Quick Hits

Senate passes bill to crack down on conflicts of interest in federal contracting.

With the hopes of ensuring that private companies, say, sell their expensive, detailed engineering plans for high-tech missiles to, say, North Korea (wouldn’t that just be the worst?) the Senate this week passed a bill hoping to remove conflict of interests, improve transparency, and remove conflicts between taxpayer-funded projects and federal government contractors’ other business opps. The new legislation will require federal contractors to disclose business relationships with entities that conflict with the specific work that an agency has hired them to do.  Private companies currently under contract with the U.S. government would also be required under the law to disclose new potential business that opposes ongoing services they are providing to the government or the public at large.
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GSA expands use of COMET BPA (good news for small biz).

The GSA is expanding its use of a major blanket purchase agreement for digital transformations of backend procurement systems. According to David Shive, GSA saw enough good business outcomes with Federal Acquisition Service systems that CIO Modernization and Enterprise Transformation (COMET) task orders are now being placed for Public Buildings Service and corporate systems, as well as shared services. The agency rapidly added eight additional small businesses, offering new and enabling technologies, to COMET in December because some of the 12 initial awardees grew into mid- or large-size businesses from work on the blanket purchase agreement (BPA), mergers and acquisitions.
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TMF allocates funding for three more IT modernization projects.

Oooh, who is getting the money this time? The lucky winners are the Dept. of Labor, AmeriCorps, and USDAID. The Labor Department is getting $7.2 million to help modernize how employers access permanent labor certification services and create a more seamless visa processing experience. AmeriCorps is getting $14 million to replace a 20-year-old system with a new integrated system that allows the agency and its partners to better focus on serving local communities. USAID is getting $5.6 million to reduce the cyber risks associated with the agency’s global mission and improve user experience for its workforce.
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Also check these out:

• Federal government has so far escaped attrition crisis, but retirement wave looms.

Top Defense & Aerospace

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Top Intel Community

NRO and SPACECOM change their relationship status to “it’s complicated”.

The NRO and SPACECOM are still working their relationship out, and how they will operate under the “protect and defend” strategic framework they signed last year. The leader of the NRO said they will follow instructions from SPACECOM if needed while the SPACECOM office for ISR activities is trying to figure out if they “need to expand.” Addressing the needs of both the DOD and IC, the NRO gets its instructions—“what to look at and listen to”—from the NSA and the NGA. The NRO has a longstanding relationship with SPACECOM and its predecessors. Now the two entities are hammering out “the framework for how we’re going to operate under various conditions.
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NSF invests $25.4M into cybersecurity and privacy research projects.

The NSF is investing $25.4 million to advance research and scale projects related to cybersecurity and privacy as part of its Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program.  This funding will go to several projects. First, a program called Enabling a Secure and Trustworthy Software Supply Chain at North Carolina State University ($850,000 to date; $6.4M total in funding). Second, a program called Securing the Future of Computing for Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations at the University of Florida ($805,000 to date; $4M total). Third, a trusted execution environment project at Indiana University’s Center for Distributed Confidential Computing ($527,000 to date, $3M total).
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NIST, CISA finalize guidance for identify and access management.

Federal officials participating in a virtual event hosted by the Advanced Technology Research Center Tuesday agreed on the significant amount of subjectivity that would be inherent in any agency’s decision. They focused more on the common foundational elements that would be necessary on the part of agencies regardless of the vendor or method they choose to meet directives passed down by the OMB for establishing “zero-trust” systems.
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Also Check these out:

• Phylum Releases a Free Community Edition to Make Software Supply Chain Security More Accessible
• US spy agency sends another satellite to space in show of rapid launch capability
• AFRL-developed cross-domain access system expands across federal government

Top Civilian

VA needs more money after staffing shortages.

The VA is badly understaffed, and the AFGE union and Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute are calling on Congress and the VA to fully fund, staff, and expand VA resources. Here are some striking stats:

• 88% of respondents said their facility needs more clinical frontline staff.
• One facility had to close four inpatient units.
• 70% of AFGE survey respondents reported needing more administrative and support staff.
• 64% said there are vacant positions for which no recruitment is taking place.
• One facility reports 48 physician vacancies.
• Another facility had a staff of 12 full-time outpatient psychiatrists whittled down to one.

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Cerner receives funding for additional EHRM deployments.

Admist all the drama between the VA, congress, and Oracle-Cerner the company was recently obligated $399M in funding as part of an 18 month TO to provide the VA with EHRM deployments waves H, I and J. The task was awarded under Cerner’s existing EHRM IDIQ.
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Another firefighter compensation bill passes.

As we watch the McKinney Fire rage in northern California, a bill has recently been passed that would overhaul federal firefighters’ pay and benefits. The Wildfire Response and Drought Resiliency Act (H.R. 5118) would increase federal firefighters’ pay to a base of $20 an hour—making them a GS-6, Step 3 at minimum—and make their compensation “portal-to-portal,” a phrase used to describe when employees are paid for time on the job but not performing their primary duties. It also provides annual pay adjustments, a disability annuity, hazard pay, and seven days of paid mental health leave. The bill also would require agencies to submit a report to Congress comparing the compensation of federal firefighters with that of their counterparts in state and local governments. And it requires agencies who employ firefighters outside of wildfire response to establish pay parity with wildland firefighters within one year.
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GovCon M&A Corner

Leidos acquires Cobham’s special mission business.

Leidos announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with Cobham Limited to acquire Cobham Aviation Services Australia’s Special Mission business. The Special Mission business provides airborne border surveillance and search and rescue services to the Australian Federal Government. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
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By Light Professional IT Services acquires Veraxx Engineering Corp.

By Light (a portfolio company of Sagewind Capital), a systems integrator providing reliable, cost-effective IT, leading edge training and simulation platforms and cyberspace operations to federal and commercial clients, announced that it has acquired Veraxx Engineering Corporation. Veraxx is a leading provider of immersive, high-fidelity flight simulation training technologies primarily for the DOD.
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Antarctica Capital acquires controlling interest in Descartes Labs.

Antarctica said it bought a controlling stake in Descartes Labs for an undisclosed sum. Descartes Labs provides analysis from a mix of third-party satellites with a cloud-based platform that helps companies make forecasts related to agriculture, energy, sustainability, mining, shipping, financial and other services. The company also supports government customers in processing multi-source geospatial data. Descartes Labs was spun off from the DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2014.
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CIS acquires Intrepid Solutions and Services

IS Secure, the leader in secure collaboration, tactical communications and protected personal mobility solutions, announced the acquisition of Intrepid Solutions and Services, LLC. Intrepid Solutions provides information technology modernization, data analysis/cybersecurity services, and intelligence training/support, primarily to the defense and intelligence communities. The combined companies will be able to develop, integrate, and deliver critical security solutions for the national security infrastructure.
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Also, don’t miss this:

• NASA lunar payload service provider Masten Space Systems begins bankruptcy process.

Follow the Leaders

• John Roman has been named ECS VP of Contracts, Procurement.
• David Spirk joins Palantir as a senior legal counselor.
• Justin DePalmo named GDIT Chief Information Security Officer.
• Eric Stanley joins TestPros at Chief Growth Officer.

Follow the Job Openings

• There’s going to be a vacancy at Dept. of Education as the current CIO has just left.
• USAID is looking for a Deputy Director in its Bureau for Management, Office of Management Services.
• The House of Representatives, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, is looking for a Director of Information Security.
• The Department of State is looking for a Supervisor IT Cybersecurity Specialist for its Bureau of Information Resource Management department.

Contract Awards

ManTech wins $184M with NAVSEA PEO IWS.

Under the five-year contract, ManTech will provide advanced technical engineering services that power IWS Combat Management Systems for all U.S. Navy surface ships.
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Expedition Technology wins 3 SBIR awards.

Expedition Technology announced it recently received three SBIR awards from the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research. Each of these Phase I SBIR engagements leverages EXP’s domain and subject matter expertise to explore the identification and implementation of solutions that use leading edge technologies like AI and ML to improve communications and signal processing performance in the field.
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AECOM wins $91M SIOP contract for dry dock upgrades.

Repairs to Berths 40 and 41 and the accompanying Dry Dock 8 upgrades will directly support the mission of NNSY to perform maintenance on Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers and are part of the Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP). AECOM Technical Services, Inc. was awarded the $91,484,397 firm fixed-price with award fee task order under a previously-awarded multiple award construction contract.
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But wait! There’s more! 

• NeevSys, and 8(a) EDWOSB was awarded a $4.5M Department of Treasury task to provide cybersecurity support services. (A set-aside using STARS III)
• Mutatio, a 8(a) Small Business was awarded a $4M Department of Justice ATF contract to provide IT systems delivery and support services.
• ICF wins $33M HHS digital modernization contract.
• Deloitte Consulting wins $2M CDC contract to provide Asset Management Services Offices Future of Work services.

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