Lawmakers Call for $26B in Coronavirus Relief Funding to Support R&D Programs
A bipartisan group of senators will seek $26 billion from the Trump administration’s coronavirus relief package to sustain research efforts and personnel in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the leaders announced on Monday.
The office of Sen. Edward Markey, said that he and Sen. Thom Tillis, along with 31 other senators wrote to senators Mitch McConnell and Charles Schumer, calling for additional emergency relief funding to support the scientific research community.
“Research universities, academic medical centers, and national labs are major employers in all 50 states, and protecting the research workforce is critical to state economies,” the letter states.
The senators noted that despite the government’s prioritization of coronavirus-related research and development programs, most research and development (R&D) initiatives saw delays or termination due to facility closures. The funds will support the provision of research grants and fellowships as well as assistance for research personnel.
“Congress must act to preserve our current scientific workforce and ensure that the U.S. is prepared to continue our global scientific leadership once this crisis ends.”
SAIC Wins Potential $630M Air Force Weather System Integration IDIQ
SAIC
Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) has been awarded a potential $630 million contract to help the U.S. Air Force (USAF) develop and maintain an integrated weather information system to ensure the accuracy, relevance, consistency and timeliness of the service branch’s environmental intelligence for warfighters.
Under the Technology Application Development and Sustainment (TADS) contract, SAIC will deliver a single platform, consisting of hardware and software for the Air Force weather enterprise, the Department of Defense (DoD) said Monday.
USAF officially awarded the indefinite-delivery/
Guidehouse CEO Scott McIntyre, Gina Haspel Battling for First Place; Juliane Gallina, Teresa Carlson, Tiffanny Gates Move Up; Wash100 Voting Ending June 1st.
Scott McIntyre (R)
With less than three weeks left before the 2020 Wash100 Popular Vote comes to a close on June 1st, the battle for first place has become a rollercoaster ride.
Guidehouse CEO Scott McIntyre and Gina Haspel, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), have swapped first place four times this week with Haspel holding onto the top spot to end the week.
This year’s sixth annual Wash100 Award has been the most contested in history, with a record breaking 13,000 votes cast and counting! The fight for first place has escalated to a fever pitch and your votes could be the difference between first and second place. You just have to vote before June 1st.
Teresa Carlson (M)
Tiffanny Gates (R)
In addition, Juliane Gallina, CIO of the CIA, has climbed into fifth place to break into the top five. Teresa Carlson, vice president of Amazon Web Services’ public sector business, has scaled the rankings, moving from ninth to eighth place in pursuit of the gold.
Tiffanny Gates, president and CEO of Novetta, has emerged into the conversation and made the biggest jump in the rankings after not being listed in the top 20 until now. She now sits in 15th place with less than three weeks left until the June 1st deadline.
As many of the Wash100 executives hold onto their spots by a thread and others looking to make their move in the final weeks, your vote is more important than ever. We need your votes to determine who will be named the most significant executive of consequence to the GovCon sector for the remainder of the year.
Here are the updated rankings for the top 20 executives in the 2020 Wash100 Popular Vote:
Dana Deasy: DoD’s $10B JEDI Cloud Program Offers Unique Capability to Warfighters
CIO
DoD
Dana Deasy, chief information officer with DoD and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, reported on Tuesday that the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud computing program seeks to deliver a unique capability to troops operating at the tactical edge.
“At the end of the day, the most competitive way of looking at market forces is, where are the services going to? And they were clearly going towards JEDI because of what it offered in terms of technology and what it offered in terms of price,” Deasy added.
He said JEDI will satisfy several warfighting needs that other cloud environments cannot meet, including the capability to transmit data across unclassified, secret and top secret classification levels and handle data outside the continental U.S. and CONUS.
Deasy noted that the potential $10 billion JEDI contract has option periods, providing DoD the flexibility to decide whether to extend or not the contract as technology evolves.
“If we saw that a vendor was starting to lose its competitiveness either on pricing, on speed of delivery, or on technology, you make it clear that if they were to continue down the path they’re going, there’s not going to be a renewal,” he added.
Katie Arrington: CMMC Requirements in RFPs Expected in November
CISO
DoD Acquisition Office
Katie Arrington, chief information security officer for the Department of Defense’s acquisition and sustainment office and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said the initial version of Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) requirements could be included in solicitations by November, she reported on Monday.
“We understand this is a big cultural shift and we want to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to bring our small business partners right along with us,” she added. Arrington noted that DoD is on schedule to release the CMMC requirements this year and plans to issue in June about 10 requests for information that integrate the new CMMC rules.
In addition, Arrington reported on Tuesday that DoD has revised the CMMC program to remove the certification requirement for suppliers of commercial-off-the-shelf products. The CMMC website previously stated that all DoD contractors must achieve certification regardless of whether or not they process controlled unclassified information. Arrington stated that the revisions serve as “a clarification based on the existing rule.”
Arrington will serve as a keynote speaker during Potomac Officers Club’s (POC) CMMC Forum 2020 on Wednesday, June 24th. In addition, the forum will feature two panels: “Implementing CMMC” and “The Role of the DIB in Countering Adversary Activity.”
The panels will feature notable leaders from the private and public sectors. During the forum, Arrington and the panelists will discuss the regulation changes within CMMC, the implementation process and how it will affect both government and industry employees.
Register here for Potomac Officers Club’s CMMC Forum 2020 on June 9th.
Amentum, IFS Partner To Optimize Technology Offerings for Mission-Critical Customers; Ronald “Fog” Hahn Quoted
EVP of Strategic Growth
Amentum
IFS has partnered with Amentum to integrate IFS Applications into Amentum’s solutions for its clients in the government and aerospace and defense sectors, IFS announced on Wednesday.
“As extensive users of the IFS suite, we are excited to offer our customers this advanced platform for supply chain management to help them realize similar transformational business benefits,” said Ronald “Fog” Hahn, Amentum’s executive vice president of Strategic Growth.
IFS capabilities will be integrated within the Amentum’s SupplyTRACSM solution. With the integration, Amentum will provide customers with leading-edge functionality for supply chain optimization, asset management, predictive maintenance and procurement.
“Through our strategic partnership with IFS, we are bringing new solutions to our government customers in defense and energy, as well as our commercial customers at locations around the world. These capabilities will differentiate us in the marketplace and enable our customers to achieve new efficiencies by applying this powerful technology to solve their unique and complex challenges,” added Hahn.
Executive Spotlight: Cynthia Stuebner, Director of Defense Business Line for Pegasystems
Director of Defense Business Line
Pegasystems
Cynthia Stuebner, director of Defense Business Line for Pegasystems, recently spoke with ExecutiveBiz regarding Pegasystems’ challenges and growth, improving customer relations, modernization and no-code approach that differentiate the company in the federal market moving forward.
Here’s a sample of the full conversation that ExecutiveBiz had with Stuebner regarding expanding and growing government business:
ExecutiveBiz: What are some of the methods and challenges you face while growing your government business?
“Business modernization ebbs and flows, which is what we focus on improving and understanding. My team focuses on defense specifically, but Pega works across the entire federal government.
Business modernization is always a challenge for the Department of Defense. While being more efficient at acquiring technology and financial management is necessary, these initiatives can be hidden behind more mission critical operations, which can present other challenges.”
Click here to read the full Executive Spotlight interview with Cynthia Stuebner.
