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ATS Drives Technology Portfolio Expansion With Entegra Systems Buy; Dave Cerne Quoted
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ATS Drives Technology Portfolio Expansion With Entegra Systems Buy; Dave Cerne Quoted

Acclaim Technical Services, a language and intelligence services company backed by Blue Delta Capital Partners, has acquired Entegra Systems.

ATS’ acquisition of the Hanover, Maryland-based cyber technology company is expected to enhance the enterprise’s offerings to defense, intelligence and national security customers as well as expand its employee base to more than 500 individuals, the company said Thursday.

Commenting on the Entegra team, ATS CEO Dave Cerne said, “They bring a depth of new capabilities to solve our customers’ hardest problems, including cyber solutions, SIGINT analysis capabilities, and a trademarked Natural Language Understanding System that will benefit many of ATS’ existing clients, along with many other additional solutions and experiences.”

With offices across the U.S. in Maryland, Virginia and Georgia, Entegra’s areas of expertise include situational awareness, operational planning and cyber and intelligence operations.

Additionally, Entegra Systems CEO Dean Johnson noted that the two companies’ “strong cultural alignment” will contribute to a growth-oriented environment.

The deal accelerates ATS’ strategic technology expansion goals and follows the company’s purchase of Global Consulting Services in September 2020.

ATS was counseled by Holland & Knight. KippsDeSanto & Co. served as advisor, and Miles & Stockbridge served as legal counsel for Entegra.

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Cryptocurrency Executives to Appear Before House Financial Services Committee
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Cryptocurrency Executives to Appear Before House Financial Services Committee

The House Financial Services Committee announced that top executives from eight major cryptocurrency companies will appear before the House panel on Dec. 8 as lawmakers try to figure out ways to regulate the virtual currency, Reuters reported Wednesday.

The House committee said the hearing will address “the challenges and benefits of financial innovation.”

Some of the executives who will testify before policymakers are Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire; FTX Trading CEO Sam Bankman-Fried; Paxos CEO Chad Cascarilla; Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation; Bitfury CEO Brian Brooks; and Alesia Haas, chief financial officer of Coinbase Global.

POC - Digital Currency and National Security Forum

On Jan. 27, the Potomac Officers Club will bring together leaders from the government and GovCon community to discuss their perspectives on the impacts of virtual currency on national security and the economy. Click here to register for this timely forum and learn more about POC’s other upcoming events.

Kelly Fletcher: Partnerships, Tech Investments Essential for DOD’s Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations
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Kelly Fletcher: Partnerships, Tech Investments Essential for DOD’s Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations

Kelly Fletcher, acting chief information officer at the Defense Department, said the U.S. military must work with other government agencies, the commercial sector and international bodies to create an operational advantage in the spectrum, DOD News reported Wednesday.

She called for a whole-of-nation approach to ensure the military’s electromagnetic superiority during her speech at the annual Association of Old Crows conference Wednesday.

Fletcher noted that China and Russia are moving to gain spectrum dominance through investments in technology such as sensors and jammers.

“What really makes me concerned most, frankly, is that there are probably vulnerabilities that we don’t know about and that our adversaries are trying to find,” she added.

The acting DOD CIO cited national and international partnerships, 5G network and battle management capability development and workforce training efforts as among the key forces that could drive superiority in the spectrum.

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William Lietzau Authorizes DCSA Program Executive Office
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William Lietzau Authorizes DCSA Program Executive Office

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) has formed a program executive office (PEO) that will oversee information technology system procurement efforts. 

DCSA said Wednesday Director William Lietzau formally authorized Terry Carpenter as the inaugural lead for the new PEO during a ceremony that took place Tuesday in Quantico, Virginia. 

Carpenter will be responsible for overseeing the agency’s portfolio of IT acquisition programs in areas such as background investigation enterprise services, biometrics, cloud computing, data management and robotics process automation.

At the same event, Lietzau also recognized Jeffrey Smith, a DCSA official since August 2020, as executive program manager for an organization that provides personnel vetting services to the federal government.

Smith will manage the National Background Investigation Services, which transferred from the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to DCSA in October last year.

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White House Issues Space Priorities Framework
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White House Issues Space Priorities Framework

The Biden administration has launched a framework outlining the country’s space policy priorities.

The United States Space Priorities Framework classifies the priorities into two categories: maintaining a robust and responsible U.S. space enterprise and preserving space for current and future generations.

To advance the first priority, the U.S. will maintain its edge in space science and space exploration, pursue the development and use of space-based Earth observation capabilities to help address climate change, promote policy and regulatory environment that enables a competitive commercial space sector, defend national security interests from counterspace threats, invest in STEM education and strengthen the security of the space industrial base.

For the second category, the U.S. will improve space situational awareness sharing and space traffic coordination, strengthen governance of space activities globally and prioritize space sustainability and planetary protection.

SpaceNews reported that Vice President Kamala Harris was scheduled Wednesday to chair the National Space Council’s first meeting under the current administration.

“The Framework will guide the Council’s efforts to develop and implement national space policy and strategy going forward,” a White House official said ahead of the council meeting. 

“It maintains focus on advancing and synchronizing our civil, commercial and national security space activities, and adds emphasis in support of the administration’s agenda, including promoting peaceful exploration of space and reducing the risk of miscalculation or conflict in space; addressing the climate crisis; and enhancing STEM education.” 

Space Acquisition Forum

GovCon Wire will hold its Space Acquisition Forum on Jan. 19. Click here to register for the virtual forum to hear from defense officials as they share their insights on military acquisition reform and modernization efforts.

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HHS Unveils 405(d) Program Website to Help Health Care Sector Build Up Cyber Resiliency
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HHS Unveils 405(d) Program Website to Help Health Care Sector Build Up Cyber Resiliency

The Department of Health and Human Services has introduced a website for a program that seeks to provide health care practitioners with videos, products, tools and resources related to cybersecurity practices.

The HHS 405(d) Aligning Health Care Industry Security Approaches Program was created in compliance with the Cybersecurity Act of 2015 to help advance behavioral change to mitigate cyberthreats facing the health care sector, HHS said Wednesday

“The new 405(d) Program website is a step forward for HHS to help build cybersecurity resiliency across the Healthcare and Public Health Sector,” said Christopher Bollerer, acting chief information security officer at HHS.

The HHS 405(d) Task Group, which is composed of more than 150 federal government and industry professionals, helped develop the website, which features cybersecurity infographics and postures,  405(d) Spotlight Webinar recordings and other resources.

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CTERA to Support Peraton’s Modernization of VA File Storage Infrastructure
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CTERA to Support Peraton’s Modernization of VA File Storage Infrastructure

CTERA Networks will help Peraton modernize the storage and computing infrastructure facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs under a $497 million contract previously awarded to the Chantilly, Virginia-based company.

CTERA said Wednesday it will provide Peraton with distributed cloud file storage services to connect over 300 VA sites across the world to the VA Enterprise Cloud.

The services, based on the on-site CTERA Edge Filers, are intended to enable the department to consolidate its legacy network-attached systems and reduce its application-specific infrastructure silos while duplicating data to Amazon Web Services’ GovCloud environment for safe storage.

“Legacy data center NAS infrastructure lacks native cloud support and cannot meet the scale and elasticity requirements of modern data workloads,” noted Emil Velasquez, vice president of federal sales at CTERA.

Eric Watson, senior program manager at Peraton, said the subcontracting work is aimed at allowing department officials to adopt an edge-to-cloud file services strategy without foregoing data security.

In August, Peraton won the potential seven-year, $497 million VA modernization contract that called for an infrastructure-as-a-managed service to migrate the department’s health information system and technology architecture to the cloud.

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NIST Unveils Final Version of IoT Cybersecurity Guidance, Capabilities Catalog
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NIST Unveils Final Version of IoT Cybersecurity Guidance, Capabilities Catalog

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released the final guidance on how federal agencies and organizations can develop a risk management framework for protecting internet of things-based devices from cyber threats. 

The NIST Special Publication 800-213 establishes cybersecurity requirements for IoT devices and outlines recommendations to help government agencies consider how an IoT device can integrate into a federal information system, NIST said Monday.

The agency also unveiled the final version of the SP 800-213A that includes a catalog of IoT device cybersecurity capabilities that federal agencies can use when establishing requirements for safeguarding internet-connected platforms.

NIST said the revised version of the guidance incorporates feedback it received from the public throughout 2021.

The guidance is pursuant to the IoT Cybersecurity Act of 2020 that requires NIST to provide a framework for the appropriate use and management of IoT devices connected to federal information systems.

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BigBear.ai Wins NAVWAR’s Artificial Intelligence Prize Challenge; CTO Brian Frutchey Quoted
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BigBear.ai Wins NAVWAR’s Artificial Intelligence Prize Challenge; CTO Brian Frutchey Quoted

BigBear.ai announced on Wednesday that the company placed first in the Artificial Intelligence and Networks Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (“AINetANTX”) Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) Prize Challenge hosted by the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR). 

“This challenge allowed us to demonstrate how our automated course of action assessment AI can assist the Navy in enabling warfighters to make critical decisions quickly in operationally relevant maritime environments,” said BigBear.ai Chief Technology Officer Brian Frutchey. “We are thrilled that our solution was awarded first prize among a great group of fellow participants across commercial, government and academic fields.”

Project Overmatch is considered a top priority of the U.S. Navy to modernize Naval warfighting, connecting platforms, weapons and sensors in a robust Naval Operational Architecture (NOA) that integrates with Joint All-Domain Command and Control (“JADC2”) for enhanced Distributed Maritime Operations. The AINetANTX AI Prize Challenge focused on leveraging the latest AI-enabled technologies to address current and future warfighting gaps. 

“Overmatch is unleashing the power of the platform with AINetANTX,” said NAVWAR Science and Technology Director Carly Jackson. “The participants had less than three months but the results we are seeing are quite compelling. By quickly leveraging the lab infrastructure and expertise resident across the Naval Research and Development Establishment, this new type of digital platform-powered ANTX enables us to identify and field technologies, components, or algorithms at the speed of the threat.”

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Ramzi Musallam: Veritas Capital to Buy Finalsite from Bridge Growth Partners
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Ramzi Musallam: Veritas Capital to Buy Finalsite from Bridge Growth Partners

A Veritas Capital affiliate has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Finalsite, a digital communications software company for schools and universities, from Bridge Growth Partners.

Currently, the Glastonbury, Connecticut-based software-as-a-service company serves more than 8,000 customers in the education communications market with its comprehensive “digital campus,” which features capabilities including virtual tours, live-streamed events, parent communications, online enrollment and other services, Finalsite said Wednesday.

Six-time Wash100 Award winner Ramzi Musallam, CEO and managing partner of Veritas Capital, said that as an investor, Veritas will scale the Finalsite platform to meet evolving needs across the growing K-12 marketing and communications market.

“We’re eager to partner with Finalsite and Bridge Growth as we accelerate the company’s growth profile and mission-critical education tools,” Musallam commented.

Jon Moser, founder and CEO of Finalsite, said Veritas’ resources and “significant industry experience” will help the company build on its recent significant growth as it moves into its next phase of development.

The transaction, whose financial terms have not been disclosed, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

This announcement comes less than two months after Guidehouse, a Veritas Capital portfolio company, completed its acquisition of Dovel Technologies to create an enterprise expected to generate over $2 billion in annual revenue.

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