PEO Pulse - Feb. 14, 2020

The "PEO Pulse" is a weekly digest of relevant news, recent PEO EIS events and updates to keep our workforce informed. Take a look at the headlines in this week's edition:

• EC2M CONDUCTING MULTIFACTOR AUTHENTICATION PILOTS
• ES PROJECT DIRECTOR CONNECTS AT AFCEA NOVA ARMY IT DAY
• FY21 BUDGET REQUEST FOCUSES ON READINESS, MODERNIZATION, PEOPLE
• MULTIDOMAIN OPERATIONS ARE DRIVING THE ARMY TO THE CLOUD
• HERE'S THE ARMY'S TOP 10 CANCELED AND REDUCED PROGRAMS IN FY21
• SECOND YEAR OF AUDITS SHOWS DOD GETTING BETTER GRASP OF BUSINESS PROCESSES
• HOW 'HUNT FORWARD' TEAMS CAN HELP DEFEND NETWORKS
• SPACE FORCE AWARDS $253.6M CONTRACT FOR PROTECTED COMMS
• THE U.S. NAVY'S BUDGET LOOKS HEADED FOR THE CONGRESSIONAL SHREDDER
• WHY MANY OUTSIDE INVESTORS ENVY YOUR TSP
• DOWNSIZING YOUR PAY/PENSION FOR LIFE
• TRUMP'S 2021 BUDGET PLEDGES TRAINING FOR 400,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES
• CONTRACTORS DETAIL SAM WEBSITE WOES
• GENERAL DYNAMICS MISSION SYSTEMS AWARDED $883M CONTRACT TO MODERNIZE ARMY TRAINING PROGRAMS
• LEIDOS SNAGS $7.7B PRIME FROM NAVWAR

►► AROUND EIS

UPCOMING EVENTS
• Feb. 27: PEO EIS Town Hall
• Mar. 5: Lunch & Learn
• Mar. 24-26: Signal Conference, Springfield VA
• Mar. 26: Lunch & Learn

DEFENSE ACQUISITION UNIVERSITY - SENIOR SERVICE COLLEGE FELLOWSHIP (DAU‐SSCF) Eligibility: GS‐14/15 or broadband equivalent; Acquisition Corps member; DAWIA Level III in current position; CES Advanced; Secret clearance. Website: https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/defense-acquisition-university-senior-service-college/ . Open through March 25, 2020. Program Start: July 2020. SRPE Required. Application process through CAPPMIS. PEO EIS Internal suspense for applications is NLT 01 MAR 2020.

RECRUITMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS: Volunteers for the Expeditionary Civilian Workforce (Acquisition Specialist/NH-0343-03 & Deputy Director/NH-0343-03, Afghanistan). TARGET SERIES/GRADE:  NH-0343-03. OPEN: 1 February 2020 - 13 April 2020.  Open to all employees on a permanent career or career conditional appointment. Bagram, Afghanistan (Deployment may require relocation to different locations within CENTCOM AOR). All questions should be sent directly to the ASA (ALT) forward office at usarmy.pentagon.hqda-asa-alt.list.fwd-ops@mail.mil

►► CONGRESSIONAL UPDATE

On March 2, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Professional Staff Members (PSMs) begin 2021 Program Budget Briefs, reviewing PEO EIS ERP programs. Programs scheduled for review include: IPPS-A INC-2, AIE, ACWS, RCAS, GFEBS DEVMOD, GFEBS SA, ATIS, DCO, DCO Software Prototype Development (BA8), GCSS-ARMY INC-2, ADPE, WESS, I3MP, LMR, MC4, ATIS

►► EIS IN THE NEWS

EC2M CONDUCTING MULTIFACTOR AUTHENTICATION PILOTS
The U.S. Army is conducting two multifactor authentication (MFA) pilots to strengthen the authentication process and allow Soldiers the convenience to conduct official Army business and online training without government furnished equipment and on their own timeline. Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS) is evaluating MFA technology to satisfy requirements from the Army chief information officer.

ES PROJECT DIRECTOR CONNECTS AT AFCEA NOVA ARMY IT DAY
Mr. Lee James, III, project director for Enterprise Services, participated in a PEO EIS panel and "matchmaking" session with industry as part of the AFCEA NOVA Army IT Day. With approximately 650 attendees and 270 companies represented, this event provided a valuable opportunity for ES to promote awareness of procurement opportunities and increase competition for contracts.

►► ARMY

FY21 BUDGET REQUEST FOCUSES ON READINESS, MODERNIZATION, PEOPLE
The Army released its Fiscal Year 2021 budget request Monday for $178 billion, which includes a 3% increase in basic pay for Soldiers. If approved, Soldiers could also see a boost in housing and subsistence allowances by 2.9 and 2.3% respectively, said Maj. Gen. Paul Chamberlain, Army budget director in the Office of Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management and Comptroller.

MULTIDOMAIN OPERATIONS ARE DRIVING THE ARMY TO THE CLOUD
The Army’s push in recent months to adopt cloud technologies is driven by a need to provide data to decision makers around the world. Leaders who spoke Feb. 10 during the service’s cloud and data colloquium in McLean, Virginia, explained that the Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy is one of the leading forces toward modernizing its IT practices.

HERE'S THE ARMY'S TOP 10 CANCELED AND REDUCED PROGRAMS IN FY21
The U.S. Army released its top 10 programs it intends to cancel or reduce in fiscal 2021 on Feb. 13, which accounts for $1.13 billion of the $2.4 billion the service plans to shift to higher priority modernization efforts. Through a second round of night court — an effort to find and shift funding from programs that don’t align with the Army’s modernization priorities or the National Defense Strategy.

►► FEDERAL

SECOND YEAR OF AUDITS SHOWS DOD GETTING BETTER GRASP OF BUSINESS PROCESSES
After its first two years of full-scale financial audits, the Defense Department is starting to get some of its first concrete indications of how much work lies ahead of it before it can finally earn a clean audit opinion. And according to DoD’s inspector general, there are clear signs of progress — though they’re not necessarily to be found in the number of audit findings the department has been able to fix.

HOW 'HUNT FORWARD' TEAMS CAN HELP DEFEND NETWORKS
The Department of Defense wants to spend $11.6 million in fiscal year 2021 to buy systems that would help cyber operators perform “hunt forward” missions, where teams deploy to other countries to stop malicious cyber activity. The Pentagon did not appear to set aside procurement money for the program in fiscal year 2020.

SPACE FORCE AWARDS $253.6M CONTRACT FOR PROTECTED COMMS
The Space Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $253.6 million contract to develop a payload that would provide a higher level of protection to war fighters relying on satellite communications on the battlefield. The contract is for the Protected Tactical SATCOM payload, the service announced Feb. 12.

THE U.S. NAVY'S BUDGET LOOKS HEADED FOR THE CONGRESSIONAL SHREDDER
Lawmakers are lining up to slam the U.S. Navy’s fiscal 2021 budget submission, saying it calls for a significant cut to shipbuilding and slows the fleet’s rate of growth over the next five years. A bipartisan group of 17 senators is warning the Navy that its decision not to seek a second Virginia-class submarine in the FY21 budget proposal would contradict the National Defense Strategy, weaken the defense-industrial base and compromise Navy readiness.

►► WORKFORCE

WHY MANY OUTSIDE INVESTORS ENVY YOUR TSP
When you leave government are you going to keep your optional retirement nest egg in the Thrift Savings Plan? Or, like many, will you move some or all of it to an outside investment option, maybe one that gives you more choices? And does it matter?

DOWNSIZING YOUR PAY/PENSION FOR LIFE
In what’s become the administration’s evergreen budget plan, the White House has again proposed that federal workers kick in more of their salary — as in a lot more — toward their retirement plan in return for smaller — as in much smaller — lifetime annuities that are frozen when they retire. In other words they would pay more for a reduced benefit that would be stripped of any protection from inflation regardless of how long the retiree lived.

TRUMP'S 2021 BUDGET PLEDGES TRAINING FOR 400,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES
The Trump administration set one of its first, clear goals for upskilling and reskilling the federal workforce in its latest budget proposal. “We have made a firm commitment to reskilling up to and possibly exceeding 400,000 federal workers, focused on first and foremost jobs where we have a hard time filling roles,” Margaret Weichert, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, told reporters Monday.

►► INDUSTRY

CONTRACTORS DETAIL SAM WEBSITE WOES
Companies large and small are still not happy with the General Services Administration's new federal contract opportunities portal, according to the Professional Services Council. At the request of its technology and services company members, PSC registered irritation with the balky system in a Feb. 7 letter to Julie Dunne, commissioner of GSA's Federal Acquisition Service.

GENERAL DYNAMICS MISSION SYSTEMS AWARDED $883M CONTRACT TO MODERNIZE ARMY TRAINING PROGRAMS
General Dynamics Mission Systems announced today it was awarded a contract for the Army Consolidated Product Line Management Plus (CPM Plus) Program from the Army Contracting Command in Orlando, Florida. CPM Plus is an eight year, single-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity, cost-plus fixed-fee/firm-fixed price contract with a ceiling of $883 million.

LEIDOS SNAGS $7.7B PRIME FROM NAVWAR
The Naval Information Warfare Systems Command has awarded science and technology company Leidos the Next Generation Enterprise Network Re-compete Service Management, Integration & Transport contract to provide global network services. Worth roughly $7.7 billion, the single award, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity, firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract has a 5-year base period of performance, followed by three 1-year option periods.

This message contains curated content from external sources, and does not indicate PEO EIS endorsement of the views or ideas expressed therein.