All posts by : Shamima A

The Department of Energy is seeking information about artificial intelligence to support work on its Frontiers in AI for Science, Security and Technology, a.k.a. FASST, a roadmap it launched in July to help the DOE exploit the technology for the public’s benefit.

Through FASST, the department will use its resources, including its 17 national laboratories, to create advanced AI models for applied energy development and other scientific applications, according to a DOE post on the Federal Register set for Thursday.

The request for information will gather public input on ways for DOE partnerships with institutions to develop and implement the four pillars of FASST: AI-ready data; frontier-scale AI computing infrastructure and platforms; safe, secure and trustworthy AI models and systems; and AI applications. 

The RFI, which was issued by the DOE’s Office of Critical and Emerging Technologies, also seeks input on workforce and FASST governance. The deadline for the submission of responses is Nov. 11.

Besides FASST, the DOE has initiated its Advancements in Artificial Intelligence for Science program under which it will award $68 million funding to 45 projects to develop AI foundation models potentially useful in stepping up scientific programming and advance automation in laboratories, among other uses.

Advancements in space technologies present a variety of benefits for both Department of Defense and Intelligence Community components, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency wants to reshape the ways these agencies collaborate on space operations.

To take on this challenge, the NGA architected the new Joint Mission Management Center, a space intelligence hub for the military services, combatant commands, IC agencies and international allies designed to help define each organization’s role in the evolving domain.

The center — which NGA Director Frank Whitworth said came about as the agency witnessed an expansion of space agencies’ satellite networks — has now achieved initial operating capability, Air and Space Forces Magazine reported.

Learn about how the IC is adapting to shifts in the intelligence landscape at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Intel Summit on Sept. 19! The event will feature speakers from across the IC, including three NGA leaders, who will share their insights on current intelligence priorities. Click here to learn more and secure your spot at the event.

“We do tasking for a constellation, but when you’re talking about something that’s getting this big, and especially given the investment that DOD has made in this particular constellation, we knew that we needed to have a place for collaboration. It needed to exist,” Whitworth, a 2024 Wash100 awardee, said during a Defense Writers Group event in August.

The JMMC, he said, will serve as a vehicle for space-focused agencies to identify their specific priorities.

“There’s a certain amount of time, there’s a certain amount of sensors, what’s going to go first, what’s going to go last, what falls below the cutline. And that is exactly the type of conversation and process that will be integrated into the JMMC,” he explained.

To make the center a reality, the NGA worked alongside the U.S. Space Force, a major player in the nation’s space activities.

Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations for the USSF, said at the AFCEA/INSA Intelligence Summit in August that the JMMC will “bring together the operational side as well as the intelligence side to do the joint tasking, the collection and dissemination of the data.”

Do you want to learn more about current NGA initiatives? Register for the 2024 Intel Summit to get exclusive insights from Sean Batir, chief technology officer of the NGA’s Maven program; Mark Munsell, director of the agency’s Data and Digital Innovation Directorate; Mark Chatelain, chief information officer and director of the NGA’s CIO & IT Services component; and numerous other speakers from across the IC.

The fourth initiative of the Army’s recent software modernization memo is to adopt a sustainment model that is focused on continuous improvement and development.

To achieve that goal, the Army is creating a cadre of contracting experts to lead this culture change.

Jamie MacGillis, an advisor for the Digital Capabilities Contracting Center of Excellence (DC3oE) at the Army Contracting Command’s Aberdeen Proving Ground, said the Army initially is sending reinforcements to several program executive offices – Enterprise Information Systems (EIS); Command, Control, Communications—Tactical (C3T); Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (IEWS); and Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (STRI).

MacGillis said she will work specifically with PEO-C3T’s contracting teams to help establish a strategy for acquisition that supports agile software development.

“My office is working on a multi-pronged attack to facilitate the development of the acquisition workforce. Part of what we’re doing is the DC3oE advisory group that I’m a part of is putting together resources, artifacts in a repository for our contracting professionals that they’ll be able to use and look back on and generate ideas for modern software development and agile software development,” MacGillis said during an interview with Federal News Network. “Additionally, we’re interfacing regularly with industry to hear what their thoughts are on the approaches we want to take, what we have taken and what we could take in the future. That dialog is open, both within our acquisition workforce and out to industry as well. We’re creating teams with our customers, so that when we sit down and develop a requirement and the acquisition strategy, all of the stakeholders are in the room very early on, often before there’s a requirements document, when it’s just an idea contracting is getting involved, and that will help astronomically.”

New workforce training on tap

The repository would include playbooks, sample contracting documents from across the Army, the Defense Department and other agencies, and other tools to help contracting officers adopt and adapt to agile software development.

“We’re definitely are looking at innovation from places like the Homeland Security Department’s Procurement Innovation Lab (PIL) and what they have,” MacGillis said. “We’re putting it into a digestible form for our workforce so that anything that we see that’s interesting, that could further the development of software and create agile contracts are at the fingertips of our workforce.”

Additionally, DC3oE has developed and piloted a course with the Defense Acquisition University to further upskill the workforce. This course is anticipated to be open for enrollment to the Army workforce in fiscal 2025.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth signed the software modernization memo in March detailing five changes to reform what she called the institutional processes of the Army.

MacGillis said the digital capabilities office also is turning to vendors for insights and feedback as the Army makes the move toward agile software contracting.

Army taking advantage of industry feedback

Over the last several months, the DC3oE has held more than 60 one-on-ones with contractors to better understand their innovative techniques  in use in the Army or elsewhere in government.

The digital capabilities office also released a request for information (RFI) earlier this year as another approach to collecting feedback from industry.

MacGillis said the RFI was structured around eight basic questions, including how to create dynamic requirements, the steps to streamline ordering and awards and how they will retain workforce talent and expertise in a competitive environment.

“We also asked about industry buying in instances where it’s a cost type contract, and we have concerns about whether or not the prices proposed or the rates proposed are realistic. If they’re buying in to go low, then it’s a race to the bottom, as industry calls it, and if it’s a race to the bottom, are we really going to receive the highest technical solution? We’re going to receive the best value for our war fighters,” she said. “We asked about cost proposal instructions and what could facilitate the speed of proposal response from industry. There were some really good ideas there about phasing a rough order of magnitude in phase one, which is not a formal cost proposal, but asking what do you think this would cost? And then, in phase two, once they’ve been invited to proceed, give us the formal cost proposal. There are some really innovative ideas that we haven’t seen a rough order of magnitude and a cost proposal used regularly to support anything but that could definitely move forward the speed at which we could acquire software.”

MacGillis said the training and documents are part of how the DC3oE is creating a culture change. She said the benefits of moving toward the agile approach are clear.

“It’s definitely going to be speed in meeting our customers where they’re going with their software development, being modular, being flexible and being fast,” she said. “Our workforce in contracting is going to have to learn modular, contracting, how to be agile, how to be flexible and  how to be fast. It’s going to be uncomfortable, and discomfort brings on change. It’s going to be really exciting, and it’s going to happen, hopefully very, very quickly. I know that our contracting teams are very excited about the opportunity that we’ve been given through that directive.”

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The U.S. General Services Administration revealed several new political appointees and promotions.

The agency said Monday the following will be serving GSA in various capacities:

Tadeh Issakhanian has been designated as senior adviser to the administrator for climate. The former Deloitte consultant worked with government agencies on sustainable transportation and energy. He previously worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, the U.S. House of Representatives and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

Thomas Berry has been appointed special assistant to the deputy administrator after serving in the same capacity in the Office of Intergovernmental & External Affairs and the Office of Administration under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

Tenzin Pelkyi has been named policy adviser in the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. She had stints with the International Committee of the Red Cross, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 

Morgan Carrico has been promoted to deputy White House liaison in the Office of the Administrator. She was previously the special assistant to the regional administrator.

Brandon Faske has been named senior advisor in the Office of the General Counsel. Faske served as oversight attorney at the GSA before his promotion.

Nicolas Valbuena has been selected to serve as special assistant to the administrator in the Office of the Administrator. He was promoted after serving as the special assistant to the regional administrator.

The Department of Commerce has unveiled several initiatives to further develop the U.S. government’s analytical capacity to understand and address supply chain risks.

The department said Tuesday one of the efforts announced at the Supply Chain Summit is the launch of a diagnostic tool, called SCALE, designed to help assess supply chain risks across the U.S. economy using a set of indicators.

The International Trade Administration’s Industry and Analysis business unit plans to kick off a competition to develop new data or analysis that could be used to broaden the indicators of risks in the SCALE tool and hold two industry supply chain tabletop exercises in 2025.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will bring together industry stakeholders in the fall to discuss risks related to the supply chains for artificial intelligence data centers and inform recommendations to help mitigate the identified risks.

During the summit, the department also announced strategic partnerships with seven industry associations and academic institutions to promote supply chain resilience and innovation.

The new partners are the National Small Business Association, Council for Supply Chain Management Professionals, Association for Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, Industries Studies Association, Carnegie Mellon University and Georgetown University.

The Office of Personnel Management has appointed Taka Ariga, a Senior Executive Service member and technologist, as chief data officer.

In a LinkedIn post announcing his appointment, Ariga said he will oversee the work of OPM’s Human Capital Data Management and Modernization Directorate.

He said he will help bring together data governance, artificial intelligence and data science to support OPM’s role in providing human capital services for more than 2 million federal employees.

Prior to OPM, Ariga spent five years at the Government Accountability Office, where he served as the first chief data scientist and director of the Innovation Lab. As head of the Innovation Lab, he was responsible for driving the adoption of AI, blockchains and other emerging technologies.

According to his profile on the professional networking site, the OPM official’s industry career included data science and analytics leadership roles at Booz Allen Hamilton, EY and Deloitte Financial Advisory Services.

In mid-August, OPM and the Office of Management and Budget issued a joint memorandum to provide federal agencies with guidance to address government workforce challenges.

According to OPM, the memo identified key steps to strengthen workforce-related data analytics and design and build an improved applicant and hiring manager experience with tools and training. 

Space Systems Command has announced the completion of the ground critical design review for its Next-Generation Overhead Infrared Polar, or OPIR NGP program, and the system critical integration review for its complementary Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution, or FORGE program. 

The tests, conducted from Aug. 26 to 29, demonstrated the ground system integration required for the delivery of advanced missile warning capability for global security, SSC said Tuesday.  

The command described the concluded tests as major program milestones demonstrating that the NGP’s space and ground system design not only meets technical requirements but also indicates acceptable risk level and conformance with budget allocation and project timetable. 

The NGP will replace the highly elliptical orbit-based Space-Based Infrared Systems, or SBIRS program. It will cover the North Pole region for surveillance on the wide-ranging missiles that U.S. adversaries test and deploy in the area. 

The new tests follow the April completion of OPIR NGP’s space vehicle critical design review.  The program is on track to demonstrate initial launch capability by December 2025 with Raytheon’s recent delivery to Lockheed Martin of the first of two NGP satellite payloads for deployment to geosynchronous Earth orbit.

The Department of Energy has announced the availability of $65 million that will be awarded to finance multiple DOE Office of Science Advanced Scientific Computing Research program projects related to quantum computing, a technology with the potential to provide new ways of processing information that can overcome the limits of classical computing.

The DOE said Monday that the investment aims to support innovations that will work to demonstrate the utility of quantum computing in addressing the agency’s scientific research efforts. Of particular interest are advances in software, control systems and algorithms.

Out of the $65 million, $14 million will be sourced from fiscal year 2024 funds. Outyear funding will be contingent on congressional appropriations.

Commenting on the investment, DOE Associate Director of Science for Advanced Scientific Computing Research Ceren Susut said, “With these awards we are equipping scientists with computational tools that will open new frontiers of scientific discovery.”

“Quantum computers may ultimately revolutionize many fields by solving problems that are currently out of reach,” Susut added.