HHS, Navy Sealift Command, Ariz. DOT and CACI draw top honors at Government Innovation Awards

The 2018 Government Innovation Awards -- a joint effort of GCN, FCW, Washington Technology and Defense Systems -- honored a broad range of projects, individuals and companies working at all levels of government.   At the Nov. 8 awards dinner, however, three Public Sector Innovations and one Industry Innovator received special recognition for their impact.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ BuySmarter Initiative won the Best in Class award for federal civilian efforts.  BuySmarter is an ambitious project to structure and make sense of HHS’ purchasing data on billions in annual acquisitions. 

Among defense projects, the Navy’s Military Sealift Command took Best in Class for  developing a machine learning tool that ingested and parsed nearly 30 years’ worth of unstructured maintenance data to provide preventative maintenance insights that keep the command’s fleet functioning and at sea.

At the state and local government level, the Arizona Department of Transportation was honored as Best in Class for its Wrong-Way Driver Detection System, which uses thermal cameras, roadside warning signs and real-time notifications to warn errant drivers and protect other motorists they could endanger. 

And among the Industry Innovators, CACI International won Best in Class for its SkyTracker solution, which gives airports and other restricted-airspace areas a multilayered system to detect and defend against errant unmanned aerial vehicles. 

You can learn more about all this year’s Government Innovation Award winners at GovernmentInnovationAwards.com.