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GSA Issues Resource Guide for Federal Generative AI Tech Acquisition
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GSA Issues Resource Guide for Federal Generative AI Tech Acquisition

The General Services Administration has issued a resource guide to help federal acquisition professionals as they procure generative artificial intelligence and related technology platforms.

GSA said Monday the release of the Generative AI and Specialized Computing Infrastructure Acquisition Resource Guide comes as the current administration marks the first 180 days of its AI executive order.

The document outlines key considerations to advance the responsible procurement of generative AI tools and includes questions that contracting professionals should ask to make informed decisions when it comes to AI tech procurement.

“This new guide lays out the common challenges, use cases, and other helpful information to support government as it navigates the growing AI marketplace and starts to leverage the power of AI to better deliver for the American people,” said GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan.

The resource guide cites generative AI examples in the federal government, addresses considerations for managing and protecting data and includes recommendations on how to use sandboxes and testbeds before committing to large-scale procurement.

Laura Stanton, assistant commissioner for the Office of Information Technology Category within GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said the guide will be updated as generative AI continues to evolve.

“Contracting officers will play a critical role by working closely with program and IT staff to find, source, acquire and make secure the right generative AI solutions for agencies’ needs. This guide is a start to help the acquisition community enable their agencies to responsibly harness the power of this promising technology and better serve the American people,” added Stanton.

SBA: Federal Government Awarded 28% of FY23 Contracting Dollars to Small Businesses
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SBA: Federal Government Awarded 28% of FY23 Contracting Dollars to Small Businesses

The Small Business Administration found that the federal government exceeded the small business contracting goal of 23 percent in fiscal year 2023 by awarding a record high of $178.6 billion, or 28.4 percent of total contracting dollars, to small enterprises.

SBA said Monday federal contract dollars awarded to small businesses reflect an increase of $15.7 billion from FY 2022, when small companies secured $162.9 billion in contract awards.

According to the FY 2023 Federal Procurement Scorecard, a dozen agencies earned an “A” grade and 10 federal agencies secured an “A+” grade, including SBA, General Services Administration and the departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security and Commerce.

Federal agencies awarded $86.4 billion to small business subcontractors, achieving their subcontracting goal.

The agencies also exceeded contracting targets for small disadvantaged and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, which are set at 12 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

The federal government awarded 12.1 percent or $76.2 billion of contract funds to small disadvantaged businesses and 5.1 percent to service-disabled veteran-owned small enterprises.

Women-owned small businesses were awarded $30.9 billion in FY 2023 federal contract awards and HUBZone small companies secured $17.5 billion in contracting dollars.

“Through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we have championed initiatives to fuel the nation’s economy – ensuring competition and a level playing field so that small businesses can access the historic level of investments through federal contracting,” said SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman.

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DAF Requests Information on Potential $88M MOSES II Contract
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DAF Requests Information on Potential $88M MOSES II Contract

The Department of the Air Force. has begun seeking information on a potential seven-year, $88 million contract to provide operations and maintenance and research and development support services to the Air Force Technical Application Center, or AFTAC.

The Modeling, Software, and Engineering Support II contract covers technical services to support AFTAC’s nuclear treaty monitoring mission and R&D activities for advanced nuclear projects, according to a notice posted Saturday on SAM.gov.

O&M tasks under the MOSES II contract include the maintenance and sustainment of contract software across multiple AFTAC enterprise information infrastructures and enhancements to existing systems, modeling applications and databases.

R&D activities will cover model development, environmental chemistry modeling, statistical algorithms and advanced analytic methods, special tasking and scientific support.

Responses are due May 10.

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BAE Systems Wins $92M Navy Contract for LSD 50 Dock Landing Ship Maintenance Support
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BAE Systems Wins $92M Navy Contract for LSD 50 Dock Landing Ship Maintenance Support

BAE Systems has secured a potential $92.3 million firm-fixed-price contract action from the U.S. Navy to provide modernization, repair and maintenance support services for the USS Carter Hall (LSD 50), a Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship.

Naval Sea Systems Command launched a full and open competition and received three offers for the USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) fiscal 2024 docking selected restricted availability, the Department of Defense said Monday.

BAE Systems’ Norfolk Ship Repair business will perform work in Norfolk, Virginia, through May 2025. It will provide all labor, equipment, production, supervision, testing, facilities and quality assurance support to meet the Chief of Naval Operations availability.

The contract has a base value of approximately $87.3 million.

Video: Doug Wagoner Explains LMI’s Strategic Pivot
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Video: Doug Wagoner Explains LMI’s Strategic Pivot

In 2022, LMI underwent a significant organizational shift as it entered the for-profit arena after six decades as a federally funded research and development center. In a new video interview, Executive Mosaic spoke with LMI CEO Doug Wagoner, a five-time Wash100 Award winner, to learn more about the company’s growth strategy, M&A opportunities and core values as LMI taps into its next phase of expansion.

According to Wagoner, LMI’s core values are built on the foundation of the company’s 60-year history as a not-for-profit organization. And today, those core values are still a guiding beacon for LMI as it moves into the for-profit space.

“Our mission focus, how we treat our people, high ethical standards — when you’re a non-profit, those are even more critical. And we continued that cultural identity as we went for-profit in 2022,” Wagoner shared with Executive Mosaic’s Summer Myatt. 

“A core reason why people come to work for LMI, why we enjoy a very low turnover rate, is that we do talk about those cultural elements. The management team reinforces those cultural elements. It’s just not something that we throw on the website. It is something that all of us take very seriously because we spend the public’s money and that’s a high bar for integrity and transparency. We take that very seriously,” Wagoner shared.

Wagoner went on to discuss the rise of artificial intelligence tools and technologies — including LMI’s own AI offering, LIGER — and the company’s expansion into the space market. 

He also revealed insights into LMI’s M&A outlook for 2024 as the company seeks to achieve greater penetration into the intelligence market. 

Watch Doug Wagoner’s full video interview for the latest insights from the leaders of GovCon. 

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DOE Seeks Stakeholder Insights to Improve Clean Energy Supply Chain
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DOE Seeks Stakeholder Insights to Improve Clean Energy Supply Chain

The Department of Energy Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains is seeking input from industry, academia and researchers regarding clean energy supply chain data and methods of analysis and has issued a request for information for the effort.

MESC said Friday that it will use the information it gathers to develop a heatmap that will inform opportunities for investment across clean energy supply chains. This assessment of investment opportunities is meant to serve as a follow-on to an analysis featured in the 2023 Supply Chain Progress Report.

Feedback will also be used to improve MESC’s supply chain analysis and respondents can use the opportunity to highlight gaps and other challenges affecting the supply chain for clean energy technologies.

Interested parties have until June 10 to submit responses.

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SpaceX Conducts Capability Demo as Part of In-Space Refueling Technology Development
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SpaceX Conducts Capability Demo as Part of In-Space Refueling Technology Development

According to Amit Kshatriya, deputy associate administrator for the Moon to Mars Program at NASA, SpaceX conducted a test on March 14 to demonstrate its ability to transfer propellant between tanks aboard Starship while in flight, SpaceNews reported Saturday.

Kshatriya told the Human Exploration and Operations Committee of the NASA Advisory Council on April 26 that the demonstration, which involved a planned transfer of at least 10 metric tons of liquid oxygen from a header tank within Starship’s upper stage onto its main tank, “was successful by all accounts.”

The demo, which SpaceX carried out under the terms of a NASA contract awarded in 2020, is part of a broader effort to develop technologies that would enable the refueling of Starship while in space, a capability that is crucial to future manned lunar missions using the spacecraft.

The next step in the effort will involve two Starships docking while in orbit, during which one will transfer propellant to the other. That demo is scheduled for 2025.

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GovCon Index Recorded Significant Growth Last Week
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GovCon Index Recorded Significant Growth Last Week

GovCon Index continued its upward trend last week with a 1.90% increase that lifted the average to $4,879.91.

GovCon Index is an aggregate index that tracks and presents real-time stock market data from 30 publicly traded government contracting companies. This information enables users to evaluate the performance of each individual entity while following key financial trends in the GovCon market.

With a notable 9.10% rise, Palantir landed the top spot in the ranks last week. CACI, which grew by 8.77%, followed closely behind, and AeroVironment (+5.10%) finished in third. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and BAE Systems, which both rose by 4.15%, tied for fourth place.

GovCon Index grew every day last week except for Wednesday, when it dipped by 0.56%. The highest growth day was Tuesday, when GovCon Index increased by 0.91%.

Check out last week’s market reports to get a closer look at daily GovCon Index performance. To view the full list of tracked companies, click here.

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Navy Lays Keel for 6th Expeditionary Sea Base Ship
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Navy Lays Keel for 6th Expeditionary Sea Base Ship

The U.S. Navy has laid the keel for its sixth expeditionary sea base vessel named after Hector Cafferata Jr., a Korean war veteran and a Medal of Honor recipient.

The keel authentication ceremony for the future USNS Hector A. Cafferata Jr. (ESB 8) was held at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego, California, and was attended by the namesake’s daughter, Heather Cafferata, and granddaughter, Jessica Cafferata, as the ship sponsors, the Navy said Thursday.

ESB 8 will join the Navy’s fleet of mobile sea-based platforms that help deploy forces, supplies and equipment in support of aviation mine countermeasures and special operations force duties.

“We are honored that the late Hector A. Cafferata’s Jr.’s legacy will live on through this ship, and the keel laying is a first step of many milestones to come for this ship,” said Tim Roberts, strategic and theater sealift program manager within the Navy Program Executive Office Ships. “ESBs provide a critical capability to the fleet and provide increased flexibility to our Sailors and Marines.”

Construction of the Navy’s future USNS Robert E. Simanek (ESB 7) is also underway at General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard.

Space Systems Command Delivers FORGE Framework to OPIR Battlespace Awareness Center
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Space Systems Command Delivers FORGE Framework to OPIR Battlespace Awareness Center

Space Systems Command’s Space Sensing program executive office has delivered a ground station framework to the Overhead Persistent Infrared Battlespace Awareness Center, a.k.a. OBAC, at Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado.

The operational delivery of the Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution, or FORGE, framework on OBAC will provide enhanced cyber resilience and improved missile detection and tracking capabilities to operators, SSC said Friday.

FORGE is the first operational software to set up the foundation of the U.S. Space Force missile warning, tracking and defense architecture. The framework will support continued operations of the legacy Space Based Infrared System and the Next-Generation OPIR system.

“Timely response to threats requires a modern architecture capable of hosting data from a range of new and legacy sensors that enables the development of applications to address these threats. FORGE’s modular architecture with an agile development approach is showing that you can deliver fast even in tough, complex mission areas,” said Space Force Col. Robert Davis, program executive officer for space sensing.

Lt. Col. Morgan Sparks, FORGE materiel leader, said the next software delivery will provide a modernized operator interface and enhanced capabilities to improve the nation’s ability to “detect stealthier and additional quantities of threats sooner, and to track them longer.”

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