PEO Pulse - March 13, 2020

►► PEO PULSE - March 13, 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:

• LYNN SIMS SHARES INSIGHTS ABOUT LEADERSHIP
• ARMY PEO EIS AWARDS TASK ORDER TO SUPPORT BROCADE MAINTENANCE
• US PARTICIPATION IN DEFENDER 2020 REDUCED AMID CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
• SOLDIER-CENTERED APPROACH HELPING LEAD GROUND MODERNIZATION EFFORTS
• THE ARMY ROUGHS OUT ITS $1B CYBER TRAINING CONTRACT
• HOW CORONAVIRUS COULD HURT U.S. MILITARY READINESS
• DOD NEEDS TO 'DECOUPLE' HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE, DEPUTY CIO SAYS
• NAVY REFORMING ITS IT SECURITY PROCESSES TO APPROVE NEW SYSTEMS IN A DAY
• DOD RESTRICTS INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL FOR 60 DAYS OVER CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
• SPINNING UP TELEWORK PRESENTS PROCUREMENT CHALLENGES
• GOVERNMENT ABOUT TO ENGAGE IN TELEWORK EXPERIMENT - BUT CYBER DANGERS ABOUND
• NEW CYBER DETAIL OPPORTUNITIES OPEN FOR CURRENT FEDERAL EMPLOYEES
• ARMY PICKS CUBIC FOR POTENTIAL $5.1B SATCOM SUPPORT IDIQ
• GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN 2020
• WHY A FEDERAL COURT HALTED WORK ON THE PENTAGON'S ENTERPRISE CLOUD


►► AROUND EIS

UPCOMING EVENTS
• Mar. 26: Lunch & Learn.  Look for an invite next week with details.  Anticipate a virtual event in keeping with guidance to limit in-person meetings to no more than 6 people.

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


►► EIS IN THE NEWS

LYNN SIMS SHARES INSIGHTS ABOUT LEADERSHIP
Lynn Sims, an acquisition manager who supports the Installation, Information, Infrastructure Modernization Program (I3MP), is passionate about supporting Soldiers. She has more than 18 years of experience in the civil service, including 15 years as a contracting officer supporting several agencies, including the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy.

ARMY PEO EIS AWARDS TASK ORDER TO SUPPORT BROCADE MAINTENANCE
Intelligent Waves LLC, an end-to-end information technology government solutions provider, announced it was awarded a one year task order through the Information Technology Enterprise Solutions 3 Services (ITES-3S) Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for Brocade 3rd Party Maintenance Support in support of Army Program Executive Office (PEO) Enterprise Information System (EIS), the company said.


►► ARMY

US PARTICIPATION IN DEFENDER 2020 REDUCED AMID CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
U.S. European Command is already cutting back on its plans for the large-scale combat exercise on the continent that kicks off this spring. The decision was made to curtail the exercise in order to deal with the spread of the novel form of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, that already forced the U.S. Army Europe commander to self-quarantine himself earlier this week.

SOLDIER-CENTERED APPROACH HELPING LEAD GROUND MODERNIZATION EFFORTS
Nearly two years into its largest modernization overhaul in four decades, the Army looks to continue its momentum of developing new ground systems centered on input from Soldiers. Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee's tactical air and land forces subcommittee, the Army's acquisition chief told lawmakers Thursday that adequate funding is needed to build on those efforts.

THE ARMY ROUGHS OUT ITS $1B CYBER TRAINING CONTRACT
The Army released its draft proposal March 10 for a contract that could worth as much as $1 billion to provide cyber training for the Department of Defense. The Cyber Training, Readiness, Integration, Delivery and Enterprise Technology (TRIDENT) is a contract vehicle to offer a more streamlined approach for procuring the military’s cyber training capabilities. The largest part of that contact will be the Persistent Cyber Training Environment (PCTE). PCTE is an online client in which members of U.S. Cyber Command’s cyber mission force can log on from anywhere in the world for training and to rehearse missions.


►► FEDERAL

HOW CORONAVIRUS COULD HURT U.S. MILITARY READINESS
So far, the effects of COVID-19 (aka coronavirus) on the military have been modest, a few reduced exercises and some restrictions on gatherings, but if current trends continue, and the military reacts with the level of concern, or panic, seen in the civilian world, the effect on military readiness will be devastating. Fortunately, wartime capabilities will not be much affected because, in an emergency, the military will accept the risk from disease and do what it needs to fight a war.

DOD NEEDS TO 'DECOUPLE' HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE, DEPUTY CIO SAYS
The Department of Defense should move away from acquiring singular systems with hardware and software in one. Instead, the department needs platforms that can be constantly redesigned through continuous software updates, said Peter Ranks, deputy CIO for information enterprise. Better use of software is a key part of the new “Joint All Domain Operations” doctrine being developed by the department to link operations jointly across the military and the domains of air, land, sea, cyber and space, Ranks said at FedScoop’s IT Modernization summit Wednesday.

NAVY REFORMING ITS IT SECURITY PROCESSES TO APPROVE NEW SYSTEMS IN A DAY
The Navy is jumping on the bandwagon of federal agencies who are reforming their IT security processes to speed new capabilities through the approval process in as little as a day. That’s a far cry from the 13-18 months it currently takes for software to make its way through the Navy’s implementation of the Risk Management Framework. And the Navy is starting its reform effort with what’s arguably its most challenging IT environment: The networks aboard its ships.


►► WORKFORCE

DOD RESTRICTS INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL FOR 60 DAYS OVER CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
The Defense Department is cracking down on travel to countries the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deems to have widespread and ongoing transmission of the coronavirus. All DOD personnel and family members' are restricted to travel to, from and through such countries starting March 13, according to DOD memos released late March 11. DOD uniformed and civilian personnel, along with their families, are restricted from any form of travel, including personal and government-funded leave, temporary duty, and permanent change of station, for 60 days starting March 13.

SPINNING UP TELEWORK PRESENTS PROCUREMENT CHALLENGES
There's good news and bad news for agencies looking to ramp up telework in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to federal contracting experts. The good news is federal acquisition contracts are set up for quick acquisition of essential telework equipment, such as laptops or tablets, said acquisition experts FCW spoke with. The bad news could be that online scammers are watching the expanding tele-workforce with great interest.

GOVERNMENT ABOUT TO ENGAGE IN TELEWORK EXPERIMENT - BUT CYBER DANGERS ABOUND
As coronavirus infections mount, the federal government is preparing for an unprecedented experiment in remote working that brings with it a slew of digital dangers. The Trump administration is ordering hundreds of thousands of federal employees to be prepared to telework full time if the virus spread worsens, as my colleague Lisa Rein reports. And it’s far from clear government technologists are prepared to handle that strain.

NEW CYBER DETAIL OPPORTUNITIES OPEN FOR CURRENT FEDERAL EMPLOYEES
The Trump administration has opened up a series of temporary detail assignments in cybersecurity, with the goal of giving interested federal employees a chance to gain hands-on experience and fill critical vacancies in the field. The details are open to current federal employees with applicable skills, including the graduates of the Cybersecurity Reskilling Academy, the administration said Wednesday. 


►► INDUSTRY

ARMY PICKS CUBIC FOR POTENTIAL $5.1B SATCOM SUPPORT IDIQ
Cubic’s mission solutions business has won a spot on a potential 10-year, $5.1B contract to provide satellite communication platforms and services to the U.S. Army. Cubic said Monday it will compete with 21 other firms for orders under the Global Tactical Advanced Communication Systems II award, which has a five-year base period and one five-year option. 

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN 2020
Having, hopefully, caught our collective breath from a tumultuous 2019, the New Year has much in store for federal contractors and suppliers. While we wait for 2020 to deliver on the numerous initiatives kicked-off in 2019, a handful of developments are already knocking at the door. Before the New Year hits full stride, federal contractors—especially those in the DIB community—should take action now to understand the following key cyber and supply chain initiatives.

WHY A FEDERAL COURT HALTED WORK ON THE PENTAGON'S ENTERPRISE CLOUD
A newly unsealed court document shows that Amazon won its bid to halt work on the Department of Defense’s multibillion-dollar Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract because the Pentagon erred in the evaluation process, not because of the political interference allegations laid out by the tech giant. According to a court document unsealed March 6 in the U.S Court of Federal Claims, a federal judge ruled that the DoD likely incorrectly evaluated one of the storage offerings from Microsoft, who won the contract. Amazon argues that if it had been evaluated correctly, Microsoft would’ve been eliminated from the competition.

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