Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Navy and Marine Corps make drones a top priority

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The Navy and Marine Corps are making a serious effort to more heavily incorporate drones into the way the services do business.

The services released an Unmanned Campaign Plan last week that will advance manned-unmanned teaming in naval and joint missions and build a digital infrastructure that integrates drones at speed and scale.

“It is imperative that we employ new and different strategies to win the future fight,” the authors of the plan wrote.  “Unmanned concepts allow us to rewrite the narrative on traditional warfare.  Through a capabilities-based approach, we can build a future where unmanned systems are at the front lines of our competitive advantage.”

Continue reading at:  Federal News Network

Agency hacks could accelerate push to “zero trust” security model

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Chris DeRusha, the federal chief information security officer, on Thursday in hearing with senators said the White House will push federal agencies to start moving toward a new “zero trust paradigm.”

“In this new model, real-time authentication tests users, blocks suspicious activity, and prevents adversaries from the kind of privilege escalation that was demonstrated in the SolarWinds incident,” he told lawmakers on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

Continue reading at:  FCW

Continuing developments on the supply chain front

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Recent weeks have brought news on multiple fronts regarding supply chain risks and actions in response thereto:

Commerce ICTS Regulations to Go Into Effect; Chinese ICTS Companies, Products, and Services in the Headlights

The Trump Administration rolled out regulations to implement prohibitions on the use or delivery of covered Chinese telecommunications and video surveillance products and services.  Additionally, its Department of Commerce had engaged in rulemaking to implement processes and procedures for identifying supply chain risks posed by Chinese Information and Communications Technology Sector (ICTS) companies, products, and services.  The Biden Administration has come to town and many have wondered what is going to happen to this rulemaking when it becomes effective in March 2021.  Law360 quotes the new Secretary of Commerce as saying “The Biden-Harris administration has been clear that the unrestricted use of untrusted ICTS poses a national security risk…Beijing has engaged in conduct that blunts our technological edge and threatens our alliances.”  For those wondering whether the Biden Administration will continue its tough stance on Chinese ICTS, China and ICTS remain a target of potential enforcement activities under the Biden Administration: “The administration is firmly committed to taking a whole-of-government approach to ensure that untrusted companies cannot misappropriate and misuse data and ensuring that U.S. technology does not support China’s or other actors’ malign activities.”  The Administration has backed up these words with actions, applying the Commerce rules to issue subpoenas to Chinese ICTS firms to further assess the risks they pose to the supply chain.  However, the Administration is also holding talks with China this week and one wonders whether and to what extent this action is intended to impact that discussion.

Continue reading at:  Government Contracting Matters

Uncertainty surrounds changes to Buy American rules

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More than a month after President Biden issued an Executive Order focused on expanding the Buy American and Buy America statutes and regulations, questions remain as to the current applicability of the Buy American rules in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

Continue reading at:  Government Contracts Insider

GSA signals increased cybersecurity requirements in civilian IT GWACs

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The General Services Administration (“GSA”) is including language regarding cybersecurity requirements in requests for proposals relating to certain IT governmentwide acquisition contracts (“GWACs”).  Certain requirements will be modeled on those the Department of Defense (“DoD”) is including in its contracts as part of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (“CMMC”) program.

The GSA confirmed recently that businesses preparing to submit proposals in response to two proposed GWACs (Polaris/Stars III) should expect to see Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (“CMMC”) level-specific requirements in certain subsequent orders issued against those contracts.  Speaking at a recent event, Keith Nakasone, deputy assistant commissioner for IT acquisition at the GSA, explained that these new CMMC requirements will be incorporated at the order level rather than the contract level, in order to introduce flexibility in addressing unique needs and bolster an agile framework.

Continue reading at:  JD Supra

A related article can be found at FCW:  https://fcw.com/articles/2021/02/17/cmmc-gsa-gwacs-get-ready.aspx

AI contract spending set to grow in the federal market

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The United States government is trying to get smarter about getting smart.  Throughout the federal government, and especially in defense and national security, artificial intelligence (AI) is getting an increased amount of attention, including the adoption of hefty AI budgets.  That should lead to increasing contract opportunities for information technology vendors with high competence in AI.

Federal civilian and defense contract spending for artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) is likely to grow to $4.3 billion in fiscal year 2023, according to a recent report from Bloomberg Government.

Continue reading at:  eCommerce Times

GSA eyes summer release of final RFP for Polaris small business IT GWAC

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The General Services Administration (GSA) plans to release a final request for proposal (RFP) for its new Polaris small business IT contract by summer 2021.

Polaris is a new governmentwide acquisition contract (GWAC).  It emerged as a replacement for Alliant II Small Business (A2SB), following a protest decision in March 2019 that forced GSA to ditch A2SB awards.

Polaris will fill a major gap left by A2SB for agencies to acquire IT service-based solutions from small business that have a range of cutting-edge technologies.  Detailed in a March 9 agency announcement, the contract will be divided into three subcategories, or pools, for companies as follows: HUBZone businesses, women-owned small businesses (WOSB), and other small businesses.

Continue reading at:  Bloomberg Government

South Korean national pleads guilty to a scheme to defraud U.S. Department of Defense

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A South Korean national pleaded guilty today to participating in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Defense.

According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court in Columbus, Ohio, Hyun Dong Jo of the Republic of Korea was the designated manager under a Defense Logistics Agency contract to provide hazardous waste removal, testing, disposal, and related services to U.S. military installations in South Korea.  In that position, Jo participated in a scheme to falsify laboratory reports submitted under this hazardous waste contract.

From at least as early as February 2015 until at least June 2018, Jo submitted hundreds of falsified or materially altered laboratory reports, misrepresenting to U.S. military officials that laboratory testing and analysis had been performed on samples taken from U.S. military installations located in South Korea, when, in many cases, no such testing was performed.  As part of the scheme, Jo emailed the forged laboratory reports and invoices seeking payment for those reports to the Department of Defense, causing the Defense Financial Accounting Service to wire more than $280,000 in payments.

“This charge reflects the Antitrust Division’s commitment to protecting taxpayer dollars spent overseas,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard Powers of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division.  “Individuals who cheat the U.S. military in the performance of contracts will be held accountable.  We hope this guilty plea will serve as a deterrent for other contractors who contemplate obtaining illicit gains through engaging in fraud while providing services for the U.S. military domestically or abroad.”

Continue reading at:  U.S. Department of Justice

Construction company owners plead guilty to defrauding SDVOSB program

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Two Texas construction company owners have pleaded guilty in a long-running scheme to defraud the United States.

Michael Wibracht of San Antonio, Texas, the former owner of several companies in the construction industry, conspired to defraud the United States in order to obtain valuable government contracts under programs administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for which neither his nor his co-conspirators’ companies were eligible.  One co-conspirator, Ruben Villarreal, also of San Antonio, pleaded guilty on Nov. 20, 2020, to participating in the same conspiracy.

“For many years, this conspiracy undermined the integrity of the federal procurement process,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard A. Powers of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division.  “This conduct robbed opportunities from honest businesses, especially those owned by historically disadvantaged individuals and service-disabled veterans.”

Continue reading at:  U.S. Department of Justice

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