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MDA Issues Sources Sought Notice for Advanced Object Classification 1.1 Software Upgrade
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MDA seal. The Missile Defense Agency issued a sources sought notice for the AOC 1.1 software upgrade.

The Missile Defense Agency has released a sources sought notice for the development of the Advanced Object Classification, or AOC, 1.1 software upgrade.

According to the notice published on SAM.gov Friday, the planned software upgrade is designed for upgraded early warning radars, or UEWR. Responses will be accepted until Oct. 17.

Advanced Object Classification 1.1 Software Upgrade

The AOC 1.1 upgrade is intended to bolster the accuracy of classifying objects during the midcourse phase of ballistic missile flight. It builds upon the performance of the previously fielded AOC 1.0 version by incorporating further algorithm and interface control document-driven enhancements identified during testing and fielding.

The agency aims to introduce a flat-file classification database to enhance the AOC 1.1 software. This new capability is expected to enable the system to be rapidly reconfigured to counter emerging threats without necessitating software recompilation or a return to the original developer for modifications. This will streamline the speed at which UEWRs can adapt.

The existing AOC architecture utilizes 37 algorithms and machine learning to boost object classification accuracy and overall classification results, respectively. It does not require changes to the radar hardware or the ground-based midcourse defense fire control interface.

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USPTO AI Pilot Program Seeks to Streamline Patent Applications
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John Squires headshot. The USPTO director elaborated on the AI-based pilot program for streamlining patent applications.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has unveiled a test program called ASAP!, short for Artificial Intelligence Search Automated Pilot, aimed at enhancing the quality, speed and efficiency of patent applications.

Patent Applications’ Issues Alert

The pilot program will provide applicants with an AI-Assisted Search Results Notice, or ASRN, listing top 10 potential previous art issues that requires their attention, USPTO said Wednesday. It added that the ASRN is designed to help applicants decide on early actions such as filing amendments, submitting supporting evidence, requesting deferrals or seeking fee refunds.

USPTO will use the pilot’s results to assess pre-examination search outcomes, evaluate ASRN scalability and guide future initiatives to further streamline patent applications. Patent applicants who want to join ASAP! have to file a petition to participate in the pilot program and pay its fee.

Other AI Pilots to Follow

According to John Squires, under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and USPTO director, ASAP! is the inaugural release in a wave of other planned AI pilots to help both patent examiners and applicants. “Quality starts at filing—and our enterprising examiners have developed a cadre of new tools that re-imagine workflows and attack thorny chokepoints that constrain productivity, throughput, and ultimately quality for new applicants,” Squires noted.

USPTO is investing significantly to harness AI in its functions. In August 2024, the agency awarded Accenture Federal Services a $75 million contract to implement AI capabilities for improving patent reviewing processes.

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Gustav Chiarello Confirmed as HHS Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources
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Gustav Chiarello. The former FTC attorney was confirmed by the Senate as HHS assistant secretary for financial resources.

The Senate on Tuesday voted 51-47 to confirm Gustav Chiarello, former Federal Trade Commission attorney, as assistant secretary for financial resources at the Department of Health and Human Services.

President Donald Trump nominated Chiarello for the assistant secretary role at HHS in February.

Gustav Chiarello Confirmed as HHS Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources

Connect with top industry and government leaders at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Healthcare Summit on Dec. 4! Explore the latest health innovations, policy developments and emerging trends transforming the field. Don’t miss this premier GovCon networking event—reserve your spot today! 

Who Is Gustav Chiarello?

Chiarello most recently was senior special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee. He served on the Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust chaired by Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis.

During the first Trump administration, he served as an attorney adviser to Acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen.

The antitrust and competition policy lawyer worked in private practice earlier in his career.

The Catholic University of America economics graduate has a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University and a law degree from George Mason University.

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FAR Council Issues Changes to 8 Parts of Acquisition Regulation
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Government contracting. The FAR Council released model deviation text for FAR Parts 15, 16, 22, 23, 25, 32, 42 and 53.

The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council has released new model deviation text for eight parts of the FAR as part of the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul, or RFO, initiative.

In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing his administration to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to streamline the federal procurement process and eliminate barriers to doing business with the government.

The FAR Council issued new text for Part 15 – Contracting by Negotiation; Part 16 – Types of Contracts; Part 22 – Application of Labor Laws to Government Acquisitions; and Part 23 – Sustainable Acquisition, Material Safety and Pollution Prevention; Part 25 – Foreign Acquisition; Part 32 – Contract Financing; Part 42 – Contract Administration and Audit Services; and Part 53 – Forms.

These eight parts are open for feedback until Nov. 3.

The council has yet to issue implementation support for Parts 22, 23, 32 and 53.

Contracting by Negotiation

The text of FAR Part 15 concerning contracting by negotiation has been revised for greater clarity. The part now comes with updated rules of engagement, redefined competitive range and five subparts: presolicitation and solicitation; evaluation and award; postaward; contract pricing; and unsolicited proposals.

Part 15 continues to be primarily used for establishing negotiated contracts when using a request for proposals.

A section that addresses the types of negotiated acquisitions has been updated to modernize the language throughout. The two paragraphs in this section are now titled “Noncompetitive Acquisitions” and “Competitive Acquisitions.”

A section concerning issuing solicitations has been removed due to repetitive information found in other FAR parts.

Types of Contracts

FAR Part 16 has been updated to clarify complicated policies and procedures for selecting contract type and provide the acquisition workforce with new flexibilities and tools to support the guiding principles for the FAR system.

Key improvements to Part 16 include innovative contract types, significant task and delivery order procedure simplification, on-and-off ramps and blanket purchase agreements.

A subpart concerning contract type selection has been restructured to consolidate policies, stress documentation and provide contracting officers with greater flexibility.

The council has updated a subpart on incentive contracts to consolidate all incentive-related policies and contract type descriptions into a single subpart and revised a subpart on indefinite-delivery contracts to clearly outline the types of task and delivery order contracts for acquisition professionals and how to use them.

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Army Implementing Automation, System Modernization to Cut Routine Work
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Leonel Garciga. The Army CIO discussed new automation and modernization initiatives.

The U.S. Army is advancing a broad automation effort aimed at reducing low-value administrative tasks and freeing soldiers and civilian employees to focus on higher-priority missions, Federal News Network reported. Army Chief Information Officer Leonel Garciga, a two-time Wash100 Award recipient, said on the Ask the CIO podcast that the service has identified roughly 300 potential areas where automation and artificial intelligence could simplify workflows and ease the cognitive burden on its workforce.

The initiative began after Under Secretary of the Army Mike Obadal issued a memo directing all major commands and program offices to identify opportunities for process automation and AI integration. Feedback from across the service produced more than 300 submissions, which Garciga’s office has been reviewing to determine which projects would yield the greatest benefit. Because resources are limited, Garciga said the CIO team evaluated proposals using three main criteria: impact on soldiers and civilians, scalability across the Army and cost-effectiveness. Of the 300 ideas, five projects were selected for initial development.

Some proposals revealed unexpected efficiencies. “We found some efficiencies inadvertently as we worked through the process,” Garciga said. “I think we had a good triage mechanism, which was really focused on soldiers and on where we can make the most impact as quickly as possible.”

Early Priorities: Personnel Records and Training

The Army’s initial focus is on what Garciga calls “administrivia” — routine or repetitive tasks that consume time without adding significant value. Early pilot efforts include using AI to streamline the review of personnel records and applying automation to enhance cross-training programs for both soldiers and civilians.

“Let’s put AI against it to really reduce that cognitive burden,” Garciga said, noting that the aim is to improve response times for personnel inquiries and ensure service members are “in the right place and where they need to be in their lifecycle from a training perspective.”

Business Systems Reform and Data Challenges

In line with AI integration, the Army is advancing business process reengineering to modernize how its business systems operate. Garciga said the effort helps the service understand where modernization challenges stem from, whether data quality, process inefficiencies or technology gaps.

“We’ve been really focused on looking at those areas where we really believe that we can have the most impact directly to soldiers or civilian workforce,” he said. “A lot of times we find that there’s a lot of problems we want to apply AI to, and it’s like, ‘Hey, this is really a data problem.’”

Streamlining Systems and Reducing Technical Debt

The Army’s redefinition of business systems is part of a wider initiative to modernize and consolidate its digital infrastructure. The goal is to merge or retire nearly 100 separate business systems within the next year, an effort led by a cross-Army team working closely with program offices and functional stakeholders.

Central to this work is the creation of a no-code, low-code center of excellence, designed to bring greater consistency and cybersecurity to system development across the service. By reducing duplication and integrating oversight, the Army aims to cut maintenance costs and eliminate “technical debt” built up from legacy systems.

Garciga said the modernization push is focused on improving access to data and tools for both soldiers and civilian personnel. Efforts now underway are intended to accelerate enterprise system convergence, shorten delivery timelines and deliver more efficient digital capabilities to users across the force.

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Senate Confirms Kevin Rhodes as OFPP Administrator
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OFPP Administrator Kevin Rhodes. Kevin Rhodes has been confirmed as the Office of Federal Procurement Policy administrator.

Kevin Rhodes has been confirmed as administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. The Senate on Tuesday voted 51 to 47 to confirm Rhodes, who is set to become the first confirmed OFPP administrator in six years. He succeeds Michael Wooten, who served an 18-month term from 2019 to 2021. The position had remained vacant since Wooten’s departure, with only acting officials filling the role until Rhodes’ confirmation.

Rhodes’ Private and Public Sector Career

Rhodes currently serves as senior adviser to the director of the Office of Management and Budget within the Executive Office of the President. In this role, he provides strategic counsel on cross-agency initiatives to drive progress toward key federal objectives.

Prior to that, he spent over three years at Systecon North America, where he held the executive vice president and VP of Washington operations positions. During his tenure at Systecon, he spearheaded strategic initiatives, led senior government relations and managed congressional engagement efforts.

Rhodes served in the Air Force for 25 years, holding various leadership roles, including a White House position, which allowed him to interact directly with the last four presidents. He was the director of operations KC-46, program manager for common avionics and materiel, and director of acquisition at the White House Military Office.

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Trump’s Pick to Lead Indo-Pacific Defense Backs Potential Changes in Deals With Taiwan, AUKUS
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John Noh, an official at the Department of Defense. Noh spoke about Taiwan and the AUKUS at his confirmation hearing

President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs told Congress that he will prioritize strengthening deterrence in the region if confirmed, but also divulged potential changes to defense deals with Taiwan and the United States’ present security arrangement with Australia and the United Kingdom, Breaking Defense reported Tuesday.

“[I]f confirmed, I will be the biggest advocate to my leadership in the department to making sure that we have all the resources we need to strengthen deterrence in the Indo-Pacific,” said John Noh, who currently serves as deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

Providing Arms to Taiwan

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., raised concerns that the Department of Defense may be taking back defense items procured with presidential drawdown authority, or PDA, for Taiwan. The Senate Armed Services Committee chairman asked Noh if it is good policy to not only return weapons authorized under PDA for Taiwan to the defense stock, but also require Taipei to pay for them.

The defense official said Taiwan should not only “do its part and to pay,” but also increase its defense spending to upwards of 10 percent of its gross domestic product, or GDP.

The island nation, which is facing existential threat from China, will spend 3.32 percent of its GDP on defense in 2027, but Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said the goal was to allocate 5 percent for deterrence.

AUKUS Changes

Noh also confirmed that the DOD is reviewing the trilateral trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States known as AUKUS. He did not share details about the review, but said the effort started in July and will wrap up in the coming months.

He added that there are “common sense” items that can be added to strengthen Pillar I of AUKUS and ensure that it is more sustainable.

One area under review, according to Noh, involves submarine production, which he pointed out needs to increase from 1.2 submarines a year to 2.33 annually to meet shipbuilding targets. 

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Amkor Technology Upgrades Arizona Semiconductor Project to $7B Investment
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Giel Rutten headshot. Amkor head comments on the company's new chip facility in Arizona

Amkor Technology has expanded to two phases its Arizona project for a state-of-the-art outsourced semiconductor advanced packaging and test campus. The upgraded plan will increase the project’s total cost by over $5 billion to a total of $7 billion, Amkor said during the groundbreaking ceremony at the project’s site in Peoria, Arizona Monday.

Amkor’s Arizona Campus Features

According to the company, the expanded project will add more cleanroom space and a second greenfield facility, positioning the campus as a cornerstone of America’s advanced packaging capabilities and supporting key customers, such as Apple and NVIDIA. Upon the two phases’ completion, the facility will feature over 750,000 square feet of cleanroom space and create up to 3,000 high-quality jobs. 

Construction of the first facility is expected to be completed in mid-2027, with production starting in early 2028. The facility’s features will include smart factory technologies and scalable production lines to meet the rising chips demand from industry sectors in artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, mobile communication and car manufacturing.

CHIPS Act Funding Support

In July 2024, the Department of Commerce agreed to provide Amkor with up to $400 million in proposed direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act to support the Arizona plant’s construction. Under a preliminary memorandum of terms with the company, the department also opened Amkor access to $200 million of proposed loans from the CHIPS Program Office and up to 25 percent of tax credit from the Department of the Treasury.

The facility’s groundbreaking is “a bold step in Amkor’s long-term strategy for growth and innovation,” said Giel Rutten, the company’s president and CEO.

“We’re building a facility to meet our customers’ most advanced needs that will help shape the future of semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. Arizona offers the right mix of talent, infrastructure and industry presence, and we’re proud to deepen our roots here,” the Amkor head added.

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Johns Hopkins APL’s BAS/CS Standardizes Cybersecurity Alerts for Critical Infrastructure
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Johns Hopkins APL logo. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory developed Behavioral Alerting Sets for Control Systems.

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory has introduced a new framework aimed at unifying cybersecurity alerts across systems that safeguard vital infrastructure.

The innovation, known as Behavioral Alerting Sets for Control Systems, or BAS/CS, is already being utilized by military operators to streamline threat response and bolster defenses for critical systems such as power grids, water systems and natural gas networks, Johns Hopkins APL said Tuesday.

BAS/CS Standardizes Cyber Alerts

The BAS/CS framework, developed by APL researchers Alex Beall and Harley Parkes, standardizes cybersecurity alerts by assigning each flagged event a common identification number compatible across different systems and vendors.

These events are then analyzed using predefined correlation rules. An alert is triggered if specific patterns occur within a set timeframe—such as a remote login followed by suspicious activity. The detection logic and alert language are standardized, ensuring consistent and efficient threat response across control systems.

Real-Time Cyberthreat Detection

BAS/CS integrates with existing security information and event management platforms at no cost, allowing operators to respond to threats in real time. The framework’s uniform language and detection logic reduce confusion caused by varied sensor outputs and naming conventions.

Development Rooted in MOSAICS Program

BAS/CS evolved from APL’s More Situational Awareness for Industrial Control Systems, or MOSAICS, initiative. The team introduced standardized ID tags to identify sensor events based on known cyberattack tactics. BAS/CS refined this approach through iterative mapping, expert validation and adversarial testing, using diverse cyber defense tools to improve event correlations and alert accuracy.

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Arvind Raman Nominated as Commerce Under Secretary for Standards & Technology
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Arvind Raman. Purdue’s College of Engineering dean has been nominated as under secretary of commerce for standards and tech.

President Donald Trump has nominated Arvind Raman, the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering at Purdue University, to be the next under secretary of Commerce for standards and technology.

According to a congressional notice, Raman’s nomination was referred to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Thursday.

If confirmed, he would also serve as the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology within the Department of Commerce.

Laurie Locascio took on the position of president and CEO of the American National Standards Institute in January after serving in the dual-hatted role of NIST director and under secretary of commerce for standards and technology.

Who Is Arvind Raman?

According to his LinkedIn profile, Raman has been serving as the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering since April 2023. He also serves as the Robert V. Adams Professor at Purdue’s School of Mechanical Engineering.

He previously served as executive associate dean at Purdue University’s College of Engineering.

The commerce under secretary nominee was the founding director of the LASER PULSE Consortium.

Raman’s previous positions at the university include senior associate dean of the faculty and associate dean for Global Engineering Programs at Purdue’s College of Engineering.

The Indian Institute of Technology graduate has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue and a PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

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