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CISA Unveils 2 Resources From ICT Supply Chain Risk Management Task Force
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CISA Unveils 2 Resources From ICT Supply Chain Risk Management Task Force

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has announced the publication of two new resources to help mitigate threats facing the information and communications technology supply chain.

The first resource seeks to address liability limitations to improve sharing supply chain threat data among federal agencies and private sector and the second resource intends to help ICT small- and medium-sized businesses evaluate their risk posture and apply best practices and industry standards to guide supply chain risk planning, CISA said Tuesday.

The ICT Supply Chain Risk Management Task Force developed the two resources – Preliminary Considerations of Paths to Enable Improved Multi-Directional Sharing of Supply Chain Risk Information and Operationalizing the Vendor SCRM Template for Small and Medium-sized Businesses.

The ICT SCRM Task Force is a public-private partnership sponsored by CISA’s National Risk Management Center (NRMC) and seeks to improve ICT supply chain resilience and security.

Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations

ExecutiveBiz, sister site of GovCon Wire and part of the Executive Mosaic digital media umbrella, will host a virtual event about securing the supply chain on Oct. 26th. Visit ExecutiveBiz.com to sign up for the “Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations” event.

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Treasury Sanctions Virtual Currency Exchange to Help Counter Ransomware; Janet Yellen Quoted
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Treasury Sanctions Virtual Currency Exchange to Help Counter Ransomware; Janet Yellen Quoted

The Department of the Treasury has initiated several measures to fight ransomware and one of those is the announcement of the first sanctions designation against virtual currency exchange SUEX for its role in facilitating transactions for threat actors involved in ransomware attacks.

The Treasury said Tuesday that with the designation, the U.S. would block all SUEX’s property and interests and prohibit all U.S. individuals from engaging in transactions with the virtual currency exchange.

“Additionally, any entities 50% or more owned by one or more designated persons are also blocked,” the department noted.

The Treasury’s office of foreign assets control issued an updated advisory to highlight potential sanctions risks related to ransomware payments, stress the importance of cyber hygiene in mitigating ransomware attacks and encourage companies to report incidents to law enforcement agencies.

“As cybercriminals use increasingly sophisticated methods and technology, we are committed to using the full range of measures, to include sanctions and regulatory tools, to disrupt, deter, and prevent ransomware attacks,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations

ExecutiveBiz, sister site of GovCon Wire and part of the Executive Mosaic digital media umbrella, will host a virtual event about securing the supply chain on Oct. 26. Visit ExecutiveBiz.com to sign up for the “Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations” event.

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SRNL’s New Facility in Georgia to Focus on Critical Infrastructure, ICS Cybersecurity; Vahid Majidi Quoted
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SRNL’s New Facility in Georgia to Focus on Critical Infrastructure, ICS Cybersecurity; Vahid Majidi Quoted

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has opened a facility in Augusta, Georgia, to host research on protecting critical infrastructure and industrial control systems from cyber threats.

SRNL said Friday that it will collaborate with defense, industry and academic partners through the new facility located inside the Georgia Cyber Center’s Hull McKnight Building.

The lab’s cybersecurity team will initially have eight members and seeks to work with organizations such as the Army Cyber Command, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Cyber Crime Center and the Augusta University School of Computer and Cyber Sciences.

“SRNL’s ability to conduct research and development in an innovative and collaborative environment with a full spectrum of partners opens up many opportunities to include cybersecurity solutions to enhance the resiliency of the national grid, training for soldiers, medical industry cybersecurity challenges, and a host of other challenges confronting our nation,” said Vahid Majidi, laboratory director at SRNL and executive vice president of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions.

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions – which is composed of Fluor, Huntington Ingalls Industries and Honeywell – manages the laboratory for the Department of Energy.

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NetImpact Awarded PM3S Contract to Accelerate CBIIT Digital Transformation; Nihar Shah Quoted
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NetImpact Awarded PM3S Contract to Accelerate CBIIT Digital Transformation; Nihar Shah Quoted

NetImpact Strategies has won the Portfolio Management Systems Support Services (PM3S) recompete contract to provide digital transformation services for the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute’s Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT).

Under the new recompete contract, NetImpact will partner with customers to design, maintain and support NCI’s IT and scientific portfolio management systems, enabling data-driven decision making and enhancing insights across the institute’s key missions.

In addition, NetImpact will leverage its DX360 capabilities to support and accelerate NCI’s digital transformation initiatives.

Nihar Shah, director of NetImpact and PMS3 program manager, said the company is honored to continue their long-standing relationship with CBIIT under the new contract.

"Winning this recompete is a testament to the impact our team has delivered to CBIIT for over a decade in meeting those admirable mission goals and we are elated to continue automating and driving a metrics and data-driven culture of transparency,” continued Shah.

Throughout the company’s extensive partnership with CBIIT, NetImpact has implemented multiple scalable enterprise solutions to modernize the center’s legacy tools into a centralized digital platform.

NetImpact’s previous work with CBIIT also notably includes a key initiative to mature the center’s governance agility and program management processes in order to meet requirements under the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act and Technology Business Management guidelines.

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Argonne White Paper Lays Out R&D Path for Electric Aircraft Propulsion Batteries; Ajay Misra Quoted
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Argonne White Paper Lays Out R&D Path for Electric Aircraft Propulsion Batteries; Ajay Misra Quoted

The Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science has released a white paper detailing the research and development needed for the commercialization of electric aviation batteries. 

The white paper explores research areas where the Department of Defense and NASA could spur innovation in electric propulsion batteries amid a projected emergence of the urban air mobility services market, Argonne National Laboratory said Monday.

The study suggests investments in next-generation lithium-ion chemistries under aviation conditions for use in both air taxis and 20-passenger commuter aircraft, and a focus on new designs, manufacturing approaches and high-temperature operations for solid-state batteries to power 50-passenger regional jets.

Meanwhile, the paper calls for studies on future high-energy systems such as sulfur-based batteries and hydrogen carriers to power electric single-aisle 737-class aircraft.

“The white paper findings provide a framework for the development of an investment strategy by the government agencies for battery technologies specific to electric aviation beyond the current level of investment in the automotive sector,” explained Ajay Misra, deputy R&D director at NASA's Glenn Research Institute.

ACCESS wrote the white paper with information gathered from a 2019 meeting on electric aviation batteries R&D between DOE and NASA representatives and experts from aircraft and vehicle companies, component manufacturers, and academic and national laboratory researchers.

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Commerce Department Wants Public Comments on its ICT Supply Chain Risk Report
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Commerce Department Wants Public Comments on its ICT Supply Chain Risk Report

The Department of Commerce (DOC) has requested comments on its report on the risks in the supply chains for the information and communications technology (ICT) industrial base, with a deadline on Nov. 4.

The public's opinion and information will help inform the Biden administration's policy of protecting supply chains to ensure the U.S. economy and national security, according to a Federal Register notice.

The report closes in on the ICT industrial base that encompasses hardware for terrestrial distribution, broadcast and wireless transport, satellite support, data storage, mobile devices, critical software, and various hardware-dependent services.

The agency wants comments to focus on listed policy objectives as they relate to ICT supply chains such as manufacturing capabilities, information and cybersecurity practices, goods and materials, climate change risks, and the domestic workforce.

In February, the Biden administration tasked the DOC and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to write a risk to inform its efforts in securing and strengthening U.S. supply chains.

 

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Navy Engines Project Gains Access to DOD Supercomputers for Simulation Testing; Rear Adm. John Lemmon Quoted
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Navy Engines Project Gains Access to DOD Supercomputers for Simulation Testing; Rear Adm. John Lemmon Quoted

An engines project of the Naval Air Warfare Center aircraft division will gain access to the Department of Defense’s supercomputers, which will aid in conducting simulation tests of naval aviation engines before actual demonstration in a laboratory. 

As part of the High-Performance Computing Modernization Program Frontier Project portfolio, NAWCAD engineers can leverage the computers’ predictive modeling without having to risk actual resources for live demos, the Naval Air Systems Command said Monday. 

Rear Adm. John Lemmon, NAWCAD Commander, said the advanced computer simulation will help in reducing cost and saving time as aircraft, weapons and subsystems are undergoing development.

The access to the supercomputing platforms will also support the NAWCAD team’s modeling and simulation research initiatives, the findings of which will help in establishing whether the technology can be integrated with engines across the Navy and U.S. Army.

“The advanced design tools resulting from this project will lead to quantum leaps in the performance, efficiency and reliability of next-generation gas turbine engines,” said Luis Bravo, the engines project co-lead from ARL.

Guidehouse-AGA Study: Government Agencies More Susceptible to Fraud But Lack Resources
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Guidehouse-AGA Study: Government Agencies More Susceptible to Fraud But Lack Resources

Since the start of the pandemic, federal and local government agencies have become more susceptible to fraud but are lacking the resources to fight the sophisticated criminal activities, a survey conducted by Guidehouse and the Association of Government Accountants indicated.

Based on the findings, 53 percent of the total 308 government professional respondents reported that there was an increased risk for fraud at the onset of the global health crisis, Guidehouse said Tuesday. 

Eighty-nine percent of the participants said fraudulent vendor payments are a pain point as most instances of actual fraud frequently happen through security breaches and misrepresentation of information. 

The study also found that constraint in resources and talents is the most important challenge in addressing fraud, with more than a third of the respondents saying that they have not yet looked into technology development efforts to combat the threat. 

Ellen Zimiles, a partner and financial services segment leader at Guidehouse, said the survey showed the significance of people, processes and technology working in unison to mitigate fraud in government agencies. 

She noted that “agencies indicated they have significant resource constraints and may be unable to timely adopt anti-fraud technologies.”

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Curtiss-Wright Wins $100M in Contracts to Supply U.S. Naval Defense Components: CEO Lynn Bamford Quoted
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Curtiss-Wright Wins $100M in Contracts to Supply U.S. Naval Defense Components: CEO Lynn Bamford Quoted

Curtiss-Wright Corporation has been awarded contracts valuing approximately $100 million to provide pumps for the U.S. Navy’s Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines as well as Ford-class aircraft carrier programs.

Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc. awarded the contracts, which will support ship construction and enhance defense platforms for the U.S. Navy, Curtiss-Wright announced Tuesday.

“Since the inception of nuclear-powered ships, Curtiss-Wright’s commitment to providing the safest, most advanced and reliable technologies has ensured our ongoing participation in these important defense programs, which continue to receive strong Congressional support,” said 2021 Wash100 Award recipient Lynn Bamford, president and CEO of Curtiss-Wright.

Bamford added that these naval defense contracts will continue the company’s long-standing relationship with the U.S. Navy and allow Curtiss-Wright to build upon their work performed under previously awarded contracts.

Most recently, Curtiss-Wright received $130 million in contracts in the second quarter of 2021 to supply the U.S. Navy with pumps, propulsion valves, control systems and other advanced instrumentation. The established partnership between the U.S. Navy and Curtiss-Wright extends over 60 years and primarily encompasses the provision of high-performance components for the Navy’s nuclear fleet.

Curtiss-Wright will perform contract work within the Naval & Power segment at the company’s facility in Cheswick, Pennsylvania.

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Roman Salasznyk: Booz Allen Hamilton Secures Spot on $350M BITSDIS Contract for National Cancer Institute
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Roman Salasznyk: Booz Allen Hamilton Secures Spot on $350M BITSDIS Contract for National Cancer Institute

Booz Allen Hamilton announced Tuesday that the IT services consulting firm has secured a position on a potential five-year, $350 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity Biomedical Information Technology, Software Development, and Informatics Support (BITSDIS) contract to support the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology.

Under the IDIQ, Booz Allen was awarded a $29.9 million task order to provide comprehensive system engineering, software development and operational support for an array of NCI’s mission-critical operations aimed at advancing life science technologies and driving scientific breakthroughs in cancer research.

“As a long-standing partner of the National Institutes of Health, we are excited to bring our firm’s full suite of life science, cloud computing, advanced analytics, and technology modernization capabilities to accelerate cancer research and care,” said Roman Salasznyk, senior vice president of Booz Allen’s life science practice.

As part of the Clinical Trials Reporting Program task order, Booz Allen will provide support in key NCI initiatives that include enhancing the CTRP as a definitive clinical trial information source, facilitating information capturing across the cancer research field, and supporting scientific research aimed at the development of Covid vaccines through serology test result collection and analysis

Salasznyk also noted that the company will leverage its scientific and technical talent base to assist the National Cancer Institute in their modernization and research acceleration objectives.

Additionally, Booz Allen will provide a range of biomedical information technology, analytical, informatics and consulting services to enhance NCI’s technological capabilities and platforms, enabling the institute’s clinicians and scientists to accelerate their research.

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