Jane Edwards

Shannon Fitzgerald, a senior vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton and head of the company’s citizen services business, said top commercial brands are adopting digital platforms and services that could be used by federal agencies to improve customer experience. Fitzgerald wrote in a Nextgov article published Monday that agencies seeking to streamline user experience should advance the use of chatbots and redesign their websites to make it easier for citizens to find the information they need.
 

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Paul Smith, senior vice president and general manager of Red Hat's public sector business, said digital transformation calls for the federal government to advance cultural modernization to support the creation of environments that encourage employee empowerment and creative thinking. Smith, a 2019 Wash100 winner, explained in a commentary piece published Monday on Federal News Network how Dev/Ops could help agencies transition away from waterfall software development in order to facilitate the development and deployment of platforms.

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A Boeing-led industry team and the Missile Defense Agency launched two ground-based interceptors to counter an intercontinental ballistic missile target during a test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system. Boeing said Monday one interceptor zeroed in on the ICBM target in space and the second GBI observed the intercept before homing in on additional debris as part of the “two-shot salvo” engagement test.

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Anthony Robbins, vice president of North American public sector at NVIDIA, said contracting officials should find innovative ways to speed up the acquisition process in order to meet the demand for artificial intelligence, the Washington Business Journal reported Friday. “Everyone of us in this room would be retired way before [reform] is done,” Robbins, a 2019 Wash100 winner, said Thursday at a Northern Virginia Technology Council event.
 

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Anthony Robbins, vice president for the North American public sector at NVIDIA, said the new White House executive order on artificial intelligence seeks to recognize the capability of AI and the government’s role in advancing AI adoption to ensure the security and prosperity of citizens. Robbins wrote in a Nextgov article published Thursday how AI could help improve health care, cybersecurity, transportation, disaster relief, defense system sustainment efforts and other initiatives in the public sector.
 

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John Goodman, CEO of Accenture Federal Services, told Federal News Network in an interview published Thursday that the federal government is focusing on information technology modernization and efforts to improve government services. Goodman said the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act has helped federal chief information officers become innovation partners and cited the factors the company considers as it works on government projects.

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Henry “Trey” Obering, an executive vice president and directed energy lead at Booz Allen Hamilton, has outlined several measures the Department of Defense should do to expedite the development of lasers and directed energy weapons to achieve military advantage against emerging threats. Obering wrote in a Defense One article published Wednesday that DoD should increase spending on directed energy weapons to up to $3B per year to improve laser power and beam quality as well as reduce the size, weight, power and cost requirements of such weapons.

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Lockheed Martin has introduced a software-defined space technology designed to allow small satellites to alter their missions in orbit. The company said Wednesday it will integrate the SmartSat satellite architecture into its Pony Express and Linus nanosats, which are scheduled to launch in 2019 on the first LM 50 nanosatellite bus.

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