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Rep. Carolyn Maloney Announces Fair Pricing with Cost Transparency Act
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Rep. Carolyn Maloney Announces Fair Pricing with Cost Transparency Act

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., has issued a discussion draft of a bill that would require contractors to provide uncertified cost information if requested to ensure that the government is paying a fair price on services and products they procure from companies.

The Fair Pricing with Cost Transparency Act “will enable government contracting officers to ensure the government is paying a fair price. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to work with me on this reform,” Maloney, chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said in a statement published Wednesday.

The proposed legislation would apply to the Department of Defense and other government agencies as well as contracts a year after the measure’s enactment.

The measure would also direct agencies to submit a congressional report on their compliance within 18 months of the bill’s passage.

Maloney co-sponsored the bill with Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., chairman of the House panel’s subcommittee on environment; Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., chairman of the subcommittee on national security; and Jackie Speier, D-Calif.

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DOD May Take Months to Determine 5G Safety Risks to Aircraft; Capt. Patrick Gargan Quoted
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DOD May Take Months to Determine 5G Safety Risks to Aircraft; Capt. Patrick Gargan Quoted

AT&T and Verizon have started rolling out their 5G networks on the C-band spectrum and the U.S. military may take months before it can determine the potential safety risks of such networks to radar altimeters of aircraft, Defense News reported Wednesday.

Tankers, cargo planes and other military aircraft use radar altimeters to measure the distance between the plane and the ground especially when landing in adverse weather conditions. 

Capt. Patrick Gargan, a spokesman for the U.S. Air Force, said the Department of Defense is working with the Federal Aviation Administration on the 5G issue and established a “Joint Interagency FiveG Radar Altimeter Interference” team to help determine 5G networks’ impact on avionics through the development of “quick reaction tests.”

Gargan noted that tests are scheduled to kick off in January, but results from such tests are not expected until late summer of 2022.

He said military services have released bulletins to fleets asking them to warn aircrews of a potential interference. A system is also being set up to facilitate reporting of possible interference.

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Army Needs Industry Expertise for Problem Solving Environment
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Army Needs Industry Expertise for Problem Solving Environment

U.S. Army Special Operations seeks contributors to the development of a prototype environment for technology problem solving spanning multiple categories.

USASOC said Tuesday in a SAM.gov notice it asks potential contributors for ideas that can address issues associated with complex data integration.

USASOC’s Enterprise Cloud Management Office envisions a cloud-based environment where multiple, industry-based problem solvers can work together to address issues with the support of an environment manager.

ECMO needs the capability to observe data interoperability while following the Defense Information Systems Agency’s zero trust architecture standards. The office requires running this capability in a hybrid/multi-cloud infrastructure while aligning with modern SecDevOps approaches.

The environment is intended to help the Army address these needs, as well as workforce matters, via commercial cloud services, artificial intelligence and machine learning for informed decision making.

Interested parties may submit participation responses through Feb. 8th.

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DARPA Announces Solicitation for Warfare Strategy Analytics
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DARPA Announces Solicitation for Warfare Strategy Analytics

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency seeks proposals of machine-generated, campaign-scale analytics that can produce warfare strategies, and plans to award $39 million for associated development efforts.

The Strategic Chaos Engine for Planning, Tactics, Experimentation and Resiliency or SCEPTER program seeks analytic engines that can deliver machine-generated strategies for evaluation-based warfare planning, DARPA said Tuesday in a SAM.gov notice.

Work under SCEPTER will run for a 36-month period divided equally into two phases.

Interested parties may submit proposals containing technical and cost details covering only phase one, as DARPA plans to release phase two instructions to participants before the initial phase’s completion.

DARPA expects to accommodate multiple awards under SCEPTER and will provide resources based on proposal quality and fund availability.

The agency will entertain submitted questions through Feb. 14 and will accept proposals through March 11.

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MDA Supports Flight Test of AWS Missile Defense System for Israel; Vice Adm. Jon Hill Quoted
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MDA Supports Flight Test of AWS Missile Defense System for Israel; Vice Adm. Jon Hill Quoted

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency and its Israeli counterpart tested a system designed to intercept missile threats outside of the atmosphere.

The Arrow Weapon System‘s radars detected a target, which was then pursued by a pair of Arrow-3 interceptors in central Israel, MDA said Tuesday when the test took place.

The two countries jointly developed AWS, which will serve as a central part of Israel’s four-layer defense array. The Iron Dome and David’s Sling missile defense systems compose two parts of this array, as the Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 interceptors make up the other half.

“MDA remains committed to assisting the government of Israel in upgrading its missile defense capability against current and emerging threats,” said Vice Adm. Jon Hill, the agency’s director.

Moshe Patel, director of Israel’s missile defense organization, said the AWS team has significantly extended the system’s capabilities since tests in Alaska in 2019.

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AFRL Space Vehicles Director Eric Felt to Lead Space Force Acquisition Team
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AFRL Space Vehicles Director Eric Felt to Lead Space Force Acquisition Team

Col. Eric Felt, director of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate, has been appointed deputy executive director of the U.S. Space Force’s Space Architecture, Science and Technology Directorate.

Felt will oversee the creation of a new Space Force acquisition function and support technology development efforts for the space-focused service branch, the 505th Command and Control Wing said Tuesday.

He will bring to his new role experience leading a directorate focused on space missions; communications; position, navigation and timing; missile warning; space domain awareness; and space control.

He will leave the leadership of the Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base New Mexico to Space Rapid Capabilities Office’s Col. Jeremy Raley in July and subsequently head to the Pentagon.

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FedRAMP Updates Authorization Guidance for Cloud Service Providers
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FedRAMP Updates Authorization Guidance for Cloud Service Providers

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program has released updated two-volume guidance aimed at helping cloud service providers understand the process of certification from the cybersecurity risk management program.

Volume 1 of the updated Cloud Service Providers Authorization Playbook provides help in devising a strategy to achieve authorization, while Volume II details ways to develop a security package to speed up the certification review process, FedRAMP said Tuesday.

Various information inside the playbook includes the authorization process, FedRAMP designations, elements of an authorization package and artifact development tips.

According to the program, it expects the document to help not only applicant cloud service providers but also other cybersecurity stakeholders.

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Executive Mosaic Reveals 2022 Wash100 Award Winners; CEO Jim Garrettson Quoted
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Executive Mosaic Reveals 2022 Wash100 Award Winners; CEO Jim Garrettson Quoted

Executive Mosaic has announced the inductees for the 2022 edition of its prestigious Wash100 Award, which recognizes the top 100 executives of consequence in the government contracting sector for their notable achievements and anticipated future impacts in the coming year.

The new roster of 2022 Wash100 Award recipients represents a distinguished group of individuals known for their ability to drive innovation in the federal landscape as policy initiatives, emerging technology and other critical developments continue to impact the sector.

“For our ninth consecutive year, Executive Mosaic has completed our exhaustive search, and qualification process through thousands of executives in government and GovCon, in order to produce the annual Wash100 list of the elite of the elite,” said Jim Garrettson, founder and CEO of Executive Mosaic and founder of the Wash100 Award.

“The intensive search for the exemplary executives is uniquely focused on a forward-looking assessment of performance leaders that will impact the market in the year ahead,” Garrettson added. “We stand proudly upon our previous years of executive leadership assessment and invite the GovCon community to visit Wash100.com to see our successful predictions of the nation’s key GovCon and government executives.”

Through this year’s selection process, Executive Mosaic gave specific consideration to executives who demonstrated significant impacts in the areas of adaptability, technology, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, supply chain, digital transformation and multidomain capability/support.

The winning executives chosen to receive the award this year are considered an essential component of the GovCon industry’s backbone, and these individuals are anticipated to ensure the future continuity and stability of the sector’s industry and government operations through the evolving challenges posed by the current pandemic lifecycle.

View the full list of 2022 Wash100 Award recipients at GovConWire.com, and visit Wash100.com to learn more about previous inductees and the history of the award.

Last year, Executive Mosaic received a record-breaking 36,000 submissions for the Wash100 Popular Vote, and the 2022 award season is expected to exceed previous submissions with the largest turnout of support in the award’s nine-year history.

GovCon Wire and ExecutiveBiz will feature in-depth profiles for each 2022 Wash100 Award winner daily, starting Jan. 24, to highlight each awardee’s notable accomplishments over the past year and set the stage for their future accomplishments.

Stay tuned for more news and information about Wash100 voting!

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Google Cloud Taps Lynn Martin to Spearhead Digital Transformation as VP, North American Public Sector
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Google Cloud Taps Lynn Martin to Spearhead Digital Transformation as VP, North American Public Sector

Google Cloud has appointed Lynn Martin, a former executive at VMware, as vice president, North American Public Sector.

In her new role, Martin is expected to take the helm of federal, state and local government and education markets for Google Cloud, the company announced Wednesday.

Martin will report to Rob Enslin, president of Google Cloud and succeeds Mike Daniels in her position.

As Vice President of North American Public Sector Martin will introduce and implement digital transformation to various organizations nationally and internationally.

“Lynn’s leadership and experience will help serve our existing customers, such as the U.S. Navy, NOAA, the Air Force Research Laboratory, Dept. of Energy, and Defense Innovation Unit and grow our overall presence in the market,” said Enslin.

In a three decade career, her work alongside government, education and healthcare clients has seen Martin driving progress in the fields of cloud, mobility and security. She was named one of FedScoop’s “Top 50 Women in Tech” multiple years running.

At VMware, Martin was vice president of Government, Education and Healthcare and headed a staff of over 400 in her efforts to link new technologies to the public sector.

Martin has begun work with Google and says strategies in data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning tools have already made an impact. She reports to be eager to execute and expand the market value of Google Cloud solutions.

Earlier this month, January 2022, Google Cloud announced a $13 million contract with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to assist veterans’ use of health care services and data through the company’s tools and applications.

Going forward, Martin will likely act as a liaison in this deal and agreements like it.

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SambaNova Systems Study Reports AI, Machine Learning as Key 2022 Revenue Drivers; CEO Rodrigo Liang Quoted
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SambaNova Systems Study Reports AI, Machine Learning as Key 2022 Revenue Drivers; CEO Rodrigo Liang Quoted

SambaNova Systems released its latest study on Tuesday, “The Race to AI Value: Scaling AI/ML Ahead of Your Competition,” revealing that roughly 78 percent of companies have recognized that artificial intelligence and machine learning are significant revenue drives for the next year. 

Although the vast majority of companies acknowledge the importance of AI and ML capabilities in today’s business, the report also showed that 75 percent of organizations have yet to scale their AI and ML abilities across the enterprise and have fallen behind the rapid speed of innovation. 

“To keep pace with the rapid evolution of AI/ML and deep learning, technical leaders need to determine which use cases will drive revenue and innovation for their business, and identify how to deploy them quickly at an enterprise level,” said Rodrigo Liang, co-founder and CEO of SambaNova Systems. “Those that haven’t made it a priority will need to do so in 2022 and then move quickly to stay competitive.”

SambaNova’s report surveyed 600 full-time AI/ML, data, research, experience and cloud infrastructure leaders at the director level and above in Aug. 2021. The survey captured 100 responses from each of six key industries: financial services, healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing and auto, retail and e-commerce, public sector and oil and gas.

IDC recently forecast that the global AI market will grow more than 18 percent year-over-year in 2022. As business leaders invest more time and money into AI/ML initiatives they remain challenged in taking the next steps on their AI journeys. 

“To come out ahead, companies will need to scale up AI initiatives that  boost efficiencies and streamline operations, as well as drive innovations that transform how people live and how business is done,” Liang added. 

About SambaNova Systems

SambaNova Systems is an AI innovation company that empowers organizations to deploy best-in-class solutions for computer vision, natural language processing, recommendation, and AI for science with confidence. SambaNova’s flagship offering, Dataflow-as-a-Service™️, helps organizations rapidly deploy AI in days, unlocking new revenue and boosting operational efficiency.

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