Top space acquisition general Thompson retires

The Air Force‘s top general in charge of acquisition for space systems has retired, paving the way for the Space Force to stand up its own space procurement command.

Lt. Gen. John Thompson stepped down from the post of commander of the Space and Missile Systems Command (SMC) Tuesday, where he oversaw 6,300 personnel and $9 billion. The command will be dissolved and a new Space Systems Command will be established in its place to focus on developing and purchasing space technology. Pending Senate confirmation, the new command will be led by Space Force Maj. Gen. Michael Guetlein, who the president nominated in mid-July.

“Heading into this next chapter in space history, I look forward to the establishment and activation of the Space Systems Command and how that takes this organization, our processes and our people even further,” Thompson said.

He leaves after 36 years in uniform in the Air Force. Much of his career was spent in acquisition and logistics, including assignments at Air Force Material Command and the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, according to a statement on his retirement.

“Whatever we do in support of the Department of Defense, it starts with developing and acquiring space capabilities. All of that is done here, under the stellar leadership of JT,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond said at Thompson’s retirement ceremony.

If confirmed, Guetlein will be in charge of ongoing reform efforts within the Space Force’s acquisition structure. Some lawmakers have been frustrated with delays in the new branch’s plan, which many had hoped would adopt agile acquisition practices.

“The Space Force lacks a clear plan which defines its future space architecture and lacks a strategy for how this architecture will be acquired,” lawmakers wrote in a summary of the fiscal 2022 defense appropriations bill.

FITARA scores mostly stay firm, with TMF and cyber EO changes looming

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with information from the 2 p.m. FITARA 12.0 hearing of the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations.

---

Most agencies’ FITARA grades stayed the same on the 12th biannual scorecard released Wednesday — but big shifts could be coming as they begin new Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) projects and meeting the mandates of the president’s recent cybersecurity executive order.

Among the 24 Chief Financial Officer Act agencies analyzed, 18 maintained their grades, four improved them and two saw downgrades — with the General Services Administration restoring its sole A+ status from two scorecards ago.

Much of the stagnation can be attributed to agencies’ focus on change management to accommodate increased telework during the pandemic. But an influx of TMF funding — coupled with aggressive timelines to improve federal cyber preparedness — could prompt the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations to tweak the expectations of agencies for the FITARA 13.0 scorecard.

“You can view this scorecard as really the baseline for the implementation of TMF and the [cyber] executive order,” Joe Flynn, public sector chief technology officer at Boomi, told FedScoop. “The modernization and cybersecurity things are really going to take front and center regarding upcoming work.”

The American Rescue Plan Act infused $1 billion into the TMF in March, and the TMF Board has received 108 project proposals, worth more than $2.1 billion in requested funds, from 43 agencies. Proposals continue coming in to the TMF Board, which spends about 10 hours a week reviewing them, as most agencies have “pretty significant” project backlogs and need flexible IT modernization funding, said Clare Martorana, federal chief information officer, during the subcommittee’s FITARA 12.0 hearing.

But the final version of the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill for 2022, produced by the House Appropriations Committee on Monday, only included an additional $50 million for the TMF — well shy of the White House’s request for $500 million.

“The Administration appreciates the funding provided in the bill for the TMF and urges the Congress to provide the full $500 million requested in the FY 2022 Budget, which would support a more rapid transition of legacy systems and the adoption of more secure commercial technology,” reads a statement released by the Office of Management and Budget later that day.

Even so, TMF funds will have a “significant impact” on future FITARA scorecards as the money begins to flow — especially with OMB having released guidance relaxing repayment requirements for agencies, Flynn said.

During the FITARA hearing, Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., suggested the subcommittee consider adding a component grading agencies’ use of TMF funds for IT modernization.

“Those funds are spread around, but what’s their impact?” Hice asked. “What are we really getting in relation to modernization? Is it happening?”

Hice also wondered aloud if more cyber components should be added to the scorecard or spun off into a separate one.

The cyber executive order, issued by President Biden in May, contains tight deadlines — including a 60-day cutoff for all executive branch agencies to update their cloud adoption plans and develop zero-trust architecture implementation plans.

Martorana said cybersecurity was her “immediate priority,” and the FITARA 12.0 scorecard confirmed it’s a place where agencies continue to lag.

“Cybersecurity continues to be an area of struggle for the agencies,” said Carol Harris, IT and cybersecurity director at the Government Accountability Office, during the hearing. “One-third have a D or F, and another third are getting by with a C.”

The FISMA component of the FITARA scorecard is but one dimension of federal cyber, and GAO is open to adding more, or creating a separate scorecard, at the subcommittee’s discretion — provided agencies’ vulnerabilities aren’t publicly disclosed, Harris said.

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who chairs the subcommittee, said he’s open to evolving the scorecard but is hesitant to add more components currently.

“I definitely see the FITARA scorecard as always a work in progress,” Connolly said. “The only caution is, as you can see from the grades in front of us, we have not yet succeeded in full implementation, so we don’t want to lose sight of that.”

The departments of the Interior and State and the Social Security Administration were the three other agencies to improve their FITARA 12.0 grades, while the departments of Justice and Veterans Affairs saw the only downgrades.

DOJ now holds the worst overall FITARA grade with a D-. A C or higher is considered a passing grade.

Agency transitions to the $50 billion Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract for network and telecommunications modernization, a component of the FITARA scorecard, continue to advance slowly. Two agencies — SSA and the U.S. Agency for International Development — received As for being at least 50% transitioned off the legacy Networx contract.

While NASA and SSA appointed CIOs since FITARA 11.0, the Department of Health and Human Services CIO continues to serve in an acting capacity. And the Department of Defense, DOI, Department of Transportation, VA, and Office of Personnel Management all have acting CIOs as of FITARA 12.0 — though OPM just recently named Guy Cavallo, who’d been acting in the role, its permanent CIO.

White House urges Congress to increase proposed $50M funding for TMF

The Office of Management and Budget has called on lawmakers to increase the $50 million Congress has proposed adding to the Technology Modernization Fund as part of the fiscal 2022 appropriations process.

The proposed figure, which is 90% less than the $500 million initially sought by the Biden Administration in April, was included in an appropriations bill drafted Monday by the House Committee on Appropriations. The legislation has now been passed to the full House for consideration.

“The Administration appreciates the funding provided in the bill for the TMF and urges the Congress to provide the full $500 million requested in the FY 2022 budget,” said OMB, adding that the TMF has received more than 100 proposals from agencies, totaling over $2.1 billion in requested funds.

TMF was authorized by Congress in 2017 and provides funding that agencies can apply for to support their modernization projects.

OMB ‘disappointed’ by State, NIST proposals

In addition to its comments on TMF funding proposals, OMB said also it is “disappointed” by Congress’ plans to provide the State Department’s Capital Investment Fund (CIF) with just $275 million, below the $449 million previously requested.

“The budget requested a substantial increase for CIF to address the national security threat posed by increasing cyberattacks.  Notably, the bill fails to include $101 million to safeguard the Department’s cybersecurity infrastructure in direct response to the SolarWinds incident,” OMB said in a statement. “While the bill authorizes up to $150 million in transfer authority from the diplomatic programs account to the CIF account, no additional funds were provided in the DP account that would allow for the effective use of this authority.”

The State Department’s CIF was established by Congress in 1994 to ensure the efficient management and coordination of IT resources. According to State’s fiscal 2022 budget request justification, extra funding is needed for its CIF to tackle key areas of concern, including cybersecurity event logging, cyber incident response, and cloud security.

OMB has also called on lawmakers to expand funding for the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which currently stands at $125 million above fiscal 2021 spending. This is well below the $462.7M sought to grow funding for nationally critical mission areas and expand NIST’s manufacturing programs.

“[T]he Administration urges the Congress to provide the full FY 2022 Budget request for Manufacturing USA institutes.  The Administration believes that a comprehensive manufacturing strategy is crucial to bringing jobs back to the United States, and that the Manufacturing USA institutes play a critical role in that effort,” OMB said.

Lawmakers push DOD to identify legacy IT in 2022 NDAA draft

The new House subcommittee charged with overseeing the Department of Defense’s cybersecurity and IT programs wants the department to take stock of all the legacy systems that could be sunset, according to a summary of draft legislation.

Initially published Tuesday in the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technology and Information Systems markup of the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, the proposed mandate calls on each of the military services to audit their IT portfolios for legacy systems and applications within 270 days of the NDAA’s enactment, typically Jan. 1.

Secretaries of the services would also be required to issue a report to Congress that — in addition to identifying the legacy IT, their sources of funding and who’s accountable for their operation — lays out a plan to discontinue use and funding for those systems to “ensure that redundant and unnecessary investments can be better aligned to departmental priorities,” the draft says.

The subcommittee approved its draft Wednesday and sent it to the full committee for markup and inclusion in the larger annual defense policy bill, a process that begins Sept. 1.

Other notable proposed additions from the subcommittee include reports on how the department is overcoming barriers to scaling innovation. There are many offices focused on building and buying prototypes of emerging technology, but few that have the ability to turn small improvements in tech into broader enterprise changes. It’s a challenge that leaders in Congress and in the DOD have long bemoaned.

“This year’s mark makes substantial progress in key areas of innovation, technology transition, and emerging areas of competition including the information domain and electromagnetic spectrum,” subcommittee Chair Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., said in an opening statement.

This is the subcommittee’s first mark since it was created in a February reorganization of the House Armed Service Committee to focus its legislative work more on the DOD’s pivot to competing with China through technical means.

Other provisions in the mark include:

• A report on the effectiveness of DOD’s Silicon Valley outpost that works to purchase emerging technology, the Defense Innovation Unit;
• A report on the barriers DOD faces in scaling emerging technology acquisitions, like the prototypes DIU purchases, and a pilot program to break through those barriers;
• A pilot program to more effectively transition Small Business Innovation Research grants onto larger contracts;
• Increase cyber threat testing and protections for DOD systems;
• A report on the state of digital twin practices, where physical objects have artificial mirror images of them stored in software; and
• New hiring authorities to pay for relocation fees for 15 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) employees a year.

The proposed requirement for the services to report on their legacy IT systems comes after members of the subcommittee expressed frustration with DOD’s own tracking of its IT. In hearings before the mark was released, Langevin chided acting DOD CIO John Sherman over a lack of transparency on how the DOD accounted for its disparate IT systems.

“With all due respect, if your office cannot be troubled to put together the necessary materials for this committee’s oversight, how can we trust the stewardship of this critical portfolio?” he said in a previous hearing.

VA deputy secretary to oversee troubled EHR program

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ No. 2 will oversee the agency’s troubled electronic health records modernization program, VA Secretary Denis McDonough said Tuesday.

Donald Remy became the first Senate confirmed deputy secretary since Feb. 3, 2020, when then-Secretary Robert Wilkie fired James Byrne. By law, the deputy secretary is the highest official overseeing the $16 billion, 10-year program. McDonough swore in Remy July 19, after lobbying Congress over the senior official’s delayed confirmation.

“It’s great to have him here, I admire Donald a great deal,” McDonough said during a press conference Tuesday. He added that Remy really “hit the ground running” on EHR.

Remy has already chaired two meetings on the program since being sworn in, the secretary said. The EHR program is designed to migrate patient records from the legacy Veterans Health Information System and Technology Architecture (VistA) to a Cerner-built cloud that will be interoperable with the Military Health System. The goal is by the time the program is fully implemented, service members will be able to transition seamlessly from DOD to VA health care, instead of needing to carry around stacks of paper forms as is current practice.

The program recently underwent a 12-week strategic review that found an overall lack of coordination in the program’s rollout that had lead to poor training, a lack of testing and resulting “patient safety issues,” such as mismanaged prescriptions. McDonough said that by having Remy in place it will force the program to be “functioning as one unit.”

Following the strategic review, the VA said it would focus on eight points of improvement in order to get the massive modernization program back on track after its initial go-live in Spokane, Washington. All future rollouts have been paused for the remainder of calendar 2021, with a new schedule anticipated to be created in early 2022.

One position that is still vacant at VA is the executive agent in charge of the program that can act on behalf of the deputy secretary and lead day-to-day work on the program, McDonough said.

Using outcomes-based RFPs to modernize IT infrastructure faster

Zain Ahmed is regional vice president for Lumen’s federal business; Walter Maikish is vice president for Federal Civilian business at Cisco.

The pandemic and almost overnight massive shift to telework forced federal agencies and IT leaders to make their digital services more accessible to their employees and constituents. They rallied, met their mission and discovered that the need to modernize their IT infrastructure and get the most from cloud-based solutions had become more important than ever before.

Fortunately, the General Services Administration’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract gives agencies a once-in-a-generation opportunity to modernize as they see fit. EIS and the Alliant 2 Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) provide not only a path to migrate away from aging telecommunication systems to today’s technologies, but also paved the way for building a more modern, flexible and cost-effective IT and communications environment overall.

However, some agencies are still missing a critical opportunity to capitalize on EIS’s potential.

It’s probably not surprising that the demands of the pandemic delayed the work of agencies moving their IT services to EIS. But we didn’t expect to see so many requests for proposals (RFP) focused on replacing “like-for-like” IT infrastructure instead of seeking a more holistic review of their infrastructure centered on improved efficiency and effectiveness. As a result, many of these RFPs left little room to consult with industry providers on all the technology options that are available in the market, what these technologies can now do today and how they can lower overall costs.

What these RFPs also tend to miss is an even bigger opportunity to envision IT infrastructure from an outcomes-based perspective focused on big picture modernization strategies. At the end of the day, the goal is to bring greater agility, efficiency, security and long-term cost savings to agencies’ ability to meet their mission.

Focusing on outcomes rather than technology

We are seeing some great examples of agencies seeking to really modernize their IT infrastructure at agencies such as Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Geological Survey, for example.

When a large, cabinet-level agency decided to update their IT infrastructure, for instance, they prioritized objectives in their RFP that outlined outcomes for their mission, rather than prescribing specific hardware or technologies to acquire.

That holistic approach created an opening for Cisco and Lumen to bring our combined expertise to the table and reimagine the large, cabinet-level agency’s network in a way that brings significantly more value to how they work than would have been possible with a like-for-like update of the older telecommunications systems acquired under the previous Networx contract.

Using the outcomes-based approach, we were able to propose an SD-WAN roadmap that provides more robust automation, network orchestration and secure capabilities than most existing networks. These modern solutions can help ensure that applications perform faster and make digital interactions more secure, especially with data being stored at the edge of the network for quicker access in places such as national parks. And even though this large, cabinet-level agency operates in many remote locations, our solution provided substantial network upgrades to those locations and to their users and visitors who previously didn’t have access to reliable internet access.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, similarly, took a more forward-looking approach to modernizing its infrastructure and broadband capacity, and as a result, was able to dramatically scale up its use of tele-health services for the benefit of veterans as well as its medical teams.

The promise of outcomes-driven RFPs

As agency leaders consider the rapid evolution of technology, it’s easier than ever before to see additional benefits arising from an outcome-driven approach.

For example, when an industry partner promises to deliver on mission outcomes, rather than simply deliver a requested technology platform, the agency benefits from being able to transfer a certain amount of risk to their partner. That in turn incentivizes that partner to recommend technologies that are in the agency’s best interest long term.

It’s from that perspective that we recommend agency leaders consider re-evaluating how they frame their RFPs, starting with:

• Consider how infrastructure serves the mission: IT infrastructure is no longer a back-end function of service delivery. Rather, it is the backbone and serves as the nervous system for how agencies meet their mission goals. Leaders need to frame RFPs to focus on outcomes from a mission perspective and then work backwards in defining their IT needs. And leaders would be better served if they didn’t focus so much on their old assets or history.
• Think about the roadmap to get there: Rather than be prescriptive — which is how many RFPs tend to be written — agencies should think about specific mission outcomes to achieve and define what success looks like in serving their agency’s end users and bureaus.
• Choose a partner who is in it for the long run: An industry partner shouldn’t just continue to build and add more things. Rather choose one which is committed to your agency’s mission outcomes and that can advise your management team about new IT capabilities coming into the market that can improve mission results.

And finally, it is important to remember that RFPs are just one milestone in an ongoing IT modernization journey. So don’t stop there. Keep your foot on the accelerator in modernizing your IT infrastructure and look for ways to support continual improvements that serve the agency, serve the citizen and serve stakeholders.

Learn more about what your agency needs to get up to speed on EIS, Alliant 2 and other contract vehicles that enable IT modernization and how Lumen and Cisco can help you get there.

White House seeks input on designing a National AI Research Resource

The White House wants public input on how to design a National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR), according to a request for information (RFI) made Friday.

Both the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation issued the RFI on what a NAIRR roadmap should look like, the capabilities and services the resource should provide, and how it can foster development of trustworthy AI.

OSTP and NSF announced the NAIRR Task Force — consisting of government, academia and industry members — in June, and it’s expected to report on how it would establish a shared advanced computing and data infrastructure resource for AI researchers by November 2022.

“The goal for such a national resource is to democratize access to the cyberinfrastructure that fuels AI research and development, enabling all of America’s diverse AI researchers to fully participate in exploring innovative ideas for advancing AI, including communities, institutions, and regions that have been traditionally underserved — especially with regard to AI research and related education opportunities,” reads the RFI.

The request also asks responders to identify existing activities, resources and services NAIRR could use; the role public-private partnerships should play in its development; and potential hurdles the resource could face.

The roadmap the NAIRR Task Force creates will recommend goals and metrics for the resource, agencies to manage and oversee it, capabilities it should offer, solutions to hurdles, security and privacy requirements, and funding and partnerships.

Responders have until Sept. 1, 2021, to submit their comments.

Anduril scores $99M contract with DIU for counter-drone tech

The Department of Defense has awarded technology startup Anduril a $99 million contract to provide a new automated counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) capability.

The Production Other Transaction (P-OT) Agreement was struck between the company and the Defense Innovation Unit, the DOD’s Silicon Valley outpost that uses non-traditional contracts to work with start ups. The agreement acts as a vehicle for any of the military branches to purchase the technology and services of Anduril to detect and deter against enemy drones using artificial intelligence. The agreement runs for five years and has the flexibility to allow Anduril to update its services and tech as threats change and software improves.

“This milestone for Anduril and DIU demonstrates that by running meritocratic test events and competitions that focus on capabilities, and rewarding the best systems, DOD can bring the country’s engineering resources to bear on critical national security issues,” Anduril Co-Founder and CEO Brian Schimpf said in a statement.

The tech itself is based on an AI-enabled system that takes in data from an array of sensors to detect incoming drones. Small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have proven difficult for older detection systems to detect because they are nimble and small. They have also proven to be a nuisance for both military and civilian operations, with non-state groups strapping explosives to commercial drones and commercial flights being grounded by drones near airports.

The deal represents a major milestone for both Anduril and other companies in the emerging markets of defense tech startups. The company’s Chief Revenue Officer Matt Steckman said it was an example of the company bridging the “valley of death,” or the gap in between small research grants that can be earned quickly from the DOD and major multi-million dollar contracts that can take years to pay out.

“This is a meaningful contract to the high tech start up community,” he said in an interview with FedScoop, adding later that “I am actually particularly excited and motivated not by this contact but the change in attitude.”

Attitudes towards contracting within the DOD are criticized by some as being risk-adverse and overly prescriptive. Steckman said also that DIU’s approach could be a model for the rest of the DOD to follow by making contract vehicles that allow for constant iteration.

DIU contracts with tech company by posting problem statements rather than the typical long requirement documents. That approach was one of the many things Steckman said was critical in having a flexible vehicle that will be able to support rapid changes as needed to the system.

TMF funding could help clear NARA veterans’ records backlog, lawmakers say

House lawmakers have written to the National Archives and Records Administration, calling on it to apply for funding from the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) to help clear a backlog of more than 500,000 requests for service records from veterans.

In a letter sent Monday, members of the three House committees said NARA should seek to use the TMF, in addition to existing allotted funds, to speed up IT modernization and digitize records and clear the impasse.

Signatories include Rep. Carolyn Maloney, chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, D-N.Y., and Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wisc., who is a ranking member on the committee’s National Security Subcommittee.

“NARA has identified the need to digitize records as one of the biggest hurdles to addressing the backlog of veterans’ requests,” the lawmakers wrote in the missive. “Congress has provided substantial financial support for NARA to reach this goal. Although NARA has taken some steps to begin digitization, more significant action is needed to improve the agency’s IT infrastructure.”

Since implementing workplace restrictions at the start of the coronavirus crisis last year, NARA has been unable to process thousands of requests for veterans’ records. The delays have left veterans unable to access certain military records held at the National Personnel Records Center needed to receive service-related benefits, including medical treatment, unemployment assistance, home loans and student loans.

Despite receiving fresh funding, including through the American Rescue Plan Act in March this year, NARA projects that at the current rate, the records backlog will not be resolved until the end of fiscal 2022.

At a briefing on June 9, NARA reported to members of Congress that the backlog stood at nearly 500,000 unprocessed pending requests for records, a number that remained unchanged from May.

Alongside $272 million in funding for NARA included in the American Rescue Plan, Congress in March 2020 provided the agency’s Federal Records Center Program with $8.1 million in CARES Act funding. These funds followed $50 million in emergency appropriations included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act last year.

The latest missive follows a bipartisan letter sent by lawmakers in May, which urged the Department of Defense to help address the backlog of veterans’ records and called on Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to address the data pile-up.

HHS renews, expands Palantir’s Tiberius contract to $31M

The Department of Health and Human Services renewed and expanded its one-year contract for its COVID-19 vaccine distribution platform Tiberius from nearly $17 million to $31 million, tech company Palantir announced Monday.

Palantir Foundry powers Tiberius, which has grown from simply helping HHS understand vaccine distribution across the U.S. and providing an integrated view of the supply chain to serving as the backbone of day-to-day dosage programs launched by agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

HHS had Palantir develop Tiberius in mid-2020 as part of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed, which has since been rebranded as the Countermeasure Acceleration Group.

“We are proud to have supported HHS in administering one of the most successful and rapid
vaccine rollouts in the world,” said Akash Jain, president of Palantir’s U.S. government arm, in an announcement. “As new variants emerge and pose a renewed risk to public health in the United States and around the world, we are humbled to have earned the confidence of HHS once again to help support its lifesaving work.”

Agencies will use the expanded Tiberius platform to weigh policy decisions concerning additional doses and boosters and international distribution, a Palantir spokesperson told FedScoop.

Tiberius already has between 2,000 and 3,000 users including those at HHS, CDC, BARDA, the Countermeasure Acceleration Group, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Pentagon, and other agencies involved in pandemic response. State and territory employees make up two-thirds of the user base, which also includes sub-state entities that receive vaccines like New York City and Chicago and commercial users including all retail pharmacies.

The Long-Term Care Facility and Federal Retail Pharmacy programs hadn’t been envisioned at the start of Palantir’s first contract for Tiberius, which now provides more granular analysis of gaps in vaccine access.

“You sort of see us shifting gears right now from a flooding-the-zone approach to vaccines, where you’re just trying to get as much supply as you can access out there,” the spokesperson said. “And things have really turned a corner where you’re more demand-constrained than you are supply-constrained.”