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- July 19, 2024
July 19, 2024
CISA infiltrated gov’t, OpenAI Strawberry, Treasury going to the cloud, NBIS schedule budget, Neovera buys Emagined, restricting DOD acquisition
GovBrew
July 19, 2024
Good morning. We recently posted an old news link about a LinQuest merger & acquisition. We’ve got the right one posted today: KBR has bought LinQuest. Is it Friday yet? Oh yes, it is! WHEW, we made it!
—The GovBrew Crew
QUICK HITS
Discord leaker Jack Teixeira to face court-martial: The 22-year-old faces military charges of disobeying orders and obstructing justice.
Federal buildings board says agencies can save billions: The key is by shedding 'vastly underutilized' office space, it says.
Congress blazing the trail toward laxer cannabis restrictions: ‘DOOBIE’ Act to ease security clearance restrictions on past weed use.
Lawmakers urge SBA to delay IT updates: Calls to delay upgrade of its online cert platform come during a contract spending surge.
TRIVIA 🤔
The first swag related to a presidential race goes way back to George Washington. But it wasn't until much later when campaign merch became a conerstone of a presidential campaign strategy. What campaign first launched the first merchandising campaign? |
Just click the choice you think is right & the correct answer will be shown. More information about the trivia topic can be found at the bottom of this email.
DEFENSE & AEROSPACE
New DOD cybersecurity requirements are giving foreign suppliers a headache.
Foreign suppliers are having trouble complying with new DOD cybersecurity requirements, and the Pentagon should try to ease their pain, an advisory board says. “We have partners like Germany and Japan that want to work with us, given what's going on in the world,” one member of the Defense Innovation Board, said. Read more
US & allies brace for more Russian hybrid attacks.
NATO members are worried about ongoing and escalating Russian attacks on our European allies. These include attempts to recruit ethnic Russians in Estonia to attack the property of government officials; disinformation campaigns to influence French elections and turn Moldovan citizens against their leaders; possibly arson and attempted attacks in Lithuania, England, and Poland; and a plot to assassinate the German head of arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, and more. Read more
Defense Innovation Board wants a major restructuring of DOD's acquisition shop.
A new recommendation released Wednesday says it's time to recreate the old Undersecretary for Acquisition Technology and Logistics (AT&L) office; one DIB member said the DIB should recombine AT&L because the DOD “need[s] integrated designs, we need integrated manufacturing capacity around the world. It’s hard to do that in separate organizations." Read more
ICYMI:
Industry Day: AFLCMC is holding an Industry Day event for the Platform One contract on August 13-15 in Colorado Springs.
DOD invests in (new?) defense suppliers.
USAF venture capital org opens funding opportunity for air & space tech development.
Air Force conducts operational assessment of UAS traffic management system.
DOD taking applications for 2025 Immersive Commercial Acquisition Program cohort.
Defense Contract Awards
Leonardo DRS gets $417M Navy Hardware, Production, and Development deal.
V2X inks a $141M deal to deliver Assured Communications Capability to the Navy fleet.
Q-Techn got an $81M USAF System Engineering, Technical Assistance Support contract.
Teledyne FLIR won a $32.2M Army Robot Logistics Center Support contract.
Follow the Defense Leaders
Defense Job Openings
USACE needs a Program Manager.
Defense Education Activity wants a Chief of Staff.
Defense Commissary Agency is hiring a Fulfillment and Field Services Division Chief.
Immediate OPNAV is seeking a Joint Security Cooperation Program Manager.
VIDEO
INTEL COMMUNITY
DOD struggles to finalize schedule & budget for background investigation system.
Management is engaged in a “month-long” process of re-baselining the NBIS IT system. “We are exploring exactly what needs to happen going forward to ensure we meet the full level of capability that is expected from this system. At this time, we are in the process of refining exactly our understanding of that timeline.” Milancy Harris also said the new documentation will include an independent cost estimate. Read more
DIA head thinks Russia is learning the wrong lessons from its outer space activities.
Lt. Gen. Jeff Kruse, the head of the DIA, told the Aspen Security Forum this week that he doesn't believe the West is pushing back hard enough on Russia’s increasingly aggressive activities in space. Read more
ICYMI:
RFI: DIA seeks info on program evaluation and mission support services.
CBP awards $2.8M RedHat renewal task for CBP to SDVOSB V3 Gate Team.
A Commanding Officer was selected to be USCG’s CDAIO.
FBI advances the chief of National Security Audit unit.
ODNI needs a Data Analytics Division Chief.
ODNI is seeking a Foreign Entities Group Chief.
CIVILIAN
VA warns of historic $15B budget shortfall.
Representatives from VHA and VBA announced that they face a $2.88 billion shortfall for FY24, and a nearly $12 billion shortfall for FY25. The VA gets funding for its mandatory health and benefits programs a year before the current fiscal year to avoid any disruption from a government shutdown. The CFOs attributed the funding discrepancy to increased hiring and pharmaceutical costs. Read more
Treasury wants to help financial institutions move to the cloud.
Among the potential risks of moving the financial sector to the cloud is market concentration among cloud service providers. “We do need to think through how we address the risk that's created by very few players in this industry that have a great deal of power,” Wally Adeyemo said. The FTC has also been digging into the issue of competition and security risks regarding cloud providers. Read more
White House to provide ~$100M in commitments to widen tech talent pool.
The White House has announced that government agencies, civil society organizations, and academic institutions have committed to providing $96 million toward expanding technology training initiatives. Read more
ICYMI:
RFP: NASA’s Goddard Space Center is seeking industry-led capability studies in two key areas under the NextSTEP-2 BAA, Appendix Q.
Veterans must transition to digital identity verification platforms for benefits.
GSA seeks nominees for its Acquisition Policy Federal Advisory Committee.
$450M Viper Moon Rover cancelled: NASA needs more money.
Civilian Contracts Awards
USAID taps IBM for 5-year deal to boost European, Eurasian allies’ cyber posture.
USPTO awards $4.3M network cabling support task to RightDirection Technology Solutions.
CORG Management Group awarded $2.6M FHWA construction services contract.
Follow Civilian Leaders
NASA appointed new leaders.
Former Lockheed Martin Director tapped to be CACI’s Technology and Solutions VP.
Acentra Health has chosen a new EVP, CHIO.
Civilian Job Openings
IRS needs a Program Manager.
FHFA is seeking an IT Program Manager.
TSA wants a Program Manager.
IRS is hiring a Deputy Associate Chief Counsel.
M&A CORNER
Neovera buys Emagined Security.
Neovera, a portfolio company of private equity firm 424 Capital, has acquired Emagined Security to expand its cybersecurity capabilities to support customers in the government, health care, and financial markets. Read more
KBR strikes $737M deal for LinQuest.
KBR has agreed to acquire LinQuest for approximately $737 million to expand its digital integration and related technical capabilities for the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community agencies. Read more
GOVBREW INSIDER
Check out this week’s 80+ opportunities from defense, civilian, and intel agencies.
Our team uncovered 50+ upcoming A/E services opportunities at the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) in this week's recompete report.
See if your company qualifies for any of the latest grants & competitions.
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Keep track of the latest Agency Acquisition Forecasts.
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SHOWER THOUGHTS 🚿
CISA infiltrated a US federal agency; the breach was undetected for five months.
Let's talk about SILENTSHIELD assessments. It goes like this: CISA's "red team" selects a federal civilian executive branch to target, penetrates it secretly, and simulates the actions of a long-term unfriendly nation-state cyber-terrorist group to unveil vulnerabilities that expose its most important assets. It is said that they were undetected by their latest “pick” for almost half a year. Did they reveal the security blunders of their chosen agency? Read more
Marbling in plant-based meat? Can we now say that it looks and tastes like steak?
Making a mouthwatering plant-based meat that die-hard meat lovers will enjoy is not an easy feat. Crafting a marbled version of it is equally challenging. Lutz Grossmann, an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts, is on a mission to use a technique that can make faux meat mimic the juicy appearance and texture of a real one. Does he have what it takes to make a pleasing vegan delight for the carnivores? Read more
Strawberry: An AI with the reasoning skills of our kind.
OpenAI is making an AI model named Strawberry with the goal of developing its “human-level” reasoning abilities. If successful, it won’t just answer questions—it’ll also scour the web to search for more information. What datasets did the company use to train its new project? Watch here
TRIVIA ANSWER ⭐️
1840 - William Henry Harrison vs. Martin Van Buren.
In 1840 William Henry Harrison ran the first active campaign for the presidency, an operation that became known as the "Log Cabin Campaign of 1840" under the singsongy slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too." Utilizing not one but two defining ideas — that Harrison was born in a log cabin, and that Harrison emerged a war hero at the Battle of Tippecanoe — the campaign yielded a host of wearable items incorporating both themes.
"His campaign was very effective in merchandising him as a man of the people even though he was a wealthy landowner," says Tom Slater, director of Americana auctions at Heritage Auctions. To wit, Harrison’s campaign was the first to transform a perceived flaw into a likable characteristic. A newspaper supporting his opponent, Democrat Martin Van Buren, criticized Harrison for being lazy and simple, alleging that the Whig candidate would rather drink hard cider and "sit the remainder of his days in his log cabin." Harrison’s team saw an opportunity, and log cabin fever quickly ignited among Whig-aligned voters. Harrison supporters built log cabins across the country where folks could buy all sorts of log cabin-oriented memorabilia — sulfide buttons, ornate brooches, china, printed handkerchiefs, replica log cabins — in effect becoming the first campaign HQs replete with gift shops.
How many of you thought log cabin presidential fever was associated with Abraham Lincoln, not William Henry Harrison?
(source)
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