Quick Hits for Nov. 7
***The National Background Investigations Bureau is slated to move to the Defense Security Services with program executive officer Terry Carpenter shifting with it from the Defense Information Systems Agency by next year.
DISA will own NBIS development and maintenance until the complete transfer is made, a milestone currently expected around October 2019. The deputy defense secretary is expected to sign a memo directing the transfer and to the Defense Security Service in the near future.
The National Background Investigations System launched a pilot program on Oct. 1, Stuart Timerman, DISA's development and business center director, told reporters during a media briefing at the agency's Nov. 5 industry day.
Officially, the new capability isn't a pilot, Timerman said, but rather "a very limited product" used by a portion of the Marines Corps and Army. The goal is to get feedback on the product and make sure "they got it right, and work out any potential bugs."
"There's a good portion of the shift of similar capabilities NBIB shipping off to DSS," which is expected to cause the organization to balloon from approximately 1,000 personnel to about 6,000, he said.
*** Emily Murphy, head of the General Services Administration, was named the 2018 Public Sector Partner of the Year by the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Professional Services Council in their 16th Annual Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards.
The groups also inducted ManTech’s George Pedersen into the Greater Washington Government Contractor Award Hall of Fame for his contributions to the industry. Other award winners were InCadence Strategic Solutions, which won contractor of the year for contracts up to $25 million, and ICF International for contracts of $300 million or more.
*** The latest Defense Innovation Unit solicitation hit the FedBizOpps contracting site on Nov. 5. DIU is supporting the Army in its bid to acquire an inexpensive, portable short-range drone reconnaissance system that can be take off and land vertically and can be transported in a "rucksack". The first phase of the solicitation consists of briefing a solution and the second phase involves test flights of drone system in Boston in mid-January 2019. Initial proposals from vendors are due Nov. 18.
*** Booz Allen Hamilton has won a potential five-year, $999.8 million task order for IT operations and services to the Veterans Affairs Department. The order falls under the VA's larger "T4NG" vehicle for transformation support services and covers one base year followed by up to four option years. Seven offers were submitted for the order that was awarded Oct. 26, according to Federal Procurement Data System information. This particular order appears to align with a request for information from May that outlines the VA's effort to consolidate, transform and modernize IT services through a single procurement.