Aug 02 2023

Mantech buys Definitive Logic, GSA changing pay for cloud software, Leidos and Microsoft to partner on AI, DOS RFP, DOD worried about losing their special spectrum

QUICK HITS

  • What’s on deck for SBA regulations in 2023? WOSB is getting a revision, small business size for loans; future 8(a) program changes.

  • POTUS releases beta version of student new debt relief application: At studentaid.gov, provides borrowers an early chance to start.

  • Meet the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource: New bipartisan bill to create federal AI research resource introduced.

  • Leidos, Microsoft partner to advance cloud, AI development: The partnership will kick off under a strategic collaboration agreement.

DEFENSE & AEROSPACE

Army gets new prototypes of Microsoft augmented reality headsets.

The U.S. Army announced that it has received prototypes for the latest variant of its augmented reality headset and plans to begin testing them sometime this month. Army officials last week received 20 prototypes of the 1.2 variant of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS). Read more

Pentagon, telecom industry’s battling over spectrum symptomatic of a troubled system.

For decades, the military has had relatively unquestioned access to a large portion of the electromagnetic spectrum — a critical resource that enables capabilities like radars, satellite communications and navigation systems. Now wireless companies want that same spectrum to host commercial 5G. Read more

The military's AI-driven war on bots and deepfakes.

The military is testing an AI tool that can trawl social media and open-source information and spot misleading content, such as bots or deepfakes, to better inform commanders of the region they are operating in. Read more

ICYMI Snippets

  • Air Force finalizing Cloud One (C1N) follow-on acquisition strategy with RFP coming soon.

  • Army establishes new offensive cyber, Space Program Office.

  • Marines ‘discuss’ possibility of producing Iron Dome’s Tamir missile in Arkansas.

  • Space Command HQ to stay in Colorado; it’s NOT going to Huntsville, AL as previously decided.

  • U.S. Army readies new artillery strategy spurred by war in Ukraine.

Defense Contract Awards

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  • Gil Cisneros, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, to leave in September.

  • Former Army leader added to Klas Government’s board of advisers.

Defense Job Openings

DAILY FUNNY

INTEL COMMUNITY

Limit FBI’s access to powerful spy tool, White House panel says.

A White House advisory board has recommended placing new restrictions on the FBI’s use of intelligence but also argued against imposing any requirement that authorities must seek a warrant before searching certain electronic communications, as critics have long demanded. Read more

Why Mossad's leader made a clandestine D.C. visit for talks with senior CIA officials.

Mossad director David Barnea secretly visited Washington nearly two weeks ago for talks with senior White House and CIA officials about efforts to reach an agreement with Saudi Arabia that would include normalization between the kingdom and Israel. Read more

ICYMI Snippets

  • How the US is using open-source intel to track Russia's war in Ukraine.

  • Telos Corporation wins $5.8M, five-year NGA contract.

  • Aussies, US agree to joint intel center, co-production of GMLRS.

CIVILIAN

House appropriators propose $1.9B for VA electronic health record for 2024.

The House passed appropriations legislation that would allocate $1.9 billion for VA’s electronic health record modernization program. Language included in the VA appropriations bill provides $1.2 billion for the Oracle Cerner-operated electronic health record contract and $424 million for infrastructure readiness preparations associated with the system. It would also allocate $253 million for program management. Read more

HOT RFP: DOS posts solicitation for $5B US foreign policy support IDIQ vehicle.

State Department has begun seeking proposals for a $5B multiple-award IDUQ to support U.S. foreign policy initiatives globally to boost peace, security, and regional stability. NAICS code is 561210 Facilities Support Services/PSC: U099 Education/Training. Read more

GSA considers changing the way it pays for cloud software.

The agency issued a request for information this week on its GSA Interact page calling for market research into how software invoicing could ultimately lower the cost of software-as-a-service products for federal agencies. Because federal agencies typically pay for SaaS offerings in monthly arrears, GSA officials are curious if more savings can be achieved by shifting the software invoicing to make upfront annual payments instead, more closely aligning to commercial industry practices. Read the story | Read the RFI

ICYMI Snippets

  • As drone popularity grows, government considers how to safeguard the skies.

  • VA virtual agent will remain in beta for now.

  • NASA, Boeing to provide update on first astronaut flight of the CST-100 Starliner.

  • Practicing what they preach? OPM cutting back on telework starting next month for its employees.

Civilian Contracts Awards

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Civilian Job Openings

M&A CORNER

L3Harris launches 4th business segment as $4.7B Aerojet Rocketdyne buy closes.

L3Harris Technologies has officially added a business segment upon the completion of the $4.7B cash purchase of Aerojet Rocketdyne. Both parties first announced the $58-a-share deal in December 2022, with the acquirer aiming to grow its business opportunities across the rocket engine, missile defense and hypersonics markets. Read more

Mantech to acquire Definitive Logic.

ManTech International Corporation announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Definitive Logic, a provider of digital transformation consulting and technology solutions to defense, homeland security and federal civilian agencies. Read more

SHOWER THOUGHTS 🚿

No more news on social media in Canada: Should the US follow suit?

Canada’s Online New Act, or C-18, was intended to give long-suffering journalism a boost. The law requires social media companies—intermediaries, like Meta or Google—to pay news media companies for the news content that gets circulated on their websites. But the result is that Meta and Google have pulled news stories from their websites entirely because they don’t want to pay and because they think the law is unfair. What are the pros and cons? Read more

What did Isaac Asimov’s Robbie teach us about AI and how minds work?

In the classic science fiction story “Robbie,” the Weston family owns a robot who serves as a nursemaid and companion for their precocious preteen daughter, Gloria. Gloria and the robot Robbie become friends, then closer friends, Gloria’s parents try to ween Gloria off her emotional connection to Robbie, but the plan doesn’t work. In a plot twist the two become even better friends. What’s the moral of this tale? This article gives a deep dive into the pyschological and emotional attachment we have with AI. Read more.

Why do we always feel 20% younger than our actual age?

Ask yourself: How old do you feel inside? Chances are, you’ll have an answer pretty quickly. Humans have an immediate, intuitive grasp of the abstract concept of “subjective age.” The Rubin-Bernsten rule comes from a 2006 paper about subjective age. The scientists examined 1,470 participants—in a Danish population—and what the two authors discovered is that adults over 40 perceive themselves to be, on average, about 20 percent younger than their actual age. “We ran this thing, and the data were gorgeous,” says David C. Rubin (75 in real life, 60 in his head), one of the paper’s authors and a psychology and neuroscience professor at Duke University. “It was just all these beautiful, smooth curves.” Read more

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