Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - January 08, 2021

On the same subject

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  May 23, 2019 | International, Other Defence

  DoD Awards Contract To Break Its Security Clearance Logjam

  By BARRY ROSENBERG Can artificial intelligence, machine learning, and agile development help clear the massive backlog? WASHINGTON: The Pentagon hopes that a newly announced $75 million, 24-month contract will clear up its chronically backlogged security clearance system. The plan: develop prototype software that uses artificial intelligence to analyze routine data instead of humans running laborious background checks, freeing investigators to concentrate on the genuinely critical cases. How big is the mess? Hundreds of thousands of would-be federal employees and defense contractors wait an average of 221 days for a Secret clearance and 534 days for a Top Secret clearance, according to the National Background Investigations Bureau. The clearance backlog makes a day in line at the DMV look fast. It's a problem that costs the government millions of dollars and, in many ways, wastes the talent of countless individuals who give up and seek employment elsewhere. “The bottom line is we need to get cleared people to work in their job faster; we're not doing that job well,” said Terry Carpenter, the Program Executive Officer for the National Background Investigation Service, part of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). “Whether you're in an agency, the federal government, or an industry partner .... we need to make sure those companies and agencies can get those people to work because they have their clearance.” The DoD's Defense Security Service (DSS), which runs the clearance process, and DISA, which runs much of the military's networks, jointly awarded the contract to Perspecta Enterprise Solutions of Herndon, VA, using the Other Transaction Authority process to bypass much of the traditional acquisition bureaucracy. Perspecta was formed in 2018 through the merger of the public sector business of DXC Technology, Vencore, and KeyPoint Government Solutions. Over the next 24 months, Perspecta will create a prototype “architecture” that can be scaled up to a full-sized security-check system, with two main features: Data ingestion and analytics using techniques like machine learning and natural language processing, which are both subsets of artificial intelligence; and A “software factory” to develop new vetting capabilities as needed. This will employ a software methodology called DevSecOps (Development-Security-Operations) that quickly delivers functionality that is then constantly improved through user feedback, while injecting security into all interactive phases of development, so usable software is delivered in weeks instead of months or years. Software development will be guided by a framework known as SAFe, which is an online knowledge base made available by an organization called Scaled Agile. The “factory” will continually develop, test, secure, and deploy new software in a government-run cloud, using what's called continuous authority to operate so its products can be used immediately, without a laborious certification process. The new architecture is being designed to transform three mission areas in the clearance process: initiation, investigation, and adjudication. Explained Carpenter: “There are several activities around the initiation part. [For example], you're a new employee coming in or a transfer coming in from a different agency. The initiation process engages with the subject and collects their information in a standard form that feeds the process. Then there's the investigation process. Under the old process, a full investigative package was prepared, which took a lot of time and labor. That was handed over for adjudication to an appropriate business function with the credentials to do the adjudication, and they would make the decision on that clearance. “What we are looking at today is continuous vetting as a way to use data to minimize the amount of labor force that has to knock on doors to get information. The more we can get done with data, the more effective we are at delivering the capability of a clearance, the more confidence we have in it, and the less it costs.” Data analytics will also facilitate continuous vetting throughout the work life of cleared individuals to address possible insider threats. “With this data-driven model, we can get into a continuous evaluation model rather than the current model, which is periodic investigation that looks at somebody every 5 or 10 years,” said Patricia Stokes, director, Defense Vetting Service, DSS. “We can utilize technology available today to initiate processes and capabilities to (gather) information on a real-time basis (to determine) your need for access and your risk.” https://breakingdefense.com/2019/05/dod-awards-contract-to-break-its-security-clearance-logjam

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  February 19, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Defence Secretary announces first deployment for new sub-hunter aircraft

  Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has announced that the UK's new fleet of submarine hunting aircraft will take to the skies over the Arctic next year. While visiting Royal Marines and Royal Navy personnel on winter training in Norway, the Defence Secretary announced that as part of their first deployment next year the RAF P8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft will be in the Arctic to counter Russian submarine activity that has reached Cold War levels. This deployment is part of the Defence Arctic Strategy, which will be published this spring, deepening our relationship with regional partners and sharpen our expertise of operating in the extreme cold environment. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: The Arctic Strategy puts us on the front foot in protecting Britain's interests in this expanding new frontier. Whether it's sharpening our skills in sub-zero conditions, learning from longstanding allies like Norway or monitoring submarine threats with our Poseidon aircraft, we will stay vigilant to new challenges. Nine of the P8 Poseidon aircraft will be delivered to RAF Lossiemouth in 2020 at which point they will begin reconnaissance patrols over a wide range including the High North and North Atlantic. While in Norway the Defence Secretary also met with the elite commandos of the Royal Marines and discussed the unique challenge of honing their combat skills hundreds of miles inside the Arctic Circle where temperatures drop as low as -30°C. As part of the Defence Arctic Strategy, the Royal Marines have committed to a 10-year training programme with their Norwegian counterparts, which will see around 1,000 Marines travelling North each year. A long-term NATO ally, Norway is also a fellow member of the Joint Expeditionary Force and Northern Group – two initiatives through which the UK is enhancing its co-operation with key northern European partners. Elsewhere in the region this year, RAF Typhoons will guard NATO's northern flank as part of the Icelandic Air Policing mission. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defence-secretary-announces-first-deployment-for-new-sub-hunter-aircraft

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  May 25, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  The US needs to rethink its overseas supply chain

  By: Thomas Ayres As Americans respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have become acutely aware of the outsized impact of our dependence on China in the supply chain. Pharmaceutical companies learned key chemicals and minerals are exclusively made or mined in China. For instance, reports show China produces 97 percent of the antibiotics, 95 percent of ibuprofen and 91 percent of hydrocortisone consumed in the U.S. market. Hospitals also learned that while China produces 50 percent of the world's face masks, they are of dubious reliability. There is cause for concern with the quantity or quality of ventilators. In sum, we learned as citizens what we in the Department of Defense have known for some time: Our national security supply chain must be free from dependence on China. The DoD's concern for its supply chain is not new. Congress spurred activity over a decade ago by questioning the DoD's supply chain risk management, or SCRM, policies. The National Defense Strategy‘s recognition of a new era of strategic, great power competition further sharpened the DoD's focus, propelling recent efforts to enhance regulations and procedures in addressing supply chain threats. We are transitioning from analog to digital, with the goal of planes, ships, tanks and satellites all seamlessly sharing data — a lethal version of the ride-sharing app on your smartphone. Yet, even as the DoD builds this future, the threat of supply chain disruption and concerns about component quality within the electronic backbone are real. Counterfeit or planted microelectronic parts can be vectors for cybersecurity intrusions. Recently, for instance, the DoD voiced concerns that Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei's 5G solution provided back doors, purposefully or negligently, for data corruption, data extraction, system failure or worse. Similarly, SCRM policies have increasingly addressed the concern of intellectual property theft enabled by subcomponents designed to allow information to flow back to larger architectures. The COVID-19 pandemic is giving new meaning to that threat, and the risk of disruption to both raw and manufactured materials from abroad has become apparent. Our SCRM focus must broaden in response to COVID-19 to better address national production capacity and sustainability. Being able to assure access to the minerals, chemicals, subcomponents and components required to build weapon systems is essential. China supplies 80 percent of the rare earth minerals imported to the U.S., many of which are essential to electronic parts. Since 1933, the Buy American Act has required federal agencies, including the DoD, to purchase items manufactured in the U.S. Additionally, these items must be made from supplies mined or made in the U.S. The act is implemented by regulations requiring analysis of the components — where they are mined or made, and where they are assembled. Companies that falsify “Made in America” designations can be debarred from the federal marketplace. In July 2019, months before the pandemic emerged, President Donald Trump issued an executive order seeking to increase the minimum domestic manufacture thresholds above the current 50 percent floors. The pandemic now shows even more needs to be done. We must increase to President Trump's mandated percentages, and we must also analyze where each of the subcomponents are manufactured. This doesn't mean we need to back away from allied contributions or alliance-based weapon systems like the F-35 fighter jet, which benefits from the industrial cooperation of nine partner nations. But in light of COVID-19, it does mean that when we make risk-based and measured decisions to produce an alliance system, we program in several months' worth of component backlogs to allow continued production during future quarantines. The majority of our weapon systems are made in the U.S. by American companies with greater than 50 percent of component production and assembly done domestically. Yet, what is less clear are the composition of the subcomponents in the components themselves. Not recognizing the risks of the subcomponents equally jeopardizes the new reality of disruptions to our supply chain and risks of data extraction, degradation and spying, about which we have increasingly been concerned. Recently, I sought to buy a grapefruit spoon on the internet and found it exceedingly difficult to learn where the offered spoons were made. The harder it was to find, the more I suspected it was made in China. Perhaps Congress should pass a law making it easier to learn the source of manufacturing. Ensuring my access to an American-made grapefruit spoon is not nearly as vital as assuring our access to critical weapon systems, rare earth materials, and pharmaceuticals and medical supplies. A vital step is knowing the source countries of components and subcomponents. We must have deeper knowledge of the full supply chains of subcomponents, and how and where they are produced. Trust can only come once we know all that is required to understand our supply chains and we seek even greater focus in our new normal. Our security depends on it. Thomas Ayres is general counsel for the U.S. Air Force. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/05/22/the-us-needs-to-rethink-its-overseas-supply-chain/