PEO Pulse - Feb. 28, 2020

The "PEO Pulse" is a weekly digest of relevant news, recent PEO EIS events and updates to keep our workforce informed. Take a look at the headlines in this week's edition:

• HQDA WEEKLY: GCSS-ARMY DODAAC PORTABILITY
• THE ARMY'S PURSUIT OF A REVOLUTIONARY NETWORK ENVIRONMENT
• TRADITIONAL AND EXOTIC LINKS BUILD FUTURE ARMY NETWORKS
• FIVE REASONS THE U.S. ARMY DESERVES TO BE FIRST IN LINE FOR MORE MODERNIZATION FUNDING
• U.S. ARMY WANTS $364 MILLION FOR DEFENDER PACIFIC IN FY21
• SHOULD THE U.S. HAVE A SECRETARY FOR INFLUENCE OPERATIONS?
• DOD LEADERSHIP EMBRACING OPEN STANDARDS
• TRANSCOM HEAD SAYS CONTRACTORS STRUGGLE WITH ADVANCED PERSISTENT THREATS
• FEDERAL RESPONSE TO THE CORONAVIRUS IS IN FULL SWING
• TWO DATA ANALYSIS ROLES, ONE ULTIMATE GOAL
• OPM'S LATEST ATTEMPT TO ADDRESS CYBER WORKER SHORTAGE FOCUSES ON TESTING
• PALANTIR, BAE SCORE $823M CONTRACT TO MODERNIZE ARMY'S DISTRIBUTED COMMON GROUND SYSTEM
• SIM FIRM TO PROVIDE 'HANDS-ON' CUTTING-EDGE TRAINING TECH FOR DOD
• METTEL NABS $253M EIS TASK ORDER


►► AROUND EIS

UPCOMING EVENTS
• Mar. 5: Lunch & Learn
• Mar. 24-26: Signal Conference, Springfield VA
• Mar. 26: Lunch & Learn

DEFENSE ACQUISITION UNIVERSITY - SENIOR SERVICE COLLEGE FELLOWSHIP (DAU‐SSCF) Eligibility: GS‐14/15 or broadband equivalent; Acquisition Corps member; DAWIA Level III in current position; CES Advanced; Secret clearance. Open through March 25, 2020. Program Start: July 2020. SRPE Required. Application process through CAPPMIS. PEO EIS Internal suspense for applications is NLT 01 MAR 2020. Click Here

RECRUITMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS: Volunteers for the Expeditionary Civilian Workforce (Acquisition Specialist/NH-0343-03 & Deputy Director/NH-0343-03, Afghanistan). TARGET SERIES/GRADE:  NH-0343-03. OPEN: 1 February 2020 - 13 April 2020.  Open to all employees on a permanent career or career conditional appointment. Bagram, Afghanistan (Deployment may require relocation to different locations within CENTCOM AOR). All questions should be sent directly to the ASA (ALT) forward office at usarmy.pentagon.hqda-asa-alt.list.fwd-ops@mail.mil


►► CONGRESSIONAL UPDATE

On March 2, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Professional Staff Members (PSMs) begin 2021 Program Budget Briefs, reviewing PEO EIS ERP programs. Programs scheduled for review include: IPPS-A INC-2, AIE, ACWS, RCAS, GFEBS DEVMOD, GFEBS SA, ATIS, DCO, DCO Software Prototype Development (BA8), GCSS-ARMY INC-2, ADPE, WESS, I3MP, LMR, MC4, ATIS


►► EIS IN THE NEWS

HQDA WEEKLY: GCSS-ARMY DODAAC PORTABILITY
Global Combat Support System - Army (GCSS-ARMY) DODAAC Portability. The first unit in USAREUR will rotate back to home-station utilizing a new "DODAAC Portability" capability. This capability enables open Class IX (repair parts) requisitions to follow the unit back home rather than be cancelled as a unit redeploys. This capability supports increased operational readiness and prevents loss of funding.  The first use will demonstrate the transfer of 748 CL IX open documents valued at $1.2 Million.


►► ARMY

THE ARMY'S PURSUIT OF A REVOLUTIONARY NETWORK ENVIRONMENT
The U.S. Army’s work on advancing its tactical network through its “capability package construct” will pull in significant capacity, added resiliency and interoperability, leaders say. The Army is leveraging more commercial solutions than ever, as well as its own Science and Technology Directorate research and development, to bring a competitive edge. As part of its latest pursuit of solutions for the Integrated Tactical Network concept, or ITN, the Army is going after high capacity commercial satellite communications, protected waveforms, mid-earth-orbit constellations, and space-based Internet.

TRADITIONAL AND EXOTIC LINKS BUILD FUTURE ARMY NETWORKS
Long-extant technologies will team with advances only dreamed of in laboratories if planners have their way in building the Army network of the future. The service is revamping its approach to networking in light of changes to the warfighting picture, and its scientists are working on a multitude of complementary technologies and capabilities that will be needed to empower future Army networks. Researchers at the Combat Capabilities Development Command’s (CCDC’s) Army Research Laboratory (ARL) are pursuing the state of the art while keeping an eye on capabilities emerging from the commercial sector.

FIVE REASONS THE U.S. ARMY DESERVES TO BE FIRST IN LINE FOR MORE MODERNIZATION FUNDING
The Trump defense increases are over. After a big jump between 2017 and 2018, military budgets have plateaued and will not keep up with inflation in future years. As a result, the Navy is unlikely to achieve the 355-ship fleet it says it needs for the foreseeable future. The Air Force will never get anywhere near the 386 squadrons of aircraft that match its projected operational requirements. And efforts by the Marine Corps to transform the way it fights face an uphill battle in what the Commandant describes as a “flat to declining” budget environment.

U.S. ARMY WANTS $364 MILLION FOR DEFENDER PACIFIC IN FY21
The U.S. Army is requesting $364 million to conduct a division-sized exercise in the Indo-Pacific region in fiscal 2021, the service confirmed to Defense News. Yet, the cost breakout details are classified, according to an Army spokeswoman. The exercise is fueled by a rising China, characterized in the National Defense Strategy as a long-term, strategic competitor of the United States.


►► FEDERAL

SHOULD THE U.S. HAVE A SECRETARY FOR INFLUENCE OPERATIONS?
Despite shifting military budgets to better keep up with competitors, there’s one area where countries like China, Russia, and even Iran are proving nimble and frustrating for the Department of Defense: influence operations. In this new age of information warfare, the military art of influence ops — otherwise sometimes called psychological ops, information ops, or most-recently, military information support ops — lacks the senior level leadership it deserves, say two former Pentagon officials who were in charge of special operations policies.

DOD LEADERSHIP EMBRACING OPEN STANDARDS
Speeding up acquisition and lowering costs through adoption of open standards apparently takes a lot of time, as there are cultural roadblocks to such change not only within the Department of Defense (DoD), but also at the prime contractor level, where open architecture and commonality goes against long-standing business models. However, there is now enthusiasm behind the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Consortium, fueled by the work of SOSA members and the successes of the open architecture initiatives it is built on – such as FACE [Future Airborne Capability Environment], CMOSS [C4ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards], and others.

TRANSCOM HEAD SAYS CONTRACTORS STRUGGLE WITH ADVANCED PERSISTENT THREATS
Gen. Stephen Lyons, the head of U.S. Transportation Command, said its commercial suppliers were defenseless against persistent cyber threats despite an increase in overall compliance. "I don't think any of our commercial providers are in a position to protect themselves," Lyons told the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) during a 2021 budget review hearing focused on TRANSCOM and U.S. European Command. Lyons said the command has worked for several years to bring contractors up to a "basic level of cyber hygiene" and inform company executives of cybersecurity concerns.


►► WORKFORCE

FEDERAL RESPONSE TO THE CORONAVIRUS IS IN FULL SWING
Health and Human Services’ command center is ramping up to track the spread of and the number of deaths caused by the coronavirus. HHS is leading the interagency task force, which held its first meeting yesterday. The command center provides real-time data on the spread of the disease. It also helps task force leader HHS Secretary Alex Azar decide to suspend travel to certain countries, initiate quarantines and declare a public health emergency.

TWO DATA ANALYSIS ROLES, ONE ULTIMATE GOAL
In their quest to better infuse operations with data analytics, two agencies are at adjacent stages of this new discipline. The State Department is enhancing its use of data analytics to deal with ever-changing diplomatic issues more efficiently. Last month it established an enterprise-level data and analytics hub, and it now has its first chief data officer. Janice Degarmo, the acting CDO, said that at its core, the Center for Analytics (CFA) works to solve the department’s most pressing business and foreign policy challenges through data analytics. It’s meant to be complimentary to the complex expertise of Foreign Service and civil service staff, who Degarmo said bring a “qualitative” knowledge while CFA can add hard-to-attain data to that understanding.

OPM'S LATEST ATTEMPT TO ADDRESS CYBER WORKER SHORTAGE FOCUSES ON TESTING
For the past four-plus years, the Office of Personnel Management has been on a journey to address one of the most difficult positions in the government to hire and retain—the cybersecurity worker. Starting in 2016 with the first-ever cybersecurity workforce strategy and leading up to today’s most recent effort—a new memo detailing different approaches to assess the cybersecurity aptitude of current and potential employees—OPM has been trying to give agencies the tools and authorities to make up for the shortage of workers. Both the government and the private sector feel this shortage.


►► INDUSTRY

PALANTIR, BAE SCORE $823M CONTRACT TO MODERNIZE ARMY'S DISTRIBUTED COMMON GROUND SYSTEM
Silicon Valley data-mining company Palantir and BAE Systems won places on a hefty contract to update the Army’s legacy Distributed Common Ground System. The entire award is an $823 million firm-fixed-price contract. The companies will compete for orders to build out a strategic data platform for the system under the larger seven-year contract, according to an award notice from the Defense Department.

SIM FIRM TO PROVIDE 'HANDS-ON' CUTTING-EDGE TRAINING TECH FOR DOD
An Orlando simulation firm is changing the meaning of “hands-on training” with a new defense contract. Engineering & Computer Simulations Inc. won a contract with the U.S. Army’s Simulation and Training Technology Center to research and develop haptic training technology, the firm told OBJ Feb. 25. 

METTEL NABS $253M EIS TASK ORDER
The Social Security Administration issued a $253 million task order earlier this month to MetTel under the General Services Administration’s $50 billion, next-generation telecommunications contract. The award was made by the SSA on Feb. 4, according to contracting documents, and runs until July 2032. MetTel, tagged under its old name Manhattan Telecommunications Corp. on the order, beat out three other vendors, according to the filing.

This message contains curated content from external sources, and does not indicate PEO EIS endorsement of the views or ideas expressed therein.