FCW Insider: Aug. 29

The Social Security Administration assembled a crack team of federal IT experts to review how the agency is doing on key tech modernization projects. Alan Balutis is chairing the group, which includes Dan Chenok, Dave McClure, Martha Dorris and Jim Williams. Mark Rockwell has more.

In a rare press conference, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said a "defense-wide review process" has begun to evaluate the Fourth Estate agency resources. Lauren C. Williams reports.

A pilot project at the government's contracting hub isn't producing the data it promised and threatens pricing transparency, according to the inspector general at the General Services Administration. Mark explains.

The National Guard is contemplating an expansion of its cybersecurity vulnerability assessment pilot following recent ransomware attacks in Texas and Louisiana. Get more from Lauren.

Quick Hits

*** An armada of drones, robots and even a small autonomous blimp showed up at the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's (DARPA) latest competition to develop physical technology to find and map subterranean passages and infrastructure. DARPA completed the tunnel segment of its Subterranean (SubT) Challenge System competition underneath the Pittsburgh area on Aug. 22, drawing 11 teams from eight countries, each equipped with a wide array of autonomous robots to compete, according to an Aug. 22 statement from the agency. The competition, conducted in two mines near Pittsburgh, had the teams use their autonomous systems to track down and map the locations of almost two dozen "artifacts" in the mine tunnels, according to the agency. The teams used a combined fleet of 20 aerial vehicles, 64 terrestrial robots and a mini-blimp drone in the test.

*** As reported by FCW, the General Services Administration is on track to consolidate its Multiple Award Schedules into a single schedule at the start of fiscal year 2020. The agency released a 30-day advance notice document on vendors and buyers can expect from the shift.