NGA releases commercial strategy, OASIS chief heads to White House and more

NGA releases commercial geoint strategy

With an eye on a burgeoning private satellite industry, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency released a commercial geospatial intelligence strategy on Oct. 26 meant to help the agency be nimbler in acquisition and make better use of unclassified information.

The strategy is partly driven by a need to catch up to the instantaneous flow of information. "Some customers are now willing to consider a trade of confidence level for speed, in order to support both operational and policy decision cycles," the strategy states. "NGA needs to meet these new customer desires as well as the traditional requirement for high-confidence analysis."

In his year on the job, NGA Director Robert Cardillo has emphasized the need to more quickly deploy IT capabilities. The merger of the agency's CIO and IT services functions, effective in February, was a bid to balance speed and security in acquisition, NGA CIO Douglas McGovern told FCW.

The new strategy will focus on harnessing advances in the private sector, Cardillo said in a statement. "Innovators in industry are developing remarkable capabilities and services that will offer a wealth of unclassified data sources and new opportunities," he said.

OASIS program manager heads to the White House

Jim Ghiloni, program executive officer for the General Services Administration's One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services professional services contract, is stepping into a new role on Nov. 2.

That's when Ghiloni will be detailed to the White House Leadership Development Program. GSA said his year-long tour will give him the opportunity to hone his leadership skills and collaborate with stakeholders and organizations across the federal government.

In the meantime, Deputy Director Todd Richards will continue serving as the program manager for OASIS and run its day-to-day operations.

18F posts initial code-on-credit-card contract

The General Services Administration's 18F has posted its first attempt at a micro-purchase contract.

The agile government outfit is seeking code -- brand-new or modifications to 18F's existing code -- to load Schedule 70 data into GSA's Contract Awarded Labor Category tool. In the pursuit of a fast, iterative process, 18F's contract won't follow the normal bureaucratic process because it will stay under the $3,500 small-purchase limit.

Bids start at $3,499 and will proceed down, with the lowest bidder winning the work.

Bids close at noon EDT on Oct. 29. The winner will then have 10 working days to provide a solution that meets 18F's criteria.

Army to adopt new tool for IT compliance waivers

The Army is moving to a new tool for processing waivers to IT compliance policy. The service will complete the move from the Goal One Waiver system to the IT Approval System on Nov. 20.

An online notice from the Office of the Army CIO states that "ITAS will not only simplify the user experience, it will streamline approvals and provide data mining and reporting capabilities which don't exist in the Goal One Waiver system."

In fiscal 2015, the Army approved 5,663 waiver requests for IT procurements worth a total of $1.6 billion, according to the CIO's office.

Former NSA chief raises $32.5M for cyber startup

IronNet Cybersecurity, a tech firm led by former National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander, raised $32.5 million in a Series A funding round. Alexander founded the company in 2014 with help from former government techies at the Defense Department, the National Counterterrorism Center and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

"Criminal syndicates and nation-states are inflicting tremendous harm on the private sector, costing hundreds of billions of dollars annually," Alexander said in a statement. "Cybersecurity has become the most pressing threat to both the global private sector and our national security, and existing approaches and defenses to protect networks are falling short."

The company seeks to break new ground in network visibility and data control, according to a news release.