By Debbie Gregory.

The federal government is using emerging and innovative new technologies to improve government services. The goal is to make inefficiency, bureaucratic red tape and non-user-friendly services a thing of the past and to save money.

Digital processes are increasingly improving efficiency with pockets of automation already underway throughout the government. They are examples of efficiency and, in most cases, progress.

One example is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has already seen promising results from its experiments with robotics process automation (RPA) in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, which evaluates applications for new drugs, generic drugs, and biologics. By developing a bot to automate the evaluation process, the agency was able to reduce the average processing time by 60 percent, saving 8,000 hours of manual work. This can also save lives.

Additionally, automation can make it much easier for the public to interact with government services and access more relevant information quicker. This would be extremely beneficial for the VA, which has been known for being backlogged regarding services, claims and benefits for years.

The federal government is serious about overcoming its inefficiency challenges and has already made encouraging steps to use automation in order to make government better.

“I think a lot of folks know the government is kind of almost staggering under the weight of all the paper we have,” said Margaret Weichert, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget.

Of course, with automation comes the elimination of jobs. But the key will be retraining.

“We have any number of new-type jobs that are being created around data, cyber, and even things like law enforcement that we struggle to fill,” Weichert said. “And if we’ve got a dedicated workforce who have passed our background checks, who want to be of service to their country, we need to figure out how do we have the agility to reskill employees, redeploy them, move folks around so that they have skills that are aligned to the 21st-century mission.”

By Debbie Gregory.

The Pentagon has yet to make a decision as to what company will be awarded a multi-billion dollar contract for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, the cloud technology infrastructure that will handle unclassified material as well as data classified as secret or top secret.

The choice to go with a single-award, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract for the project has had tech companies taking their gripes to federal court. It is believed that Amazon Web Services is the front-runner.

Oracle filed a suit against the Department of Defense in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in early December, and the redacted complaint was published December 10th.

Oracle has claimed since the start of the process that this approach would lock the government into legacy tech and could damage innovation, competition and security – and that it goes against various rules on government procurement for high-value awards.

The lawsuit repeated these assertions, but also alleges conflicts of interest within the DoD and that the Pentagon “crafted” the request for proposals criteria to limit the number of vendors that could compete.

It also claims the government has introduced “unduly restrictive requirements” into the criteria required for vendors to bid, which will “cause Oracle significant competitive prejudice”.

IBM, which first filed a protest of JEDI October 10th, filed additional materials with Government Accountability Office (GAO) November 19th in support of its claim that the DoD has turned its back on the wishes of Congress and the administration, as well as industry best practice in cloud acquisition.

Lawmakers have already called for an investigation into the JEDI contract, saying that it appeared tailored to one specific vendor.

The GAO has until February 27, 2019, to issue a decision on IBM’s protest.

By Debbie Gregory

Although it sounds like science fiction, the U.S. military hopes that common marine microorganisms might be genetically engineered to detect enemy submarines, underwater vessels, and even divers.

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is researching engineered organisms such as Marinobacter, which could be modified to react to certain substances such as metals, fuel exhaust or human DNA left by enemy vessels, divers, or equipment.

“In an engineered context, we might take the ability of the microbes to give up electrons, then use [those electrons] to talk to something like an autonomous vehicle,” said NRL researcher Sarah Glaven. “Then you can start imagining that you can create an electrical signal when the bacteria encounters some molecule in their environment,”

Glaven believes the research is about a year away from providing concrete evidence that she can engineer reactions in abundant marine life forms that could prove useful for the military.

“The reason we think we can accomplish this is because we have this vast database of info we’ve collected from growing these natural systems. So after experiments where we look at switching gene potential, gene expression, regulatory networks, we are finding these sensors,” said Glaven.

The Applied Research for the Advancement of Science and Technology Priorities Program on Synthetic Biology for Military Environments is aimed at giving researchers the tools they need to engineer genetic responses into organisms that would be useful for the military.

“We want to move synthetic biology from the laboratory to the field. That’s a big thrust of ours and so there’s a lot of tool development in order to do that,” said Dimitra Stratis-Cullum, who leads the biomaterials team at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations said the United States, and the Navy in particular, is investing heavily in synthetic biology to better compete with China, an emerging synthetic-biotechnology powerhouse.

By Debbie Gregory.

At the Nashville Airport, travelers stood and service members saluted at the sound of the National Anthem as some of the Gold Star families got ready to board the Snowball Express. American Airlines staff members threw a party at the gate for the children who have sacrificed a parent in combat. A video shot by Jen Tringale captured the moment, and later went viral.

The Gary Sinise Foundation, a non-profit that focuses on veterans, first responders, and their families, sent some 1,750+ Gold Star family members to Walt Disney World as part of its holiday season program that aims to help families of fallen service members.

Snowball Express was started in 2005 by a group of Southern Californians including Rotarians and has grown each year. In 2017, Snowball Express became an official Gary Sinise Foundation program. The 5-day event for 1,750+ children and the surviving parents give them the opportunity to have some fun and meet and bond with other children with the same experience.

Debbie Gregory, the founder and CEO of VAMBOA had the pleasure of helping with the first Snowball Express, and has continued to support the organization over the years.

Other airports got in on the festivities as well. The Killeen Airport, a familiar location for any service members who have activated or deployed through Fort Hood, Texas, welcomed Snowball Express participants and a man in a Santa costume met with the families.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association sent tote bags to participants to help them get all their goods from location to location, and the controllers themselves posted photos on social media celebrating as flights took off from airfields under their control.

Gary Sinise is a wonderful supporter of those who serve, past and present. If you’re interested in supporting the Gary Sinise Foundation, which also builds adaptive homes for disabled veterans, hosts free theater nights for veterans, and helps pay for training and equipment for first responders visit the website at https://www.garysinisefoundation.org.

By Debbie Gregory.

Veterans and families who lived and worked at the former Pease Air Force Base want the government to begin collecting data about their high cancer rates possibly tied to chemical exposures on the installation.

More than 200 people turned up at the 157th Air Refueling Wing for a “listening session” to share health concerns of retirees, their widows and families, along with active duty guardsmen.

Led by Doris Brock, whose husband Ken died last year from bladder cancer after serving nearly 40 years at Pease an aircraft mechanic, a group of widows and retirees have pushed the Air Force to conduct a health study because of what they believe is an unusually high number of cancers at the base. Brock tracked down other members the unit and discovered that 80 people have been diagnosed with cancer, 43 of which are dead.,

Brock believes her husband’s exposure to 12 different chemicals on the base known to be carcinogens — along with drinking contaminated water at the former air base — caused his cancer.

Like many seniors, Doris and Ken Brock looked forward to their golden years. They found a cabin in the North Woods of New Hampshire and spent several years remodeling it into a retirement home of their dreams. But rather than enjoying the fruits of their labor, Brock watched her husband of 46 years endure chemotherapy treatments during the final two years of his life.

Col. John Pogorek, wing commander at the Pease Guard base who hosted the meeting, acknowledged at the beginning of the meeting that “this is an emotional subject.”

“None of the stories we will hear today are good,” he said.

After the meeting, Pogorek said “it was more than I thought we’d hear,” when asked about the stories he heard from those in attendance. “A lot of these stories are hard to hear but are important to tell, because we need that information.”

He noted the wing has formed a working group of retirees, family members and health experts to address the health concerns.

“I think we can have a plan to move forward, I think that’s what we’re all interested in. The truth will lead us to what needs to be done and we’re all about the truth,” he said.

“I think we need that database of what they did, what years they worked, what chemicals they were exposed to and what cancers they had,” she said.