September 22, 2023

ONCD cyber procurement rules, new ManTech VP, Leidos 7.9B Army win, GlobalFoundries 3.1B microelectronics win, USAF cancels EC2, fed AI growth areas

QUICK HITS

  • SBA sidestepping race-conscious program ruling, firm says: A filing in Tennessee court said the SBA misconstrued a judge's July ruling.

  • Critics point to Title 42 as immigration levels surge: Signs of rising US-Mexico border activity are stirring national attention.

  • What are the biggest opportunities in AI for government to watch? Splunk's public sector VP weighs in on key AI growth areas.

  • HiddenLayer raises $50M for AI security platform development: The company will use the capital to advance its machine learning security.

TRIVIA

DEFENSE & AEROSPACE

Two big players in the aerospace market have restructured their organizations.

Space industry shakeups abound: Aerospace is consolidating while Maxar is breaking up. Federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) The Aerospace Corporation and remote sensing industry behemoth Maxar Technologies are both undergoing significant structural changes. Read more

F-35 fleet is still ‘far below’ MC rate goals, says GAO.

A GAO study is citing depot and organizational maintenance challenges as partly responsible for a lagging mission capable (MC) rate for Lockheed's F-35 fighter, saying that the F-35 fleet is 'far below' MC rate goals. Read more

To maintain its strategic advantage, DOD harnessing emerging tech.

The strategic environment in which the DOD is active is increasingly shaped by high-tech competition. To maintain its technical advantage in this competitive atmosphere, the DOD is harnessing emerging tech on an unprecedented scale. Read more

ICYMI Snippets

Defense Contract Awards

  • Leidos wins $7.9B Army information technology contract.

  • GlobalFoundries secures $3.1B DOD microelectronics supply contract.

  • General Dynamics subsidiary books $517M supply & maintenance award with Navy.

  • ASRC Federal’s NetCentric subsidiary wins $489M USAF contract.

  • Under CHIPS and Science Act, DOD awards nearly $240M to 8 regional "innovation hubs."

Follow the Defense Leaders

Defense Job Openings

  • Air Force is looking for a Supervisory Foreign Affairs Specialist.

  • Navy seeks Director, Information Systems & Technology/CIO.

INTEL COMMUNITY

State Department informing diplomacy through data.

State is diving deep into data and increasingly capitalizing on the many advancements on the horizon in data analytics. The hope behind this deep dive is for better-informed diplomacy and funding efforts. Read more

AI may enable cyberattacks from nation-states, warns DHS.

A recently published DHS report warns nation-state actors and cybercriminals are increasingly leveraging new cyber tools like generative AI to sow discord in the U.S., exploit vulnerabilities, and attack critical infrastructure sectors. Read more

ICYMI Snippets

  • GDIT secures $99M CBP contract for Comms, Training, Operations & Deployment Support.

  • DHS awards Informatics Applications Group a $7M FEMA ADAMI Data Migration, Engineering, and System Integration Support contract.

  • DHS names Dana Chisnell to head new CX office.

  • Protests piling up for this DHS IT support BPA.

  • DHS says agencies should adopt cyber incident reporting definition, common form.

  • State Dept. IT contractor arrested on espionage charges.

CIVILIAN

Industry leaders: shutdown would cause ‘terrible’ disruptions to cyber defenses

Top cybersecurity execs said there would be major threats to the government’s cyber operations continuity and resource availability if a shutdown occurs, and that a shutdown would cause ‘terrible’ disruptions to federal cyber defenses. Read more

Executive Order preview: plan to regulate AI, innovative tech.

The White House's Deputy National Security Advisor helped tee up a new AI executive order, speaking on the executive branch’s ambitions in spurring guardrails for AI systems, emphasizing a collaborative mentality and helping bridge regulations in Congress. Read more

What stops and what keeps going during a lapse in appropriations?

Former officials are sounding off on the challenges of managing through a shutdown. “The big thing that happens...is lots of lawyers weighing in on what activities are actually exempt," in every agency’s attempt to interpret the Antideficiency Act, said one former OMB official. Read more

ICYMI Snippets

Civilian Contracts Awards

Follow Civilian Leaders

Civilian Job Openings

M&A CORNER

A&M Capital Partners scoops up majority stake in VTG.

A&M Capital Partners has made a majority investment in VTG, which provides digital transformation and modernization platforms for a wide range of customers in the defense and intelligence community. As a result of the transaction, VTG will no longer be a portfolio company of The Jordan Co. Read more (Read also: “How keeping a stake in divested businesses can pay off.”)

SHOWER THOUGHTS 🚿

If you start thinking in foreign languages, will your decision-making improve?

According to new research, people who regularly talk in foreign languages may be more utilitarian and flexible, less risk-averse and egotistical, and better able to cope with traumatic memories as they get older. Read more

Are warmer temperatures making us mental? (Is it time to rethink your warm-weather retirement goals?)

Heat may be harming our brains more than we'd like to think, according to a Yale School of Medicine study that says, "Since activity in wires produces heat, all-electric and magnetic stimulation of the brain deposits thermal energy in the brain." Read more

Ukraine just downed a hypersonic missile with a Patriot. What does that say about the future of weapons?

It's taken long enough but the DOD is finally moving away from big and expensive programs and toward purchasing arms quicker and for a lot less. And while weapons makers say the Pentagon has made progress on innovation, it still has work to do. Read more

TRIVIA ANSWER: C

We love the story of the Steinway on submarine USS Edison! Crewmates relate the story of how it was used to distract Soviet tailgaters:

The concept of a submarine piano is contradictory to a basic submarine axiom: remain undetected by being quiet. Patrol operations meant a good deal of stealth and during these times the piano’s keyboard cover was locked shut. Naturally, there were exceptions. On one patrol a tenacious Soviet boat stuck close to the boat’s tail and all of EDISON’s cunning couldn’t shake it. After weaving and dodging, the captain decided to serenade his Soviet companion. An extended microphone cable to the UQC was run into crew’s mess. After several American patriotic songs were played, the performance ended with a blast of the klaxon. It was viewed by the defiant Americans with good-natured humor, but the Soviet submarine refused any recognition. Still, men in crew’s mess swapped good verbal images of Soviet sonarmen bewildered by their crazy American adversaries. (Source)

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