Nextgov/FCW - Authors - Bob Brewin

DISA in Compliance with Cloud Security Standards

Bob Brewin — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 16:40:50 -0500

The Defense Information Systems Agency currently offers its military customers certified cloud computing services from three vendors and has another seven under assessment for compliance with governmentwide security standards, top agency officials told Nextgov.

FedRAMP reviews aim to speed the adoption of cloud deployments across government by allowing cloud services to be vetted once – at a particular security level – and then deployed by a multitude of agencies. Agencies must comply with FedRAMP as a matter of federal policy.

But as noted in a recent review from the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, neither the FedRAMP program office nor the Joint Authorization Board -- made up of the chief information officers of General Services Administration and the departments of Defense and Homeland Security -- can force agencies to comply with FedRAMP.

The report identified 348 federal commercial cloud contracts with a value of $12 billion as of fiscal 2014. But it did not identify specific agencies that failed to meet certification requirements.

Mark S. Orndorff, the mission assurance executive for the Defense Information Systems Agency, said three commercial cloud services are currently available to DOD users: Autonomic Resources, CGI Federal and Amazon Web Services.

Assessments of FedRAMP-compliant offerings from providers such as Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed Martin, AT&T, Akamai, Microsoft, Oracle and a cloud solution offered by the Agriculture Department are underway, he said.

DISA continues to work closely with the FedRAMP program office and cloud providers to add to the list of approved cloud providers, Orndorff added.

Commercial cloud services for military users must go through additional security controls to receive a provisional authorization to operate, Orndorff said. He called the additional controls a “superset of FedRAMP.”

Roger Greenwell, DISA’s director of field security operations, said the agency’s risk management framework is built on the same controls as the governmentwide standards.

“As such, we leverage authorization and continuous monitoring information from FedRAMP in our processes, and are committed to continual to continual improvement in all aspects of secure use of cloud services," he added.

DISA said its enterprise email service, which kicked off in January 2011, predated FedRAMP security standards, but it meets Defense standards, he said.

DISA now provides email to more than 1.6 million users, including U.S. Southern Command, U.S. European Command, U.S. Africa Command and more than 20 other DOD entities. The system is scalable to 4.5 million users.

Orndorff also said DISA operates a branded milCloud as an infrastructure-as-a-service option, available on both classified and unclassified networks, that leverages desktop virtualization software from VMware called the Vcloud suite and HP Cloud Service Automation.

DISA recently asked vendors to come up with suggestions by Nov. 3 for two hardware models to provide it with additional cloud computing services -- a containerized system that can be plugged into a DISA data center or hardware placed on leased rack or floor space inside a data center.

(Image via Blue Island/Shutterstock.com)

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Army to Manpack Tactical Radio Vendors: Go on a Diet

Bob Brewin — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 15:47:52 -0500

The Army abruptly decided last month to shrink the weight requirements and boost the transmission range of up to 60,000 tactical manpack radios it plans to buy, following sharp criticism this summer by the service’s Maneuver Center of Excellence.

The Army has already awarded low-rate production contracts to General Dynamics and Rockwell Collins for just over 5,000 manpack radios.

In a June memo, Maj. Gen. H.R. McMaster, commander of the Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, which oversees equipment requirements, blasted the radios for weighing twice as much as current Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System backpacks -- or, SINCGARS -- and for having a shortened range of 3 kilometers, compared to 7 for SINCGARS.

Battery life is a problem, too.

The current manpack, according to the memo, requires two batteries for six hours of operation. SINCGARS batteries, on the other hand, lasts 33 hours.

Users also raised questions about radios overheating and putting soldiers at risk of injury, National Defense magazine reported this June.

"The Maneuver Center of Excellence considers the dismounted … manpack radio unsuitable for fielding to brigade combat teams," McMaster wrote. "A radio that is heavier and provides less range while creating a higher logistics demand does not make our units more operationally capable. Additionally, any radio that places our soldiers at risk of being burned is unacceptable”

Last Thursday, the Army Contracting Command – which manages tactical radio buys – submitted a request to industry to shrink the weight and boost the transmission power of the manpack as part of an upcoming procurement.

The Army said it wants potential bidders to develop manpacks that have a threshold weight of 12 pounds and an objective weight of 8 pounds. This new weight threshold includes the radio, batteries and accessories such as handsets and antennas.

The new radio should have an objective 10-kilometer range in both SINCGARS mode and the software-defined radio channel mode. Battery life should peak at 24 hours and should be capable of recharging from AC and DC power sources.

Responses to the RFI are due this Friday, Nov. 7.

Bernie Skoch, a technology consultant and a retired Air Force brigadier general, called the Army’s new manpack requirements “state-of-the-shelf" technology.

“Design battery life since the last tranche of SINCGARS radios has improved enormously, owing mainly to improvements in battery chemistries,” he told Nextgov. “Lithium ion batteries are lighter and fit more energy into their forms, so weight and battery life should be doable too.”

He added: “The unobstructed radio line-of-sight range is not a challenge. At VHF/UHF frequencies, if line-of-sight connection between the connecting stations is truly ‘unobstructed,’ the difference between 3 kilometers and 10 kilometers is irrelevant.”

The Army plans to spend a total of $2.7 billion to acquire the manpack radios, along with vehicle and handheld radios.

“Commercial products (with far more limited capabilities) are available in the $2,000 range,” Skoch said. “With the needed waveforms, I would think a $7,000 unit price for radios alone (not including mounting kits or power amplifiers) is doable if the quantities are there."

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Army Wants Better Teeth Tracking

Bob Brewin — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 13:05:04 -0400

The Army Dental Command wants to acquire software to help its dentists and dental technicians better manage troops’ dental care and treatment.

Modules for the new system should include case-tracking capabilities and a digital dashboard with “dynamic scheduling” capacity, whatever that means.

Who wants nondynamic dental software?

(Image via InnervisionArt/Shutterstock.com)

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Exclusive: AFRICOM Plans High-Speed Circuits to Liberia

Bob Brewin — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 10:33:16 -0400

The U.S. military plans to lease a 622 megabit terrestrial circuit from Europe to Liberia in a matter of weeks to support Internet service for U.S. troops as they continue to deploy to Liberia to help counter the Ebola virus, U.S. Africa Command’s top communications official told Nextgov.

“Right now, we have satellite links ranging from 4 to 12 megabits,” said Army Col. Patrick Dedham, director for command, control, and communications based in Stuttgart, Germany.

As the network matures, data rates will increase, he said.

In a related development, the Defense Information Systems Agency has launched a sensitive procurement for a 622 megabit circuit from Germany to Dakar and a 45 megabit circuit from Germany to Liberia.

Dedham said these may seem large pipes for an operation in such an austere environment as West Africa, but they are the norm for what he described as “reach-back operations,” in which deployed units tap into computing power and applications.

The Army’s Warrior Information-Tactical battlefield network – or WIN-T network – can handle Internet traffic, but will not be turned on for a couple of weeks in Africa, Dedham said.

Lt. Col. Joel Babbitt, the WIN-T product manager, said nongovernmental organizations such as Doctors without Borders will be able to tap into military networks if they are co-located with the Army and have a Wi-Fi hot spot.

Dedham emphasized the primary purpose of the AFRICOM networks is to support military users, not NGOs.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronnie D. Hawkins Jr, DISA’s director, considers support for the West Africa Ebola mission a key priority, said Alfred Rivera, acting director of DISA's strategic planning and information, at a media round table Wednesday.

To date, Rivera said, DISA has primarily acquired satellite circuits to serve West Africa.

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VA Eyes New Medical Imaging System

Bob Brewin — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 15:51:45 -0400

The Department of Veterans Affairs wants to acquire a new medical imaging system based on commercial standards and wants to hear from interested vendors by Monday.

That’s just six business days after the department posted a request for information on the FedBizOpps website.

The VistA Imaging System runs today on the VA-developed Picture Archive and Communications System, installed in 143 imaging facilities nationwide.

VA now wants to acquire a new imaging system that works on the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine standard for distributing and viewing medical images, including X-rays and more advanced systems such as CT body scans and MRI brain scans.

Note: All the links in the RFI page are dead at the moment. VA, please fix.

(Image via lendy16/Shutterstock.com)

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Race is On for Defense Health Record – but VA Backs Out of Competition

Bob Brewin — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 15:25:31 -0400

Four commercial vendors will submit proposals Friday for the Defense Department’s $11 billion electronic health record system contract. But the Department of Veterans Affairs has backed off an idea floated by former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to enter a new version of its own longstanding EHR system into the competition.

Teams bidding on the Pentagon’s EHR system – formally known as the Defense Healthcare Management System Modernization – are:

Computer Sciences Corp., partnered with HP and EHR developer Allscripts
IBM, aligned with Epic Systems
Leidos, joined up with Accenture Federal
PricewaterhouseCoopers, with General Dynamics Information Technology, DSS Inc. and MedSphere as partners

Shinseki told lawmakers at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing in March that VA had started development of a new version of its decades-old and proven Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture – or VistA – that would be equivalent to commercial software.

“We want to be in competition for [the] DOD [EHR],” Shinseki said.

But Genevieve Billia, a VA spokeswoman, told Nextgov today: “VA never planned to formally bid in DOD's acquisition. VA supports DOD's need to replace its system and understands DOD is pursuing an open competition.”

She added: “Our prior statements referenced VA's efforts to improve VistA to enable companies offering VistA-based solutions to have a more viable product to enter into competition. Whatever DOD decides, VA is working closely to ensure seamless interoperability of health care data.”

DSS Inc. and Medsphere both offer EHRs based on open source VistA software. The source code used by Epic is based on the underlying Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System – or MUMPS – code.

When fully deployed in 2017, the DOD health system will serve more than 400 clinicians who treat more than 9.6 million patients in some 400 hospitals and clinics, making it the largest EHR system in the country.

The Epic system, used by Kaiser Permanente, and the VA health care system, which serves about 8.6 million patients, are the two other largest systems in the nation.

(Image via Amanda Hsu/Shutterstock.com)

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Defense Mobile Update: BlackBerry Still Dominates

Bob Brewin — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 15:52:18 -0400

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of Apple and Android devices on the unclassified network. There are a total of 4,000 such devices on the network.

BlackBerry devices in use by the Defense Department total 85,000 -- slightly more than 10 times the number of Apple and Android devices fielded today, Defense Information Systems Agency officials said at a media roundtable today.

Kimberly Rice, DISA’s portfolio manager for mobility, said the agency currently supports 270 secret classified mobile devices and expects that number to grow to 1,500 by the end of 2015.

She added there are 4,000 Apple and Android devices on the unclassified network, a number that should grow to 40,000 by the end of 2015.

DISA is also testing mobile gear that can operate in top-secret network environments, Rice said, but she did not provide further details.

Mark Orndorff, DISA’s mission assurance executive, said the agency manages to approve new commercial devices for use on its networks within about a month after they are released into the marketplace.

That includes the new iPhone 6 soon after it was in introduced last month, Orndorff said. DISA, he said, wants to ensure its mobile security technical-refreshment process keeps up with the introduction of new mobile devices.

Rice cited it as “an example of how technology and security can work together.”

The Army stands out as the primary user of mobile devices, Rice said. However, DISA has started working with the Air Force to expand the use of gadgets to, for example, run apps used by aircraft pilots.

The Air Force Materiel Command plans to replace its paper charts with a digital “electronic flight bag” filled with digital charts. Rice said DISA will work to transfer this capability to the other services.

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Today's Lesson -- Aging Soviet Rocket Engine Doesn't Fly

Bob Brewin — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 12:25:21 -0400

Orbital Sciences Corp. tried to launch a mission to the International Space Station yesterday using rocket engines built four decades ago, only to see the rocket blow up seconds after liftoff from a Virginia launch site.

Or as Orbital’s executive vice president, told the Guardian after the crash, “The asset stopped, there was some, let’s say, disassembly of the first stage, after which it fell to Earth,” said Frank Culbertson, in a deadpan description of an explosion that could be seen for miles and terrified observers.

Lost in old Soviet smoke: hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment, ranging from “classified cryptographic” gear to school science experiments, which were destroyed in a giant fireball Tuesday evening after technicians detonated a self-destruct mechanism six seconds after launch because of a “catastrophic” equipment failure.

Oh well, we’re still ahead in the smartphone payment race.

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US Army Will Provide Wi-Fi for NGOs in the Fight Against Ebola

Bob Brewin — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 12:08:55 -0400

The Defense Department has started to beef up systems needed to support troops and nongovernmental organizations engaged in the Ebola fight in West Africa, including email, video and satellite systems.

The Defense Information Systems Agency last week turned on a node of the Blue Force Tracking System over West Africa, which transmits feeds from GPS receivers over satellites to a central node to pinpoint locations. This will enable real-time messaging and location-status information for vehicles and individuals.

The system, part of the Army’s Warrior Information-Tactical battlefield network – or WIN-T network – will be used by the 4,000 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division when they deploy to West Africa this month, said Lt. Col. Joel Babbitt, the WIN-T product manager.

The networks the Army is setting up in West Africa will support both military users and NGOs, such as Doctors without Borders, Babbit said.

WIN-T will provide the NGOs “with the communications reach-back that will allow them to coordinate their efforts as an entire task force,” he said. “It will make our response to the Ebola crisis much more coordinated and much more effective."

Lt. Col. Michael Olmstead, product manager for the Joint Battle Command-Platform, which manages BFT, said the Army has set up commercial Internet enclaves the NGOs can use with a hub in Landstuhl, Germany. These hubs will provide reach-back access to the Army's global information network to transmit voice and data.

"Since they are commercial enclaves, you can go and buy commercial items like a WiFi hotspot, plug them in directly, and you instantly have a connection," Babbitt said. "The Army is providing the communications backbone for what is inherently a civil response. As engineers flow in to build treatment facilities, they will be operating directly with these NGOs, so the ability to provide a common backbone via commercial internet is critical to an assistance response task force."

The Army plans to deploy WIN-T in packages to West Africa, including network nodes and command post systems. The Army also accelerated efforts to upgrade units' modems, allowing for higher bandwidth to support the anticipated demand for medical information and other data.

The modem upgrade, like the drive to expand commercial Internet capability for expeditionary signal battalions, was already underway prior to Operation United Assistance – so the Army was poised for rapid response.

"It highlights the importance of continually modernizing the network so that you can provide these sorts of capabilities when required," Babbitt said.

Tracy Sharpe, a DISA spokeswoman, said the agency is providing long-haul communications capabilities to extend Africa Command networks and DISA Enterprise Services, such as email and video, to West Africa.

DISA has also stood up a “community of interest,” within its All Partners Access Network to enable unclassified information sharing with other DOD entities, interagency partners, NGOs and coalition partners.

APAN is a DISA-managed unclassified collaboration platform accessible via the commercial Internet for groups who don’t possess access to traditional DOD systems and networks.

(Image via Pavel Ignatov/Shutterstock.com)

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A Whole Bunch of GPS Action

Bob Brewin — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 15:15:30 -0400

The Air Force plans to launch a Boeing-built GPS IIF-8 satellite Oct. 29 following the successful launch of the IIF-7 bird just shy of three months ago on Aug. 1.

The 3,950-pound new satellites have a design life of 12 years and will replace II-A satellites, which were launched between 1990 and 1997 and were designed to last about 7 and 1/2 years.

Eleven of those satellites are still in use, including four launched in 1992.

The II-F satellites feature improved anti-jam protection for military users and a new “safety of life” transmitter from aviation users.

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Watchdog: Pentagon Failed to Develop Blood IT Systems

Bob Brewin — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 14:32:08 -0400

The Defense Department has failed to adequately develop blood information systems over the past 13 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq despite spending a total of $289 million, the Pentagon inspector general reported last week.

The latest review, which is a follow-up to an October 2001 IG report, said the Armed Services Blood Program Defense Blood Standard System – or DBSS – has miscounted the inventory of blood products, including those used in combat, and that the Pentagon has failed to develop a single, integrated portfolio for the blood information technology system.

The officials in charge of the effort “could not demonstrate after 13 years that officials implemented the necessary actions to mitigate the identified system problems as agreed,” in 2001,” Amy Frontz, principal assistant inspector general for auditing, wrote in the Oct. 23 cover letter to Jonathan Woodson, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, accompanying the report.

In 2001, the IG first recommended DBSS be replaced with a new system – the Enterprise Blood Management System, or EBMS -- which would help eliminate inventory problems as well as the requirement that data be manually entered into the system.

The IG, in its current report, said the donor portion of EBMS is a work in progress, and though it witnessed a demonstration of its capabilities “we could not substantiate the system’s capabilities.”

The current report added, “There are no specifics as to how the donor system will facilitate real‑time data and track blood product inventory in the Interface Control, Software Requirements Specification, and the Preliminary Design Review/Critical Design Review documents,” all requirements for DOD IT systems. “Therefore, the donor system is not far enough along the acquisition process to determine whether its requirements will address or mitigate the in‑transit blood product inventory problems,” the report said.

The IG recommended the Defense Health Agency fix the inventory problems encountered 13 years ago and that the blood bank capabilities interface with the Composite Health Care System database, which manages Defense medical lab systems.

In 2006, the Military Health System acquired three different IT capabilities for managing blood, but they did not interface with each other and as a result Defense missed opportunities to leverage efficiencies. The IG recommended these interfaces be developed as interoperable parts of an IT portfolio, according to the report.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Douglas Robb, director of the Defense Health Agency, said in his reply to the IG report that managers of the blood program will ensure that double counting of inventory will no longer occurs in EBMS.

Robb said the agency will also evaluate how blood-management systems would benefit from the integrated IT portfolio approach.

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Want More Info on the Military’s Ebola Efforts? Tune in Here Thursday

Bob Brewin — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 14:46:45 -0400

The Defense Department’s DOD News Channel -- known as the Pentagon Channel until this July -- plans a live broadcast with top leaders this Thursday on ongoing support operations to help battle the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and at home.

The channel is broadcast to 2.6 million people, primarily military users via broadcast TV, satellite, cable and Web streaming.

Until Thursday, surf your way to the Pentagon’s Ebola website for the latest news and updates on the military's Ebola response.

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Irony Alert: Booz Allen Wins Cybersecurity Contract

Bob Brewin — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 12:59:55 -0400

Booz Allen Hamilton won yesterday a $6.6 million task order for continued support to the Defense Department’s Chief Information Officer Cybersecurity and Information Assurance Support program through Sept. 30, 2015.

It goes to show that Defense has no hard feelings toward Booz Allen even though one of its employees, Edward Snowden, used his position to pilfer and distribute an unprecedented number of highly sensitive intelligence documents.

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So, How Do I Get Onto the VA eBenefits Site?

Bob Brewin — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 16:09:45 -0400

That's what I asked Department of Veterans Affairs Chief Information Officer Stephen Warren at his media roundtable yesterday, as I have been frustrated for months as I try to get past the first screens on the eBenefits website intended to make it easier and quicker for vets for apply for benefits and VA to process the claims.

The eBenefits site seems designed to frustrate Vietnam veterans who do not have a CAC, short for Common Access Card, or a Defense self-service log-on, known as a DS log-on.

Here’s the screen users see when they try to register:

Since none of the above applies to me, I can go no further in the registration process. There’s a phone number to call for help from a live human -- if one ever answered the phone.

I’m a pretty good Web surfer, and I doubt I'm the only Vietnam veteran frustrated by the eBenefits website.

Warren said he’ll have someone walk me through the process – which I can then share with other veterans who do not have CACs or a DS log-on.

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VA: Hackers Never Siphoned Data Out of Our Systems

Bob Brewin — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 14:25:54 -0400

Correction: VA did not experience downtime with it VBMS system this quarter. It has experienced unscheduled downtime previously.

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ computer networks and systems remain under constant threat -- including from attacks by foreign actors -- but no data has been “exfiltrated” as a result of attacks, Stephen Warren, the department’s chief information officer said at a media roundtable yesterday.

VA systems are “always under threat,” Warren said, disclosing that VA tracks and blocks 55,000 new malware variants every day through continuous monitoring.

VA’s cyber-defense includes use of the Einstein 3 tool, developed by the Department of Homeland Security, which Warren said automates “deep packet inspection” to sniff out malware.

Last summer, it was first reported foreign actors had penetrated the agency's networks.

At a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee hearing in June 2013, Rep. Michael Coffman, R-Colo., said VA knew foreign intruders had compromised its network but the department “was never sure what exactly these foreign actors took, because the outgoing data was encrypted by the trespassers.”

During the media roundtable yesterday, Warren repeatedly said foreign actors have never siphoned data out of the VA, either in the past or today -- something he checks on a daily basis.

To protect its systems, Warren said VA screens 4.5 million emails a day and has encrypted 100 percent of the 438,395 laptops and desktops on its network.

VA has also begun installing secure WiFi systems at all 152 of its hospitals, according to a fact sheet distributed by Warren at the round table, and will complete deployment by the end of the current fiscal year in September 2015.

Clinicians can use those networks to access health care information through 11,200 mobile devices VA distributed in 2014, the fact sheet stated.

Warren Also Talks New Scheduling Software, Claims Backlog System

VA has received a strong response from industry to its requirements for a new patient scheduling system, Warren said. So far, 13 companies have shown an interest in the project.

Poor scheduling practices have embroiled the VA in an ongoing scandal since this April, following media reports of the deaths of some patients allegedly due to delayed appointments.

Warren said VA expects to issue a request for proposals for the new scheduling system by the end of December and award a contract by the end of March 2015. He said the system should be fully installed in all VA medical facilities within two years of contract award.

VA uses a continuous improvement process to update its Veterans Benefits Management System, Warren said. His Office of Information and Technology delivers new capability for VBMS every 90 days.

VBMS, the core technology designed to eliminate the claims backlog this year through paperless processing, has not experienced any unscheduled downtime this quarter, Warren said.

Warren said he also plans to offer more insight into the agency’s IT programs and projects, which is why he held the roundtable, he said. Warren said he plans to conduct more in the future.

(Image via jcjgphotography/Shutterstock.com)

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VA Introduces 'Google-like' Medical Record Search Functions

Bob Brewin — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 16:57:19 -0400

The Department of Veterans Affairs has started to roll out “Google-like” search functions for patient medical records, VA CIO Stephen Warren said at a press briefing today.

Warren said the new user interface of the Health Management Platform, which supports search across an entire patient record, has been installed at VA medical facilities in Hampton Roads, Virgina; San Antonio, Texas; San Diego; and Loma Linda, California.

The interface also supports a newsfeed that provides a rapid chronological review of a patient’s care and also includes medication reviews for enhanced safety, Warren said.

(Image via Andrei Orlov/Shutterstock.com)

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Hanford Waste Contractors Refuse to Cooperate with IG

Bob Brewin — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 15:45:38 -0400

The Energy Department’s inspector general and the chairwoman of a Senate oversight committee have slammed contracting companies at the $12 billion Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford site in Washington State for failing to cooperate with an investigation into the firing of a potential whistle-blower at the plant.

Hanford, which produced plutonium for the atomic bomb during World War II, stores 53 million gallons of highly radioactive waste in 177 aging underground tanks, many of which have leaked.

In February, Donna Busche, a contractor employee whose primary job was ensuring compliance with dangerous waste permits and safety documents, was fired by URS Energy and Construction Inc. after she said she raised safety concerns.

URS is the major subcontractor to Bechtel National Inc. on the waste treatment plant.

The Energy IG on March 6 began its investigation into Busche’s firing and reported yesterday it could not reach a conclusion because URS and Bechtel refused to turn over some 4,305 documents it requested.

The two companies, the IG said, claimed they did not need to turn over the documents that “were subject to either attorney-client or attorney work product privilege.”

The IG said “attorneys representing both Bechtel and URS stated that the assertion of privilege was necessary given the likelihood of litigation regarding the Busche matter. Their basic concern was that releasing the documents to the Office of Inspector General would constitute a waiver of privilege in future proceedings.”

Gregory Friedman, the IG, told Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz in an Oct. 17 memo the contract between the department, URS and Bechtel specifically requires the companies to “produce for government audit all documents acquired or generated under the contract, including those for which attorney-client and attorney work product privilege was asserted.”

Friedman said counsel for both URS and Bechtel asserted “these clauses were too broad and that they were unenforceable, specifically in situations where litigation was either in process or was likely.”

As a result, Friedman said his office was unable to gain access to documents it needed, and “we were unable to complete our inquiry and accordingly disclaim any opinion regarding the circumstances of Ms. Busche's termination.”

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight, fired off a letter yesterday to Moniz asking for a briefing by Oct. 31 on Energy’s plans to address the contractors’ lack of cooperation with the IG.

She said she also wants to know what options are available to hold URS and Bechtel accountable for their noncompliance, including withholding of fees and recovery of costs incurred by the IG.

Bechtel, in a statement posted on its website, said it “went above and beyond in cooperating with the OIG's investigation -- providing requested documents for review and people to interview, in accordance with the protocol agreed to with the IG. Furthermore, we offered to work with the OIG to provide access to documents that are protected under the law, in a way that preserves those protections, but the OIG declined our offer.”

Donna Busche was a URS employee and the decision to terminate her employment was made by URS, as a URS executive confirmed in sworn testimony before a congressional hearing this March, Bechtel said.

In a statement, URS said: "Ms. Busche’s claim is without merit. URS has a strong safety record and our corporate culture makes safety our highest priority. Each employee is encouraged and empowered to raise concerns about safety, and we are methodical in addressing the concerns they identify.”

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Navy Will Get Its Microsoft Cloud Email from Dell in $2.1M Deal

Bob Brewin — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 13:43:22 -0400

The Navy has tapped Dell to provide it with a Microsoft enterprise-as-a-service cloud email system for its reservists.

The Navy says the Microsoft cloud email pilot will save hundreds of millions of dollars as an alternative to the service’s Next Generation Enterprise Network, known as NGEN.

In mid-September, the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific announced plans to award the email contract to one of four companies currently holding a contract on the General Services Administration blanket purchase agreement for cloud services.

The Navy disclosed the award made to Dell on Oct. 14.

The Dell award, made retroactive to Sept. 30, is valued at about $2.14 million -- $790,000 less than the $2.93 million SPAWAR Pacific anticipated.

The cloud contract has one base year and two one-year options for Microsoft Office 365. That covers 8,000 licenses in the first year and will grow to 54,000 in the second year, after competition for the additional licenses. The third year of the contract would be used to examine risk mitigation issues.

The cloud email pilot will also pioneer network architecture, including a “Cloud Access Point,” that will serve as a connection between NGEN and commercial cloud providers. It aims to create a “commercial peering point’’ to integrate the Navy network with “many different cloud services,” SPAWAR Pacific said.

The Navy said the pilot will be used to evaluate use of the Microsoft Cloud email for the entire Navy, which includes 800,000 Navy and Marine Corps users on the NGEN network

Running Naval Reserve Forces Command email on Navy's in-house NGEN would represent a net cost increase of $286.4 million over five years, while the cost of using enterprise email offered by the Defense Information Systems Agency would be $55.3 million over five years, SPAWAR Pacific projected.

It said using Microsoft Office 365 would save $16.9 million over five years, but did not disclose total costs

Tests during the first year of the contract will be used to gain “authority to operate” approvals required by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, known as FedRAMP, SPAWAR Pacific said.

Defense Department organizations are only allowed to use cloud computing in conjunction with an authorized pilot.

(Image via liravega/Shutterstock.com)

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Intelink Sets Up Ebola Website

Bob Brewin — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 13:40:42 -0400

Intelink -- the word used to describe a whole bunch of intelligence community intranets -- has set up an open source and unclassified website on the Ebola crisis worldwide.

The daily Intelink Ebola feed is carried by the All Partners Access Network, run by the Defense Information Systems Agency. APAN is a collection of communities developed to foster information and knowledge sharing between the U.S. Defense Department and non-DOD entities who do not have access to traditional DOD networks.

APAN also offers links to the daily Operation United Assistance – the name for the DOD response in West Africa – unclassified intelligence summary that goes beyond scraping open source news reports and drills down to specific problems, such as flooded roads in parts of Liberia that hinder medical missions.

To access either of the above, go to the APAN home page, type “Ebola” into the community search bar, which then hops to the Ebola Response Network, and another click leads to daily intelligence summaries.

Now, someone needs to come up a really good filter to find the best and most relevant information from the growing number of Ebola websites.

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Here Comes the Army Cyber Battle Lab

Bob Brewin — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 16:06:09 -0400

The Army currently operates a Network Battle Lab and plans to change it to the Cyber Battle Lab beginning in October 2015 -- and is looking for some contractor support.

What’s the difference?

The Network Battle Lab was focused only on experimentation to support the network, but will now add experimentation to support all areas of "cyber electromagnetic" activities. These include cyberspace operations, electronic warfare and spectrum management operations, the Army said.

I think cyber is also one of those buzzwords, which attracts support on the Hill and money.

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Ebola Vaccine Development Probably Too Late to Deal with Current Crisis

Bob Brewin — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 13:54:34 -0400

The Department of Health and Human Services has three Ebola virus vaccines in the research and development pipeline to prevent the spread of the disease at home and abroad as quickly as possible.

“We are pushing hard to advance the development of multiple products as quickly as possible for clinical evaluation,” said Robin Robinson, director of the agency’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. “Our goal is to close the global gap in vaccines and therapeutics needed to protect the public health from Ebola as highlighted by the epidemic in West Africa.”

But officials with GlaxoSmithKline, a major United Kingdom drug company, said it’s probably too late to develop vaccines to deal with the current outbreak. Ripley Ballou, head of the company’s Eboloa research unit, on Friday told the BBC full data on the safety and efficacy of its vaccine would not be ready until late 2015.

GlaxoSmithKline is trying to compress trials that would take a decade into a period of 12 months, the BBC reported, and the company expected to have 20,000 doses ready to be tested by health workers early next year.

“At the same time, we have to be able to manufacture the vaccine at doses that would be consistent with general use, and that's going to take well into 2016 to be able to do that," Ballou said.

HHS is supporting phase 1 clinical trials of an experimental Ebola vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline and another vaccine developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and licensed to NewLink Genetics Corp. of Ames, Iowa.

Phase 2 clinical efficiency trials for these two vaccines are expected to begin in 2015, HHS said.

Phase 1 trials involve a small group of people to evaluate the prospective vaccine's safety, determine a safe dosage range and identify side effects. In Phase 2 trials, the vaccine is given to a larger group of people.

This Tuesday, HHS awarded Baltimore-based Profectus BioSciences Inc., an $8.6 million contract for further development of a vaccine the company said had proven 100 percent effective in animal tests.

HHS said the Profectus contract builds on early research of the experimental vaccine supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and animal studies supported by the Defense Department.

In the DOD studies, a single dose of the experimental Ebola vaccine provided 100 percent protection in nonhuman primates.

HHS will support further development of the vaccine against the Ebola virus strain responsible for the current epidemic, the agency said.

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Huge Bidder Pile-On for VA’s $22.3 Billion Tech Deal

Bob Brewin — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 13:57:21 -0400

The number of companies that have expressed interest in bidding on the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Twenty-One Total Technology Next Generation contract -- known as T4NG -- hit 635 vendors Tuesday, according to a VA spreadsheet.

The list of interested bidders ranges alphabetically from A1C Partners LLC to Yakshna Solutions and is dominated by small-business hopefuls. VA plans to award up to 20 indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts under T4NG, which will run for an initial five years with an option for another five years

VA has reserved eight awards for companies owned by veterans: four for veteran-owned small business and four for service-disabled, veteran-owned small business. Another four awards are reserved for other small business firms, including woman-owned companies.

If all these interested vendors actually submit a bid, the VA acquisition folks will have to go into overtime to weed through all the paper.

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VA Plans to Build Nationwide High-Frequency Radio Network to Communicate During Emergencies

Bob Brewin — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 13:18:27 -0400

The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to build a nationwide high-frequency radio network to connect its medical facilities in case of an emergency that knocks out other forms of communications -- applying century-old technology to current needs.

VA said in a contracting notice Tuesday it intends to award a five-year, fixed-price indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for the fully functional "turnkey" Emergency High Frequency Radio Network.

VA plans to issue a formal request for proposals by Oct. 31.

The network will include an undefined number of high-powered “backbone” stations equipped with 200-watt transmitters designed to receive and automatically relay communications from 125-watt stations located at approximately 200 Veterans Health Administration facilities, VA said.

The network would provide emergency two-way radio communication and links to national wired, cellular and IP telephone networks enabling radio-to-telephone communications, according to the agency.

High-frequency radios operate in the three-to-30-MHz bandwidth and can transmit signals for hundreds or thousands of miles as the signals are refracted off the ionosphere. Changes in ionspheric conditions require HF radios to be periodically retuned, done automatically with a technology known as Automatic Link Establishment built into the radios. VA has specified ALE radios for its HF network.

Though outmoded by satellite and internet communications, HF networks still serve as an emergency backup for federal agencies, including the Air Force for communications with Air Force One as well as its transport, tanker and bomber fleets.

The Department of Homeland Security operates a high-frequency network called SHARES, which provides additional capabilities for users with a national security and emergency-preparedness mission to communicate when landline and cellular communications are unavailable.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army National Guard also operate national HF networks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has set up the National Public Health Radio Network as a communications back up in all 50 states.

Bernie Skoch, a retired Air Force general, consultant and amateur radio operator, said high-frequency remains the only reliable long-distance communications capability that depends entirely on terminal systems for end-to-end communications.

“There is no copper, no fiber, no space segment and very thin network management requirements” -- just radios, antennas and the ether, he said.

That independence from complex infrastructures, coupled with relatively inexpensive portable and mobile packages, makes it ideal for command and control, disaster and continuity-of-operations systems, Skoch said.

(Image via Actor/Shutterstock.com)

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Institute of Medicine Plans Ebola Research Workshop

Bob Brewin — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:26:27 -0400

The Institute of Medicine said it will hold a one-day workshop Nov. 3 to examine the areas of biomedical and public health research that should be conducted to best prepare the United States to safeguard the public as a result of the emergence of Ebola.

IOM said the workshop, requested by the Department of Health and Human Services, will provide a venue for real-time discussions about immediate science needs that will inform HHS, public health officials, providers and the general public with the most up-to-date information about virus transmission, mitigation of health risks and appropriate measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

“Our goal for this workshop is to provide a forum for key experts and decision makers to discuss what research is needed and can be performed now to assist the public health response to the occurrence of Ebola in the United States," IOM President Victor J. Dzau said.

The workshop will start 8:30 a.m. at the National Academy of Sciences building, 2101 Constitution Ave. N.W. in Washington and will be webcast.

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HHS Awards Contract for Ebola Vaccine Shown to be 100 Percent Effective in Animal Tests

Bob Brewin — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 14:59:19 -0400

The Department of Health and Human Services awarded Tuesday an $8.2 million contract to Baltimore-based Profectus BioSciences Inc. for research and development of an Ebola vaccine proven 100 percent effective in animal tests, according to the company.

Elleen Kane, an HHS spokeswoman, said the contract is for animal studies but did not provide any further details.

In a paper presented to an international vaccine conference in 2012, Profectus said its vaccine provided 100 percent protection for monkeys and guinea pigs in tests with the Zaire variant of Ebola. The company said its research has been backed by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The Ebola vaccine contract award comes as the U.S. deals with the case of a second Ebola infection by a nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. The nurse tested positive for the virus after caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, who was treated at the hospital and died Oct. 8.

The World Health Organization said in late August more than 240 health care workers had developed the disease in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and more than 120 had died.

In its 2012 paper, Profectus said its Ebola vaccine would help protect health care workers from the virus.

“An effective prophylactic vaccine would find application with medical personnel and close contacts during outbreaks in endemic areas of sub-Saharan Africa, with laboratory workers engaged in filovirus research, and with military and civilian personnel threatened by weaponized filoviruses,” the paper stated.

The Defense Department’s Joint Project Manager Medical Countermeasure Systems located at Ft. Detrick, Maryland, is also working a Profectus vaccine, the unit’s commander, Col. Russell Coleman said in a Sept. 24 presentation.

At a Sept. 5 press conference in Geneva following a meeting of 200 virus experts, Marie-Paule Kieny, assistant director general of WHO, said researchers may have enough data from small human studies of new Ebola vaccines to warrant offering them to health care workers and other front-line staff caring for Ebola patients by November.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated details of the Defense Department's work on the Profectus vaccine. The article has been updated.

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