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SBA Modifies Revenue-Based Small Business Size Standards With 4 Final Rules; Bibi Hidalgo Quoted
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SBA Modifies Revenue-Based Small Business Size Standards With 4 Final Rules; Bibi Hidalgo Quoted

The Small Business Administration has moved to increase the eligibility of small companies for SBA’s contracting and loan programs by releasing four final rules meant to revise small business size standards based on revenues in 16 North American Industrial Classification System sectors.

SBA said Tuesday it decided to increase 229 size standards across 16 industrial sectors after analyzing over 1,100 public comments during the review process for the four rules.

“SBA continues to evolve its approach on size standards to ensure that we create access to contracting and loan opportunities for as many small businesses as possible,” said Bibi Hidalgo, associate administrator for government contracting and business development at SBA.

“The publication of these final rules will make 59,000 additional firms eligible for millions of dollars in revenue and business expansion opportunities across a wide range of sectors. This expansion is equally important for contracting agencies, as a diverse industrial base helps ensure a healthy supply chain and, in turn, supports our nation’s broader economic health,” added Hidalgo.

SBA said it expects the final rules to provide 844 newly qualified small firms with contracting opportunities worth approximately $1 billion and extend 96 7(a) and 504 loans valued at nearly $45 million to such companies.

The agency issued the final rules as part of its second five-year evaluation of size standards in compliance with the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. SBA also intends to issue in the coming months additional rulemakings on size standards in wholesale trade, manufacturing and retail trade.

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State Department Creates Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy
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State Department Creates Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy

The State Department has established a new bureau to address national security challenges, values considerations and economic opportunities associated with cyberspace, digital policy and digital technologies.

The department said Monday the bureau of cyberspace and digital policy will operate with three policy units: international cyberspace security, digital freedom and international information and communications policy.

Jennifer Bachus, formerly deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Prague, has been named senior bureau official and principal deputy assistant secretary for the CDP bureau.

Michele Markoff has been named acting deputy assistant secretary for international cyberspace security, while Blake Peterson has been appointed interim digital freedom coordinator. Stephen Anderson serves as acting deputy assistant secretary for international information and communications policy.

The CDP bureau will oversee and coordinate the State Department’s work on digital and cyberspace diplomacy to encourage responsible behavior in cyberspace and pursue policies that safeguard the security and integrity of the internet, uphold democratic values, foster competitiveness and serve U.S. interests, according to the new office’s website.

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Raytheon Intelligence & Space Taps Former USAF Exec Sami Said as VP of Global Security; Roy Azevedo Quoted
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Raytheon Intelligence & Space Taps Former USAF Exec Sami Said as VP of Global Security; Roy Azevedo Quoted

U.S. Air Force veteran and retired Lieutenant General Sami D. Said has been appointed vice president of global security at Raytheon Intelligence & Space.

In the newly created role, Said will spearhead global security as well as conceive and implement a secure technology product strategy for the Raytheon Technologies business, the company said Monday.

Roy Azevedo, president of RI&S and a three-time consecutive Wash100 Award recipient, described Said’s contribution as a “fresh perspective.”

“His seasoned leadership and experience will be instrumental in strengthening our product security and controls to better protect the business and our customers,” Azevedo continued.

The product strategy Said will be overseeing is intended to distinguish RI&S as a security specialist. He will answer directly to Azevedo.

Said has been deployed to active duty multiple times as well as carried out staff and joint assignments in the headquarters department of the Air Force, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Afghanistan.

He has also served in the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

Before joining Raytheon, Said was deputy inspector general of the Air Force in the office of the secretary of the Air Force, where he was responsible for reporting on readiness, efficiency and military discipline of active duty Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units. In addition, Said managed the department’s counterintelligence operations. He was then promoted to inspector general of the Department of the Air Force.

Among Said’s military honors are the Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Defense Superior Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit and the Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters.

The addition of Said follows RI&S’ January hires of Kristin Robertson as president of the Space & C2 strategic business unit and Brad Tousley as president of Blue Canyon Technologies, a subsidiary of the company.

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DARPA Program Introduces Technologies for Drilling Tactical Tunnels in Battlefield; Andrew Nuss Quoted
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DARPA Program Introduces Technologies for Drilling Tactical Tunnels in Battlefield; Andrew Nuss Quoted

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has finished a program that produced technologies for the rapid construction of logistics tunnel networks in denied environments.

Upon the completion of the Underminer program, the three participating teams transitioned matured capabilities that can dig tunnels for resupplying troops and rescuing personnel in a contested area to industry and government partners, the agency said Thursday.

The Colorado School of Mines, General Electric Research Center and Sandia National Laboratories introduced technologies involving fluid management, beacon-less drill localization and tunnel branching operations with a focus on diameter, distance, speed and accuracy.

“Tactical tunneling capabilities have tremendous opportunities to expand the combined arms maneuver trade space to include the vertical dimension in both natural and man-made subterranean environments,” explained Andrew Nuss, the Underminer program manager.

DARPA launched Underminer to help the Department of Defense utilize tunneling capabilities that are already present in the U.S. commercial market.

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New Ford-class Carrier Control System Passes Navy’s Preliminary Assessment, Set for 2022 Critical Review
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New Ford-class Carrier Control System Passes Navy’s Preliminary Assessment, Set for 2022 Critical Review

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, has finished the preliminary design review of the proposed ship control system for Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers.

The Ship Control System Government variant performance during the PDR convinced voting stakeholders to push through with the technology’s critical design review later in 2022, Naval Sea Systems Command said Friday.

John Dolan, an NSWCPD branch manager, explained that SCS-Gov is intended to replace Ford-class’ original control platform that did not meet the U.S. Navy’s post-collision standards and is suffering from obsolescence.

Already approved for the first two Ford-class carriers and two more incoming vessels, SCS-Gov uses government-designed and owned source code and a human-machine interface to provide steering control and propulsion interface throughout its minimum 25-year lifecycle.

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GSA Requests Information on TLD Registry, DNS Services for Government Domains
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GSA Requests Information on TLD Registry, DNS Services for Government Domains

The General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service is conducting market research, on behalf of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, to identify potential sources capable of supporting and managing the official domain for government websites.

According to a SAM.gov notice, GSA released a request for information to determine market capability to provide .gov top-level domain registry and domain name system services.

CISA took over from GSA the policy and management authority for the .gov domains as mandated by the DOTGOV Act of 2020 and was required to provide a secure domain registry for federal, state and local government agencies.

In a draft statement of objectives, CISA said the .gov TLD registry and DNS services must be available to all bona fide U.S. government agencies and publicly controlled organizations.

CISA also develops a domain name registrar, separately from the DNS services acquisition, that will oversee the registration and management of the .gov domains.

Responses to the RFI are due April 11th.

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Red Hat Notches Common Criteria Certification for Linux 8.2; VP, GM Clara Conti Quoted
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Red Hat Notches Common Criteria Certification for Linux 8.2; VP, GM Clara Conti Quoted

Red Hat has earned a distinction for its Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 platform that confirms the product as secure and safe for various computing environments.

The Common Criteria certification was provided by the National Information Assurance Partnership and the program was tested and validated by the federally-approved laboratory Acumen Security, Red Hat said Monday.

Clara Conti, vice president and general manager of the North American public sector arm of Red Hat, attested that the certification “shows our continued commitment to making Red Hat Enterprise Linux a platform that not only embraces innovation but also serves as the backbone for critical and security-sensitive operations.”

Conti, who is also a 2022 Wash100 Award winner, added that the Linux operating system is a crucial element of modern technology services and sensitive data activity.

The company’s attainment of the certification demonstrates its motivation to stay current with ever-changing cyberthreats and corresponding security demands. The certification process involves intense, standardized and continuous testing by a third party entity – in this case, Acumen Security – and looks to confirm a given platform’s ability to handle classified materials on an international scale.

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 program allows the user to scale apps and roll-out technologies and workloads and is part of a larger fabric of Red Hat services, which include technical support and extended product lifecycles, as well as a security response team.

According to Kenneth Lasoski, director of Common Criteria matters at Acumen Security, bearing the CC certification means Red Hat can market its product to “security conscious customers, such as national security-related agencies, finance and healthcare organizations.”

In an Executive Spotlight interview with GovConWire in February, Conti spoke about where she predicts technology trends are heading in the near future, touching on open source artificial intelligence and machine learning at the edge.

“The next frontier is doing the analysis and decision making where the data are generated — at the edge. By moving the computing to where the data is, you can gain insight faster — possibly instantaneously. This unlocks the ability to potentially solve problems that were considered impractical or even impossible,” Conti said.

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NIST Taps 4 Organizations to Build Manufacturing Tech Roadmaps; Mike Molnar Quoted
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NIST Taps 4 Organizations to Build Manufacturing Tech Roadmaps; Mike Molnar Quoted

Four organizations have received grants to develop technology roadmaps that can help the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) bolster U.S. manufacturing. 

The awardees will tackle a range of manufacturing topics including microelectronics, supply chain resiliency, biomanufacturing and vaccine production, NIST said Friday.

Individual awards are valued at up to $300,000 each, with a maximum work period of 18 months.

“The MTech awards build collaborative partnerships to set strategic technology objectives and develop a shared vision of how an industry can achieve transformational goals,” said Mike Molnar, director of NIST’s Office of Advanced Manufacturing.

The following awardees will develop the roadmaps to determine research goals, workforce requirements and efforts that accelerate technology development:

  • Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing
  • Purdue University
  • Semiconductor Research Corporation
  • The Regents of the University of California
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President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden Attend USS Delaware Commissioning
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President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden Attend USS Delaware Commissioning

President Biden and his wife Jill Biden attended the commissioning of USS Delaware, a fast attack submarine carrying the name of the state that the President formerly represented as a senator, DOD News reported Saturday.

The ceremony took place the same day in Wilmington, Delaware, in a non-traditional fashion due to COVID-19 restrictions. The vessel remained submerged during the commissioning.

“I’ve seen the heart of this crew and it makes me proud and humbled to be your shipmate for life,” said First Lady Jill Biden, who also serves as the submarine’s ship sponsor.

As a Block III Virginia-class submarine, USS Delaware features a pair of 87-inch diameter launch tubes with the capability of holding larger payloads. The Navy accepted delivery of the submarine from HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division in October 2019.

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Congressional Armed Services Committee Leaders Unveil Afghanistan War Commission Members
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Congressional Armed Services Committee Leaders Unveil Afghanistan War Commission Members

Reps. Adam Smith, D-Wash; and Mike Rogers, R-Ala.; with Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I.; and Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., have announced their selections of members for the Afghanistan War Commission.

The Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act established the commission, which will comprehensively review how the U.S. military has made key decisions related to Afghanistan, the House Armed Services Committee said Friday.

The commission will assess actions from June 2001 to August 2021 to determine lessons learned and develop recommendations that inform future Congressional decisions. 

Members will create and submit a final report within three years of the commission’s initial meeting. The government will also disclose a public version of the report. 

The following will serve on the commission: 

  • Colin Jackson, chair of Naval War College’s Strategic and Operational Research Department
  • Jeremy Bash, formerly chief of staff for the Department of Defense
  • Michael Allen, formerly special assistant to President George W. Bush
  • Michael Lumpkin, president of Amida Technology Solutions
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