September 25, 2023

QUICK HITS

• Government budget in the news: Hard right revolt | Who would get furloughed? | Half of DOD civilians, that’s who. | Fraction of the budget in discussion | Pay for feds at risk.

• Congressional AI Caucus leader says most AI should not be regulated: More AI-trained regulators will be needed.

• IT remains feds’ top challenge for five straight years. IG report highlights cybersecurity, IT modernization, investment and PM, regulatory requirements, and remote work.

DEFENSE & AEROSPACE

AFRL seeks input on Nano, other next-gen computing capabilities.

The AFRL is turning to its industry partners for cutting-edge capabilities to support military platforms, according to a broad agency announcement. White papers requested by Oct 4. Read more.

HASC: Witnesses argue for market forces in Defense innovation.

During a hearing of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation last week, defense industry experts gave advice on what DOD needs to do to defibrillate a shaky defense industrial base. One thought: government can innovate by buying emerging technology at scale, but it cannot succeed without augmenting those assets with new, mass-produced items far more responsive to market forces that the Pentagon can affect. Read more

Why the military is integral to America’s return to the moon.

The success or failure of the efforts by the United States, China, India, and others to forge a permanent human presence on the moon will shape alliances, technologies, and behaviors, thus establishing precedence for future activities beyond Earth’s orbit and the terrestrial geopolitical landscape. The military must play a vital role as the U.S., our allies, and potential adversaries now look to establish a permanent human presence on the moon. Read more

ICYMI Snippets

• Pentagon plans to transfer 'high accuracy' space tracking data to Commerce.

• Air Force validates Boeing’s new WGS satellite.

• Space Force gets another weather satellite from NOAA.

• Office of Space Commerce touts progress on civil space traffic coordination system.

• OSIRIS-REx sample capsule lands in Utah.

Defense Contract Awards

• True Anomaly gets $17M Space Force contract for space domain awareness software.

• Lockheed wins $98M IDIQ for increasing life of the F-35.

• Booz Allen awarded $151M Army contract for tech, innovation, and data engineering R&D.

• Sierra Nevada Corp wins $134M USSOCOM for PEO-TIS, Tactical Comms Systems.

Follow the Defense Leaders

• Northrop Grumman taps a space systems president.

• Aerospace to consolidate Space, Defense Systems Unit, with new combined business segment.

Defense Job Openings

• Army Futures Command is seeking a Director of Futures Integration, FCC.

• OSD is seeking a Foreign Relations and Defense Policy Manager.

• The Army is hiring a deputy director, Prevention, Resilience and Readiness Directorate.

DAILY FUNNY

INTEL COMMUNITY

NATO seeks cyber threat intelligence solutions.

The NATO Communications and Information Agency is requesting the assistance of industry to assess the availability of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf Cyber Threat Intelligence products. Read more

Ransomware gang targeting defense firms, FBI warns.

A five-year old ransomware gang is targeting defense contractors and other companies, officials from the FBI and CISA said Read more

ICYMI Snippets

• ‘Very concerning’: Russia, North Korea, likely spoke in detail about weapons transfers, DIA says.

• Parsons secures $160M intelligence contract.

• SBQuantum and Spire to participate in MagQuest final phase.

CIVILIAN

GAO’s reminder for all bid protest cases: Show evidence.

When an agency ends up on the losing side of a bid protest, one of the more common mistakes we come across is a lack of documentation. The latest example is a bid protest by Guidehouse, which argued that the chair of the technical evaluation board for a DOD contract had a conflict of interest because the person was a former Deloitte employee. Read more

OIG: Tech demand remains a talent challenge for the federal home loan agencies, but telework can help.

An IG’s report spotlighting talent challenges at the government-sponsored enterprises administering federal home loans found that while competition for people remains tight, factors like mission and workplace flexibilities have helped address them. Read more

Technology Modernization Fund awardees get creative to repay funds.

Repayment has been a challenge for some federal agencies that have received funding from the TMF to support transformational technology projects. But according to a federal CIO who sits on the TMF board, agencies have gotten “creative” to fulfill that repayment obligation when their modernization projects don’t lead to immediate or obvious cost savings. Read more

ICYMI Snippets

• Federal CIO touts '10-year-plan' to build a truly digital federal government.

• Last CIO-SP4 protest resolved.

• House multi-cloud adoption bill gets Senate companion.

Civilian Contracts Awards

• NIH NHLBI OCIO awards Compass Solutions an $8M Cybersecurity Risk Management Framework Services Support.

• IRS OCIO awards Etelligent Group $7M Data-at-Rest Encryption (DARE) support.

• DOC NTIS awards Cloud9 Security Services a $4.5M IT Security Support Services contract.

• VA awards SDVOSB Insignia Technology a $25M VA Zero Trust Architecture Acceleration support task order.

• LCG wins $16M NIH NIAMS Information Technology Support Services (ITSS) contract.

  Follow Civilian Leaders

• CGI Federal names a new VP, Federal Business Consulting Practice.

• Maximus welcomes a new SVP of Systems Integration.

• Former Definitive Logic president named ManTech VP.

• HRSA adds longtime DHS and HHS ACF contracts lead as new Team Lead and CO.

• GSA TTS adds new Director to lead the Centers for Excellence in Data & Analytics.

Civilian Job Openings

• DHS OCIO hiring a Chief Data Officer.

• DHS is hiring a Financial Manager (Senior Executive Service).

• VA is seeking a Deputy Executive Director Medical Center.

• USDA Agriculture Rural Development is hiring a deputy administrator.

M&A CORNER

Cisco to acquire Splunk.

Cisco and Splun announced a definitive agreement under which Cisco intends to acquire Splunk for $157 per share in cash, representing approximately $28 billion in equity value. Upon close of the acquisition, Splunk President and CEO Gary Steele will join Cisco’s executive leadership team reporting to Chair and CEO Chuck Robbins. Read more

Shhhh it’s a secret! Lockheed in ‘late-stage’ talks with solid-rocket motor partner.

Lockheed Martin is in “late-stage negotiations” to partner with an unnamed rocket propulsion supplier, according to CEO Jim Taiclet. Taiclet told lawmakers that discussions are ongoing with the unnamed firm. Lockheed has entered a quiet period before the release of quarterly earnings. Read more

M&A can pay off, but it’s far from a sure thing.

Does M&A work? The latest research says it’s a tossup. Business school students are often taught that successful mergers and acquisitions are a long shot. One influential Harvard Business Review article, dating from 2011, says a range of studies show roughly 70% to 90% of deals fail to create value for the buyer. Read more

SHOWER THOUGHTS 🚿

You know what they say about insanity, right? Your growth results aren't improving because you keep doing the same thing.

Your business development outcomes are crucial in the fiercely competitive government contracting market. Yet, despite your team's tireless efforts, are you finding that results are not improving? The explanation might be more straightforward than you think. Your team's consistency might shockingly be producing similar results. Read more

Is hiring based on skills more effective than hiring based on college degree?

Bureaucratic hurdles await every candidate for a civil service job. But there's a special set of problems facing experienced workers who lack blue-chip educational credentials. Human resources policymakers have been pushing to move the government to skills-based hiring, where applicants are vetted for specific skills. Read more

The government management paradox.

How is it that our government has delivered on some of the most impressive successes ever delivered by humankind (mapping the human genome and deploying the global positioning system), yet many agencies struggle to deliver their “core” services in an effective and efficient manner? Read more

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