Page 25 - Federal Computer Week, March/April 2019

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cloud services had received FedRAMP authorizations as of early March
USPS wants information about sensor, guidance and operational technologies as well as expertise on testing and integrating the technology into its existing fleet. A multipart evaluation would start on a closed course where basic autonomous functions, as well as safety and contingency protocols, could be tested.
The service needs heavy-duty, reliable machines that can operate in all weather conditions. In addition, the vehicles will drive at least eight hours
Wanted: Autonomous vehicles for mail delivery
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night will deter autonomous vehicles from helping mail carriers swiftly complete their rounds — at least, that’s what the U.S. Postal Service is hoping.
In a request for information released in February, USPS officials said they are seeking technologies that would allow a self-driving vehicle to navigate a mail route while its operator organizes the mail and deposits it in curbside mailboxes from the right-hand side of the vehicle.
DHS moves IT services to governmentwide contracts
a day and make 600 to 1,100 mail stops. During delivery and collection, operators will get in and out of the vehicle, turn it on and off, and lock and unlock it up to 200 times a day. Other requirements would allow route editing and management (skipping a mailbox, for example).
If the tests are successful, USPS officials said they plan to deploy the vehicles on 28,000 rural routes by 2025 and eventually explore other delivery applications.
— Susan Miller
Better OTA data on tap
In late 2019, the Defense Department will begin tracking consolidated data on “other transaction authority” awards in a public-facing system, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
The report notes that DOD “lacks authoritative data that can be used to assess [OTA] effectiveness and better understand broader trends associated with these agreements.”
An email message DOD sent to CRS in January states that OTA data will be recorded in the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation.
DOD obligated $2.1 billion on prototype OTA agreements in fiscal 2017, which amounts to less than 1 percent of DOD’s total contract obligations.
— Adam Mazmanian
The Department of Homeland Security plans to use contract vehicles outside DHS to support its IT services needs instead of re-competing the $22 billion Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading-Edge Solutions II contract.
In a notice to industry in February, Chief Procurement Officer Soraya Correa said DHS had formally adopted governmentwide acquisition contracts run by the General Services Administration and the National Institutes of Health rather than renew EAGLE II, which expires in 2020.
DHS has been considering how to proceed with EAGLE II after a planned successor — the Flexible Agile Support for the Homeland contract — was cancelled in 2017.
Correa said the impetus behind the shift to GWACs instead of a stand- alone successor for DHS’ IT services contract was the Office of Management and Budget’s emphasis on reducing contract duplication, as well as Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act rules that emphasize IT modernization, data-backed accountability and transparency.
As of Feb. 4, DHS had adopted GSA’s Alliant 2, Alliant 2 Small Business, 8(a) STARS II and VETS 2 and NIH’s CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 Small Business vehicles. Correa said DHS would make another announcement by the end of March on how it would handle its FirstSource contract for IT products.
— Mark Rockwell
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U.S. POSTAL SERVICE OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL