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Cost Estimating NewsBrief: February 17, 2023
Planning for uncertainty in commercial aerospace
(McKinsey & Company) The commercial aviation industry is facing a tidal wave of demand—passenger air travel has largely rebounded from COVID-19 lows, aircraft orders are being placed at an aggressive rate, and suppliers, operators, and OEMs are feeling pressure to deliver at a level that is straining production capacity and workforces. We hear a similar story from OEMs and operators. Major manufacturers have plans to ramp up production and are facing challenges in scaling capacity and supply chains. Operators want to capture surging demand but face shortfalls in pilots and ground personnel and are eager for new-generation, more fuel-efficient aircraft. Read More
Coast Guard’s chief data officer: ‘We don’t know how to take care of our data’
(Breaking Defense) The US Coast Guard needs to start treating its data as a strategic asset much like how it does its ships and aircraft if it wants to become a more data-driven enterprise, according to officials responsible for its network and cloud efforts. “We know how to take care of our ships and aircraft, we know how to overhaul them, we know how to bring them in on a depot cycle, we know how to do the old level maintenance on the ships and aircraft, you know, at the pier, in the hangar. Well, we don’t know how to take care of our data,” Capt. Brian Erickson, chief data officer, said today at the WEST 2023 conference. Read More
Why it’s time to supercharge data infrastructure funding
(FCW) As the nation faces a myriad of issues – from the ongoing residual effects of the pandemic to the growing consequences of climate change – top academic minds are partnering to develop data-driven solutions to better inform federal and state policymakers and the Biden administration. The recently passed FY2023 omnibus spending package reflects this priority, with language directing federal agencies like the National Science Foundation to review its investments in biological research infrastructure and their impact and consider which approaches offer more flexibility to evaluate and maintain critical research infrastructure. Read More
DoD’s new cyber workforce strategy creates new AI, data-focused work roles
(Breaking Defense) The Defense Department’s new cyber workforce strategy creates dozens of updated work roles, including new artificial intelligence and data-focused specializations, as part of a broader effort to recruit and retain “the most capable and dominant” workforce in the world by utilizing “four human capital pillars.” The DoD chief information office has not yet released the 2023-2027 DoD Cyber Workforce Strategy on its website and a spokesperson for the office did not respond to an inquiry about its release, but slides posted on the AFCEA WEST 2023 conference agenda website outline what’s inside the strategy. Read More
Everybody expected this train wreck, but that doesn’t make it any prettier
(Federal News Network) The pandemic relief fraud numbers keep piling up. A billion here, a billion there. Was anybody watching? For an overview of what we know now, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to the director of Forensic Audits at the Government Accountability Office, Rebecca Shea. Read More
Almost 60% of GAO’s Privacy Recommendations Since 2010 Are Unresolved
(Nextgov) Federal officials have failed to implement almost 60% of the privacy and data security recommendations issued by the Government Accountability Office since 2010, according to a Tuesday report from the watchdog, potentially limiting their ability to adequately safeguard Americans’ collected personal information. The report found that, of the 236 public recommendations GAO has made since 2010 related to the protection of collected personal data, only 96 have been implemented by federal agencies as of December 2022. Read More
First observational evidence linking black holes to dark energy
(Space Daily) Searching through existing data spanning 9 billion years, a team of researchers led by scientists at University of Hawai’i at Manoa has uncovered the first evidence of “cosmological coupling” -a newly predicted phenomenon in Einstein’s theory of gravity, possible only when black holes are placed inside an evolving universe. Astrophysicists Duncan Farrah and Kevin Croker led this ambitious study, combining Hawai’i’s expertise in galaxy evolution and gravity theory with the observation and analysis experience of researchers across nine countries to provide the first insight into what might exist inside real black holes. Read More
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