Technology

Executive Mosaic, the leading provider in connecting, promoting and branding government and government contracting (GovCon) executives of consequence, is pleased to announce that Jerry McGinn, executive director of the Center for Government Contracting for George Mason University’s School of Business and GovCon Expert, has received the first Wash100 Award of his career. 

Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of Defense, has been recognized for her leadership and drive for innovation and been named to the annual list of Wash100 Award recipients for the first time in her federal career. Hicks has received her 2021 Wash100 Award for her data prioritization efforts and policy advancements, which will ready the federal defense sector for the future of warfare.

NASA has selected a Luna Innovations-built semiconductor laser for use in its Navigation Doppler LiDAR system. “To precisely measure the vehicle speed, direction, and distance, our NDL system uses both Doppler shift and laser beam travel time, which requires a highly stable single-frequency laser source,” said Farzin Amzajerdian, NDL principal investigator from NASA Langley Research Center. “The RIO laser from Luna Innovations has met NASA’s requirements for high reliability, low noise, and ultra-narrow linewidth.”

ICF has received a potential five-year, $33.9 million contract to help NASA administer a program that works to coordinate government agencies' studies on changes. The company will perform administrative and technical support services for the U.S. Global Change Research Program's National Coordination Office.

A U.S. subsidiary of Software AG has partnered with MxD to help the latter provide a tool that will allow the Department of Defense to identify risks to its supply chain and minimize potential disruption to manufacturing capabilities during a crisis.

Horace Blackman, senior vice president of consulting services at CGI, told Government Matters in an interview posted Thursday that agencies should consider the option of “reimagining the value chain” as they decide whether to update or replace legacy information technology platforms. “When we talk about reimagining the value chain, it’s looking at the mission and asking the question how can we best leverage technology to support this mission,” said Blackman.

Citadel Defense has updated its Titan counter unmanned aircraft system to incorporate CUAS training and help warfighters teach a colleague how to operate the platform for enhanced situational awareness. The company said Thursday the training environments integrated into the Titan software were developed using artificial intelligence, automated threat simulation and data augmentation technologies.

Executive Mosaic is honored to introduce Mike Madsen, deputy director and director of strategic engagement at the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), as a recipient into the 2021 Wash100 Award for his leadership, innovation and success to drive commercial technology and partnerships to advance IT capabilities for both sectors. This marks the first Wash100 Award for Madsen.

Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for Cyber and Emerging Technology at the White House’s National Security Council (NSC), has received her second consecutive Wash100 Award, the most prestigious award in all of government contracting (GovCon). Previously, Neuberger was recognized for her role in developing new counter-threat policies with the agency and driving federal technology initiatives. 

Parsons has agreed to help the National Security Agency execute a three-day competition that will test participants' cyber competencies from April 8 to 10. The company said Wednesday it will design, develop, handle and evaluate five modules during the NSA Cyber Exercise or NCX, an event that aims to bolster the cyber operational capabilities of U.S. military students and NSA development program employees.

Perspecta has been verified by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation as a third-party assessor of cloud products or services under the State Risk and Authorization Management Program. The ISO 17020:2012 accreditation permits Perspecta to conduct evaluations of cloud information technology offerings intended for state and local agencies, the company said Wednesday.

Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force completed the integrated baseline review for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent intercontinental ballistic missile program under an engineering and manufacturing development contract awarded in September. The review involves the establishment of schedule and cost baseline, risk identification and development of mitigation plans within the first 180 days of contract award.

Leidos has handed over to the U.S. Navy a medium-displacement unmanned surface vehicle built on the Mississippi Gulf Coast as part of an approximately $35.5 million contract the Office of Naval Research awarded in December 2017.

Tara Murphy Dougherty and Billy Fabian of Govini wrote in a commentary published Wednesday on Defense News that the Department of Defense should learn and adapt to address vulnerabilities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in its enterprise to “inoculate itself against systemic collapse before the next crisis.”

Executive Mosaic is glad to introduce Tim Conway, executive vice president of NTT Data Services and president of its public sector business, as a recipient of the 2021 Wash100 Award for driving the company's expansion of federal health digital service offerings and helping federal and state governments implement technologies for enhanced customer experience.