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NNSA Announces New Grants to University Teams for Nuclear Stockpile Research
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NNSA Announces New Grants to University Teams for Nuclear Stockpile Research

The National Nuclear Security Administration has allocated $21 million in research grants to 36 projects that would study nuclear security-related topics under the Stewardship Science Academic Alliances Program.

Teams from various universities have up to three years to research areas that would prepare them for future work managing the U.S. nuclear stockpile for the government, NNSA said Thursday.

Topics covered by the recent SSAA program grants concern hydrodynamics, instabilities, hypersonics, low energy nuclear science, radiochemistry and material properties under extreme conditions and energetic environments.

“This work will expand our understanding of key scientific principles in focused research areas that are fundamental to the nuclear deterrent and will ensure a pipeline of highly trained scientists and technicians to support the future deterrent,” explained Mark Anderson, the assistant deputy administrator for research, development, test and evaluation in NNSA’s defense programs office.

The two-decade SSAA program is an effort by the NNSA to recruit technical scientists and engineers to boost the nuclear security enterprise workforce.

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GAO Unveils Policy Recommendations to Mitigate Blockchain Risks
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GAO Unveils Policy Recommendations to Mitigate Blockchain Risks

The Government Accountability Office has released four policy recommendations that could help lawmakers improve the benefits and address challenges posed by the use of blockchain technologies.

In a report released Wednesday, GAO acknowledged the potential non-financial and financial uses of blockchain, including its ability to reduce costs and accelerate financial inclusion, but noted the risks the technology poses when left unregulated.

GAO recommended that policymakers unify standards on the development, implementation and use of blockchain technologies to mitigate interoperability and data security issues and clarify existing regulations and create new rules to ensure appropriate oversight.

The agency also advised lawmakers to support the development of educational materials and training of a workforce skilled in blockchain-based products and assist in determining whether the technology is capable of achieving specific missions.

“In addition, policymakers could choose to maintain the status quo, whereby they would not take additional action beyond any current efforts,” GAO said.

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Federal CISO Chris DeRusha: OMB to Issue New Software Development Guidance
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Federal CISO Chris DeRusha: OMB to Issue New Software Development Guidance

Chris DeRusha, the federal chief information security officer, said the Office of Management and Budget plans to release new guidance intended to help agencies pursue secure software development.

The guidance, scheduled for release within the next eight to 12 weeks, will build on a Secure Software Development Framework and the Software Supply Chain Security Guidance, which the National Institute of Standards and Technology issued last month, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

DeRusha said Wednesday at a NIST-hosted workshop that adopting the framework would foster a culture change in agencies and some vendor organizations.

“This is about incenting the vendor communities that are serving and selling to the U.S. government to start adopting this framework and specifically secure development practices,” stated DeRusha, who is also a 2021 Wash100 Award.

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Sen. Rob Portman’s Report Suggests Cyber Measures Against Ransomware Attacks
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Sen. Rob Portman’s Report Suggests Cyber Measures Against Ransomware Attacks

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has released a report that documents the experiences of three U.S. companies targeted by the ransomware group, REvil, and recommends cybersecurity measures agencies and organizations should take to counter ransomware attacks.

“This report shows that all organizations, no matter the size or financial resources, can fall victim to sophisticated cyber adversaries,” Portman said in a statement published Thursday.

According to the report, ransomware groups gain access to networks of victims through phishing attacks. REvil stole sensitive data and post that data on its public blog using double extortion schemes before encrypting the victim’s networks.

The document recommends that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) share incident reports received through the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act and strengthen partnership with the FBI to help ransomware victims.

The bureau should maintain constructive working relationship with private organizations by considering ransomware victim priorities such as data protection and damage mitigation efforts.

Other recommendations are adopting zero trust approach, implementing multifactor authentication and patching vulnerabilities, developing incident response plans, maintaining offline backups and encrypting sensitive information.

“The Biden administration should work quickly to implement my recently enacted bipartisan Cyber Incident Reporting Act. This law will help prevent future cyberattacks by facilitating increased information sharing and enhance the federal government’s cyber defense and investigative capabilities,” noted Portman.

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SEC Seeks Comments on Proposed Cyber Incident Disclosure Requirements for Public Companies
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SEC Seeks Comments on Proposed Cyber Incident Disclosure Requirements for Public Companies

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is soliciting comments on proposed rules to improve and standardize disclosures by public companies regarding cybersecurity risk management, incident reporting, strategy and governance.

The proposal would require periodic reporting of a registrant’s procedures and policies to facilitate cyber risk management and disclosures of expertise and cyber risk oversight of the board of directors, according to a Federal Register notice published Wednesday.

SEC would require the presentation of cybersecurity disclosures using Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language or Inline XBRL. The proposed rules are part of the agency’s efforts to inform investors about the risk management, governance and strategy of a registrant.

SEC, which first announced the proposed rules in early March, will accept comments through May 9th.

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GSA Sets FY 2022 Small Disadvantaged Business Contracting Goal at 21%; Exodie Roe Quoted
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GSA Sets FY 2022 Small Disadvantaged Business Contracting Goal at 21%; Exodie Roe Quoted

The General Services Administration increased its goal to provide federal contracting opportunities for small disadvantaged businesses to 21 percent in fiscal year 2022, up from 5 percent in FY 2021.

“This is an ambitious goal – but ambitious goals are exactly what we need to promote equity and increase small and small disadvantaged business participation in the federal marketplace across all categories,” Exodie Roe, associate administrator of the office of small and disadvantaged business utilization at GSA, said in a statement published Thursday.

“GSA has an impressive track record of meeting and exceeding small business benchmarks: obligating over 46% of GSA spend to small business and just over 20% to small disadvantaged business in FY21,” Roe added.

The Office of Management and Budget released a memorandum in December, requiring agencies to increase the share of contracts awarded to SDBs to 15 percent by 2025.

In January 2021, President Biden signed an executive order that requires agencies to improve access of underserved communities and individuals to federal contracting opportunities.

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Deltek Maintains High Profile in User Feedback-Generated G2 Report; CCO Brian Daniell Quoted
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Deltek Maintains High Profile in User Feedback-Generated G2 Report; CCO Brian Daniell Quoted

Software company Deltek has received the highest possible marks on a customer-generated ranking of effective enterprise resource planning programs.

This is the sixth consecutive quarter that programs such as Deltek Costpoint and Deltek Vantagepoint have earned the company ‘leader’ designations on the G2 ERP Grid Report for Project-Based ERP, the Herndon, Virginia-based company said Thursday.

“We appreciate that our customers take the time to provide their valuable feedback on the G2 platform. We read feedback from our customers and use that to help inform us on what innovations and product enhancements will move the needle for their businesses,” said Deltek Chief Customer Officer Brian Daniell.

In the G2 report, Deltek was decorated as a momentum leader, a mid-market leader and a high performer for small businesses. The customer feedback and market impact-informed classifications fall into four categories: leaders, high performers, contenders or niche players.

Deltek Costpoint is a program built for the government contracting lifecycle, with a specific focus on project accounting and resource management. Customizable for projects of all scopes, Costpoint digitizes the daunting paperwork involved in contracting development and submission and attempts to ease the process as much as it can.

Deltek Vantagepoint is tailored to professional services firms, particularly A&E and consulting firms. It is intended to increase revenue as well as heighten output and foster connections between coworkers and is equipped with features such as interactive dashboards, visual project scheduling and streamlined invoicing and billing.

G2 is a service that collects user reviews in order to direct buyers to the products that will best suit their needs. Regarding Costpoint, one user said it “has made its mark and is the only accounting ERP that a company needs,” while another attested Vantagepoint “does everything you want it to and that the user interface is a difference-maker.”

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Noblis Receives Patent for Primer Design Using Indexed Genomic Information; CTO Chris Barnett Quoted
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Noblis Receives Patent for Primer Design Using Indexed Genomic Information; CTO Chris Barnett Quoted

Noblis announced on Monday that the leading provider of science, technology and strategy services for the federal government has been awarded U.S. patent 11,222,712 for primer design using indexed genomic information.

The patent will enhances the company’s capabilities to design highly discriminatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for rapid, accurate detection and diagnosis. This primer design method identifies highly discriminatory regions in genomic sequences and rapidly indexes them to create barcodes for primers detecting organisms and pathogens.

“Our patented method further enhances the process of analyzing and distinguishing genomic samples,” said Chris Barnett, Noblis’ chief technology officer. 

Noblis’ method is innovative in that it analyzes a sequence against the whole genome, a larger space than other primer design methods commonly cover. It creates collections of sequences which can be further divided into first and second sets of primers, each containing subsequences (also known as k-mers) within the collection.

“This invention used together with other Noblis innovations including our portable DNA sequencing system are driving efficiencies in data gathering and decision making that have significant impacts – particularly for public health and national defense challenges.”

The patented technology is part of Noblis’ BioLaboro application for rapidly designing new PCR assays and monitoring the performance of existing ones.

About Noblis

For more than 25 years, Noblis has been an innovator within the federal government, committed to enriching lives and making our nation safer while investing in the missions of tomorrow. 

As a nonprofit, Noblis works for the public good, bringing together the best possible combination of science, technology and engineering expertise and solutions, in an environment of independence and objectivity to deliver enduring impact on federal missions. 

Together with our subsidiaries, we work with a wide range of government clients in the defense, homeland security, intelligence, law enforcement and federal civil sectors.

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Oracle Welcomes Political Advocate Awo Ablo to Board; CTO Larry Ellison Quoted
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Oracle Welcomes Political Advocate Awo Ablo to Board; CTO Larry Ellison Quoted

Awo Ablo, a public official and advocate in world affairs, has been appointed by unanimous vote to Oracle’s board of directors.

As a member of the Oracle board, the executive will build on her extensive experience in advisory and organizing positions, the computer technology company said Thursday.

Larry Ellison, chief technology officer and chairman of the board at Oracle, commended Ablo’s background, which includes “collaborating with heads of state, heads of government and other high-ranking government officials to help develop national programs addressing a wide range of critical challenges ranging from securing the food supply to modernizing healthcare and digital infrastructure.”

Ablo is currently executive director of external relations at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, where she reports to Blair on policy development and execution centered around economic and governance improvement. She has been company director of the institute for three years.

She also serves in vice chair positions on both the board at BBC Media Action and at the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex.

Prior to this work, she was director of external relations at the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, where she oversaw outreach to 40 countries with a $150 million turnover. Ablo was also director of business development at the BBC World Service Trust.

Ablo’s advisory experience includes an ongoing partnership with Iceaddis, as well as counsel work with committees like the Chatham House Global Health Working Group.

Ellison attests that Ablo’s track record will allow her to lend unique insight into the needs of Oracle’s global government customer base.

The election was effective on March 22 and Ablo’s addition makes 15 board members. Per board rules, her term will be one year and she will be up for reelection at the stockholder meeting in November 2022.

Pat Mungovan, senior vice president and general manager of Oracle’s public sector branch, was recently awarded his first Wash100 Award, Executive Mosaic’s annual distinction of the 100 most prominent figures in GovCon, government and industry.

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DARPA Launches Program to Manufacture Large Systems in Space
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DARPA Launches Program to Manufacture Large Systems in Space

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has selected eight industry and university research teams to support a new program for designing new technologies to build large structures on orbit.

The Novel Orbital Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass Efficient Design will focus on on-orbit manufacturing of large space and lunar structures to address size constraints that limit the production and launch of such systems, DARPA said Wednesday.

The three-phase NOM4D research will primarily focus on developing in-space materials and manufacturing technologies and exploring new mass-efficient designs.

Phase I will concentrate on meeting structural efficiency targets for a 1 MW solar array, phase II will center on the development of radio frequency reflectors and phase III will demonstrate precision for infrared reflectors.

The first set of teams comprises HRL Laboratories, Physical Sciences Inc., Teledyne Scientific Company, the University of Florida and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The second group includes Opterus Research and Development Inc., the University of Michigan and the California Institute of Technology.

“NOM4D aims to enable a new paradigm where future structures that support DoD space systems are built off-Earth using designs optimized for the space environment, shedding launch constraints. This would enable enhanced capability, improved robustness, operation in higher orbits, and future cislunar applications,” said Bill Carter, NOM4D program manager in DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office.

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