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Federal News Network Executive Editor Jason Miller joins host Roger Waldron on this week’s Off the Shelf for “Procurement Potpourri,” a wide-ranging discussion of key procurement policy and program developments across the federal market.
They tackle the state of interagency contracting focusing on the status of the four major interagency procurements: OASIS+, CIO-SP4, NASA SEWP, and Alliant 3. The discussion highlighted the role of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy has played in establishing and overseeing the IT GWACs and whether enough is currently being done.
Miller also shares his thoughts on the ever-growing cybersecurity regulatory regime, including CMMC, and the need for cyber harmonization.
Finally Miller talks about a new SBA report on the mentor-protégé program.
The Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 11 and Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 232 tested the AGM-158A joint air-to-surface standoff missile, U.S. Marine Corps’ newest F/A-18 Hornet weapon, on Aug. 27 to 28 at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California.
According to the USMC, the two squadrons were the first to conduct ordnance operations with the new Hornet missile.
During the testing, live AGM-158A JASSM was loaded onto the F/A-18 of the VMFA-232 to assess the loading procedures, including the aircraft loading sequence and post-loading checks, and verify the compatibility of the software.
Maj. Bradley Kirby, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing aviation ordnance officer, pointed out that the integration of the AGM-158A JASSM, with its advanced sensors, range, and precision-strike capabilities, enables the Hornet to strike targets from beyond the reach of enemy air defenses.
“This added capability will greatly increase 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing’s ability to support the joint force and enable greater freedom of maneuver across all operational domains,” stated Kirby.
Warrant Officer Josiah Hood, VMFA-232 ordnance officer, noted that the JASSM validation and verification process will be the basis of checklists for the Marine Corps and the Navy to use against future adversaries.
The Marine Corps plans to add AGM-158B JASSM extended range and AGM-158C long-range anti-ship missiles to F-35B/C’s arsenal to enhance its long-range, maritime strike capabilities.
A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration and the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit.
The aim of the MOU is to integrate the Tech Hubs Program of the EDA — which seeks to invest in U.S. regions that could become globally competitive in critical technologies and industries — with the regional outreach initiatives of the DIU, according to a news article posted Monday on the DIU website.
The ultimate goal of the effort is to help connect U.S. innovations to scaling, commercialization and procurement opportunities.
EDA Deputy Assistant Secretary Cristina Killingsworth commented on the agreement, saying it will help innovators in the U.S. better take advantage of connections, assets and resources. She went on to say that members of the Tech Hub consortia “will gain insights into DoD needs, have opportunities to showcase cutting-edge technologies—from autonomous systems to durable batteries—and hopefully secure contracts to supply these critical innovations to DoD.”
For her part, DIU Deputy Director for Commercial Operations Liz Young McNally said the agreement will allow her agency to better act as an “on-ramp” for organizations that seek to work with the DOD and the rest of the government.
McNally added that because of its regional economic development work, EDA is “an ideal partner” for the DIU, which helps commercial companies scale their work and deliver capabilities to warfighters.
Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the Small Business Administration, and Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan discussed the efforts of SBA and FTC to help improve the competitiveness of small businesses.
SBA said Monday that Guzman cited the agency’s work to enhance competition in government contracting and small business lending.
In fiscal year 2023, small enterprises accounted for 28.4 percent of all contracting dollars.
SBA noted that its rulemaking that sought to simplify loan programs has resulted in a doubling of small-dollar loans under the 7(a) loan program.
“Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the SBA, the FTC, and other federal agencies have worked to ensure equitable market opportunity, and discussions like today’s are a crucial part of our continued work together to prioritize competition and a level playing field for our small businesses,” said Guzman.
“Equipping entrepreneurs with knowledge, networks, and resources to navigate federal agencies and regulation strengthens them so they can compete successfully in the marketplace,” she added.
Meanwhile, FTC has developed a final rule to prohibit noncompete clauses, a measure that could lead to the formation of 8,500 new businesses each year.
“A key part of the FTC’s work is making sure our markets are open, fair, and competitive so that small businesses and entrepreneurs have a fair shot,” said Khan.
“The ability to start and run your own business is a core part of our American economic freedoms, and the FTC is going to keep using all of our tools to make sure small businesses and entrepreneurs can compete,” the chairwoman added.
Guzman and Khan held the discussion during the annual meeting of SBA’s Regional Regulatory Fairness Boards.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has developed a guidebook by which it will coordinate and support the cybersecurity efforts of the federal civilian executive branch.
Titled “FCEB Operational Cybersecurity Alignment,” or FOCAL, the CISA plan provides the broad concepts for organizing federal cybersecurity and identifies action steps in five priority areas that agencies can take in 2025, CISA said Monday.
The FOCAL plan’s priorities are aligned with each agency’s standards and reporting requirements, with each priority area addressing a goal, such as building a cybersecurity architecture resilient to evolving cyberthreats.
FOCAL’s other priorities include the management of the vulnerabilities of the FCEB’s interconnected assets in the cyber environment. The plan also prioritizes the creation of a cyber supply chain risk management system, including third-party structures.
According to Jeff Greene, CISA executive assistant director for cybersecurity, FCEB agencies must be proactive and united to counter the persistent cyberthreats hanging over interconnected federal data and systems. “The actions in the FOCAL plan orient and guide FCEB agencies toward effective and collaborative operational cybersecurity and will build resilience,” he added.
Carlos Del Toro, secretary of the Navy and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, said a six-month continuing resolution would result in delays in the construction and delivery of Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines and would have negative impacts on the Marine Corps Force Design efforts.
The Department of the Navy said Monday Del Toro detailed his concerns with the CR in a Sept. 12 letter addressed to congressional leaders.
According to the Navy secretary, the stopgap funding measure would delay planned and ongoing nuclear command, control and communications engineering activities supporting U.S. Strategic Command, the procurement of munitions and investments in critical infrastructure, among others.
“This lengthy delay in new funding would force the Department of the Navy (DON) to operate at last year’s funding levels with the negative consequences lasting far beyond the time frame of the CR, impeding our ability to field the force needed to defend our nation while imposing unnecessary stress on our Sailors, Marines, Civilians, and their families,” Del Toro wrote in the letter.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released guidance to help federal government civilian agencies reduce their cybersecurity risks.
The Federal Civilian Executive Branch Operational Cybersecurity Alignment plan out Monday asks agencies to develop their cyber capabilities with a focus on asset management, vulnerability management, defensible architecture, supply chain resilience and incident detection and response.
“The ultimate destination on this shared journey is more synchronized and robust cyber defenses, greater communication, and increased agility and resilience across the federal enterprise, resulting in a more cohesive government enterprise capable of defending itself against evolving cyber threats,” the document says.
The release is one of several papers the cyber agency has advanced in the wake of cyberattacks targeting the federal government in the 2020s.
Government agencies are target-rich environments for cybercriminals because of the troves of information that are stored inside their internal databases. Agency staff are frequent targets of phishing emails that aim to siphon their login credentials, potentially granting hackers access to sensitive or even classified information.
Agencies across the federal ecosystem are accelerating improvements to their internal security posture as part of a maturity deadline in which they will have to implement zero trust architecture in their systems by Sept. 30. A tranche of major agencies have nearly met that deadline requiring them to build out and adopt the framework on their networks, federal CIO Clare Martorana said earlier this month.
The National Science Foundation is awarding 23 research projects a total of $42.4 million in grants under the second iteration of the Future of Semiconductors competition, or FuSe2.
The competition aims to advance semiconductor technology, strengthen the chips industry in the U.S. and support the objectives of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which include ensuring U.S. leadership in microelectronics, the NSF said Monday. The competition was launched in September last year, providing $45.6 million in total funding for 24 projects.
This year’s beneficiary projects cover three overarching topics, namely collaborative research in domain-specific computing; advanced function and high performance by heterogenous integration; and new materials for energy-efficient, enhanced-performance and sustainable semiconductor-based systems.
The various projects are being overseen by a total of 20 institutions, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, Texas A&M University and Stanford University.
Commenting on the awards, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said, “These investments are not only supporting the future of semiconductors as a driver of our economy but also our national security.”
Two Democratic senators are asking leadership in the Biden administration to do more to mitigate risks of artificial intelligence algorithms making biased decisions.
Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young in a Monday letter that federal agencies need to establish more safeguards to prevent algorithmic discrimination.
“Without new protections, today’s supercharged, AI-powered algorithms risk reinforcing and magnifying the discrimination that marginalized communities already experience due to poorly-trained and -tested algorithms,” the letter reads. “The stakes — and harms — are especially high where entities use algorithms to make ‘consequential decisions,’ such as an individual’s application for a job, their treatment at a hospital, their admission to an educational institution, or their qualification for a mortgage.”
The senators want federal agencies utilizing AI technologies in their operations to be required to develop safeguards and build capacity around civil rights protections around AI. Algorithmic discrimination has caught federal attention before, notably when the Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a warning in may of this year to bring attention to how AI-assisted application software could erroneously discriminate against applicants.
Markey and Schumer note that the Biden administration has also taken “significant steps” to reduce the room for algorithmic discrimination, mainly through guidance mandated by President Joe Biden’s AI executive order.
They noted that OMB in particular has spearheaded much of these mandates, and the agency’s latest AI policies and guidance, specifically around “rights-impacting AI.”
The senators recommend that OMB provide agency chief AI officers with adequate resources and expertise to mitigate AI algorithms’ threats to civil liberties, and to establish and fund civil rights offices at agencies that are using AI in decision making where such offices don’t currently exist.
“These new offices — along with existing civil rights offices — should be staffed with technologists and experts in algorithmic discrimination whose job responsibilities include mitigating algorithmic bias and discrimination and facilitating proactive and ongoing outreach to civil rights stakeholders and affected populations,” the lawmakers wrote.
In addition to increased guidance and workforce to focus on mitigating algorithmic-based harm, the senators ask OMB to provide evidence that customers of federal government services can opt out of utilizing AI-powered algorithms, a choice seen with AI-powered algorithms in biometrics technologies.
