GovConJudicata Weekly Debrief (3/21–25)

This week's Weekly Debrief covers a Senate bill regarding IT modernization, GSA's 4-fold increase in SDB goals, Space Force wants satellite tech, DoD nominee wants advanced tech and to increase small business opportunities, and DoL pay bias probes.

Senate

NextGov – Senate bill would push replacement of legacy IT systems

• "A new bill introduced on Wednesday seeks to force agencies into modernizing their outdated information technology systems, while requiring officials to write up plans and additional guidance to update and dispose of those legacy systems. The Legacy IT Reduction Act of 2022 effectively aims to make the modernization of federal legacy IT systems mandatory. Introduced by Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), the bill would require agencies to identify and create an inventory of all legacy IT systems."

Small Business

FCW – GSA announces four-fold increase in contracting opportunity goals for SDBs

• "The General Services Administration has announced a major increase in annual goals to support contracting with small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) as the Biden administration aims to steer $100 billion worth of expanded contracting opportunities to historically marginalized firms by 2025. GSA said it was hiking up its contracting SDB goals for fiscal year 2022 to 21%, representing a four-fold increase from the agency’s goals set last year. "

Defense

FedScoop – Space Force ISR chief wants new tech to monitor adversaries’ satellites

• "The U.S. military needs something akin to a Predator drone in space to keep a persistent eye on adversary satellites that could pose a threat, the Space Force’s director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance said Thursday."

DefenseNews – DoD acquisition nominee pledges to push advanced tech, small business opportunities

• "The nominee to be the Pentagon’s next acquisition chief has a simple message when it comes to developing advanced technologies such as hypersonics: Don’t be afraid to fail, and learn from those failures. “A failed test is one where you don’t learn,” Bill LaPlante told the Senate Armed Services Committee in his nomination hearing to be undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment Tuesday."

Labor

Bloomberg – Federal Contractors Bracing for More Government Pay Bias Probes

• "Companies doing business with the federal government are likely to see more enforcement demands from the U.S. Department of Labor’s contractor watchdog, under a proposed rule that would ease limits on the agency’s ability to bring pay discrimination claims."

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