GovConJudicata Weekly Debrief (11/9–13)

This week's Weekly Debrief covers issues such as supply chain security, the rise of ransomware incidents in manufacturing, Space Force's anti-jamming SATCOM prototypes, Navy's maintenance backlog, Federal shared IT services, and DOJ's Procurement Strike Force.

Cyber

• NextGov – Tech Association Wants Biden Team to Focus on Public-Sector Supply Chain Security

• ​"The Information Technology Industry Council suggests a Biden administration direct its attention to the Federal Acquisition Security Council in forming comprehensive, uniform supply chain security policy, but that group does not have authority over private-sector activities."

• CyberScoop – Ransomware incidents in manufacturing grow as transparency, and attack options, increase

• ​"The number of publicly documented ransomware incidents at manufacturing organizations has jumped considerably in 2020 as attackers have found ways to disrupt facilities’ operations by affecting both traditional IT networks and software that supports industrial processes, according to research published Thursday."

Defense

• C4ISRNET – US Space Force awards third contract for anti-jamming SATCOM prototypes

• ​"The U.S. Space Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to build a new anti-jamming communications satellite prototype, bringing the number of companies working on that program to three. Under the contracts, each company will develop a prototype payload for the Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications program. ESS is intended to be the successor to the Advanced Extremely High Frequency constellation, which provides secure, survivable SATCOM for strategic communications."

• FNN – Navy making headway on longstanding maintenance backlog

• ​"The Navy made major progress toward eliminating maintenance delays in its shipyards in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, partly by setting more realistic goals for how long each period of upgrade and repair work would actually take."

Acquisition

• FedScoop – Federal efforts to get agencies using shared IT services appear to be working

• ​"Federal agencies’ reliance on shared IT services has increased 2% annually since 2017, reversing a previous decline, according to the Professional Services Council."

Justice

• Justice.gov – Justice Department’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force Announces Eleven New National Partners

• ​"The Justice Department announced today that the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF) is adding 11 new national partners to the Strike Force, for a total of 29 agencies and offices committed on the national level to combatting collusion, antitrust crimes and related fraudulent schemes, which undermine competition in government procurement, grant and program funding."

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