April 29, 2024

$13B USAF Doomsday plane, NGA analytics RFP, IRS Direct File, Marines goes literary, Reps distrust GenAI, DOD’s new Director Space Portfolio

Author

GovBrew
April 29, 2024

QUICK HITS

  • Gov't reps aren't convinced GenAI is ready to use: Information security experts are particularly cautious about AI in law enforcement.

  • Keywords to (correctly) postpone federal retirement: "Deferred" and "postponed" mean two very different things under Federal law.

  • PRAC blames fraudulent UI payments on legacy IT: Aging DOL systems are an overarching problem in pandemic UI fraud.

  • 6,300 feds find themselves torn on return-to-office layouts: A survey shows feds are showing up to work to near-empty cubicles.

DEFENSE & AEROSPACE

Pentagon to slash cyber workforce vacancies by 25% by FY25.

The DOD's effort to broaden its cyber workforce is kicking into gear; the leader of the cyber fworkforce development in DOD's CIO's office said a new policy expands the number of job categories in the cyber workforce. Read more

Marine special ops are envisioning the future using short stories.

Vignettes based on modern technological advancements are driving discussions about the evolution of Marine Forces Special Operations Command through the next two decades, with fictional intelligence stories (FICINT) representing a way to envision future scenarios with operationally-informed fiction writing. It’s like badly written fanfic-meets-choose-your-own-adventure, but more…training-y. Read more

ICYMI:

Defense Contract Awards

  • Air Force awards SNC $13B contract for new ‘Doomsday’ plane.

  • Akima Global Technology secures $750M COMET contract with USAF.

  • RTX books $344M to build and deliver two Standard Missile variants.

  • Griffon Aerospace, Textron Systems awarded Options 3, 4 under Army Future Tactical Uncrewed Aircraft System (FTUAS) Rapid Prototyping Program.

Follow the Defense Leaders

  • USAF Management names new Acting Chief, DAF Category Management and HAF Services Division.

  • DOD WHS recruits a new Director, Space Portfolio Division.

  • Airbus North America will welcome a new CEO on June 3 when Hayes retires.

  • MAG Aero names a new member of its advisory board.

Defense Job Openings

FUNNY

INTEL COMMUNITY

DHS announces the creation of its new AI safety and security board.

The DHS has announced the creation of its new AI Safety and Security Board, which comes as the department ramps up its focus on AI and as concern grows about the technology’s impacts on critical services. Read more

ICYMI:

CIVILIAN

VA secretary says quit rates are at “historic lows,” thanks to special pay authorities.

The VA is seeing signs that some of its newer special pay authorities are leading to improvements in workforce retention; its secretary said that “quit rates” for its workforce are at “historic lows,” and that data suggests its use of a new critical skills incentive is contributing to higher retention. Read more

IRS unsure if it'll field its Direct File program long term.

But one thing's for sure, it says: user feedback on the tool has been more or less pretty positive. Whether it'll field its Diret File program long-term remains to be seen, but according to its Commissioner, “Above all, our goal was to make a product that worked... and the bottom line — Direct File worked.” Read more

ICYMI:

  • TIGTA claims credit for helping IRS prevent fraudulent use of $3.5B in tax credits.

  • VA shares details regarding the Change Healthcare cyberattack that leaked veterans' data.

  • HHS announces Phase 1 winners in Environmental Justice Community Innovator Challenge.

Civilian Contracts Awards

Follow Civilian Leaders

Civilian Job Openings

M&A CORNER

ICYMI:

SHOWER THOUGHTS 🚿

Solar sails: Not just for the 3 Body Problem: NASA will unfurl a 860 SF solar sail…

NASA hitched a ride aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron Launcher in New Zealand last week, and is preparing to test a new, highly advanced solar sail design. Now in a sun-synchronous orbit roughly 600-miles above Earth, the agency’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) will in the coming weeks deploy and showcase technology that could one day power deep-space missions without the need for any actual rocket fuel, after launch. Read more

Is the government tossing out tools it'll wish for later on?

Have you ever gotten rid of a tool you later wished you'd held onto? That’s what the government might do. The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee sunsets a year from September 2025, more than five years after the onset of the pandemic. What will be left to oversee years after trillions are drained away? Read more

Why on earth do we still use postal stamps?

In a decidedly digital age, the postage stamp seems to be slowly vanishing from daily life—no longer ubiquitous in pocketbooks, useful but maybe not essential. They’re so overlooked that the comedian Nate Bargatze has an entire bit about how stamps make him “nervous.” “I don’t know how many you’re supposed to put on [a letter],” he says. “And they change the price of stamps, and that’s not in the news, you know? You don’t find that out on Twitter. You have to find out from old people. They’re the only people that know.” (FYI: stamps’ price increased $0.68 on January 21.) Read more

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