The votes are in for the 2025 FedScoop.

See the winners!

Office of Space Commerce’s space traffic coordination pilot commences

Commercial space firms began conducting space situational awareness data analysis for the Office of Space Commerce, as it takes over the role of space traffic coordinator, Monday.

Part of a two-month pilot providing spaceflight safety mission assurance to select spacecraft in medium Earth orbit (MEO) and geostationary Earth orbit (GEO), the analysis supports satellite tracking, safety notifications, and anomaly detection and alerts.

OSC resides within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the Department of Commerce, which was given until 2024 to assume the Department of Defense‘s responsibility of coordinating increasingly congested commercial and civil satellite orbits around Earth in a 2018 presidential directive. The office contributed $850,000 to DOD for the award of space situational awareness (SSA) data analysis contracts to seven firms, via the Joint Task Force-Space Defense Commercial Office Operations (JCO) vehicle, enabling the pilot.

“The space traffic coordination pilot project contracts — combined with the approximately $3.1 million in contracts that the Department of Commerce let in the summer for data purchase — are designed to demonstrate commercial capabilities and to help the Office of Space Commerce team develop the structure and operational requirements for the future system,” a NOAA spokesperson told FedScoop.

OSC hopes the pilot will help determine the extent to which commercial SSA services can augment or replace DOD’s existing capabilities, ideally forming the core of the new system.

COMSPOC Corp.; ExoAnalytic Solutions; Kayhan Space; KBR; NorthStar Earth & Space, Inc.; Slingshot Aerospace; and the Space Data Association received contracts.

DOD already awarded five contracts for GEO space object tracking data in September that also support the pilot.

Members of the Space Data Association will gather feedback from commercial satellite operators on the usefulness of the SSA services provided. OSC will then compare results to determine the maturity of SSA services and inform its approach to low Earth orbit (LEO).

“This pilot project helps usher in a new phase in how government and commercial operators work together to coordinate activities on-orbit,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad in a statement. “NOAA looks forward to continued collaborations that safely enhance the economic and technical potential of the U.S. commercial space sector.”

Software supply chain amendment omitted from NDAA text

An amendment to codify a software bill of materials in the federal procurement process has been left out of the National Defense Authorization Act bill following criticism from industry.

The omitted section 6722 would have required all holders of existing covered federal contracts and those responding to requests for proposals from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide a bill of materials and to certify that items in the bill of materials are free of vulnerabilities or defects.

Final text of the defense spending bill was released Tuesday evening by the House and Senate Armed Services committees. 

The amendment was left out following criticism from industry groups who in September wrote to lawmakers describing the language as “vague” and “internally inconsistent.”

In a statement, the Alliance for Digital Innovation said: “The removal of this language will benefit current Administration and industry efforts to develop a standardized approach to SBOMs across federal civilian and defense agencies.”

The trade body added: “ADI will continue to work with the Administration and Congress to implement secure software development practices, mature SBOMs, and improve the nation’s security.”

While Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) requirements are not included in the NDAA, the White House in September issued a memo requiring federal agencies to obtain self-attestation from software providers before deploying their software on government systems.

Under that guidance, federal departments must ensure that all third-party IT software deployed adheres to National Institute of Standards and Technology supply chain security requirements and get proof of conformance from vendors.

The final NDAA text also includes language to reform the FedRAMP cybersecurity program for cloud technology providers. It was included after the reform bill was hotlined in the Senate as part of an effort led by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. 

The latest iteration of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) bill passed the House in September following a six-year battle to secure its passage led by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.

CDC awards Palantir consolidated disease surveillance contract worth $443M

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded a $443 million contract consolidating and renewing software and digital capabilities Palantir provides for disease surveillance and outbreak response, the technology company announced Wednesday.

Running five years, the contract unites the Palantir-driven Health and Human Services (HHS) Protect, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) Engage, Tiberius and DCIPHER programs into what the CDC is calling its Common Operating Picture.

The CDC contracted Palantir to launch the public health infrastructure programs during the height of the pandemic, and the new Common Operating Picture approach will allow for long-term, interagency planning and operational consistency around outbreak and incident preparedness.

“There’s no way Palantir could do what we’re doing in this space without a really deep emphasis on partnership and interoperability, not only with our federal partners but with other technology systems and the other key players in the public health technology landscape,” Hirsh Jain, head of public health federal at Palantir, told FedScoop in an exclusive interview. “By definition a Common Operating Picture really requires that level of engagement with other systems and other entities.”

The Common Operating Picture allows Palantir to scale its modular technology beyond the specifics of COVID-19 for more generalized public health response to diseases like Monkeypox and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Beneficiaries include federal agencies, jurisdictional health departments and industry partners, which rely on the Common Operating Picture for disease surveillance, outbreak preparedness and response, and supply chain visibility and management.

“Every platform is being used for use cases and mission areas beyond COVID,” Jain said. “The underlying modules were configured in a way that allows for pretty immediate expansion beyond COVID and reusability across that broader space of diseases.”

The National Wastewater Surveillance System uses Palantir software for wastewater genomics, while the Predict Division within the CDC’s new Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics is embarking on an “ambitious” effort to deploy models and analytics addressing critical needs as they arise, Jain said.

Advances in such work are more likely given the length of the Common Operating Picture contract.

“We’re really excited about the 5-year commitment here, knowing what the last five years have been like,” Jain said. “Having long-term preparedness and public health response infrastructure in place is so critical, and this gives Palantir the place to support CDC and the broader public health ecosystem in delivering that.”

FedRAMP reform legislation appended to National Defense Authorization Act 

Congressional lawmakers have bundled legislation to reform the FedRAMP cybersecurity authorization program for cloud vendors into the National Defense Authorization Act.

The previously drafted bill was included in section 5921 of the NDAA, which was released Tuesday evening by the House and Senate Armed Services committees.

It comes after the legislation was hotlined in the Senate as part of an effort led by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. The latest iteration of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) bill passed the House in September after being an uphill battle for almost six years led by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.

Late last month, FedScoop reported that the legislation had gained momentum in Congress and was likely to pass the upper chamber in the coming weeks.

One of the most consequential aspects of the FedRAMP reform bill is a “presumption of adequacy” clause, which would allow FedRAMP-authorized tools to be used in an agency without additional oversight or verification.

FedRAMP is a crucial cybersecurity certification that cloud service providers must obtain prior to working with U.S. government data.

The House is first expected to vote and pass the NDAA this week, followed by the Senate next week, before heading to President Joe Biden’s desk for final approval.

Pressure to update FedRAMP has mounted amid the federal government’s broad, sweeping migration to the cloud. The certification program was first established in 2011 to provide a standardized governmentwide approach to cloud computing services authorization and security assessments.

If it passes into law, the FedRAMP Authorization Act would ensure FedRAMP has a board to enhance and speed up the program. It would create a separate cloud advisory committee consisting of five representatives from cloud services companies, two of which must come from small cloud vendors.

State Department issues RFP for $10B EVOLVE IT services procurement

The State Department has issued a request for proposals for its $10 billion-ceiling EVOLVE IT support services solicitation.

EVOLVE was launched to help three procurement offices at the State Department to establish a more flexible IT services acquisition process.

As part of the solicitation, State is seeking vendors for indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts to provide services across five categories: IT management services, cloud and data center services, application development services, network and telecommunication services and customer and end-user support services.

The agency will set out specific requirements within each individual task order issued, according to the RFP. Prospective offerors will bid on contracts with mission objectives both within the continental United States and outside the continental U.S.

Late last month, the State Department in procurement documents explained its rationale for pursuing the solicitation. According to State, the department landed on EVOLVE after considering three other alternatives: recompeting incumbent contracts in place, limiting the scope of EVOLVE to “other than small” contracts and using existing governmentwide acquisition contracts.

In its explanatory document issued at the time, the agency said recompeting incumbent contracts would run increased risks of vendor lock-in and potential conflicts of interest. 

In July, the State Department raised the potential ceiling of EVOLVE, which is the largest such indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract to be issued by the department.

Report: Agencies still lack the full, flexible CX funding needed to modernize federal IT

Government needs to fully, flexibly fund agencies’ customer experience budgets if they’re to seriously invest in their capacity to compile and use customer data to improve IT systems, according to a Partnership for Public Service report released Tuesday.

Agencies lack the resources to consolidate data from qualitative interviews and surveys of customer groups and share insights with the technology teams designing and developing modern digital platforms, according to the report, which was coauthored with Accenture Federal Services.

President Biden issued the Customer Experience (CX) Executive Order in December 2021 with the goal of placing key life events at the center of digital services, and the Technology Modernization Fund Board designated $100 million in June for high-impact service provide projects improving CX. But long-term funding is needed for agencies to establish closed-loop feedback systems for identifying and responding to issues customers have with digital services and tracking progress toward resolving them.

“[T]ruly shifting from a culture of waivers and workarounds to a deeply embedded, customer-centric mindset requires greater collaboration and investment among multiple stakeholders beyond the core CX community — including finance, human resources, legal and beyond — to address long-standing barriers,” said Megan Peterman, CX and design leader at Accenture, in a statement. “Our report lays out a blueprint for building on the progress made to design customer journeys that mirror life experiences and deliver more equitable services for all.”

Based on interviews with federal officials and national research and academic institutes, the report makes seven recommendations:

PPS Vice President of Research, Evaluation and Modernizing Government Loren DeJonge Schulman is most excited about the seventh recommendation because of the potential to overcome physical, emotional and resource barriers to positive customer experience.

“When we give federal agencies the correct tools to implement positive change in their customer
experience systems, they do so effectively,” DeJonge Schulman said in a statement.

The report also suggests four broader actions government can take to improve CX including fully authorizing agencies to hire in accordance with their CX needs; allow for cross-agency investments, programs and resources; use emerging technologies and centralized data-sharing authorities and agreements for secure information exchange; and redesign regulatory and statutory CX frameworks to streamline recertification, access and eligibility.

“Administration, agency and congressional leaders must work together to redesign a government that is capable of not just understanding all its customers’ needs but also of building solutions for them and being accountable for how well those customers’ needs are met,” reads the report.

Education Department appoints Luis Lopez as chief information officer 

The U.S. Department of Education has appointed Luis Lopez as the agency’s next chief information officer.

Lopez has worked at the department since 2017 and will start as CIO on Dec. 18.

Previously, Lopez was director of enterprise technology services, in which post he worked as principal advisor to the CIO for IT engineering and operational issues and helped to oversee the department’s $1 billion technology portfolio.

Lopez takes over the CIO role from Gary Stevens, who has been carrying it out on an acting basis since the departure of Jason Gray in August. Gray’s departure was first revealed by FedScoop, and he has since joined USAID as CIO.

Before joining the Department of Education, Lopez held various leadership roles at the Defense Health Agency, including that of chief engineer and chief of operations at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Commenting on his appointment, Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten said: “I am very pleased to congratulate Luis R. Lopez on his appointment as Chief Information Officer at the U.S. Department of Education.”

“He brings deep experience and proven skill in delivering information technology services in large and complex government organizations – and leading IT transformations that ensure those organizations continue to adapt effectively for the people they serve,” she added.

Biden administration names Ann Lewis director of GSA’s Technology Transformation Services

The Biden administration has appointed former Small Business Administration technology adviser Ann Lewis as director of Technology Transformation Services at the General Services Administration.

She joins from the private sector, where she was most recently chief technology officer at business advisory firm Next Street and before that was chief technology officer at public policy advocacy group MoveOn.

Lewis takes over leadership of Technology Transformation Services at GSA following the departure of Dave Zvenyach in August. Since then, acting Deputy Director Lauren Bracey Scheidt led the unit on an interim basis.

In addition to the appointment of Lewis, Antonia Tucker has joined GSA as scheduler in the agency’s Office of the Administrator and Amelia Cohen-Levy as speechwriter in the Office of Strategic Communications.

Tucker joins the agency from the U.S. Space Force, where she supported the chief technology officer and chief information officer. Cohen-Levy also joins from the Pentagon, where most recently she was executive communications and speechwriting lead for the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security.

GSA’s Technology Transformation Services branch was launched in 2016 to help agencies across the federal government modernize their IT systems and to build, buy and share emerging technology solutions.

The TTS team houses the federal government’s IT Modernization Centers of Excellence, which focus on helping agencies to accelerate technology modernization and providing access to best private sector practices.

TTS also houses 18F, the Presidential Innovation Fellows, the Office of Solutions and the U.S. Digital Corps.

DHS sets proposal deadline for $10B FirstSource III contract after the holidays

The Department of Homeland Security set a new deadline for Phase II proposals for its $10 billion IT and software FirstSource III contract, after issuing an amendment answering industry’s contracting and technical questions Thursday.

Offerors now have until the morning of Jan. 18 to submit proposals containing prior experience, past performance and pricing for the FirstSource III solicitation.

FirstSource III covers two categories — IT valued added resellers and software — and is a small business set-aside vehicle with five tracks: 8(a)s, historically underutilized business zones (HUBZones), service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses; women-owned small businesses; and all small businesses. Each will have its own 10-year, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract.

DHS nixed its Nov. 21 deadline for proposals when it realized it wouldn’t finish answering questions before then — only the latest delay to the solicitation, after eight offerors preemptively submitted bid protests with the Government Accountability Office that have since been withdrawn or dismissed.

The latest amendment clarifies pricing including for post-award equipment and labor, requires offerors with changes to their reps and certs to update their cover letters, allows for prior experience and past performance within six years of the solicitation’s issuance, and clarifies proposing stock-keeping units.

Also, software titles and quantities were updated, references to governmentwide strategic solutions (GSS) specifications removed, two small form factor devices added, and DHS requirements mapped to proposed requirements more clearly.

DHS anticipates making contract awards in the third quarter of 2023.

Delays began when DHS received a higher-than-anticipated 637 Phase I proposals from 325 offerors.

Phase I proposals had to include an offeror’s ability to perform work and supply chain risk management approach. Offerors “unlikely to be viable competitors” received an advisory down select notification from DHS saying as much to potentially save them money on proposal development, but they could still choose to continue with Phase II, according to the draft request for proposals.

DHS is giving offerors until Dec. 12 to submit questions about the new amendment.

US, France agree to increase collaboration on quantum

The U.S. and France agreed to deepen collaboration on quantum information science with both countries interested in increasing technical and scientific exchange around what they consider a shared priority.

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar signed a joint statement on cooperation in quantum information science (QIS) and technology on behalf of the U.S. together with France’s minister for higher education and research, Sylvie Retailleau.

The statement comes as French President Emmanuel Macron visits the U.S. and builds on the Agreement on Science and Technology Cooperation signed in 2018 and the Joint Statement on Science and Technology Cooperation signed in 2021 by both countries — the latter identifying QIS as a focus.

“Solving the hard questions in quantum information science — while also building the global market and supply chain needed to translate quantum technologies from lab to market — will require connections and collaborations between our ecosystems, which this joint statement will facilitate,” said Charles Tahan, assistant director for QIS at OSTP, in the announcement.

The statement covers the development of quantum computers, networks and sensors, as well as the risk large-scale computers will pose to current cryptographic protocols. Both countries are working on new standards for cryptographic algorithms that will protect against attacks from quantum computers.

“This global collaboration is critical for quantum computing to reach its revolutionary potential and secure systems against quantum attacks,” said Georges-Olivier Reymond, CEO of French quantum computing research company Pasqal, in a statement. “As a Paris-born quantum company with a U.S. presence, we look forward to supporting the collaboration between both nations and delivering value to end users through our Nobel Prize-winning neutral atom quantum technology.”

Pasqal and the University of Chicago announced their collaboration on neutral atom quantum computing Wednesday, as foreign companies are increasingly working with U.S. institutions on QIS.

“Developing useful and robust quantum technologies faces very challenging scientific, technological, economic and organizational questions to be answered, such that no single country seems to have the ability to solve it on its own,” said Neil Abroug, head of the French National Quantum Strategy, in a statement. “We need to identify complementarities and collaborate with our partners to reach the critical mass to address these challenges.”