Contact us for information on sponsorship. 

The Government Technology & Services Coalition and Government Contracting Weekly partnered to recognize exceptional mentors in the government contracting community. 

 The awards program recognizes and salutes government contractors for their leadership and concrete actions in assisting small government contracting firms through mentoring, training, inspiration, teaming and cooperation.  The awards recognize that mentoring is critical to the contracting community.  Large firms that mentor small companies play a critical role in saving their Federal clients money and time, commit to putting action behind the mantra of bringing "innovation and creativity" to the Federal mission and bring a higher level of professionalism to the contracting community.   

Honoring our Federal Small Business Titans:  

Frank Barros 

Program Analyst, Science & Technology Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Sandra Broadnax 

Elissa Sobolewski 

Federal Small Business Titan of the YEAR:

Kevin Boshears

KEYNOTE SPEAKER ANNOUNCED FOR MATCHMAKING SESSION

Les Rose is the Corporate Vice President & President of L3 National Security Solutions group. He also serves as the co-chair of the GTSC Mentor Forum. L-3 NSS' six operating units deliver full-spectrum cyber operations, enterprise and mission information technology, intelligence operations support and operational infrastructure solutions. Mr. Rose's career has spanned over 40 years of management and engineering. Upon completing a successful 20-year career as an officer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and as an Army pilot, Mr. Rose joined Delta Research Corporation, an L-3 legacy company in 1990. He was promoted to president of Delta Research, and through a series of acquisitions and promotions became president of L-3 STRATIS one of the largest division of the global defense leader. Today Mr. Rose serves as president of both L-3 STRATIS and L-3 NSS. Mr. Rose holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan.

GTSC MEGA MATCHMAKING

Are you a small business interested in teaming partners?  Do you work on:

• information technology
• identity management
• configuration management
• help desk.call center support
• warfighter support services
• C4ISR experience
• Maritime/Port security operations services
• Wireless Network technical support
• Health IT
• information security/information assurance
• IA support for validation testing
• logistics support
• networks services
• modeling and simulation
• training courseware capabilities
• Intelligence Community IT services 
• or other services?

Join us for an afternoon of new contacts, teaming and insight into new market areas.

TENTATIVE AGENDA - GTSC Small Business Mega-Matchmaking & The Mentor Awards

1:00 pm  Introduction 

1:15 - 4:15 pm  Matchmaking with GTSC Mentors and other large companies

4:30 pm  Small Business Government Panel

5:30 pm  The Mentor Awards program and reception

ALREADY CONFIRMED FOR MATCHMAKING:

AGILEX

ALION

CACI

EAGLE RAY

GDIT

GRANT THORNTON

HARRIS

L3 NSS

MOTOROLA	NTT DATA	TASC	AECOM
CSC

Save the date!

REGISTER

Join GTSC for an Insight Session with TSA's Kelly Hoggan, Assistant Administrator of Security Operations.  Tasked with assuring the security of all modes of transportation, including cargo placed abroad airplanes also carrying passengers, TSA is charged with 100% cargo screening.  TSA has achieved these mandates and screens 100% of cargo on 96% of the flights originating in the United States.  Eighty-five percent of passengers on flights originating in the U.S. are on planes where all of the cargo has been fully screened; 50% of air cargo on passenger carrying aircraft is screened.

Join us to hear more about the Office of Security Operations, their mission, accomplishments and challenges.  Mr. Hoggan will discuss their work with the air cargo community, TSA's multi-layered, high-tech, industry-cooperative approach, the agency's use of "strikes" and their screening of smaller airports.  He will also discuss the new air cargo regulations are also requiring 100,000 more background checks requiring more robust checks and visibility on shipping companies and their employees.  Learn more about Kelly Hoggan.

Save the date!

REGISTER

The Government Technology & Services Coalition is celebrating its 3rd Anniversary with our annual reception and awards.  Join us to honor our MVP's in the Federal government, network with colleagues and friends, and enjoy great food and music.  

NOMINATE AN MVP!

Last year the Coalition honored Charlie Armstrong, CBP for our Most Valuable Player Award.  We invite you to nominate someone you believe has made tremendous strides to help the nation achieve its homeland and national security mission (in DHS, DOD, ODNI, DOJ or State).  Please email us with your nomination with the following information:

Why do you believe this person is the MVO?

What tangible accomplishments has the person made/contributed that forwards the homeland security mission?

NOMINATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED UNTIL MAY 25!

Dear GTSC Community,

As CEO of the Security Industry Association (SIA), it's my pleasure to welcome Dr. Reginald Brothers, undersecretary of homeland security for science and technology, as a keynote speaker for the SIA Government Summit on June 3-4 at the W Hotel in Washington, D.C. Dr. Brothers is newly confirmed as undersecretary, so this is one of the first opportunities to hear about his R&D priorities. Join us for the SIA Government Summit!  

Hope to see you there,   

Don Erickson  

                           CLICK THE BANNER TO REGISTER FOR THE SIA GOVERNMENT SUMMIT

ASSESSING PERSISTENT AND EMERGING CYBER THREATS TO THE U.S. HOMELAND

Larry Zelvin, the Directory of the National Cybersecurity Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) testified on May 21 before the House Committee on Homeland Security, Joint Subcommittee in a hearing titled "Assessing Persistent and Emerging Cyber Security Threats to the U.S. Homeland". In his testimony, Director Zelvin spoke about efforts spearheaded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to assess persistent and emerging cyber threats to the U.S. Homeland. This includes threats such as "Heartbleed", Point of Sale (POS) compromises against private retailers, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against banking and financial sectors and cyber-attacks against the energy sector. In addition, DHS is making efforts to enhance the security of cyber infrastructure in the U.S.  DHS is enhancing the security of cyber infrastructure through several key programs. The Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program enables Federal agencies to identify network security issues, including unauthorized and unmanaged hardware and software, known vulnerabilities, weak configuration settings, and potential insider attacks. CDM also allows for agencies to prioritize responses and provides diagnostic sensors, tools and dashboards which provides increased situational awareness. The National Cybersecurity Protection System (NCPS), a key component of which is referred to as EINSTEIN, is an integrated intrusion detection, analysis, information sharing, and intrusion prevention system, utilizing hardware, software, and other components to support DHS's mandate to protect Federal civilian agency networks.  Heartbleed was a vulnerability exploited in the widely used OpenSSL encryption software servers which gave unauthorized users access to encrypted internet traffic. When NCCIC learned of the vulnerability, it released a warning and information to mitigate damage for the public and private companies. In addition, while partnering with the Department of Defense and Justice, as well as private sector partners, the NCCIC created a number of compromise detection signatures for the EINSTEIN system that was also shared with additional critical infrastructure partners. After scanning civilian agencies .gov websites and servers, DHS reached out to cyber professionals from all industries to compile information on damage control and mitigation of a future vulnerability.  For POS compromises DDoS attacks and attacks made against the energy sector, DHS has been releasing information to private industries and the general public on how to mitigate the effects of said attacks and measures to be taken to help prevent future attacks. DHS has gone as far as to scan and clean all government computers which may have been infected with botware, contributing to DDoS attacks against the banking and finance industries. >>READ the testimony

EXAMINING THE SECURITY OF FEDERAL FACILITIES 

The director of National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) Federal Protective Service (FPS), Eric L. Patterson testified on May 21 before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management in a hearing "Examining the Federal Protective Service: Are Federal Facilities Secure?" In light of recent security breaches at military bases and federal facilities, FPS has present training and physical security assessment practices before Congress and implementation of recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). 

VETERANS AFFAIRS AND SHINSEKI TESTIMONY

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been struggling with an overburdened system due to an increase in veterans requiring medical assistance. The VA has been doing everything it can to get through the backlogs of veterans waiting for claims and doctors' appointments. But not all of the VA offices have been operating on federal standards. A CNN article found that the Phoenix VA Health Care System (PVAHCS) has been accused of falsifying wait time records after 40 veterans died while waiting to see doctors. Top VA officials in this office implemented a system where public wait time records were falsified and used to show officials in Washington, DC that the office was improving its service to Veterans with low wait times. The records indicated VA office was experience wait times of 14 to 30 days, as is the accepted timeframe for the VA but in reality; a secret waiting list was created where veterans were forced to wait up to 14 to 16 months to see a doctor. This secret list was known only to higher ups in the PVAHCS but once a veteran was within 14 days of a wait time, he/she was taken off the secret list and placed on the public one, creating the illusion of short wait times in at the system. This illegal system resulted with 40 veterans dying before they were ever able to receive medical treatment from the VA.

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Hon. Eric Shinseki was brought before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs to answer to this illegal activity. In his testimony, Shinseki stated that top officials at the PVAHCS have been placed on administrative leave while an investigation is carried out by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). Once OIG has completed its investigation, the findings will be reported to Congress and the general public. In addition, the Secretary assured Senate members that the VA was doing everything it could to deliver acceptable treatments at increased speeds across the country. The VA has expanded its fleet of mobile VA clinics which treat veterans in rural areas, it has increased research and treatment practices of veterans with mental health issues and homelessness. The Secretary stated that overall; the VA receives high marks in patient satisfaction. He continued to admit that, VA practices were not perfect and that there is always room for improvement. >>READ the testimony

UPDATE ON DOD'S EFFORTS TO IMPLEMENT A COMMON CONTRACTOR MANPOWER DATA SYSTEM

 DOD is the federal government's largest purchaser of contractor-provided services. It relies on contractors to perform functions as varied as professional and management support, information technology support, medical services, and weapon system and intelligence support. DOD reported about $187 billion in obligations for service contracts in fiscal year 2012. To help provide better insight into the number of contractor full-time equivalents (FTE) providing services to the department, Congress requires DOD to establish a data collection system and to annually compile, and for the military services and defense agencies to review an inventory of services contracted for or on behalf of DOD during the preceding fiscal year. Congress has also directed DOD to develop a data collection system that captures direct labor hours, among other things. DOD's offices of the Comptroller, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, and the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness share responsibility for issuing guidance for these efforts. Congress has mandated GAO to report on DOD's contractor inventory submissions for fiscal years 2011 through 2015. This report addresses the status of DOD's efforts to implement a department-wide contractor manpower data collection system.

Thirty-two DOD components submitted inventories for fiscal year 2012, collectively reporting an estimated 670,000 contractor FTEs providing services to DOD with obligations totaling about $129 billion. Since our May 2013 report, DOD has taken additional steps to implement its November 2011 plan to collect contractor manpower data via a department-wide solution, but various challenges may hinder DOD's efforts to having a common system and associated processes fully in place to support its fiscal year 2016 inventory. In October 2013, DOD fielded a system based on the Army's Contractor Manpower Reporting Application (CMRA) system, to support the DOD components as it had previously done for the Air Force and Navy. Each of the four CMRA systems is independent, maintaining its own interface, but all are accessible via a common webpage. DOD is weighing options on how to further refine the current CMRA configuration. These options include maintaining the four independent CMRA systems or developing a single, unified system. Further, DOD is determining the business processes and rules needed to standardize the department's approach to collecting and using inventory data. DOD officials noted that a key factor hindering resolution of these issues has been the lack of dedicated resources to develop and implement a common system and associated business rules.  In March 2014, DOD approved plans to establish an office to support these implementation efforts, but the office's roles and responsibilities and how it will be staffed have not yet been fully determined.  

GAO is not making any recommendations at this time but continues to believe that its 2011 recommendation that DOD develop a plan of action with timeframes and necessary resources continues to have merit and should be fully implemented. Such a plan would help facilitate the department's stated intent of implementing a common data system and using contractor manpower data as part of workforce planning and budgeting decisions to the department. >>READ the report

ARMY RELEASES DRAFT REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR RIFLEMAN RADIO

The Army announced on May 21st it is holding a full and open competition in the hopes of procuring more Rifleman Radios. This will effectively create a small competitive market for the Army to explore numerous radio models and designs, allowing it to pick the one(s) which best fit the needs of its rifleman. The Army intends to award indefinite orders and quantity of radios purchased and allow for several vendors to compete for the orders. The orders will take place over the next five years with an optional five year extension. This optional extension gives the Army and escape route in the event that the technology behind radios becomes much more advanced than what is currently available today. This could save taxpayers millions of dollars and keep U.S. soldiers in the field with the most technologically advanced equipment. The Army is hosting an industry day on May, 27 to gain more feedback on the radios and process before making a final decision. The Army anticipates that the award will given out in FY 2015. >>READ the article

HOUSE PASSES DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR 2015

The House of Representatives has approved the National Defense Authorization Act for 2015 which caps contract spending, suspends more rounds of Base Realignment and Closures (BRAC) and forces the Department of Defense (DOD) to insource certain jobs and duties.

DOD requested another BRAC round set for 2017, however, the House rejected this provision. A C4ISR & Networks article states "the extension of a cap on contract spending at DOD is necessary to make sure the Defense Department does not just shift work from civilian employees to contractors as it works to reduce costs and reorganize its workforce". Other provisions and amendments to the bill include a prohibition for DOD purchases of biofuels except for testing and research purposes, a rule forcing the DOD to study which of its workforce, military, civilian or contractor is the most cost effective for non-critical missions and a pilot program which allows whistleblowers to appeal cases from the Merit Systems protection Board to any circuit court, not just the federal circuit courts for another three years. >>READ more

DIA DIRECTOR, DEPUTY TO STEP DOWN

The Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and the Deputy Director, David Shedd announced their retirement from the agency in an email to personnel of April 30. Flynn has been the Director of DIA since July of 2012 while Shedd joined the agency as deputy director in August of 2010. A C4ISR & Networks article suggests that the retirement of Flynn was a result of his being vocal about initiating change in the agency in order to increase innovation and the integration of personnel and capabilities within the intelligence community. >>READ more

DIA NAMES DOUG WISE, A FORMER CIA OFFICIAL, AS ITS DEPUTY DIRECTOR

The Deputy of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn announced that Doug Wise will replace David Shedd as the Deputy Director effective August of 2014. A C4ISR & Networks articles reports "After being commissioned from West Point, Wise served as an active duty infantry officer in the Army and graduated from the Army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He earned master's degrees from the Dartmouth College School of Arts and Sciences and from the Thayer School of Engineering, and completed a post-graduate fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Wise also did a tour of duty in the Pentagon with the then-classified National Reconnaissance Office.  >>READ more 

PROCESS TO TRACK RESPONSES TO CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE CAN BE IMPROVED

The Department of State (State) receives about 2,200 pieces of correspondence each year from members of Congress seeking information. GAO was asked to review State's procedures for responding to requests for information. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined (1) State's process for responding to congressional correspondence and (2) the extent to which State tracks the timeliness of its responses to congressional correspondence. To do so, GAO reviewed information on 4,804 pieces of correspondence that State indicated it had received and responded to between April 2011-when State said the Bureau of Legislative Affairs (the Bureau) began to track State's response letters-and June 2013. GAO also interviewed cognizant State officials.

State did not track key information on the timeliness of nearly half of its responses to congressional correspondence. State's timeliness goal is to provide the member, within 21 business days of receiving his or her correspondence, with either a response letter or an interim acknowledgment informing the member of the delay. State tracked the time it took to respond and also met its timeliness goal in 2,524 (53 percent) of the 4,804 cases that GAO reviewed. However, State did not track the timeliness of its responses in 1,544 (32 percent) of the cases GAO reviewed because the bureau tasked with mailing the response directly to constituents and members did not notify the Bureau when it did so, as required by State policy. In addition, because the Bureau did not systematically track State's interim acknowledgments in cases that took more than 21 days, GAO could not determine whether State actually sent such acknowledgments in 736 (15 percent) of the cases GAO reviewed where the response time exceeded 21 days. Because its database lacks accurate and complete data, State is not in a position to identify elements of the process that may be most prone to delays and therefore cannot develop strategies to improve the timeliness of its response letters.

GAO recommends that State (1) take steps to ensure that all response letters, including those tasked to bureaus to reply directly to constituents and members, are tracked; and (2) ensure that if and when interim acknowledgments to members of Congress are provided, they are tracked. State agreed with GAO's recommendations and said it would begin to implement them immediately. >>READ the report

HELPING THE NAVY ADDRESS THE RISING TIDE OF SENSOR INFORMATION   U.S. Navy intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) functions have become critical to U.S. national security. Within the Navy, there is a growing demand for ISR data from drones and other sources that provide situational awareness, which helps Navy vessels avoid collisions, pinpoint targets, and perform a host of other mission-critical tasks.

The RAND Corporation, a non-profit institution that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis, has found that the amount of data generated by ISR systems has become overwhelming. Processing and deriving useful knowledge from the data are severely taxing the analytical capabilities of the Navy's humans and networks. This "big data" challenge will only continue to grow. RAND predicts that if the Navy continues to field sensors as planned but does not change the way it processes, exploits, and disseminates information, it will reach an ISR "tipping point"-the point at which intelligence analysts are no longer able to complete a minimum number of exploitation tasks within given time constraints-as soon as 2016. Today, as little as 5 percent of the data collected by ISR platforms actually reach the Navy analysts who need to see them. Getting at the data is complicated; so much time is spent finding the data that there is little time to analyze it.

One option to prevent analysts from become overloaded with work is to adopt a regional or global tasking model that automatically assigns tasks based on who is available. However, a true solution must encompass changes in all the following spheres: people; tools and technology; data and data architectures; demand and demand management.

COMPETES: HOW PRIZE-INCENTIVES HELP GOVERNMENT INNOVATE

Under the America COMPETES Reauthorization Action of 2011, all agencies are granted broad authority to conduct prize competitions to spur innovation, solve tough problems, and advance their core mission.

A report from the office of Science and Technology Policy, details examples of how, under the right circumstances, well-designed prizes, integrated into a broader innovation strategy, have enabled Federal agencies to: 1) Pay only for success and establish an ambitious goal without having to predict which team or approach is most likely to succeed; 2) Reach beyond the "usual suspects" to increase the number of solvers tackling a problem and to identify novel approaches, without bearing high-levels of risk; 3) Bring out-of-discipline perspectives to bear; and 4) Increase cost-effectiveness to maximize the return on taxpayer dollars.

In September 2010, the Administration launched Challenge.gov, a one-stop shop where entrepreneurs and citizen solvers can find public-sector prizes. By September 2013, Challenge.gov had featured more than 280 competitions from over 45 Federal agencies, departments, and bureaus. The prize authority provided by COMPETES supports this effort. By giving agencies a clear legal path, the legislation has made it dramatically easier for agencies to use prizes, subject to the availability of appropriations or other allowed sources of funds. By significantly expanding the authority of all Federal agencies to conduct prize competitions, the legislation enables agencies to pursue more ambitious prizes with robust incentives.

SURVEY: ABUSE OF NETWORK ACCESS PRIVILEGES IS RAMPANT

A study from Ponemon Institute, an organization that measure trust in privacy and security, found that agencies are more concerned about insiders leaking citizens' and partner organizations' information than their own general business information, said an Nextgov. Meanwhile, the commercial sector cares more about inappropriate disclosures of business data than customer data.

Commercial firms "probably feel it's kind of more important that they need to protect their stuff versus customers," said Michael Crouse, director of insider threat strategies for Raytheon Company, which commissioned Ponemon to conduct the study.  Whereas, "the government, which kind of sees their customers' information as what they have to protect," feels that client data is most unprotected, he said. "It's kind of an interesting inversion."

Across the board, most (88 percent) of participants recognized that the abuse of IT access privileges is a cause for alarm. "But less than half that number, around 44 percent in the government, feel that they have a dedicated budget for investing in these technologies, investing in processes and procedures, to reduce the threat of the insider," Crouse said. Determining what to invest in is part of the challenge. Many analysts say more resources must be devoted to checking up on employees' behaviors, rather than just network security. Leaders need to have auditing mechanisms in place to ensure an employee's "sense of empowerment won't do damage to the organization," Crouse said.

Some former U.S. national security IT officials say the government doesn't need to start from scratch on a behavior surveillance system to stop rogue employees.  "It's not new technology -- it's a matter of making it more encompassing, making it more scalable, making it faster" at searching for signs of changes in conduct, Dale Meyerrose, the first chief information officer of the intelligence community under the Director of National Intelligence. "A lot of it is the same infrastructure, the same sensors, the same networking technology." >>READ more

UPDATED FISMA GUIDANCE

Update on Three FISMA Publications Ongoing Authorization Supplemental Guidance, SP 800-37, Rev 1 (Errata), SP 800-53A Rev 4 (IPD)

To view the full announcement of the updates to the 3 FISMA publications >>READ here

NIST Computer Security Division: 2 Revised Draft PIV Special Publications Released For Public Comment     

The request for comment on Revised (second) Draft Special Publication 800-78-4, Cryptographic Algorithms and Key Sizes for Personal Identity Verification can be found  HERE

Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives  

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

B. Todd Jones was sworn in as the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on Aug. 29, 2013. He became the first ATF Director to receive Senate confirmation on July 31, 2013. The ATF Director is responsible for the unique law enforcement agency within the U.S. Department of Justice with the responsibility for enforcing firearms and explosives laws that protect communities from violent criminals and criminal organizations.

Jones was nominated for the position of ATF Director, on Jan. 24, 2013 by President Barack Obama. Prior to becoming ATF's permanent Director, Jones served as the acting ATF Director starting Aug. 31, 2011.

While serving as the acting Director of ATF, Jones was also the U. S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, a post he held since Aug. 7, 2009. Jones served as both ATF acting Director and U.S. Attorney until his confirmation as ATF Director.

Prior to becoming U.S. Attorney in 2009, Jones was a partner with a major national law firm in Minneapolis, where his practice focused on complex business litigation. He represented a number of organizations and individuals in criminal and civil regulatory matters. Jones is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He also has served as special counsel to various boards of public and privately held companies. In that capacity, he led internal investigations and provided guidance on compliance and governance issues.

Jones has held the position of U. S. Attorney twice in his career. President Clinton first appointed him in 1998, and he served until January 2001. Earlier in his career, Jones also was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Minnesota. During his initial tenure as a federal prosecutor, he conducted grand jury investigations and was the lead trial lawyer in a number of federal prosecutions that involved drug trafficking, financial fraud, firearms, and violent crime.

Jones received his Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1983 and his B.A. from Macalester College in 1979. Following admission to the Minnesota bar, he went on active duty in the United States Marine Corps, where he was an infantry officer with the First Marine Division and, subsequently, both a trial defense counsel and prosecutor in a number of court martial proceedings. In 1989, he left active duty and returned to Minnesota with his family. He was recalled to active duty in 1991, during Operation Desert Storm and was stationed at Camp Pendleton California until the cessation of hostilities. >>READ More