GovConJudicata Weekly Debrief (7/13–17)
This week's Weekly Debrief covers several interesting topics, including GSA's Alliant 2 SB, a White House cyber coordinator, security clearance reforms, a contract for an experimental space station, defense spending, and the VA's hunt for cyber.
GSA
"Development work continues on an alternative to the General Services Administration’s cancelled $15 billion Alliant 2 Small Business vehicle, according to one of the agency’s top acquisition executives."
Cyber
FNN – Cyberspace Solarium seeks WH coordinator to fill ‘imbalance’ in cybersecurity
"With a large swath of the federal workforce still teleworking during the coronavirus pandemic, agencies remain wary of a heightened volume of phishing attempts and other cybersecurity threats."
Security Clearance
NextGov – Security Clearance Reformers Tout Progress Amid COVID-19
"The federal government is in the midst of the biggest overhaul of the security clearance process in the program’s 50-year history, and COVID-19 is pushing some of those reforms along. After the breach of Office of Personnel Management databases in 2015, the government began a comprehensive restructuring of the clearance process, including establishing the National Background Investigations Bureau, or NBIB."
Defense
Breaking Defense – Sierra Nevada Wins DIU Contract For Experimental Space Station
"The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) picked Sierra Nevada Corp’s “Shooting Star” spacecraft, originally designed to carry payloads to the ISS for NASA, as its “Unmanned Orbital Outpost” space station to test capabilities — and perhaps in future serve as on-orbit fuel stations or logistics hubs."
"President John Adams once wrote: “National defense is one of the cardinal duties of a Statesman.” These words are as true now as they were when they were written in 1815. However, unlike in 1815, the weight of these words seems lost on some in Congress."
VA
FedScoop – For the VA, ‘horizon scanning’ means finding better cybersecurity tech
"The Department of Veteran’s Affairs is on the hunt for a managed service provider that can help find and track emerging technology critical to network defenses, according to a recent request for information. The RFI noted that the VA needs strong network protection and cyber tools to 'protect Veteran data against malicious cyber adversaries.'"
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