October, 2024

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DOE Selects 4 Vendors for $2.7B Uranium Enrichment Contract

GovCon Wire

The Department of Energy has awarded four companies spots on a potential 10-year, $2.7 billion contract to procure uranium enrichment services to help establish a domestic supply chain of high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU, used for deploying advanced nuclear reactors.

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2024 U.S. Presidential Election Special Series

Art of Procurement

There are two weeks to go until the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. Interest, speculation, and tension have been building all. The post 2024 U.S. Presidential Election Special Series appeared first on Art of Procurement.

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Pentagon releases final CMMC rule, paving way for implementation

Federal News Network

The Defense Department released the final rule for the long-awaited Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program today, further paving the way for CMMC requirements to show up in contracts starting next year. The final CMMC program rule was released for public inspection today. It’s expected to officially publish in the Federal Register on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

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National Archives getting a big boost from AI to transform its search capabilities

FedScoop

In the pre-GPT era of artificial intelligence, there wasn’t a ton for the National Archives and Records Administration — and its billions of unstructured documents — to do with the technology. According to Gulam Shakir, NARA’s chief technology officer, those more nascent AI tools “did not really fit” with the agency’s needs — namely the processing and management of massive “free-form” datasets lacking any logical formatting or rules.

IT 130
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How to Create a Blueprint for Fleet Resilience

Speaker: Jeff Dickinson - President and CEO of Railgistixs Transport, Supply Chain and Logistics Thought Leader

Despite the ongoing transformation of the supply chain and logistics landscape, the steadfast importance of carrier safety remains a core principle. From prioritizing preventative maintenance to optimizing fleet utilization, the fundamentals persist. If you’re overlooking and neglecting essential safety precautions today, this could result in expensive repairs and potential safety hazards in the future. 🚧 Join Jeff Dickinson for a conversation on how to mitigate risk, enforce compliance,

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Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2024

WashngtonExec

National security leaders play key roles in modernizing, protecting and defending the technologies that drive missions on land, sea, air and space. These leaders support one of the government’s most important missions: securing and defending the nation’s citizens, economy and institutions. The security-related missions highlighted here cover critical infrastructure, cyber-connected operating equipment, Internet of Things, [.

Import 135
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The Best Way to Prepare for an AI-Fueled Cyberattack? Practice

FedTech Magazine

When more than 50 IT leaders gathered at Microsoft’s office in Reston, Va., to discuss a series of cybersecurity threats in June, the meeting came against a backdrop of rising concerns about attacks generated with the aid of artificial intelligence. The officials weren’t strangers. Many of them had met on an ad hoc basis in recent years, including Saturday mornings, following actual cyberattacks that worried government leaders.

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Creating a B2C to B to C Improvement Cycle at Walmart Business

Art of Procurement

Whenever I find out that a company – or a person – decided to do something new in 2020 or. The post Creating a B2C to B to C Improvement Cycle at Walmart Business appeared first on Art of Procurement.

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OMB gives agencies new considerations when buying AI

Federal News Network

As artificial intelligence becomes more ingrained in all aspects of technology, agencies and vendors alike must consider new factors when it comes to buying these capabilities. In a new memo released today, the Office of Management and Budget outlined these considerations in three buckets: Proactively manage AI risk and performance Promote a competitive AI marketplace Create structures to govern and manage business processes related to acquiring AI in acquisition “This new memo provides agencies

Inventory 131
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The FBI is using AI to mine threat tips, but isn’t sharing much detail

FedScoop

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is using artificial intelligence to mine tips about potential threats but is revealing little about how the system actually works. Specifically, the bureau is using a system it calls the “Complaint Lead Value Probability” to prioritize tips by conducting algorithm scores and triaging, according to two versions of an agency AI disclosure.

Inventory 137
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NSA’s Kristina Walter on How Cyber Has Changed the Battlefield

GovCon Wire

The nature of global conflict has changed, extending the battlefield beyond the physical realm and into the cyber domain. As physical barriers continue to fall and global tensions rise, the United States has recognized the need to master cyber combat, but so have its adversaries.

IT 122
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Native American Tribes Defend Their Very Heritage Against Ransomware

FedTech Magazine

For the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, a tribe of nearly 40,000 in Shawnee, Okla., guarding against a potential loss of data related to its history, language and culture is a huge priority. That means protecting tribal history at CPN’s Cultural Heritage Center museum and data in the Tribal Rolls Department, which handles membership, including tribal enrollment, burial insurance and tribal ID cards.

Insurance 117
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AWS Skills to Jobs Tech Alliance launches in Malaysia to stimulate the tech talent ecosystem

AWS Public Sector

In October 2024, at Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud Day Malaysia, the region’s AWS Skills to Jobs Tech Alliance was launched. In collaboration with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) , the Tech Alliance aims to modernize tech programs of study at Malaysian higher education institutions, connect learners to in-demand tech jobs, and support the development of a highly-skilled tech workforce.

Education 117
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Tips for Surviving in a Brave New World

Art of Procurement

In 1932, Aldous Huxley published the book Brave New World. At the time, the actual world was perched between World. The post Tips for Surviving in a Brave New World appeared first on Art of Procurement.

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The Navy only ‘thinks’ it has a schedule for new submarine delivery

Federal News Network

The first Columbia class submarine is due for delivery to the Navy in 2027. It plans to spend more than a hundred billion dollars for a dozen of them. Delays in this scale of program are inevitable. In fact, sub number one is already late. Yet the Navy, auditors say , lacks a statistical schedule risk analysis to go along with the program. And that means it may not have enough insight into the whole program.

IT 115
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ARPA-H wants information on autonomous AI systems for health care

FedScoop

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health is seeking information about how autonomous artificial intelligence systems, known as agentic AI, might be used in the health care space. A recent request for information posted by the Department of Health and Human Services agency specifically asks for information on implementations of agentic AI, how multiple agentic AI systems work together, scalability, risks, and how autonomy is decided, among other things.

IT 125
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DOJ Whistleblower Award Program has Received Over 200 Tips So Far

Whistleblower Network News

In August, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) launched its Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program. So far, the program has received over 200 whistleblower tips according to a DOJ official. On October 23, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Marshall Miller delivered remarks at the New York City Bar Association Compliance Institute. “In the first few months of the Justice Department’s whistleblower awards program, we’ve already received more than 200 tips,” he stated.

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Q&A: GSA’s Chief AI Officer on the Future of Generative AI

FedTech Magazine

Zach Whitman, the General Services Administration’s chief AI officer and data scientist, reminds his colleagues that the GSA was one of the first agencies to adopt email and internet access for the government workplace. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that GSA has fully embraced experimenting with generative AI, an emerging technology that has similar potential to transform the workplace, Whitman says.

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Is the public safety department model the future of municipal emergency service?

American City & Country

The undeniable fiscal constraints associated with local governance has challenged contemporary public administrators to achieve more with less. Budgets are stretched thin, and local government managers face increasingly complex service delivery demands from an electorate that loathes the idea of paying higher taxes. Traditionally solely a function of the police, contemporary public administrators are cognizant of the fact that community safety through effective emergency service delivery plays a

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East and Gulf Coast Port Strike – Part 1

Art of Procurement

“Let me be clear: we don’t want any form of semi-automation or full automation. We want our jobs—the jobs we. The post East and Gulf Coast Port Strike – Part 1 appeared first on Art of Procurement.

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Excitement growing over GSA’s COMET II program

Federal News Network

Listen carefully and you can hear the buzz in the federal market about a new contract from the General Services Administration. It’s not another big governmentwide contract like Alliant 3 or the ASCEND cloud blanket purchase agreement. This one is the second generation of the COMET blanket purchase agreement that is going to be used only by GSA. “GSA saying this contract is a modernization effort and I think that is drawing a lot of interest from a lot of companies.

Bidder 115
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How federal IT officials are navigating the post-AI executive order ‘hype cycle’

FedScoop

HERSHEY, Pa. — A year ago, all anyone could talk about at ACT-IAC’s Imagine Nation ELC conference was President Joe Biden’s artificial intelligence executive order and how agency staffers had already begun embracing the emerging technology. This year, there was decidedly less fanfare as federal tech officials discussed their experiences with AI and the “hype cycle” that has ensued since the issuing of the White House’s order.

IT 122
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Federal Court Declares False Claims Act’s Qui Tam Provision Unconstitutional

Whistleblower Network News

In a ruling that could shake up the landscape of whistleblower litigation, a federal district court struck down a key provision of the False Claims Act as unconstitutional. The decision, which came out on September 30, 2024, in United States ex rel. Clarissa Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates, LLC , found that the FCA’s qui tam provisions violate the Appointments Clause of the U.S.

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Artificial Intelligence May Augment Diplomatic Data Security

FedTech Magazine

The State Department’s law enforcement arm, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, defends the department and the foreign affairs community by applying cybersecurity, technology security and law enforcement expertise to help advance U.S. foreign policy and safeguard national security interests. Specifically, the bureau’s Directorate of Cyber and Technology Security is responsible for ensuring tactical cyberdefense for all U.S. diplomats and data held by the department, spanning more than 260 locatio

Data 117
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Building smarter, stronger communities with an AI-enhanced government workforce

American City & Country

There are an estimated 20.3 million public sector employees in the United States, representing a significant 13% of the country’s active workforce. The implications for turnover are staggering, as several thousand of these employees retire each year on average as others constantly join. Technologies once relied on to manage this process and reduce knowledge loss are no longer able to do so in an efficient, transparent way—skyrocketing costs, zapping institutional knowledge and worse.

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Supply Chains as Business in Action

Art of Procurement

We know supply chains are complex, but to truly understand how complex they are, and how they reached this point, The post Supply Chains as Business in Action appeared first on Art of Procurement.

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DoD ‘fine tunes’ final CMMC program rule, industry turns attention to implementation

Federal News Network

The Pentagon didn’t introduce any groundbreaking changes in the final Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification rule, but CMMC observers say the Defense Department made several key updates and definitions to help companies as they work to comply with the requirements. Meanwhile, industry groups are now turning their attention to potential challenges with implementing the CMMC requirements through the contracting process.

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Energy Department is looking at using AI to help with its nuclear accelerators

FedScoop

The nuclear physics program in the Energy Department’s Science Office wants to use artificial intelligence to help control its advanced accelerators, according to a new solicitation posted to the agency’s website. The request for applications comes as the Energy Department continues to use artificial intelligence to advance its research endeavors, which includes deploying the technology at some of the world’s fastest supercomputers.

IT 119
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AWS and USAID accelerate Armenia’s cloud journey and digital resilience

AWS Public Sector

During her visit to Armenia on July 10, 2024, Samantha Power, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator, announced $5 million in funding for a new public-private collaboration between USAID, the Government of Armenia, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The collaboration will be delivered through USAID’s Enterprises for Development, Growth, and Empowerment (EDGE) Fund , launched to leverage the private sector’s competitive edge to solve global challenges.

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VA Releases RFI for AI Programs, Governance Support for Veterans

GovCon Wire

The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued a request for information to determine possible artificial intelligence programs and governance support to enhance services for veterans. According to the notice published on Sam.

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As cyber threats evolve, cities and counties need to safeguard staffers’ mobile devices

American City & Country

No question, more local governments are facing cyber threats in 2024, says Tim LeMaster, vice president, worldwide systems engineering at Lookout. His firm is a data-centric cloud security company. It uses a defense-in-depth strategy to address the different stages of modern cybersecurity attacks, which now start with infiltrations of mobile devices.

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Procurement 6 – October 25th, 2024

Art of Procurement

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday. The post Procurement 6 – October 25th, 2024 appeared first on Art of Procurement.

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A look inside the latest White House artificial intelligence memo

Federal News Network

Just days ago, the White House came out with a national security memorandum devoted to artificial intelligence. It’s a catch-all for trying to keep the United States ahead of A-I developments in what the memo calls the new frontier. For analysis, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with the Executive Vice President for Policy at the Professional Services Council, Stephanie Kostro.

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MITRE’s Federal AI Sandbox will focus on critical infrastructure, weather modeling, social services

FedScoop

MITRE, the federally funded operator of research and development centers on behalf of agencies, unveiled plans this week to train three new artificial intelligence foundation models in critical infrastructure, weather modeling and sustainable social services. The Federal AI Sandbox, a supercomputer, is expected to be capable of training large-scale foundation models and supportive of generative AI, multimodal perception systems and reinforcement learning decision aids, according to a Wednesday p

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Q&A: Federal Agencies Turn to Multiple Security Tools for Defense in Depth

FedTech Magazine

If there was ever any doubt that agencies are prime targets for cyberattacks, a June 2024 Government Accountability Office report certainly sets the record straight. “Urgent Action Needed,” the GAO’s dispatch to Congress begins. “Risks to our nation’s essential technology systems are increasing.” In fact, in fiscal 2023, agencies reported more than 32,000 cyber incidents to the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a jump of almost 10 percent over th

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Battling the food security crisis with Agents for Amazon Bedrock

AWS Public Sector

The 2024 version of the United Nations (UN) annual report The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World found that about 29.6 percent of the global population, or about 2.4 billion people, were moderately or severely food insecure in 2022, meaning they did not have adequate access to food. Food security can be caused by a number of factors, including poverty, inflationary factors, violent conflict, and the effects of climate change.

Data 109
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Expert: Internal combustion engines will be propelling fleet vehicles for many years to come

American City & Country

Public-sector fleet managers may want to consider delaying replacing their internal-combustion-engine (ICE) vehicles with electric vehicles/trucks (EVs) says Randall Taylor , CEO of The Fuel Ox , a global provider of fuel treatments and lubricants. For more than 10 years Taylor has led daily operations at the firm, which helps consumers and fleet managers reduce their footprint on the environment with bio-based, eco-friendly and almost completely toxin-free products.