Acquisition - C4ISRNet

DARPA DSO director: Pitch us problems, not solutions

migration — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 16:01:38 +0000

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is known for working beyond the cutting edge of technology and producing things that go beyond most people’s imaginations (see: internet). But the agency does little research on its own.

Instead, DARPA uses targeted funding to help the academic and private sectors take radical, far-fetched ideas into the realm of possibility.

The Defense Sciences Office (DSO) — one of the six program areas — is reaching out to these sectors in an effort to solicit more ideas and develop them on a track that will benefit national security and society writ large.

The office issues twice as many requests for information as the rest of DARPA combined, according to Dr. Bill Regli, DSO acting director. In those “seedling” requests, DSO is looking for “fundamentally disruptive,” “crazy ideas” that could lead to significant breakthroughs in how the U.S. defends and operates as a country, he explained during DARPA DSO Day on June 15.

To be successful, he said, proposers should be sure to pitch problems, not solutions.

“Bring me something you don’t know how to solve,” Regli said. Something “that you have the skills to address but is just far enough out … that it would change the way something works.”

“Come up with a scientific hypothesis. Something that’s just out of reach for which maybe you need to build an instrument or do a study,” he said. “Open up some insight about the world that we can use for national security purposes or to make, essentially, the country better.”

DSO’s program managers — who generally spend three to five years in the role — pitch projects to senior leadership. Once approved, those managers then solicit ideas from academia and the private sector and provide funding for proposals that move those ideas closer to reality.

A successful proposal will be able to answer seven questions, collectively known within DARPA as the Heilmeier Catechism (which are printed on the back of employee ID cards):

What are you trying to do? (No jargon!)
How does this get done today?
What is new about your approach?
If you succeed, what difference do you think it will make?
How long do you think it will take?
Can your work transition (to DoD or others)?
How much will it cost?

Regli warned against confusing the first question and the third.

“The common mistake is to conflate ‘what’s new in your approach’ with ‘what are you trying to do.’ People come with their technique that they want to work on and don’t think about the problem they’re trying to solve, at the right level of abstraction,” he said. “Can I come up with a problem for which your technique provides a new insight?”

Regli suggested responding to specific RFIs rather than cold-calling. DSO does sometimes get unsolicited proposals, but those are rarely, if ever taken up, he said.

The best way to build a successful partnership — i.e., get funding for your ideas — is to partner closely with DSO’s program managers.

“What you want to do is identify program managers who overlap with your interests and get to know them. Figure out what they’re interested in and whether your ideas can help them solve the problems they’re working on,” Regli said.

He also suggested finding the newest program managers to join the office, as they’ll be most interested in building new partnerships and are more likely to be in the early stages of a project, when new proposals are most crucial.

“Let’s see if we can keep fomenting revolutions together by creating a greater community of people who know how to work with DARPA,” he said.

GSA to offer new way to buy satellite tech

migration — Mon, 01 May 2017 16:26:01 +0000

The General Services Administration is about to change up the way agencies buy satellite technology.

The agency issued plans to expand its IT Schedule 70 with a new Special Item Number exclusively devoted to Earth Observation Solutions.

The new SIN, designated 132-41, has been in the works since February — when GSA released a request for information to industry on the possibility of spinning off IT grouping — and is projected to launch in early summer.

According to a GSA draft document, the EOS SIN will provide services for “global coverage, imagery, archive storage and distribution, monitoring, base maps (mosaics) and earth observation solutions for accurate, mission-critical information” that can be utilized for environmental, defense, meteorological and other uses.

“GSA is seeking to provide a one-stop-shop as new commercial imagery providers, capabilities and data solutions emerge in the Information Technology market to meet the needs of Federal, State, Local, Regional and Tribal governments,” agency officials said in an April 28 post on its Interact site.

“By leveraging strategic sourcing and shared services, GSA’s IT Schedule 70 is in compliance with OMB guidance and offers opportunities for cross-government savings.”

GSA will host a webinar at 10 a.m. EST on May 18 to inform industry about the changes resulting from the new SIN.

The EOS SIN follows GSA’s March announcement that it was pursuing a new SIN for the Department of Homeland Security’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program with a request for information from industry.

DISA wants advice on building secure OPM background check system

migration — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 18:36:41 +0000

The agency tasked with building the government’s new background investigations system is looking for industry insights on its capabilities.

The Defense Information System Agency unveiled an updated request for information for the National Background Investigation System on April 4, seeking feedback for what capabilities are on the market to help handle the government’s background investigation apparatus.

Related: Read the RFI

DISA was tasked with constructing the NBIS in the wake of the 2015 hack of the Office of Personnel Management that exposed the personal information of more than 21 million federal employees and dependents.

The defense IT agency is working in partnership with OPM and its National Background Investigations Bureau to develop a system that can handle between 2 million and 3 million inquiries a year and will be operated by DISA.

“DISA envisions the NBIS to be a system of systems software solution created from a complex portfolio of components. These envisioned components include a mix of government-owned solutions (GOTS), modified GOTS, customized and modified commercial off the shelf (COTS) solutions and potentially new software components,” the RFI said.

The agency said it plans to have NBIS working on an initial operational capability by September 2018, followed by a full rollout a year later. To achieve the timeline, officials said they would likely offer a cost plus fixed fee contract to allow for cyber sprints and agile development.

DISA officials also issued updated answers to industry questions, detailing that the COTS solutions must integrate with GOTS programs like Mirador, Secure Web Fingerprint Transmission and the Defense Information System for Security.

While there is no forecast for a request for proposal, DISA officials said they expect to have a minimal viable product by January developed with a mix of GOTS and COTS components.

The NBIS program will replace OPM’s Federal Investigation System and will be maintained by DISA and used by the NBIB, which became operational on Oct. 1.

Last fall, NBIB Director Charlie Phelan said that the timely processing of background investigations would be the pinnacle task of his tenure, after recent scandals resulted in the cancellation of an investigations contract with company USIS and perpetuated a processing backlog that at one point hovered above 500,000 cases.

The backlog “is not really the relevant number. The real relevant number is 40 or 80,” he said. “That’s the number of days we are supposed to deliver either a secret or top secret clearance to somebody we adjudicate.

“Clearly, we are not meeting that. So I would argue that my backlog could be 5 million cases and nobody would care as long as I was still delivering that product in 40 or 80 days. So we are truly focused on what is the timeliness and how can we get back to our standard for getting these background investigations adjudicated. We are absolutely focused on that.”

Industry stakeholders have until 3 p.m. EST on April 6 to respond to the RFI.

Vanguard Awards honor innovators on front lines of public service

migration — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 19:54:53 +0000

The federal government, like a vast army in formation, is slow-moving and even slower to change direction. But the troops at the front — the vanguard — can clearly see the lay of the land, are the first to take action and bear the greatest risk when things go wrong.

The inaugural Vanguard Awards, presented by Federal Times, recognizes these innovation warriors — the programs, executives and unsung heroes on the front lines who see technology and acquisition trends as they emerge and move forward with purpose.

The winners were culled from more than 100 nominations from peers, supervisors and employees, chosen in consultation with the Federal Times Advisory Board — made up of current and former federal leaders — and the editorial leadership of Federal Times, C4ISRNET and Defense News.

“We created this award program to honors those in government — civilian and military — who see problems and emerging trends and immediately engage, rather than waiting for a mandate or policy directive,” Federal Times Editor Aaron Boyd said at the Nov. 16 award ceremony, held during the annual CyberCon conference in Washington, D.C. “These are the programs, executives and unsung heroes taking risks on the front lines of public service every day.”

Program of the Year: NCATS

The programs considered for this award were noteworthy for finding new solutions to longstanding problems and transforming the government and the nation for the better. The first Vanguard Program of the Year is an integral cybersecurity program that, by its nature, helps the entire government stay on top of the latest threats.

As part of the department’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) that helps identify and patch network vulnerabilities across the federal government, NCATS is not only a Vanguard-worthy program itself but enables other agencies to stay ahead of emerging issues, as well.

To date, the NCATS program has worked with more than 200 stakeholders, delivered more than 7,000 reports and helped resolve more than 198,000 vulnerabilities.

“NCATS is a lifeline to funding-constrained public and private sector partners, particularly among the critical infrastructure sectors,” said DHS Office of Cybersecurity and Communications Assistant Secretary Andy Ozment. “Their cybersecurity expertise in current and emerging threats provides an objective, third-party perspective to help improve an organization’s cybersecurity posture.”

Executive of the Year: James “Hondo” Geurts

The Executive of the Year award is given to a single person that, through their vision and strength of will, pushes the boundaries of government to deliver solutions to critical problems.

In doing our due diligence on this year’s winner, Federal Times spoke with a number of colleagues who said, to a person, that we had the right man for the inaugural award.

As the leadership behind programs like SOFWERX — an incubator successfully fostering collaboration between the government and private sector to solve tough problems — and the “Ghost Program,” also known as “Top Gun for acquisition,” Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (SOF AT&L) Director James Geurts is “reinventing how USSOCOM invents,” as one acquisition official put it.

Through these programs and other initiatives, Geurts and his teams delivered in the last year 116 aircraft/systems, 1,014 vehicles, nine maritime craft, 42,334 weapons/accessories, 235,116 operator survival items and 4,909 radios/equip — all with a permanent staff of fewer than 500 people.

Unsung Hero of the Year: Ryan Wells

In starting this awards program, Federal Times sought to ensure it was highlighting the people on the ground who are making a difference — the ones who see a problem and don’t linger, don’t wait to be asked, but act and in the process change lives.

While the other recipients of the inaugural Vanguard Awards are certainly deserving, Ryan Wells, laboratory information manager for a VA medical center in Missouri, perfectly exemplifies the true nature of this award: the ability to see a problem, identify a solution and forge ahead to get things done.

When Wells realized a colleague was forced to waste time with repetitive, rote tasks, he took it upon himself to write a program in his spare time to automate this task. That program is now being used throughout the medical center and at nearby hospitals.

“Mr. Wells was not requested to create this database,” according to the nominator. “He simply recognized an opportunity to improve care provided to the veterans in southeast Missouri and the surrounding areas through utilization of technology.”

Special thanks to the Federal Times Advisory Board: Dan Blair, president and CEO of the National Academy of Public Administration, former deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management; Robert Carey, vice president of Navy and Marine Corps Programs at Vencore, former principal deputy CIO at the Department of Defense; Karen Evans, national director of the US Cyber Challenge, former administrator of the Office of Electronic Government and IT, Office of Management and Budget; Beth McGrath, director of federal sector at Deloitte Consulting, former deputy chief management officer at the Department of Defense; Paul Posner, director of the Graduate Public Administration Program at George Mason University, former Government Accountability Office director of intergovernmental programs; Franklin Reeder, founder of the Center for Internet Security, former director of the White House Office of Administration; Stan Soloway, president and CEO at Celero Strategies, LLC, former Professional Services Council CEO, former deputy undersecretary of defense; Linda Springer, former Office of Personnel Management director; Max Stier, president and CEO of Partnership for Public Service, former deputy general counsel for litigation at the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Robert Tobias, director of business development for American University’s Key Executive Leadership Programs, former president of the National Treasury Employees Union; and Steve Watkins, founder and president of Watkins Communications, former editor of Federal Times.