🔌 Adversary chips banned

The FAR Council is proposing a rule that would block agencies from buying products containing semiconductors tied to China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea, starting in 2027. No, they won’t rip out your old hardware, but anything new must be clean. The move aims to shut down supply‑chain backdoors before they ever reach federal systems.

The W.H. wants to kick‑start a “Maritime Golden Age” by carving out Maritime Prosperity Zones. With China building 50% of the world’s ships and the U.S. at just 0.01%, the plan aims to close a very wide gap. Regulatory relief included.

Navy leadership is underscoring the need to accelerate deployment of directed‑energy systems, arguing that emerging threats, from inexpensive drones to advanced missiles, require lasers and high‑power microwaves to become standard across the fleet. Adm. Caudle views the planned Trump‑class battleships as a strategic catalyst to drive this modernization effort.

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The U.S. is shifting to a more predictable‑but‑pointed cyber game plan: officials say future responses will directly track adversary behavior, and industry shouldn’t expect to sit on the sidelines. The government wants tighter public‑private coordination to counter increasingly aggressive state actors, making cyber defense a true team sport.

Mission partner environments (MPEs) are shedding their slow, stovepiped past and moving toward real‑time coalition warfighting. (Thanks to cloud, AI, zero trust, and a few billion‑dollar contracts to keep things moving.) GDIT leaders say modern MPEs must adapt as fast as the mission, with CENTCOM and INDOPACOM already proving the model at the tactical edge.

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The FAA’s modernization program has reached a funding impasse. After receiving $12.5 billion to begin upgrading air traffic control systems, the agency now lacks the resources needed for the next phase, despite a broader $31 billion plan. Leadership maintains that congressional support is likely, but past delivery challenges continue to erode confidence.

The DOI is accelerating its modernization agenda by deploying automated bots within procurement workflows and evaluating emerging technologies, including generative AI and blockchain, to improve operational efficiency. The effort draws on interagency collaboration, though a recent audit identified $40 million in misclassified IT purchases, underscoring internal alignment challenges.

Despite receiving increased funding from Congress, the Education Department is continuing its planned transfer of employees and multibillion‑dollar grant programs to agencies such as DOL, DOI, DOS, and HHS. Labor alone will soon manage major K‑12 funding streams, raising concerns about oversight capacity and operational continuity.

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Procurement Sciences has acquired Rogue AI to enhance its end‑to‑end proposal automation and workflow intelligence, aiming to streamline the full government contracting lifecycle. The move also brings Rogue AI’s founder into a strategic leadership role, strengthening product direction and accelerating platform integration.

Valiant Solutions is beefing up its cyber arsenal, acquiring Abile Group to deepen support for national security missions. The deal adds strengths in endpoint protection, cloud‑native architectures, and Zero Trust, giving Valiant a more complete “cyber lifecycle” offering for high‑threat federal environments.

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D) As a competitive selection process that is not subject to standard FAR procedures — Public art commissioned under GSA’s Art in Architecture program is generally selected through a peer review and panel process rather than traditional FAR Part 15 source selection procedures, because artists are not treated as typical commercial vendors. Now, can engineering drawings be reclassified as art? (Link)