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DIU, Partners Release Report on Space Industry Improvement; Gen. John Raymond Quoted
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DIU, Partners Release Report on Space Industry Improvement; Gen. John Raymond Quoted

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) partnered with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the U.S. Space Force to report recommendations for improving the space industrial base. 

The 2021 State of the Space Industrial Base Report builds on input provided by 250 industry experts in July, DIU said Thursday.

The report aims to inform the National Space Council, other government stakeholders and investors on space’s relevance to U.S. infrastructure, manufacturing, climate change, workforce and foreign policy.

Experts recommend the government create an inclusive cislunar economy, establish internet for space, build infrastructure for space logistics, set national priorities and apply space technologies that help address climate change.

The report also includes recommendations to create a hybrid space architecture based on existing commercial satellite technologies. This architecture would support the Department of Defense’s Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) concept, which envisions an integrated network of situational awareness sensors across all battlefield domains.

“The recommendations, if followed, have the power to unite and unleash the full innovation, technological and industrial capability of the U.S. and the benefit of all humanity,” said Gen. John Raymond, chief of space operations and a three-time Wash100 winner.

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CGI Selected to Modernize GSA Acquisition Process, Develop Common Catalog Platform; Stefan Becker Quoted
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CGI Selected to Modernize GSA Acquisition Process, Develop Common Catalog Platform; Stefan Becker Quoted

CGI has booked a task order under the General Services Administration’s CIO Modernization and Enterprise Transformation (COMET) contract vehicle to modernize the agency’s acquisition process by developing the Common Catalog Platform.

Under the potential five-year, $19 million task order, CGI will leverage its cloud-native development, DevSecOps, and human-centered design capabilities to develop and lead a phased implementation of an Application Programming Interface-accessible, web-based application for managing catalog data, the company said Friday.

“We look forward to expanding our partnership with GSA to support their core mission of helping government agencies procure the goods and services they need to execute their missions,” said Stefan Becker, senior vice president of regulatory agencies for CGI.

The CCP is meant to replace the GSA’s legacy desktop-based Schedule Input Program and will provide a centralized platform for catalog management activities as well as increase efficiency for Multiple Award Schedule holders and Federal Acquisition Service staff.

The new application is also expected to improve usability, reduce process complexity and improve information quality for vendors managing catalogs and GSA customer applicants.

This task order follows CGI’s recent win of a spot on the GSA’s ASTRO contract. CGI was selected for the two pools of space and development/systems integration under the ASTRO IDIQ.

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NSA, CISA Issue New Guidance on Securing 5G Pods; Jorge Laurel Quoted
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NSA, CISA Issue New Guidance on Securing 5G Pods; Jorge Laurel Quoted

The National Security Agency (NSA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) jointly published guidance on how to mitigate cyber threats targeting 5G cloud. 

The guidance, titled Securely Isolate Network Resources, addresses threats to “pods” or 5G networks that are container-centric or hybrid container/virtual, NSA said Thursday.

The document, part of the Enduring Security Framework (ESF), tackles multiple cloud security aspects such as limiting access, applying real-time threat detection and preventing resource contention.

“5G changes the traditional mobile network operations architecture, allowing for the core network to be moved away from proprietary hardware and software to a modular cloud-native infrastructure,” said Jorge Laurel, NSA project director for ESF, a public-private working group that the guidance is part of.

ESF’s first guidance provided best practices on how to detect, prevent and mitigate harmful cyber activity within 5G cloud infrastructure.

GAO: Bid Protests Fell 12% in Fiscal 2021
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GAO: Bid Protests Fell 12% in Fiscal 2021

The number of disputed federal contract awards reached 1,897 during the government’s 2021 fiscal year, down 12 percent from the 2,149 cases filed in the preceding year, according to an annual bid protest report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

GAO submitted data to Congress showing FY 2021 was the third year in a row challenges to contract terms or awards have decreased. Procurement law experts at the government audit office have offered explanations for the decline.

Nextgov reported Ralph White and Kenneth Patton, both managing associate general counsels at GAO, attribute the declining protests partly to enhanced debriefing procedures.

Patton told the publication that the debriefing process offers additional information meant to help companies think over a protest.

He also believes the use of indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts with provisions allowing agencies to buy goods and services from multiple vendors could reduce the number of federal contracting disputes.

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Executive Order Aims to Cut Worker Turnover in Federal Service Contracts
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Executive Order Aims to Cut Worker Turnover in Federal Service Contracts

President Biden has signed an executive order to improve federal procurement by reducing turnover among workers supporting government functions. 

The new policy will offer workers the right of first refusal when a contract changes hands to cut time and costs spent on recruiting and training new employees, the White House said Thursday.

The order will require new contractors to give workers who performed their jobs well on the previous contract the opportunity to keep their jobs to prevent disruptions during the transition and maintain information security.

The move is also aimed at helping produce a diverse pool of skilled and experienced employees who are already familiar with working for the federal government.

“There are about 2 million service contract workers, covering a range of jobs and responsibilities – from maintenance on military bases to call centers to transportation to research and development,” the EO stated.

However, federal service contract workers are disproportionately women and people of color. The order builds on the policies introduced during the Obama administration and is part of a broader effort of the Biden-Harris administration to advance its equity goals. 

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Report: US, China Agree to Hold Arms Control Talks
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Report: US, China Agree to Hold Arms Control Talks

President Biden has agreed to hold arms control talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as China indicates a move to build up its nuclear arsenal, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the two leaders agreed during their virtual summit to move forward with discussions on nuclear strategic stability amid growing concerns about Beijing’s accelerated pace of adding more warheads to its nuclear stockpile.

The Department of Defense estimated in a recent report that China could increase its nuclear warhead from its current count of 350 to 700 in six years and 1,000 by 2030.

The U.S. has a much larger weapons arsenal with about 3,750 warheads, but government officials and defense experts say the Pentagon has concerns about the motive behind China’s rapid development of missiles.

In its newly released annual report to Congress, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said Beijing’s nuclear buildup suggests it could be intended to support a “new strategy of limited nuclear first use” that would enable Chinese leaders to deter U.S. intervention in a war over Taiwan.

The two leaders have yet to decide on a format for the discussions, but a Chinese official told WSJ that the parties could engage in a Track II dialogue that would involve defense experts from the private sector and academia.

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Gen. Paul Nakasone Highlights Need for Deeper Cross-Sector Collaboration Against Cyberthreats
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Gen. Paul Nakasone Highlights Need for Deeper Cross-Sector Collaboration Against Cyberthreats

Gen. Paul Nakasone, head of U.S. Cyber Command and a five-time Wash100 Award recipient, said the U.S. government should further strengthen partnerships with companies and academia amid evolving cyberthreats and strategic challenges facing the country, Nextgov reported Wednesday.

Nakasone, who also serves as director of the National Security Agency, said NSA is advancing efforts to counter cyber threats by working with over 100 companies in the defense industrial base and their security providers through the Cybersecurity Collaboration Center and has contracts with over 1,800 businesses and academic institutions.

“The technology, services and products provided via these partnerships underpin all of our operations and provide robust security to our nation,” Nakasone added. He also mentioned NSA’s partnership with the National Cryptologic Foundation.

“The NCF will create opportunities for the public and private sectors to engage on cybersecurity and national security issues,” Nakasone said. “This is a force multiplier for us, and especially for our ability to enhance a cybersecurity education across the country.”

Nakasone also discussed how China and other nation-states impact U.S. national security through misinformation and disruptive operations.

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Joint Advisory Warns of Iranian Government-Backed Cyberthreat Actors
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Joint Advisory Warns of Iranian Government-Backed Cyberthreat Actors

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI and cybersecurity agencies of Australia and the U.K. are warning that an advanced persistent threat group that has ties to the government of Iran is exploiting Microsoft Exchange ProxyShell and Fortinet vulnerabilities to gain access to networks of critical infrastructure organizations.

The Iranian government-backed APT group is targeting organizations in transportation, health care and public health sectors and is using initial access to deploy ransomware, exfiltrate data and conduct other follow-on operations, the agencies said Wednesday.

A joint advisory from the agencies listed several tactics, tools and techniques APT actors use to secure initial access into organizations’ systems.

The agencies are urging network defenders to patch and update systems, enforce backup and restoration procedures and policies, implement multifactor authentication and network segmentation, reduce risk of phishing and secure remote access, among other mitigation measures.

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Wally Adeyemo: Digital Assets Present Economic Opportunities, Financial Crime Risk
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Wally Adeyemo: Digital Assets Present Economic Opportunities, Financial Crime Risk

Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the Department of the Treasury, said digital assets such as cryptocurrency offer opportunities for economic growth and could also pose financial crime risks, CNBC reported Wednesday.

Adeyemo told CNBC in an interview during his visit to the United Arab Emirates that countries should collaborate and urge digital asset creators to comply with anti-money laundering policies.

The Treasury official predicts the U.S. dollar to remain a dominant global currency despite the growing interest in virtual assets and ongoing efforts of global central banks to develop their own digital currency.

He also noted that the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package President Joe Biden signed into law Monday has the potential to attract investments from other governments.

“As our economy grows, it is an opportunity for the global economy to grow and as that happens, the dollar will remain the dominant currency in the world as well,” Adeyemo said.

He does not expect central bank currencies such as Russia’s digital ruble to affect the U.S. sanctions policy as restrictive measures will still have an impact on the designated countries’ economies.

“As long as we make the investments that are needed, we are still going to have the ability to use our sanctions regime to make sure that we prevent the thing that it was created to prevent,” Adeyemo explained.

Wally Adeyemo: Digital Assets Present Economic Opportunities, Financial Crime Risk

The Potomac Officers Club will hold its Digital Currency and National Security Forum on Jan. 27 to discuss the implications, risks, opportunities and challenges digital currencies pose to the future of the U.S. economy and national security.

Sign up for this event to hear from government and industry leaders including keynote speakers National Cyber Director Chris Inglis and Juan Zarate, global co-managing partner and chief strategy officer at K2 Integrity.

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Gillian Bussey: DOD Eyes Reusable Hypersonic Aircraft
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Gillian Bussey: DOD Eyes Reusable Hypersonic Aircraft

Gillian Bussey, director of the joint hypersonics transition office at the Department of Defense, said DOD is interested in reusable hypersonic vehicles and space launch systems, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.

“In terms of reusables from a military perspective … the fastest air-breathing manned jet engine or jet powered systems were spy planes, so SR-71,” Bussey said Monday during her speech at a conference.

“One can imagine going faster and having a hypersonic spy plane. You can imagine a reusable system that can fly around and drop payloads and come back, or a hypersonic system that can carry other hypersonic systems,” she added.

Bussey said she believes DOD should set a clear direction for applications it wants to invest in amid a plethora of ideas when it comes to reusable hypersonics.

She discussed the four phases of the Pentagon’s hypersonic research strategy and cited that most of the projects are in “phase two, shifting to phase three.” Phase 2 focuses on the development of defensive and offensive system prototypes, while Phase 3 deals with the deployment of elements of platforms in limited quantities.

Bussey said the U.S. Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon program is close to reaching the third phase. “We’re looking at having that fielded in the next year or two,” she said of LRHW.

She added that 37 science and technology projects valued at about $53.4 million have been selected by her office for investment and that her organization is more focused on how to make weapon systems operational and effective against targets.

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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