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DOE Eyes Cybersecurity Training Effort for Nontechnical Energy Personnel
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DOE Eyes Cybersecurity Training Effort for Nontechnical Energy Personnel
DOE Eyes Cybersecurity Training Effort for Nontechnical Energy Personnel

The Department of Energy plans to expand three of its cybersecurity education initiatives and train up to 2,000 technical and nontechnical personnel in the energy sector, Fifth Domain reported Monday.

DOE intends to invest in its cyber engineering program at the Idaho National Labs focused on training operators on defending energy systems against nation-state threats targeting the supply chain and relevant networks. DOE also wants to provide access to data from its “CyberForce” national cybersecurity competition held last year.

“We have to find better ways to understand and close that skills gap in operational technology,” said Sean Plankey, principal deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity, energy, security and emergency response at DOE, during the RSA Public Sector Day 2020.

Plankey’s announcement comes after the Office of Management and Budget established a reskilling academy for federal cyber personnel.

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NSA Continues Academic Engagement Program
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NSA Continues Academic Engagement Program
NSA Continues Academic Engagement Program

The National Security Agency has renewed an effort to bolster its scientific and technical workforce through partnerships with academia. NSA said Monday that it invites colleges to take part in the OnRamp II program that offers scholarships, internships and cybersecurity research opportunities to students.

OnRamp II seeks to engage science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students who come from underrepresented communities. The program would also grant faculty members the opportunity to rest and take a break from teaching. 

“We are really excited about this new chance to partner with colleges and universities and to provide opportunities benefitting students, faculty, the institutions, as well as NSA,” said Kathy Hutson, the agency's senior strategist for academic engagement.

OnRamp II follows the program's first run that began in 2009. The initial run provided academic, financial and career support to participants. The agency will select up to four schools for OnRamp II's first year. Interested universities and colleges may submit proposals through April 10.

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HII Finishes Delbert D. Black Ship Builder’s Tests
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HII Finishes Delbert D. Black Ship Builder’s Tests
HII Finishes Delbert D. Black Ship Builder's Tests

Huntington Ingalls Industries has concluded builder's trials of the future USS Delbert D. Black, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer.

The company's Ingalls Shipbuilding Division held the trials last week in the Gulf of Mexico over three days, following Alpha trials that took place in December, the U.S. Navy said Monday.

“The Navy and our dedicated shipbuilders have continued to make strides towards delivering this exceptional capability to the fleet, and performed well during builder’s trials,” said Capt. Seth Miller, who manages the Arleigh Burke ship class program.

Flight IIA destroyers, such as Delbert D. Black, are designed to support coastal, littoral and open ocean operations via power projection, escort and forward presence functions.

The Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey will subject the ship to acceptance trials next month.

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TSA Bans Employee Use of TikTok App
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TSA Bans Employee Use of TikTok App
TSA Bans Employee Use of TikTok App

The Transportation Security Administration has banned its employees from using the video and social media app TikTok, The Hill reported Monday.

TSA joins other federal entities like the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Army and Department of the Navy that banned TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese firm called ByteDance. In December, the Department of Defense issued a guidance detailing security risks associated with the app.

Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., recently wrote to TSA Administrator David Pekoske calling for action on employee use of TikTok due to “security and privacy concerns”. The letter urged Pekoske to address TikTok’s potential access to sensitive U.S. information.

Schumer additionally cited instances of TSA employees using TikTok on personal devices to drive social media presence for the agency. A TSA spokesperson said the practice “has since been discontinued”.

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Army Employs Digital Methods to Recruit Younger Troops
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Army Employs Digital Methods to Recruit Younger Troops
Army Employs Digital Methods to Recruit Younger Troops

The U.S. Army placed its recruitment focus on younger individuals and has now exceeded the enlistment record of last year's first quarter through the use of digital methods. The service branch said Monday that it employed digital advertising, esports events and virtual recruiting methods to engage younger potential soldiers.

Maj. Gen. Frank Muth, who leads Army Recruiting Command, said the digital recruiting approach allowed the service branch to beat 2019 Q1's record by almost 2,300 successful applications.

"This year we are on track to exceed anything we did last year," Muth told reporters.

Army Recruiting Command established 43 virtual recruiting facilities in 2019 to attract individuals via messaging and social media. The Army also trains recruiters to personally meet potential applicants across the U.S., in addition to digital approaches. The Army aims to have a total of 485,000 active-duty warfighters by the end of the fiscal year in September.

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NASA Releases Tech Licensing Solicitations for Biomedical, Health Capabilities
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NASA Releases Tech Licensing Solicitations for Biomedical, Health Capabilities
NASA Releases Tech Licensing Solicitations for Biomedical, Health Capabilities

NASA has issued solicitations for three Technology Transfer Program opportunities that will allow commercial entities to license the agency’s capabilities to benefit the general public, Nextgov reported Monday.

NASA offers a patent opportunity for a heart signal detection platform that may provide identification and biometric capabilities to verify a person's identity. According to the HeartbeatID solicitation, users can use the technology to record cardiac muscle movement.

The second technology is called the Portable Unit for Metabolic Analysis, which offers a wearable platform that provides “highly precise real-time measurements of human metabolic functions” such as heart rate, temperature and inhalation and exhalation airflow.

The agency also offers licensing opportunities for the Subcutaneous Structure Imager technology, which is a compact below-the-skin capability that helps visualize veins and other vascular structures in juvenile, elderly, dark-skinned, obese and other “challenging patient populations”.

Other NASA technologies up for licensing include human tissue modeling platforms and biochemical sensors suitable for diagnostics.

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John Mengucci, President and CEO of CACI, Receives First Wash100 Award From Jim Garrettson, CEO of Executive Mosaic
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John Mengucci, President and CEO of CACI, Receives First Wash100 Award From Jim Garrettson, CEO of Executive Mosaic
John Mengucci, President and CEO of CACI, Receives First Wash100 Award From Jim Garrettson, CEO of Executive Mosaic

Jim Garrettson, founder and CEO of Executive Mosaic, presented John Mengucci, president and CEO of CACI International, his first Wash100 Award as a part of the 2020 selection on Friday. 

Executive Mosaic recognizes Mengucci for growing the company’s revenue through valuable contract awards and tactful acquisitions, which has continued to advance the company’s influence in the sector.Mengucci was appointed to his current role in June 2019, succeeding six-time Wash100 Award winner Ken Asbury. 

Since joining the company, Mengucci has led CACI through multiple contract awards, which has cemented the company’s influence within the federal government. 

Most notably, Mengucci helped CACI secure a $1.9 billion contract from U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Nov. 2019. CACI will continue its efforts to modernize the mission-critical systems throughout the year.  

Mengucci also supervised multimillion-dollar contracts to support a range of military missions. In Nov. 2019, CACI secured a potential five-year, $907 million task order to assist U.S. Army personnel’s analysis and management of intelligence that will be used to support the service branch's missions in Afghanistan.

Mengucci will oversee CACI’s implementation of SAFE Agile practices to help AFRL enhance information security and execute new approaches to analyze, access and disseminate data across intelligence community and Air Force domains. The company will also provide support in other areas such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, signals and geospatial intelligence.

Under Mengucci’s lead, the company has utilized its influence and increased revenue for philanthropic initiatives. Mengucci has funded students in their future career. CACI announced in Nov. 2019 that the company has worked to support students through the Ken Asbury Mentorship Program. CACI continues to help students connect with industry professionals and offers internship support for successful candidates.

Executive Mosaic congratulates CACI and John Mengucci for his 2020 Wash100 Award selection. Because of his efforts to advance CACI’s influence in the GovCon sector through major contract awards with various service branches, multiple acquisitions, and humanitarian efforts, proves that Mengucci is a significant figure in the industry. 

About Wash100 

The Wash100 Award, now in its seventh year, recognizes the most influential executives in the GovCon industry as selected by the Executive Mosaic team in tandem with online nominations from the GovCon community. Representing the best of the private and public sector, the winners demonstrate superior leadership, innovation, reliability, achievement and vision.

Visit the Wash100 site to learn about the other 99 winners of the 2020 Wash100 Award. On the site, you can submit your 10 votes for the GovCon executives of consequence that you believe will have the most significant impact in 2020.
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McAleese to Host 11th Defense Programs Conference
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McAleese to Host 11th Defense Programs Conference
McAleese to Host 11th Defense Programs Conference

McAleese & Associates will host its 11th conference on defense programs, March 4, at the Atrium Ballroom of the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. The upcoming event's program has been structured for defense investors, senior industry leaders, congressional staff and Department of Defense officials.

Click here to register and view the list of confirmed speakers.

Jim McAleese, a three-time Wash100 inductee, established his company in 1992 to offer consulting and legal services to government contracting firms.
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Iridium Announces 2019 Financial Results, 2020 Outlook; Matt Desch, 2020 Wash100 Award Recipient, Quoted
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Iridium Announces 2019 Financial Results, 2020 Outlook; Matt Desch, 2020 Wash100 Award Recipient, Quoted
Matt Desch
Matt Desch

Iridium Communications has reported financial results for the fourth quarter of 2019 and issued its full-year 2020 guidance on Tuesday.

"2019 was a transformational year for Iridium with the completion of our constellation and the launch of our new Iridium Certus broadband service. These milestones support a new era of technological innovation and growth, and also signal the long-awaited move from capital spending to a sustained period of positive cash flow," said Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium and 2020 Wash 100 Award recipient

Net loss was $107.9 million, or $0.82 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2019, as compared to net loss of $7.6 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2018. The increase is in the result of debt extinguishment costs associated with Iridium's refinancing, as well as higher interest expense, depreciation and amortization expense related to the completion of the Iridium NEXT program. 

Operational EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $80.1 million, as compared to $75.5 million for the prior-year period, representing a year-over-year increase of 6 percent. Commercial service remained the largest part of Iridium's business, representing 64% of the Company's total revenue during the fourth quarter. 

Commercial service revenue was $88.6 million, up 4% from last year's comparable period due primarily to increased revenues from IoT and voice and data services. Government service revenue was $25.0 million and reflected increased revenue from the Company's new EMSS contract with the U.S. government signed in September 2019.

Equipment revenue was $17.1 million during the fourth quarter, down 15% from the prior-year period. This was consistent with the Company's guidance. Engineering and support revenue was $8.3 million during the fourth quarter, up 73% from the prior-year quarter, primarily due to an increase in the volume of contracted work to enable services for the U.S. government.

The company issued its full-year 2020 outlook and reiterated other elements of long-term guidance, including the projected total service revenue growth between 6% and 8% for full-year 2020. Full-year 2020 OEBITDA between $355 million and $365 million. OEBITDA for 2019 was $331.7 million.

Negligible cash taxes in 2020. Cash taxes are expected to be negligible through approximately 2023. Net leverage of approximately 4.0 times OEBITDA at the end of 2020. Net leverage was 4.8 times OEBITDA at December 31, 2019.

About Iridium Communications Inc.

Iridium® is the only mobile voice and data satellite communications network that spans the entire globe.  Iridium enables connections between people, organizations and assets to and from anywhere, in real time. Together with its ecosystem of partner companies, Iridium delivers an innovative and rich portfolio of reliable solutions for markets that require truly global communications.  

In 2019, the company completed a generational upgrade of its satellite network and launched its new specialty broadband service, Iridium Certus.  Iridium Communications Inc. is headquartered in McLean, Va., U.S.A., and its common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol IRDM. 

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Booz Allen Hamilton Joins Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program to Provide Cloud Services to Federal Agencies; Osama Malik, Shannon Sullivan Quoted
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Booz Allen Hamilton Joins Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program to Provide Cloud Services to Federal Agencies; Osama Malik, Shannon Sullivan Quoted

Booz Allen Hamilton Joins Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program to Provide Cloud Services to Federal Agencies; Osama Malik, Shannon Sullivan Quoted

Booz Allen Hamilton has joined the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program to improve its cloud services and infrastructure and offer federal customers a suite of cloud-enabled capabilities, the company announced on Tuesday.

“Google Cloud bring[s] the federal government the best technologies to enhance their IT modernization efforts,” said Osama Malik, principal of digital strategy and management at Booz Allen. “Our focus on enhancing the citizen experience through digital platforms, analytics, and search will continue to expand through joining Google’s Cloud Partner Advantage program.”

Booz Allen will utilize its understanding of the federal certification process and clients’ missions to integrate Google Cloud’s infrastructure, analytics and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) capabilities. Through the partnership, Booz Allen will gain access to resources, prototypes and training opportunities.

Booz Allen will also be able to share feedback and insights about implementing Google Cloud services in a complex and sensitive government environment. The partnership marks that the firm has now achieved a high level of expertise and proficiency in Google Cloud capabilities.

The company will market its new capabilities to the Federal Government. The firm has already begun leveraging Google Cloud’s cloud platform offerings to meet client missions. Recently Booz Allen utilized Google-based chatbots and AI to enhance the digital citizen experience for Recreation.gov.

In addition, the company announced that it was able to employ Google Cloud to create analytics solutions for clients like USPS and others. The firm also values the cybersecurity tools that Google Cloud offers and Booz Allen plans to expand its capabilities using these tools in the future.

“We’re thrilled to now have Booz Allen as part of our Partner Advantage program,” said Shannon Sullivan, director of federal, Google Cloud. “Citizens expect more personalized experiences from federal agencies across the web, mobile apps, and over the phone. We’re excited to work with Booz Allen to offer solutions that empower agencies to better serve their constituents—and drive true mission success.”

About Booz Allen Hamilton

For more than 100 years, business, government, and military leaders have turned to Booz Allen Hamilton to solve their most complex problems. As a consulting firm with experts in analytics, digital, engineering and cyber, we help organizations transform. We are a key partner on some of the most innovative programs for governments worldwide and trusted by the most sensitive agencies.

We work shoulder to shoulder with clients, using a mission-first approach to choose the right strategy and technology to help them realize their vision. With global headquarters in McLean, Virginia, our firm employs nearly 27,000 people globally, and had revenue of $6.70 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, 2019.

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