April 26, 2024

Air Force $5.7B readiness RFP, IBM to acquire HashiCorp, Micron $6.1B CHIPS deal, Login.gov top leadership, noncompetes ban lawsuits begin

Author

GovBrew
April 26, 2024

QUICK HITS

  • IBM to acquire HashiCorp for 6.4B: Acquisition will accelerate the multi-cloud automation.

  • CISA’s Annual Cyber Cup: Army Major, Marine Corps Staff Sgt. won Track A; a group of DOD members won the team competition.

  • Lawsuits challenging the FTC noncompetes ban: US Chamber of Commerce, and Dallas-based tax provider Ryan were first to cry “Nuh-uh!” as noncompete ban faces an uphill legal battle.

  • Price realism: It’s tied to the unique technical approach proposed.

TRIVIA 🤔

How many facilities does the National Archives (NARA) operate?

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Just click the choice you think is right & the correct answer will be shown. Scroll down to the bottom of this email for more details about the correct answer.

DEFENSE & AEROSPACE

RFP: Air Force launches $5.7B readiness, training support recompete.

Air Force’s iteration number two of the Combat Air Force Contracted Air Support contract will continue efforts to maintain pilot combat readiness and joint terminal attack controller training postures. Proposals for the multiple-award CAF CAS II contract are due May 24. The Air Force plans to award positions to "each and all qualifying offerors," an indication that there does not appear to be a maximum number of planned awards. Read more

DCSA looks to expand continuous vetting, AI use.

DCSA, which performs most of the federal government’s security vetting tasks, is looking to expand the process of continuous vetting, including incorporating AI tech in that process. “AI will have very real security applications for DCSA, from serving as a tool to improve quality and timeliness and processing background investigations, security clearance adjudications, and issuing industrial facility clearances, to identifying risk factors for insider threat incidents and potential assistance to DCSA personnel.” Read more

NASA delivers Voyager software update across 15 billion miles of space.

A NASA spacecraft launched almost five decades ago is once again sending data back to scientists after going dark last year. NASA announced that a team of experts had remotely repaired a computer problem in Voyager 1, a probe launched in 1977 to study planets and moons in the outer reaches of our solar system that is now more than 15 billion miles from Earth. Read more

ICYMI:

Defense Contract Awards

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Defense Job Openings

CHART

INTEL COMMUNITY

Nobody suspects an animal spy!

In honor of Earth Day, the CIA wanted to take a closer look at some of the ways our furry, feathered, and scaled friends have affected intelligence operations, innovations, and tradecraft over the years. Check out their cute blog on spy cats, spy fish, spy pigeons, and more. Read more

ICYMI:

CIVILIAN

CISA says: Bias in AI models won’t be the same for every agency.

“Bias means different things for different agencies,” said CISA’s CDO. Bias that “deals with people and rights” will be relevant for many agencies, but for CISA, the questions become: “Did I collect data from a number of large federal agencies versus a small federal agency [and] did I collect a lot of data in one critical infrastructure sector versus in another?” Internal gut checks of this kind are likely to become increasingly important for chief data officers. Read more

404 page: The error sites of federal agencies.

One way to increase CX scores: Fix those broken website pages. And if you can’t fix it, then why not infuse a hint of humor or “whismy” on the sites? At least that’s how the NPS approaches its digital offerings, including its 404 page. “Similar to our voice and tone on other digital platforms, including social media, our main goal is to always communicate important information that helps visitors stay safe and have the best possible experience,” said a NPS representative. Read more

ICYMI:

  • Net neutrality rules reinstated.

  • Do you have cost-savings strategies that you can pass on to federal gov’t procurement? They want your ideas! Ideas are due June 30.

  • Scientists must be empowered—not replaced—by AI, report to government advocates.

  • Bill seeks to grow NASA program using drones to fight wildfires.

  • How can feds evaluate the effectiveness of different AIs for various government tasks?

Civilian Contracts Awards

  • Commerce unveils $6.1B CHIPS semiconductor deal with Micron.

  • $100M HHS SWIFT BPA awardees: NAVA PBC, Coforma, Oddball, AdHoc.

  • FILA Group won $1.4M DOL ETA Section 508 Compliance contract.

  • ABT Associates wins $14M EPA ORCR Mission Support Bridge BPA.

Follow Civilian Leaders

Civilian Job Openings

M&A CORNER

VTG Acquires Vana Solutions.

VTG acquired Vana Solutions, a national security services company that primarily supports the USAF. Vana provides end-to-end digital transformation, secure cloud environments, data fabric solutions, and advanced analytics services. This is the first transaction since a majority investment from A&M Capital Partners. Read more

VSE acquires Turbine Controls.

VSE has closed its acquisition of Turbine Controls, a FAA-approved aircraft repair station, for $120 million in cash and common shares. The acquisition presents an opportunity for the company’s aviation segment to advance its aviation MRO strategy, including expanding its repair capability offerings and partnering with new original equipment manufacturers. Read more

GOVBREW INSIDER

  • Check out this week’s 68 opportunities from defense, civilian, and intel agencies.

  • Our team uncovered 65+ upcoming IT services opportunities at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in this week's recompete report.

  • See if your company qualifies for any of the latest grants & competitions.

  • Stay up to date on the upcoming events. Also, check out the GovBrew Insider discount on the upcoming GovCIO Women Tech Leaders Summit. 

  • Keep track of the latest Agency Acquisition Forecasts.

Want to become a GovBrew Insider member? Join here

SHOWER THOUGHTS 🚿

Microsoft said their deepfake technology is too good to be released. What happens next?

Microsoft recently unveiled VASA-1, an impressive framework capable of creating lifelike videos from a single image, audio, and a script. If the company is hesitant to release it to the public because of the potential dangers this technology can unleash, how are they going to make use of it? Read more

Should software, such as Slack and Zoom, used by feds be required to interoperate?

If recent legislation is approved, collaboration software utilized by federal government agencies will need to interoperate and incorporate robust end-to-end encryption. How can these tools work together to protect government communications from unwanted foreign surveillance? Read more

OSHIT: What are the “Seven Deadly Sins” of bad open-source research?

When news breaks and the internet is aflutter with speculation, many turn to open-source accounts to make sense of events. This is a sign that open source research—like using resources like satellite images to flight tracking website—is seen as credible. It’s free, publicly available and anybody can do it. But such success comes with drawbacks. This surge in credibility allows the term ‘OSINT’ to be easily abused by users who don’t actually follow the best practice of open-source research methods. Read more

TRIVIA ANSWER ⭐️

43 facilities — NARA operates 43 facilities in 17 states plus the District of Columbia. Archives I (often called “The Rotunda”) is arguably the most famous: it hosts the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, a 1297 copy of the Magna Carta, Louisiana Purchase Treaty, Emancipation Proclamation, and other popular documents. NARA also maintains 14 Presidential Libraries and numerous regional and digital records holding facilities. Get more “NARA by the Numbers” and read more about all the NARA facilities here.

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