The Insider

By Marjorie Censer
July 13, 2015 at 4:38 PM

Computer Sciences Corp., in the process of separating into two companies, said today Larry Prior, who heads CSC's North American public sector business, is expected to lead the new, U.S. public sector-focused company.

In May, CSC said it would divide into two public companies: one focused on U.S. public sector clients and another for commercial and global government clients.

The U.S. public sector company, mostly made up of the NPS business, will be called Computer Sciences Government Services. Prior is anticipated to be both president and chief executive of the new company, "pending approval of the new company's board of directors," CSC said.

Prior previously was an executive at BAE Systems, ManTech International and Science Applications International Corp.

By Tony Bertuca
July 13, 2015 at 4:03 PM

The week ahead features a high-profile nomination hearing and a think tank appearance by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) likely to address lawmakers' ongoing work on the proposed National Defense Authorization Act and the Obama administration's veto threat.

Tuesday

The Senate Armed Services Committee is holding a hearing to consider Air Force Gen. Paul Selva's nomination to become the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Selva is the current chief of U.S. Transportation Command. The committee is also scheduled to consider Air Force Gen. Darren McDrew's nomination to succeed Selva at TRANSCOM.

Wednesday

McCain is scheduled to appear at the Heritage Foundation in Washington to discuss Pentagon budgets, reforms and the proposed NDAA.

The bill is scheduled to reach Obama's desk at the end of the month, but he has threatened to veto it unless the legislation lifts 2011 Budget Control Act spending caps for non-defense and defense priorities alike.

McCain is expected to depart after his remarks, but will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Todd Harrison, a defense budget analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments; Roger Zakheim, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; and John Bonsell, vice president for government affairs at Science Applications International Corp. The discussion will be moderated by Justin Johnson, senior policy analyst for defense budgeting policy at Heritage.

Friday

Alan Estevez, principal deputy under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, is scheduled to appear at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Friday to discuss defense acquisition reform.

Jacques Gansler, the former Pentagon acquisition chief who now serves as director for the Center for Public Policy and Private Enterprise at the University of Maryland, and retired General John P. Jumper, a former Air Force chief of staff and SAIC CEO, are also set to attend. The discussion will be moderated by Andrew Hunter, former director of the Pentagon's joint rapid acquisition cell who now runs the defense-industrial initiatives group at CSIS.

By Courtney Albon
July 13, 2015 at 2:52 PM

The Government Accountability Office issued a report today validating the Air Force's analysis and forward planning for the C-130.

The service in April sent Congress a report detailing its plans for recapitalizing and shifting units within its C-130 fleet. The Air Force report, which was directed by Congress in the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, highlights differences between the service's past force-structure plans and its current outlook.

GAO's July 13 report validates the service's analysis, stating that it met lawmakers' reporting requirements.

By Marjorie Censer
July 13, 2015 at 12:10 PM

(This regular feature highlights protests decided by the Government Accountability Office.)

Agency: Defense Logistics Agency

Awardee: Bremen-Bowdon Investment Co.

Protester: Omega Apparel

What GAO found: Omega Apparel filed a protest with the GAO over a DLA contract awarded to Bremen-Bowdon for Army men's dress trousers with braid. Though Omega had received a better evaluation, its price of $10.4 million was higher than Bremen-Bowdon's $8.6 million.

Omega argued its proposal should not have received the same past-performance rating as Bremen-Bowdon and contended DLA "essentially converted the best value competition set forth in the solicitation to a lowest-priced, technically-acceptable competition in order to award the contract to Bremen." GAO denied the protest.

By Marjorie Censer
July 13, 2015 at 11:15 AM

Cybersecurity and risk management company Delta Risk said today Scott Kaine has been named chief executive.

Delta Risk in April received an investment from private-equity backers affiliated with the Chertoff Group meant to strengthen the company's core business as well as speed up its growth.

Kaine joins Delta Risk from Cyveillance, a cyber intelligence business and wholly-owned subsidiary of QinetiQ. He was president at Cyveillance and also previously served as senior vice president of CA Technologies. A West Point graduate, he was an Army intelligence officer.

By Marjorie Censer
July 10, 2015 at 10:25 AM

(This regular feature highlights protests decided by the Government Accountability Office.)

Agency: Army Materiel Command

Awardee: AHR Metals

Protester: ThermoAir Spray Booths

What GAO found: ThermoAir Spray Booths protested its elimination from a competition for four spray/bake booths at Anniston Army Depot, arguing Army Materiel Command improperly ruled its quotation unacceptable and was biased against ThermoAir.

"ThermoAir appears to argue, at best, that the Army’s requirement that vendors provide all information required under the solicitation is evidence of bias, as the required information should have been 'evident,'" GAO writes. "The protester’s allegation fails to meet the high standard for demonstrating that an agency’s actions were tainted by bias." GAO denied the protest.

By Tony Bertuca
July 9, 2015 at 4:01 PM

The Senate announced today its list of lawmakers who will negotiate the proposed fiscal year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act with counterparts from the House.

The conferees are:

·John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee

·Jim Inhofe (R-OK)

·Jeff Sessions (R-AL)

· Roger Wicker (R-MS)

·Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)

·Deb Fischer (R-NE)

·Tom Cotton (R-AR)

·Mike Rounds (R-SD)

·Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

·Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee

·Bill Nelson (D-FL)

·Joe Manchin (D-WV)

·Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

·Joe Donnelly (D-IN)

·Mazie Hirono (D-HI)

·Tim Kaine (D-VA)

President Obama has threatened to veto any version of the bill that adheres to the GOP's budget blueprint, which calls for leaving sequestration spending caps for defense by increasing the Pentagon's overseas contingency operations account.

By Marjorie Censer
July 9, 2015 at 1:44 PM

Welcome to #ThrowbackThursday, InsideDefense.com's weekly look back at what was happening on this day in years past.

On July 9, 2009, Gen. James Cartwright, then vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was on Capitol Hill, promising the Pentagon would find the money to pay for a significant jump in the Army's active-duty end strength. The Senate Armed Services Committee had approved an increase of 30,000 more troops in fiscal years 2011 and 2012 -- if sufficient funding were included in the military's budget those years.

The Pentagon believes "there is a case for something between about 15,000 and 25,000" soldiers, and a 30,000-soldier increase "would give us the range in which to work to allow us to do that," Cartwright said. "Resourcing is going to be a challenge, but we believe . . . we'll find that money, if it's necessary to find it internally, to do that."

Today, the Army is meeting with reporters to discuss its plan to cut end-strength by 40,000 troops within the next several years.

By Marjorie Censer
July 9, 2015 at 11:23 AM

(This regular feature highlights protests decided by the Government Accountability Office.)

Agency: Army

Awardee: enGenius Consulting Group

Protester: n-Link/LSG Joint Venture

What GAO found: The joint venture of n-Link and LSG, the incumbent, protested the award of a task order to enGenius for digital training facility management services, arguing the Army should have found the winning proposal technically unacceptable. The GAO disagreed, writing that the record indicates "both firms proposed not only similar staffing profiles, but also proposed to use mostly the same individuals to perform the requirement." Indeed, the decision adds, enGenius proposed recruiting the entire incumbent staff.

GAO denied the protest.

By Marjorie Censer
July 8, 2015 at 4:24 PM

Jeh Johnson, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said today he is pushing his agency and the rest of the government to take a more aggressive and accelerated approach to boosting its cyber defenses.

"To be frank, our federal cybersecurity is not where it needs to be," Johnson told a large crowd at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "There is no one silver bullet for cybersecurity."

The key, Johnson added, is to install multiple layers of protection. He also urged Congress to take additional steps, calling for an effort to incentivize private companies to share cyber threat indicators -- without fear of liability.

"We are not where we need to be, and I've made a personal mission of getting us to raise that bar," Johnson said.

He noted that some companies are "very sophisticated" in their cybersecurity, while others are not. "My advice would be invest in the latest and best technology," he said, adding that companies should also be open to sharing information with others, including the government.

Additionally, Johnson noted today that the Department of Homeland Security is working to reform its acquisition process. Asked by an audience member whether the work would apply to other agencies, the former Pentagon general counsel said it would not.

"If you're asking about DOD acquisition, don't get me started," he quipped.

By Marjorie Censer
July 8, 2015 at 12:29 PM

(This regular feature highlights protests decided by the Government Accountability Office.)

Agency: Army Intelligence and Security Command
Awardee: CWU Inc.
Protester: Strategic Intelligence Group

What GAO found: SIG protested the award of a $143 million task order to CWU for linguist support services, arguing the Army's evaluation was flawed. In particular, the contractor criticized the service's evaluation of past performance. The Government Accountability Office backed the Army, arguing "the protester has failed to demonstrate that the agency’s evaluation in this regard was unreasonable or inconsistent with the record."

By Marjorie Censer
July 8, 2015 at 10:37 AM

Boeing is among the businesses joining a new cybersecurity council announced this week by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber said the newly launched cybersecurity leadership council is meant to bolster collaboration between the government and the private sector on cybersecurity policy. Howard Schmidt, a partner at Ridge-Schmidt Cyber and the former cybersecurity coordinator in the Obama administration, will chair the council.

Boeing will be joined on the council by Juniper Networks, Splunk, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the American Gas Association, Blackberry, Duke Energy, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and others.

By Marjorie Censer
July 7, 2015 at 5:14 PM

Science Applications International Corp. announced today that Mark Schultz, its executive vice president and general counsel, will depart the company.

The company has begun its search for a successor; Schultz will remain with the contractor until early September to help with the transition.

Schultz joined SAIC in 2013.

By John Liang
July 7, 2015 at 2:03 PM

The Defense Department's Threat Reduction Advisory Committee plans to hold a closed meeting next week, according to a July 7 Federal Register notice.

"The TRAC will obtain, review and evaluate classified information related to the Committee's mission to advise on technology security, Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction (C-WMD), counter terrorism and counter proliferation," the notice reads.

The panel will receive briefings on the "Office of Net Assessment and China," "Russian Weapons Technology," the National Nuclear Security Administration, "Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology," the "Defense Threat Reduction Agency and U.S. Strategic Center for Combatting Weapons of Mass Destruction & Standing Joint Force Headquarters--Elimination," "the findings and recommendations from the Nuclear Strategic Stability focused information gathering group," as well as North Korea and China, according to the notice.

"The Chair will conclude the meeting by providing an outline for the way forward and expectations for the next plenary that will take place in the fall," the notice reads.

By Marjorie Censer
July 7, 2015 at 1:39 PM

A panel at the Atlantic Council today said fiction -- rooted in reality -- can help policymakers and lawmakers better prepare for future battles.

The event was timed to celebrate the release of Ghost Fleet, a novel by August Cole and Peter Singer that imagines World War III as a fight between state powers heavily affected by emerging technology.

"In a sense, the book is a red-team exercise," Cole said today. "There's a strategic element to the book."

Cyber vulnerabilities play a significant role in the war described in Ghost Fleet, raising questions that panelist Mark Seip said could refocus attention on the area. So far, he said, many in the military know cybersecurity is a problem, but it hasn't drawn as much focus as other matters.

"Frankly, no one's died from cyber," said Seip, a Navy commander who is serving as a fellow at the Atlantic Council's Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. But physical impacts, he added, could push more resources to cybersecurity.

Still, Singer cautioned that the work raises ideas and potential areas of concern -- but remains fiction. "It's a work of fiction, not prediction," he said.