June 7, 2024

QUICK HITS

• A quirk in fiscal law may cost the government up to $500M a year: How the government could be losing half a billion on cloud savings.

• DOD CIO resigns to take university post: John Sherman will become dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M.

• CYBERCOM seeks to get more acquisition authority: U.S. Cyber Command is standing up a new program executive office to support its Joint Cyber Warfighting Architecture.

• AI fuels rise in attacks from ‘unsophisticated threat actors:' Federal cyber leaders warn of mediocre hackers leveling up.

• Thursday was the 80th anniversary of D-Day: Check out DOD’s multimedia experience reflecting back on this momentous day.

TRIVIA 🤔

Just click the choice you think is right & the correct answer will be shown. Scroll down to read more about the correct answer.

DEFENSE & AEROSPACE

DARPA contract “Agatha” aims to curb the risks of weapons in space.

Outer space is getting more crowded, which indicates to the Pentagon that it's time to look to artificial intelligence to help spot satellites that are behaving strangely; a new DARPA contract aims to identify potentially risky weapons in space. Read more

As ICBM costs rocket, some lawmakers want to rein them in.

A congressional working group on nuclear arms will hold a hearing to see how lawmakers can provide more oversight of the intercontinental ballistic missile program. The ICBM-replacement program is now expected to cost $131 billion, 37 percent more than the previous projection and about 60 percent, in real terms, over the service’s original 2015 estimate. Read more

Army rethinks its approach to electronic warfare: Takeaways from an EW tabletop exercise at APG.

After recent studies and exercises have shown that the Army needs a layered approach to electronic warfare, the Army has been conducting studies examining its cyber and electronic warfare resources and capabilities. Read more

ICYMI:

• RFP: USTRANSCOM Joint Transportation Management System (JTMS) Implementation - Proposals due July 10.

• RFI: AFRL posts updated version of its Extreme Computing BAA.

• USNI’s new report on nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles.

• MDA’s first test of space-based hypersonic tracking sensors “within a week.”

• DARPA’s ANCILLARY program: Intelligence for Navy.

Defense Contract Awards

• VetTech received a $347.7M Support Services contract from MDA.

• NewTech Solutions, TeckWerks nabbed a $50M DODEA Information Technology Network Outfitting contract.

• DDC IT won a $50M DISA Mainframe deal.

• Syntavia secures a DOD GAMMA-H Hypersonic Development contract.

• STC won Palantir subcontract to support the development of the Army’s Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN).

• Distributed Computing System Solutions Provider awarded a $100M Navy contract for supporting its portfolio management services.

Follow the Defense Leaders

• DOD's chief information officer to step down at the end of June.

• Retired lieutenant general joins Thales Defense's board of directors.

• CyberCore Technologies has a new CEO.

Defense Job Openings

• USAF needs a Program Director.

• PACFLT is seeking a Production Resources Nuclear Director.

• NAVAIR is hiring a Cybersecurity Undersea Warfare Combat Systems Director.

• USAF seeks DAF Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer.

VIDEO

INTEL COMMUNITY

ODNI warns about PRC efforts to recruit Western military personnel.

ODNI’s National Counterintelligence and Security Center has joined partners from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom in warning about continued efforts by the People’s Republic of China to recruit current and former Western military personnel to train its military. Read more

House appropriators don’t support FBI HQ funding request.

House appropriators are rejecting GSA’s $3.5B plan for new FBI headquarters; the FBI's director has also told lawmakers that his agency is working closely with the GSA on the FBI headquarters project. Read more

ICYMI:

• FBI issues list of 95 awardees on $8B follow-on IT supplies & support services BPA.

• FBI challenged with building a workforce needed to detect deepfakes.

• Secret Service to brief lawmakers on reports that VP's assigned agent brawled with coworkers.

• ODNI is seeking a Technical Editor and Written Products Q/A Program Manager.

• ODNI wants a Deputy ADNI for IC Human Capital.

• DIA wants a Cyber and Security Technical Director.

CIVILIAN

OPM’s unfulfilled recommendations include health insurance benefits changes, IG says.

Among some of the OPM’s most-needed, and currently incomplete, recommendations include three efforts that could address transparency and correcting payment errors within the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Read more

VA secretary says a “series of massive mistakes” led to approval of nearly $11M in bonuses.

VA Secretary Denis McDonough has admitted that 'massive mistakes' led to improper executive bonuses totaling nearly $11M. Congress authorized the critical skills incentives (CSIs) to more than 180 executives under the toxic-exposure PACT Act to help the VA retain employees with in-demand skills. “You cannot read the statute and say that this was an acceptable use of that statute,” said VA Secretary McDonough. Read more

CDC telling most teleworking employees to come back to the office.

The CDC, once largely remote, is now telling most of its teleworking employees that they need to be in the office at least twice per two-week pay period — even though lots of those employees are already feeling burnout. The CDC is carving out some exceptions for in-demand tech positions. The HR director says IT and cybersecurity personnel in 2210 positions, as well as data scientists, are still eligible to work remotely. Read more

ICYMI:

• RFP: OPM seeks support for enterprise cyber, infrastructure, and operation support.

• Liftoff! The first crewed Starliner spacecraft has been launched.

• CISA wants to refine the JCDC membership criteria, goals, and operations.

Civilian Contracts Awards

• Accenture books $250M DOI contract for mission services platform deployment.

• Accenture got a $20M IRS IT Contractor Support Services deal.

• NOAA awards $1.4M Microsoft services task to Dell Federal Systems.

Follow Civilian Leaders

• EEOC has a new Deputy CIO and CAIO.

• Tyto Athene selected former Bart & Associates CGO to be its CGO.

• HighPoint promoted Federal Civilian Sector SVP to EVP and COO.

• Former Tyto Athene IT SVP is now Concept Plus’ SVP and SGM.

Civilian Job Openings

• DOE wants an Office of Safety Security Director.

• DOI needs an Assistant Regional Director.

• Agency for Global Media is looking for a Budget Director.

• USDA is hiring a Deputy State Director.

M&A CORNER

Accenture completes acquisition of Parsionate.

Accenture Federal Services has announced that it recently completed the acquisition of data consultancy firm Parsionate. The acquisition, which Accenture announced earlier this year, adds 130 professionals to Accenture's data and artificial intelligence group including data consultants, architects, and engineers. Read more

GOVBREW INSIDER

• Check out this week’s 60+ opportunities from defense, civilian, and intel agencies.

• Our team uncovered 35+ upcoming IT services opportunities at the Social Security Administration 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.

• Keep track of the latest Agency Acquisition Forecasts.

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SHOWER THOUGHTS 🚿

Can the next generation of industrial plants filter out CO2 at a lower cost?

Cleaning carbon dioxide may cost a lot of money, but a huge step has been taken by one company. To make filtering CO2 cheaper, Climeworks developed their own technology that uses less energy to make air better. How cheap will the operational cost be compared to its predecessors? Read more

Should political ads disclose if they are made using AI?

The FCC has asked the Federal Election Commission to advance a rule that would require disclosure of AI content in both candidate and issue advertisements. The rule wouldn’t probit AI-generated content but would simply ask ads to show if they were used with AI tools. Will this be a successful to help weed out misinformation? Read more

In France, D-Day evokes both the joys of liberation and the pain of Normandy’s 20,000 civilian dead.

Shortly after D-Day in 1944, the American soldiers heading out to more fighting against Adolf Hitler's forces couldn't help but notice the hungry French boy by the side of the road, hoping for handouts. One by one, the men fished fragrant, brightly-colored spheres from their pockets and deposited them in Yves Marchais' hands. The 6-year-old boy had never seen the strange fruits before, growing up in Nazi-occupied France, where food was rationed and terror was everywhere. Thrilled with his bounty, the young Marchais counted them all — 35 — and dashed home for his first taste of oranges. Read more

TRIVIA ANSWER ⭐️

18,000 paratroopers — Shortly after midnight on 6 June, over 18,000 Allied paratroopers were dropped into the invasion area to provide tactical support for infantry divisions on the beaches. Allied air forces flew over 14,000 sorties in support of the landing. Nearly 7,000 naval vessels, including battleships, destroyers, minesweepers, escorts and assault craft took part in Operation 'Neptune', the naval component of 'Overlord,’ which was the code name for the D-Day invasion at Normandy. (Source)

At Omaha Beach in France, 9,387 Americans are buried. (Source)

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