May 23, 2019 | International, Other Defence

DoD Awards Contract To Break Its Security Clearance Logjam

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

TERMA AND SCANDINAVIAN AVIONICS SECURE F-35 SUSTAINMENT CONTRACT
Avionics Test Center Denmark (ATCD) formed by Terma and Scandinavian Avionics in collaboration with the U.S. will be responsible for repair and maintenance globally of avionics components. Copenhagen, Monday 18 February 2019 - U.S. Department of Defense F-35 Joint Program Office announced Avionics Test Center Denmark to be responsible for maintenance of avionics (16 components) for the F-35 fighter aircraft. During the period of 2021-2025 Avionics Test Center Denmark (ATCD) formed by Terma and Scandinavian Avionics in collaboration with the U.S. will be responsible for repair and maintenance globally of avionics components. “We are very proud to be selected by the F-35 program to play an essential role in the global F-35 sustainment network. It is a great day for both Terma and for Danish industry since the perspectives for Denmark now being part of the F-35 operational setup in decades to come are huge,” said Mr. Lars Hedemann Hilligsøe, Senior Vice President, Terma Support and Services. From 2025 ATCD will be responsible for regional repair and maintenance of avionics components within Europe. ATCD's sustainment work will take place in Denmark. Major General Henrik R. Lundstein, Director of the Fighter Aircraft Program in Danish Ministry of Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organization (DALO) says: "It is very satisfying that the Danish Defence' close collaboration with the industrial consortium consisting of Scandinavian Avionics and Terma has resulted in Danish industry now being awarded the first major F-35 maintenance contract. This shows that the Danish defense industry is able to compete with the largest companies in the market on competitive terms, i.e. price, time, delivery security, and quality.” In April 2018, the Danish companies Terma and Scandinavian Avionics submitted a joint response, to a so-called Request for Information (RFI), on maintenance of F-35 components. For this purpose, the two companies established Avionics Test Center Denmark, which has now been selected to carry out the task. The RFI that ATCD has won parts of is the second procurement of F-35 components repair to be published. The initial RFI (Tier 1) covers – together with the RFI for Tier 2 – approx. 60% of all the F-35 components published for repair. The remaining approx. 40% will be published among the F-35 Partnership countries later this year and in 2020. Danish Industrial Partnership Within the framework of the Industrial Partnership, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program represented by the Danish Ministry of Defence has been supporting the answers from ATCD. The Industrial Partnership was established as part of Denmark's procurement of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The Partnership consists of The Confederation of Danish Industry, The Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs, The Danish Ministry of Defence, and The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark with the purpose of strengthening the opportunity for Danish companies to win orders for production and repair of F-35 and to open doors to further high technology or defense related exports to the USA. https://www.terma.com/press/news-2018/f-35/
July 18, 2018 | International, Naval

Lockheed awarded $450.7M contract for Saudi patrol ships
By Stephen Carlson July 17 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin out of Baltimore, MD. has received a $450.7 million modification to an existing contract for production of four Multi-Mission Surface Combatant ships for the the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Work will be performed in Crozet, Va., Iron Mountain, Mich., Milwaukee, Wisc., Sweden, Great Britain and other locations across the United States. The contract is expected to be completed by October 2025. Foreign military sales funding for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the amount of $225.6 million will be obligated at time of award . The Multi-Mission Surface Combatant is a highly maneuverable surface warfare ship capable of coastal and operations in the open ocean. The MMSC is equipped with the COMBATSS-21 Combat Management System. It is based off the AEGIS system used by air defense destroyers around the world. The vessel integrates the Mk110 57mm deck gun into the system as well, allowing for more accurate fires against incoming targets like aircraft and small boats. It can mount the Mk 41 Vertical Launch System which can mount various surface-to-air and surface-to-surface weapons like the Standard and the Tomahawk. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2018/07/17/Lockheed-awarded-4507M-contract-for-Saudi-patrol-ships/3721531833764
March 1, 2019 | International, Aerospace

The US Air Force doesn’t want F-15X. But it needs more fighter jets
By: Valerie Insinna ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force wants more fighters. But it didn't necessarily want the F-15X, and it didn't intend to buy any in the upcoming fiscal 2020 budget, its top two leaders confirmed Thursday. “Our budget proposal that we initially submitted did not include additional fourth-generation aircraft,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told reporters during a Feb. 28 roundtable at the Air Force Association's Air Warfare Symposium. Wilson's comments confirm reporting by Defense News and other outlets who have reported that the decision to buy new F-15X aircraft was essentially forced upon the Air Force. According to sources, the Pentagon's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation Office was a key backer of the F-15X and was able to garner the support of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Asked by one reporter, point blank, whether the Air Force wanted new F-15s, Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein danced around the question. “We want to buy new airplanes,” Goldfein said. “We want to buy 72 aircraft a year,” Wilson added. Air Force leadership has confirmed that, as long as current budget plans don't change, it will request money for new F-15s in FY20. The service plans to purchase eight F-15X planes from Boeing in FY20, with an expected total buy of about 80 jets, Bloomberg reported Feb. 19. It's normal for the Pentagon to be intimately involved with each service's portion of the budget — and even to overrule service leadership and move funding around to better support the White House's aims — something that Wilson herself alluded to in her comments. “The Air Force and each of the services put in their budget proposals, given the top line that we've been allocated, and then there are further discussions that include the potential for some additional funds throughout that process,” she said. “It's not something that is an Air Force decision. Ultimately it's a Defense Department budget, and it goes into an overall presidential budget.” However, the potential F-15X buy has received increased scrutiny for a number of reasons. For one, Wilson has been vocal in dismissing reports that the Air Force had been considering purchasing an upgraded F-15. “We are currently 80 percent fourth-gen aircraft and 20 percent fifth-generation aircraft,” she told Defense News in September. "In any of the fights that we have been asked to plan for, more fifth-gen aircraft make a huge difference, and we think that getting to 50-50 means not buying new fourth-gen aircraft, it means continuing to increase the fifth generation.” Additionally, when Bloomberg broke the news that the Air Force would buy new F-15Xs in December, it reported that the decision was pushed by then-Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive who has since become acting defense secretary. Shanahan's spokesman has rebutted those reports, stating that “any DoD programmatic decisions impacting Boeing were neither made nor influenced by Mr. Shanahan.” One official alluded to sustainment costs as being a critical factor in the decision to buy the F-15X over additional F-35 fighter jets. Boeing has not disclosed its proposed F-15X unit price, with numbers from $100 million to less than $80 million having been reported by various outlets. Gen. Mike Holmes, head of Air Combat Command, declined to comment on the cost per plane in a later roundtable, but said that some of the value of the F-15X proposal lays in the total ownership cost of the plane, especially when taking into account the expense of sustaining the F-35. “There's more to think about than just the acquisition cost. There's the cost to operate the airplane over time. There's the cost to transition at the installations where the airplanes are — does it require new military construction, does it require extensive retraining of the people and then how long does it take?” he said. “We're pretty confident to say that we can go cheaper getting 72 airplanes with a mix of fifth and fourth gen than we did if we did all fifth gen.” https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/air-warfare-symposium/2019/02/28/the-air-force-doesnt-want-f-15x-but-it-needs-more-fighter-jets/

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