July 24 2023

Big changes for individually owned 8(a) program, DHA protests, DOD sharing cloud services with IC, DOS IT support RFI

QUICK HITS

  • Federal judge enjoins use of presumed racial disadvantage in SBA contracting program: beginning of the end of the 8(a) program?

  • White House stands up new pandemic prep/response office: To better coordinate and respond to pandemics.

  • NASA emphasized climate science role amidst fiscal and partisan challenges: Summer of extreme weather events a good backdrop.

  • SBA clarifies individually-owned 8(a) sole source rules: threshold for such contracts without justification needed has increased from $22M to $100M.

DEFENSE & AEROSPACE

First wave of protests hits $2.4B Defense Health IT contract.

A pair of companies, Systems Plus, Inc., and American Tech Solutions LLC, have filed GAO protests after they were not selected for a $2.4 billion Defense Health Agency enterprise IT services contract vehicle. In early July, DHA chose six small businesses for the 10-year program known as the Military Health System Enterprise IT Services Geographic Service Provider, to standardize how it buys IT services, help desk, and other related work in various geographic areas worldwide. Read more

DOD’s data integration experiments help to identify benefits and barriers to new tech.

An ongoing series of experiments to inform the DOD’s development of an interoperable data-sharing network is bringing together industry partners and U.S. allies to help identify the benefits and challenges of using emerging technologies, one of the leaders of the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office — or CDAO — said during an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. Read more

ICYMI Snippets

Defense Contract Awards

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  • Biden selects Navy admiral to lead Navy. Pending confirmation, she would be the first female to serve on the Joint Chiefs.

  • Clif Basnight joins Ultra I&C as Strategic Technologies VP.

Defense Job Openings

DAILY FUNNY

INTEL COMMUNITY

Intelligence community and DOD to share classified cloud services.

For the first time, classified cloud capacity will be shared between DOD and the intelligence community. The two organizations recently signed a memorandum of agreement that will let them intermingle Title 10 and title 50 funding in a top-secret cloud environment. Read more.

Cybercom-NSA nominee argues severing dual hat would be 'time-consuming, more complex and less effective.'

The White House pick to lead U.S. Cyber Command and the NSA believes both jobs are not only not too much for a single individual to handle but dismantling the so-called dual-hat arrangement “would be more time-consuming, more complex and less effective.” Read more

ICYMI Snippets

CIVILIAN

Independent oversight coming to major VA IT contracts.

VA Chief Acquisition Officer Michael Parrish told members of the House VA Committee that the VA expects to initiate the independent validation and verification contract for its major acquisitions by the end of the year. “This will enable true independent and agnostic oversight, to validate and provide confidence that what we have asked the contractor to do was properly delivered, on time and on budget,” Parrish said. Read more

State Department wants IT support to modernize its consular systems.

The State Department is planning to modernize the customer experience for some of its Bureau of Consular Affairs operations and is conducting market research to help inform a potential contract. In a sources sought notice, the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ Office of Consular Systems and Technology outlined designs on a possible IT support contract to assist the worldwide implementation of its Consular Affairs Queue Management program. Read more

Labor Department shifts unemployment modernization plans after Congress slashes funding.

The Labor Department is adjusting to a new reality after lawmakers took back half of the $2 billion they’d previously given the department for modernization and fraud prevention in the unemployment system. That bonus funding was initially granted in 2021 but was then cut back as part of the debt ceiling compromise passed into law in June. A July 13 department advisory lays out how the agency plans to spend the money it has left as part of a “comprehensive, strategic approach… to improve the future integrity of the UI system.” Read more

ICYMI Snippets

  • House Dems call on White House to make agencies adopt NIST AI framework.

  • Federal agencies plan to spend $770M ramping up their electric vehicle usage this year.

  • The Senate is on a bipartisan glidepath toward avoiding a shutdown, Schumer says. Hill witness urges ‘All-of-Society’ approach on protecting infrastructure.

  • CISA and Microsoft expand cloud logging access.

  • DHS is the largest federal agency to receive 14 consecutive ‘A’ grades on SBA’s annual small business procurement scorecard.

Civilian Contracts Awards

Follow Civilian Leaders

Civilian Job Openings

M&A CORNER

Arlington Capital-Backed Eqlipse acquires UES

Eqlipse Technologies, (an Arlington Capital Partners portfolio company) acquired scientific research and technology development company UES for an undisclosed sum. Read more

Safran to acquire actuation and flight Control business of Collins Aerospace

France’s Safran Group said it has agreed to acquire the actuation and flight controls business of Collins Aerospace, an operating segment of RTX, for $1.8 billion in cash, complementing the French company’s current portfolio in this space. Read more

NeuroFlow seeks wider Veterans Affairs presence through acquisition.

NeuroFlow, a maker of technology for use in remote monitoring and behavioral health care, has acquired a provider of software that the Veterans Affairs Department uses to manage workflows for clinical teams and individuals. Read more

SHOWER THOUGHTS 🚿

First contact with aliens could end in colonization and genocide if we don’t learn from history.

We’re only halfway through 2023, and it feels already like the year of alien contact. In February, President Biden gave orders to shoot down three unidentified aerial phenomena – NASA’s title for UFOs. Then, the alleged leaked footage from a Navy pilot of a UFO, and then news of a whistleblower’s report on a possible U.S. government cover-up about UFO research. Most recently, an independent analysis published in June suggests that UFOs might have been collected by a clandestine agency of the U.S. government. Read more

A scientist said her research could help with repatriation. Instead, it destroyed Native remains.

Two decades ago, an anthropology professor at the University of Utah asked the National Science Foundation to fund research on Native American ancestors to determine when the cultivations of crops like corn first became prevalent in their cultures. Read more

How Ben Franklin’s paper money outwitted counterfeiters.

Researchers have used physics to get a peek at the early history of American money—and how Benjamin Franklin’s innovative way of making it kept him one step ahead of counterfeiters. Franklin may be best known as the creator of bifocals and the lightning rod, but he should also be known for his innovative ways of making (literal) money. Read more

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