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U.S. Space Force Taps Serco for Space Fence Operations, Maintenance; CEO Dave Dacquino Quoted
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U.S. Space Force Taps Serco for Space Fence Operations, Maintenance; CEO Dave Dacquino Quoted

Serco Inc. has secured a potential five-year $33 million Space Fence Operations and Maintenance contract from the U.S. Space Force’s Space Operations Command (SpOC). The contract has a five-month base period with five one-year options.

Under the new contract, Serco will provide management, operation, maintenance and logistical support for SpOC’s Space Fence surveillance system, the company said Tuesday.

Two-time Wash100 Award winner Dave Dacquino, Serco’s CEO, said the company will leverage its established history and expertise in space operations to perform the contracted work.

“From Serco’s RAF Fylingdales work in the U.K starting in 1963 through our GEODSS win here in the U.S. last year, Serco brings an impressive depth and breadth of experience and knowledge to space operations,” Dacquino noted.

Serco's aforementioned U.S. contract win in April 2020 allowed the company to operate and maintain the Space Force’s Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance system. 

The new contract continues Serco’s work with the Space Force to advance the nation’s space intelligence capabilities and improve Space Domain Awareness.

The Space Fence is a second-generation ground-based S-band radar space surveillance system designed to establish U.S. space superiority through tracking and cataloging orbital objects. The mission is the U.S. Department of Defense’s first to be operated from a net-centric location.

Additionally, Serco’s contracted work will include operations, cybersecurity, training and knowledge management for the Space Fence S-band radar and its supporting systems.

Serco will perform work in Huntsville, Alabama and Kwajalein Atoll, the Marshall Islands with support from the company’s Colorado Springs facility. 

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CBO Presents Analysis of 3 Options for National Defense Under Reduced DOD Budget
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CBO Presents Analysis of 3 Options for National Defense Under Reduced DOD Budget

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) examined three options for national defense if funding for the Pentagon would be reduced by 14 percent, or approximately $1 trillion, from 2022 through 2031.

Under the first option, the Department of Defense would maintain the “deterrence by denial” as its national security strategy and reduce the size of its U.S. forces by approximately 20 percent while keeping the “same balance of capabilities,” CBO said in a report published Thursday.

For the second option, the U.S. would transition its strategy to “deterrence through punishment” and would heavily rely on allied forces in combat operations while bolstering its long-range strike capabilities, including air defense missiles and cruise missiles.

Under the third option, the U.S. government would focus on keeping the freedom of space, air and maritime navigation, which is also known as the global commons; increase investment in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities for the Air Force and Space Force; and keep a larger naval force than the first option to help the U.S. facilitate control of sea lanes.

“Although the second and third options would require the same amount of funding as the first option, they would result in different force structures and different budget allocations among the military services,” the CBO report reads.

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NIST Seeks Security Platforms for Data-Centric Security Management Project
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NIST Seeks Security Platforms for Data-Centric Security Management Project

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has asked industry and other interested stakeholders to provide products that could help demonstrate security technologies for a project meant to facilitate data-centric security management. 

NIST is seeking letters of interest to help the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) work with tech companies to address cyber challenges identified in the project titled Data Classification Practices: Facilitating Data-Centric Security Management, according to a notice published Friday.

The project seeks to come up with technology-agnostic practices for defining data handling and data classification rulesets to help improve current cyber and privacy risk management practices.

Organizations should include in their letters of interest commercially available security platform components and capabilities. These components include client devices, client device apps, enterprise services, data services and business services.

NIST also wants respondents to identify how their platforms help address desired security properties and characteristics, including the availability of a mechanism to verify the integrity of data handling rulesets and a method to validate the integrity of data classification tags or labels.

Selected organizations will provide and demonstrate security platforms under a consortium cooperative research and development agreement with NIST.

“Collaborative activities will commence as soon as enough completed and signed letters of interest have been returned to address all the necessary components and capabilities, but no earlier than November 8, 2021,” the NIST notice reads.

NIST Seeks Security Platforms for Data-Centric Security Management Project

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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OMB Issues Endpoint Detection and Response Implementation Guidance to Federal Agencies
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OMB Issues Endpoint Detection and Response Implementation Guidance to Federal Agencies

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued a memorandum to guide agencies how to advance the adoption of endpoint detection and response (EDR) platforms to help facilitate the detection of cyber vulnerabilities and related threats on federal networks in accordance with the cybersecurity executive order signed in May.

Shalanda Young, acting director of OMB, wrote in the memo published Friday that agencies should provide the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) access to enterprise EDR deployments within 90 days.

The document calls for CISA to come up with a process for continuous performance monitoring of EDR deployment efforts, provide recommendations to OMB on ways to further advance EDR implementation initiatives and develop a technical reference architecture and maturity model within three months. 

CISA should also coordinate with the Chief Information Officer Council to create a playbook of best practices for EDR system deployments within 180 days. 

Agencies should carry out an analysis to evaluate the status of EDR capabilities within 120 days and coordinate with CISA on future and current EDR deployments to ensure that the platforms align with the agency’s technical reference architecture.

The memo also directs agencies to work with OMB’s resource management office and their chief financial officers to ensure that they have sufficient resources and personnel to maintain EDR tools and make sure that those systems comply with statistical and privacy policies and laws.

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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ARC Develops AI/ML Maintenance Platform for U.S. Marine Corps Under SBIR Phase III Contract
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ARC Develops AI/ML Maintenance Platform for U.S. Marine Corps Under SBIR Phase III Contract

Armaments Research Company (ARC) will develop a predictive maintenance platform for crew-served weapons for the U.S. Marine Corps under the company’s recently awarded five-year, $60 million SBIR Phase III contract.

The SBIR Phase III contract with the Department of Defense and General Services Administration allows ARC to develop systems in support of the military’s Joint All-Domain Command and Controlw (JADC2) project portfolio, which aims to connect military service sensors into an integrated, centralized network.

ARC will embed its adapted Internet of Things sensor into crew-served weapons platforms to collect, synthesize and communicate diagnostics which will enable predictive maintenance and optimize unit readiness by allowing units to better assess overall platform health, the company said Thursday.

“Supporting the Marines’ leap forward from time- to conditions-based maintenance for their medium-caliber weapons creates an extraordinary potential for efficiencies,” said ARC’s CEO Michael Canty. 

Canty added that non-age-related equipment issues typically comprise about 80 percent of total failures, and ARC’s work on the project will help the Marine Corps to understand, predict and prevent these issues.

Throughout this project, ARC will continue to develop its artificial intelligence and machine learning-powered weapons sensor, ARC-Response, scaling the sensor from small- to medium-caliber weapons platforms. 

Data collected by the improved sensors will be used to develop machine learning algorithms to identify parts in need of repair and detect potential parts failures before they occur, ensuring operational safety.

Last month, ARC introduced two task orders under the contract, which focus on fusing data from ARC’s AI-enabled edge computing sensors with other data sources to utilize mobile and extended reality platforms to transmit information to tactical forces more quickly.

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RedTail LiDAR Systems to Enhance EOD 3D Mapping Missions; Brad DeRoos Quoted
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RedTail LiDAR Systems to Enhance EOD 3D Mapping Missions; Brad DeRoos Quoted

RedTail LiDAR Systems has delivered six LiDAR systems to the 707th Ordnance Company at Joint Base Lewis-McChord to provide an opportunity for its Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians to assess how LiDAR systems may be used to enhance operations.

Leveraging a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) mirror-based design licensed from the Army Research Laboratory, the LiDAR technology will be used to improve the EOD Company’s 3D mapping, crater volume calculation, unmanned ground vehicle route planning, mission planning and surveillance capabilities, the company said Tuesday.

"Delivering these six LiDAR systems to EOD technicians for test and evaluation is a significant step forward in using MEMS mirror-based LiDAR technology to address a broad range of Department of Defense 3D mapping needs,” said RedTail LiDAR Systems President and CEO, Brad DeRoos. 

Additionally, DeRoos applauded the company’s success in transitioning this technology from the laboratory to military operations in the field.

The LiDAR Systems RTL-450 was integrated onto the Teledyne FLIR SkyRaider Unmanned Aerial System and will be utilized to enhance 3D imagery, especially in applications that deploy artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to detect and classify targets.

The systems’ rotation and zoom capabilities within the viewer software will allow operating areas to be viewed from multiple perspectives. This, coupled with the systems’ real-time 3D area mapping and scanning capabilities, will enable operators to accelerate critical mission planning and analysis.

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DHS Issues, Updates Tools to Support GPS Security; Brannan Villee Quoted
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DHS Issues, Updates Tools to Support GPS Security; Brannan Villee Quoted

The Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology (DHS S&T) Directorate has released two documents to guide the development of secure GPS receivers and prevent the spoofing of PNT systems.

DHS said Thursday its GPS Whitelist Development Guide addresses vulnerabilities and discusses data-related requirements in the directorate's existing Resilient PNT Conformance Framework.

The department also released a new version of the PNT Integrity Library, which features methods to verify the legitimacy of GPS data received by a system.

The library, which was first released in March via GitHub, now includes guidance on how to build a testing toolkit via commercially available hardware. The update also features a compliance check on Interface Control Document IS-GPS-200, a method to formally establish communications between GPS and other systems.

“Application of these tools will provide increased security against GPS disruptions," said Brannan Villee, project manager at S&T.

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NASA Announces Winners of Autonomous Tracking Contest
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NASA Announces Winners of Autonomous Tracking Contest

The Bronco Space Club, Orion Labs and Texas A&M SEAK Lab have won a NASA competition that sought technologies designed autonomously to track small spacecraft and observe events happening on Earth.

The teams will initially each receive $200,000 for winning Autonomous Observation Challenge No. 1 of the TechLeap Prize competition.

The cash prizes will fund the winners' payloads, which will undergo suborbital flight testing later on. Winners will work on their payloads over an eight-month period.

“The ability to select and fly technologies this quickly can help us change the pace of space for everyone,” said Christopher Baker, program executive for NASA’s Flight Opportunities and Small Spacecraft Technology programs.

The teams will compete for $200,000 more in awards and have the chance to receive $100,000 during the payload's construction. NASA tasked a panel to evaluate entries based on key technology requirements.

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Federal Agencies Unveil Climate Adaptation Plans; Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Quoted
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Federal Agencies Unveil Climate Adaptation Plans; Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Quoted

More than 20 federal agencies unveiled their climate adaptation and resiliency plans that detail each agency’s approaches in addressing climate change and managing risks to reduce the disruptions in federal operations. 

The plans are in line with the procurements intended to advance innovation, boost the supply chains’ resilience and carry out the administration’s commitment to forward climate and clean energy dollars, the White House said Thursday. 

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Council on Environmental Quality are requesting public comments on the climate adaptation plans of the agencies until Nov. 6th. 

Among the major themes of the plans include the effective utilization of federal investments using taxpayer money by identifying programs and missions that will most likely be affected by climate change. 

​​The agencies selected senior leaders to ensure that there are accountability measures in place and “adaptation and resilience is led from the top.”

The supply chain policies and operations are also undergoing reconstructions to make a climate-resilient system. NASA, for example, will seek to redesign a tool that the agency uses in screening supplies and services for the identification of those at risk because of weather changes. 

Lloyd Austin, secretary of the Department of Defense and a 2021 Wash100 Award winner, said the climate adaptation plan will be used as the agency’s guide in accommodating warfighting needs under the increasingly changing environmental conditions.  

“This plan will help the Department of Defense integrate climate considerations into our operations, our planning, and our business and decision-making processes,” he said.

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VA Taps Nonprofit Corporation for EHR Program Cost Determination Work
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VA Taps Nonprofit Corporation for EHR Program Cost Determination Work

Paul Brubaker, deputy chief information officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), said that VA has enlisted the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) to help calculate the potential life cycle cost of VA's program to implement a new electronic health records (EHR) system, FedScoop reported Thursday.

Brubaker informed House Veterans Affairs Committee members about IDA's upcoming work for the department Thursday at a congressional hearing and he expects the process will take 12 months to complete.

The independent review of VA's EHR modernization spending comes after its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) raised concerns over the accuracy of initial cost estimates for information technology infrastructure updates associated with the program.

VA awarded health technology maker Cerner a 10-year, $10 billion contract in May 2018 to help implement a new commercial platform for processing and sharing medical records.

The department projected total program cost would reach $16.1 billion, but the OIG audit found that it did not meet estimate reliability standards for the IT-related upgrade work.

Brubaker told lawmakers that the VA will establish processes to better manage IT investments and increase accountability and transparency.

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