attend to equipment and maintain related operational needs. The contract will allow the company to grow its global impact in its work throughout the different AFSB regions.

The task order is a Worldwide Field Support mandate that was introduced in April 2021 as part of the Responsive Strategic Sourcing for Services Multiple Award, an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract.

The latter multiple award contract was first presented to a joint venture of General Dynamics subsidiaries, including General Dynamics Mission Systems, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems.

Currently underway is GDIT’s work under a four-year, $136 million contract from the U.S. Navy to modernize and consolidate IT help desks. That contract is administered by the Naval Information Warfare Systems Demand.

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Congress Members Urge President Biden to Unexclude DOD From Federal Sustainability EO
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Congress Members Urge President Biden to Unexclude DOD From Federal Sustainability EO

Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., and other Congress members ask President Joe Biden to not exclude the Department of Defense from an executive order that aims to reduce the federal government’s carbon emissions.

The letter, which was issued on Friday, stated that DOD is the largest energy consumer in the U.S., and exempting the department from the order would make it more difficult to achieve the nation’s carbon reduction goals.

The Executive Order on Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability urges a whole-of-government approach with the goal of achieving 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030.

The Congress members said in the letter that exempting DOD would lessen the chances of preventing climate change-driven catastrophes and meeting obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement.

The White House’s Federal Sustainability Plan released in December 2021 states that the DOD produces 56 percent of federal government emissions.

Lawmakers who have signed the letter also include Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn.

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FTC Gives Consumer Goods Industry More Time to Comment on Supply Chain Issues
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FTC Gives Consumer Goods Industry More Time to Comment on Supply Chain Issues

The Federal Trade Commission has pushed the deadline for comments that would support its inquiry into supply chain disruption to Feb. 28 following industry requests.

The commission said Friday it is providing market participants around a month to detail issues affecting the supply chain and provide examples of how distribution delays impact competition in the consumer goods sector.

In November, FTC launched its inquiry into the reasons behind ongoing supply chain disruptions that the commission blamed for harming market competition and the consumer base.

It requested nine top retailers, wholesalers and consumer good suppliers to submit information relating to empty stocks and rising prices in the U.S.

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