July 26 2023

QUICK HITS

• Make better proposal decisions with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Prioritize time and action items based on what impacts your win rate.

• Generative AI may soon be helping devs build secure code: It may even help software developers learn some security techniques.

• Security clearances are making major news: More bad ideas and informed opinions about how to best improve the process.

DEFENSE & AEROSPACE

U.S. sending marines, warships to Middle East over Iranian Threats.

The U.S. is sending two amphibious warships and thousands of Marines to the Middle East to bolster regional security after Iranian forces threatened commerce in and out of the Persian Gulf. “Through these actions, the United States is demonstrating a commitment to ensuring freedom of navigation and deterring Iranian destabilization activities in the region,” said the DOD. Read more

Space Force defining details of a ‘commercial space reserve.’

USSF's draft framework for how commercial satellite services could be called up in times of crisis or conflict to support military missions would let the DOD deny participating companies the right to sell their wares to any other client in times of “war, major conflict, national or international emergency.” Read more

Here are 3 major contract opportunities shaping the Army's future.

To help reach its modernization goals, the Army has made many contract opportunities available. Three opportunities are shaping up to be the most influential upcoming Army contracts in 2023. Check out more about Design, Development, Demonstration, and Integration II; Vantage; and Warfighter Training Readiness Solutions. Read more

ICYMI Snippets

• Army aims to field reconfigurable, air-ground training system by end of 2024. Oh, so are the new training simulators.

• Air Force building new tactical teams for ‘cyber-enabled air superiority.'

• Take a glimpse into the future of the DAF Battle Network & JADC2.

• RFI: DOD Information Network-Army seeks cybersecurity support.

• Maxar completes Maxar 300 platform Critical Design Review for Space Development Agency.

• RFI: Space Systems Command seeks CASR framework.

Defense Contract Awards

• DISA awards 16 contractors $900M Satellite Services IDIQ.

• HII books five-year, $528M contract to maintain Navy aircraft carriers in San Diego.

• Johns Hopkins Uni Applied Physics Lab won a $166M AF task order to Sentinel engineering support.

• CACI won a $15M Army contract for cybersecurity services.

Follow the Defense Leaders

• Pentagon’s R&E office stands up 3 new assistant secretaries, 8 new DASDs.

• BISim names Rahul C. Thakkar as its new president.

Defense Job Openings

• The Office of Naval Research seeks a Principal Scientist for Direct Energy Physics.

• DISA is hiring a Deputy Director of Strategy & Plans.

CHART (LAST WEEK'S SURVEY RESULTS)

Both companies specialize in AI tools for the GovCon industry: from contract lifecycle analysis to RFP and document response tools. These two companies are helping government contractors with the latest, secure AI tools. Check them out below:

Bidscale allows users to track opportunities and recompetes in long- and short-range forecasts. BD teams can collaborate on the entire procurement lifecycle and opportunity stages/statuses; Bidscale also taps into helpful nationwide databases and offers helpful analytic tools.

Rogue’s safe and secure RFP response AI tools allow contractors like you to generate first-draft responses quickly and easily. With all your documents in one place, Rogue’s tool does the heavy lifting on the first draft by taking past proposals, emails, and related documents and addresses RFP requirements with the click of a button.

(If you have a survey question you'd like to see pitched to the GovBrew Crew, just let us know!)

INTEL COMMUNITY

NGA, NRO, NSF announce new ArcticDEM initiative.

The NGA, NRO, and NSF have finalized an agreement to provide continued public access to historical and new digital elevation models created using commercial imagery collected over the Arctic and Antarctic. Read more

ICYMI Snippets

• Flashpoint National Security Solutions appoints a new Executive Director of Business Development. 

• Billy Burnett, Kelly Baldwin assume new leadership roles at GRSi’s National Security Unit.

CIVILIAN

Fixing disaster relief means updating DisasterAssistance.gov.

Amid floods, tornadoes, and myriad other emergencies, disaster survivors are often directed to DisasterAssistance.gov, a website run by FEMA. But following a push by lawmakers to streamline the federal disaster assistance process, there’s interest in overhauling the FEMA website, too. Read more

IRS needs better documentation for its cyber threat hunts.

An IRS watchdog released a new audit that highlights necessary changes for the agency’s current cyber threat analysis procedures, including more thorough threat hunt documentation and formal review processes for device and program blocks. Cyber threat hunting involved “proactively searching organizational systems, networks and infrastructure for advanced threats.” Read more

Cracks in ICE’s access controls increase agency cyber risk.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement isn’t consistently implementing controls to prevent people from accessing systems and data they aren’t meant to see, according to report from the DHS inspector general. That means, for example, that former employees have retained access to ICE systems after they leave, sometimes for weeks. Read more.

ICYMI Snippets

• Event: CISA sets Joint Collaborative Environmental industry day for Aug. 15.

• Senate bill aims for VA Acquisitions Oversight Board.

• RFP: FEMA issues solicitation for Public Assistance Support recompete contract.

• Commentary: What the President’s Management Agenda needs is better management.

• Booz Allen to pay $377M over improper billing allegations.

Civilian Contracts Awards

• Nava: Nava wins new work helping to modernize Grants.gov.

• NASA selected 11 companies to develop technologies to support long-term exploration on the Moon.

• VA awards COFORMA (a SDVOSB) a $5M non-disability claims services task.

• REI Systems is awarded a $5M HHS HRSA FY23 DME task.

Follow Civilian Leaders

• Microsoft material scientist tapped to join CHIPS for America R&D Office.

• FTI onboards a new CEO.

• Empower AI appoints a CFO.

Civilian Job Openings

• A Director, Engineering Directorate is needed at the Langley Research Center.

M&A CORNER

France’s Thales to buy Imperva in $3.6B cybersecurity deal.

France's Thales said it would buy U.S. cybersecurity company Imperva in a deal worth $3.6 billion as it steps up expansion outside its historic defense business in the war against bots and hackers. Thales' move signals the group is ready to spend large sums to beef up its digital identity and security division and take market share in the United States, where Imperva serves some of the biggest companies. Read more

RSC2 acquires Navigant Systems, bolstering DOD and C5ISR mission support capabilities.

RSC2 Inc., acquired Navigant Systems, LLC earlier this month. The acquisition enables RSC2 to offer a broader range of capabilities supporting existing DOD customers and enter new markets within the C5ISR community. RSC2 has also expanded its operational footprint in OCONUS locations within AFRICOM, CENTCOM, EUCOM and INDO-PACOM areas of responsibility. Read more

SHOWER THOUGHTS 🚿

NASA reiterates that it's not a fan of NFTs with its imagery.

A new NFT collection promoted by former first lady Melania Trump has reignited interest in NASA’s policy on these digital assets. The space agency isn’t exactly supportive. An entity called USA Memorabilia has released a “Man on the Moon” NFT featuring an Apollo 11-era image of Buzz Aldrin on the moon. This seemingly goes against NASA’s merchandising rules and media guidelines, which say that the agency isn’t approving the use of its images in NFTs and does not want to be associated with its technology. Read more.

Down, Commander! Secret Service officers bitten 10 times in four months by POTUS’s dog.

POTUS’s dog, Commander, bit Secret Service officers at least 10 times between October 2022 and January, including one incident that required a trip to the hospital for an injured law enforcement officer, according to DHS records. No incident reports have been issued for the White House cat, Willow, which goes to show that cats rule and dogs, well, bite. Read more

65 years of NASA - an astrophysicist reflects on the agency’s legacy.

Sixty-five years ago, in 1958, several government programs that had been pursuing spaceflight combined to form NASA. At the time, the author of this OpEd was only 3 years old. He has now been a professor of physics and astronomy for nearly 30 years, and he realizes that, like countless others who came of age in the 1960s and ‘70s, NASA’s missions have had a profound effect on his life and career path. From John Glenn’s first flight into orbit to the Hubble telescope, the agency’s legacy has inspired generations of scientists. Read more

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