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NGA Speeds up Procurement via Bailment Agreements
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NGA Speeds up Procurement via Bailment Agreements

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is using bailing agreements, a contracting method, to test out commercial products before finalizing purchases, C4ISRnet reported Thursday.

Bailing agreements allow agencies to test technologies out, make assessments and send feedback to the commercial source before finally issuing contracts.

NGA first issued three bailment agreements in 2019, made another five in 2020 and now plans to have enacted 20 by the end of 2021.

Dave Gauthier, head of commercial geospatial intelligence at NGA, said bailment agreements have helped the agency access and integrate commercial technologies at faster speeds.

For example, the agency used this method on a contract for Geospark Analytics’ artificial intelligence platform, which forecasts threats based on open-source intelligence. NGA tested and assessed the tool via a bailment agreement before issuing a contract.

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AF Materiel Command Employs New Contract Vehicle for Enterprise Procurements; Brig. Gen. Heath Collins Quoted
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AF Materiel Command Employs New Contract Vehicle for Enterprise Procurements; Brig. Gen. Heath Collins Quoted

Air Force Materiel Command's Armament Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base has created a new multiple-award contract vehicle dedicated to enterprise analytics, open system architecture, agile software development and digital procurements.

AFMC said Wednesday its Eglin Wide Agile Acquisition Contract allows for up to $46 billion in awards over a 10-year work timeline.

“Through EWAAC, the entire weapons portfolio now has access to a multifaceted contract instrument to award and subsequently deliver capabilities faster than ever,” said Brig. Gen. Heath Collins, program executive officer for weapons and director of the Armament Directorate at the Air Force.

The contract vehicle has the potential to accelerate procurements and more quickly address technology needs.

The directorate has so far issued 55 contracts to small businesses and large companies, which are now accessible to Eglin AFB's armament enterprise. EWAAC opportunities are featured on the Sam.gov website.

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Deborah Ross Propose Bill to Disclose Ransomware Data
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Deborah Ross Propose Bill to Disclose Ransomware Data

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Deborah Ross, D-N.C., have presented a bill that would use ransomware payment data to inform cybercrime response.

The Ransom Disclosure Act would provide critical ransomware data to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which would then use this input to study how cybercriminals operate, Warren's office said Tuesday.

The bill would require ransomware-affected organizations to disclose information about attacks and resulting payments within two days after the incident.

DHS would publicly release this information from the previous year without identifying victims and create a website where the public can voluntarily report ransom payments.

The legislation would also task the secretary of homeland security to conduct research on common traits between ransomware attacks and the involvement of cryptocurrency in these cases.

“My bill with Congresswoman Ross would set disclosure requirements when ransoms are paid and allow us to learn how much money cybercriminals are siphoning from American entities to finance criminal enterprises — and help us go after them," Warren said.

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DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas: TSA to Release ‘Security Directive’ to Railroad, Aviation Sectors
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DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas: TSA to Release ‘Security Directive’ to Railroad, Aviation Sectors

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will impose a new “security directive” for railroad and aviation industries in an effort to strengthen cybersecurity strategies, CNN reported Wednesday. 

The cybersecurity regulations slated to be released by the end of the year will require critical transport and higher-risk railroad companies to disclose cyber incidents to the government, identify cyber officials and prepare contingency plans for cyberattacks. 

"Reducing cybersecurity risk is in every organization's self-interest, especially considering the indiscriminate nature of ransomware," Mayorkas, a 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, said in a cybersecurity summit. 

Railroad industry members, however, noted that they only had three business days to look at, evaluate and give feedback on the draft of the new security directive. A spokesperson for the Association of American Railroads said they are hoping that the “substantive comments” will be considered in the deliberations. 

Earlier in May, the TSA ordered owners of critical pipeline companies to submit breach incident reports to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency following the May 7 Colonial Pipeline hack. 

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DHS Awards Amentum $1.3B CBP Contract; Joe Dunaway Quoted
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DHS Awards Amentum $1.3B CBP Contract; Joe Dunaway Quoted

Amentum announced on Thursday that the company has been awarded a potential ten-year, $1.3 billion contract by the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations division. 

Under the hybrid firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-incentive and cost-reimbursable contract, Amentum will provide CBP’s diverse fixed-wing and rotary-wing fleet with aircraft maintenance and logistics support, the company said Thursday.

“Amentum is 100 percent committed to the protection of our U.S. borders by providing the highest quality aviation maintenance service,” said Joe Dunaway, president of Amentum’s aviation business unit.

The company’s work under the contract includes ensuring the correct numbers and types of configured aircraft available for the U.S. government to meet operational requirements. 

CBP’s fleet consists of over 200 aircraft across multiple locations and includes a range of military and non-military, single- and multi-engine aircraft which may be modified or equipped with innovative sensor technology.

The contract consists of one base year plus nine option years and an additional three-month extension option. The CBP contract was initially awarded in January 2021, and work began October 1, 2021.

This contract follows Amentum’s recent win of nine pools, including Aviation, on the GSA’s ASTRO IDIQ contract for Department of Defense mission support. 

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Danielle Metz: DOD Sets 3 Goals in Overseas Cloud Computing Strategy
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Danielle Metz: DOD Sets 3 Goals in Overseas Cloud Computing Strategy

Danielle Metz, deputy chief information officer for information enterprise at the Department of Defense, said that DOD's cloud vision for military operations outside the continental U.S. comprises connectivity, computing power and talent cultivation goals, DOD News reported Wednesday.

She told GovernmentCIO in a virtual conversation that she believes the department can meet the three goals outlined in its OCONUS Cloud Strategy through collaboration with providers, legislators and other federal agencies.

Metz noted that DOD aims to help military personnel connect to cloud infrastructure and access information with the technology.

The official said that an overseas regional or mobile data facility could prevent data latency issues that would affect the decision-making process for warfighters.

DOD should educate and train service members on how to use computing systems, Metz added.

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DOE Launches Program to Develop Cybersecurity Tech for Power Grid Support; David Turk Quoted
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DOE Launches Program to Develop Cybersecurity Tech for Power Grid Support; David Turk Quoted

The Department of Energy (DOE) has launched a program that will establish cohorts of federal and industry leaders in the energy sector to develop cybersecurity technologies meant to support the evolving power grid. 

In collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Clean Energy Cybersecurity Accelerator program is aimed at advancing grid modernization and addressing cybersecurity challenges to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, the DOE said Wednesday. 

Cybersecurity technology providers will exchange ideas and experiences while they demonstrate and validate their tools in the lab. 

The proposals will be evaluated through the NREL’s Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems cyber range that has a connection to a 20 MW energy system hardware.

“We are grasping the opportunity to build a grid that can dispatch historic amounts of renewable energy across the country while addressing grid vulnerabilities and positioning America for a clean energy future,” said Energy Deputy Secretary David Turk. 

A steering committee composed of industry stakeholders and a federal advisory board with experts from agencies in the energy sector will provide strategic direction and cost-sharing for the program. 

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Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost Confirmed to Lead Transcom
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Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost Confirmed to Lead Transcom

The Senate confirmed Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost by voice vote Friday to serve as the next leader of U.S. Transportation Command, nearly seven months after President Biden nominated her to the position.

Van Ovost became the first woman appointed to run Transcom and was succeeded by Gen. Michael Minihan in her most recent role as head of Air Mobility Command, the U.S. Air Force said Wednesday.

Her previous assignments include service as deputy commander of AMC,, vice director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and director of mobility forces at U.S. Central Command.

The Air Force Academy graduate logged more than 4,200 flight hours with multiple aircraft platforms such as C-32A and KC-135R.

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Rob Joyce: Weapons Systems Security, Post-Quantum Encryption Among NSA’s Near-Term Priorities
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Rob Joyce: Weapons Systems Security, Post-Quantum Encryption Among NSA’s Near-Term Priorities

Rob Joyce, cybersecurity director at the National Security Agency (NSA) and a previous Wash100 Award winner, said one of NSA’s near-term priorities is ensuring the security of defense weapons platforms and the agency intends to pursue that by taking a holistic approach to assessing those systems to make sure that U.S. citizens have better understanding of the networks underpinning that equipment, Nextgov reported Wednesday.

“We've got now, you know, wings with computers strapped on them. We float computers on the ocean. We launch computers with rocket engines on them,” Joyce said at a summit Wednesday.

“We don't think of our weapons systems and weapons platforms in that way—but in reality, they don't function without those computer networks. How do we harden them, defend them and even instrument them, which is often a gap in that world,” he added.

Joyce said NSA’s cyber teams also want to ensure that the country has next-generation encryption to protect confidential data and communications against potential cyber threats posed by quantum computing.

“So, we've got to be rolling out that post-quantum capability today to secure today's secrets for decades into the future,” he said.

Joyce also cited NSA’s efforts to address the increase in ransomware attacks.

“But what we're doing is stepping up with a surge on ransomware issues to help the FBI, [U.S. Cyber Command], even things like the Treasury and State departments—because what we can do is we can inform their ability to get after the criminals,” he added.

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DOJ Creates National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team; Lisa Monaco Quoted
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DOJ Creates National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team; Lisa Monaco Quoted

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has formed a new team to help conduct investigations and prosecute crimes associated with virtual currency exchanges, money laundering and other cryptocurrency cases.

“Today we are launching the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) to draw on the Department’s cyber and money laundering expertise to strengthen our capacity to dismantle the financial entities that enable criminal actors to flourish — and quite frankly to profit — from abusing cryptocurrency platforms” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement published Wednesday.

“As the technology advances, so too must the Department evolve with it so that we’re poised to root out abuse on these platforms and ensure user confidence in these systems,” Monaco added.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite will supervise NCET, which will include attorneys from DOJ criminal division’s money laundering and asset recovery section, computer crime and intellectual property section and assistant U.S. attorneys and will help trace and recover assets as a result of fraud, including payments to ransomware threat actors.

The NCET leader will be chosen based on experience in criminal investigations and cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies and will report to the assistant attorney general.

The newly established team will come up with strategic priorities for cryptocurrency-related investigations, build up and maintain relationships with federal, local, state and international law enforcement agencies, help coordinate information sharing and train federal prosecutors in developing prosecutorial and investigative strategies, among other functions.

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