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Cost Estimating NewsBrief: January 17, 2025
Best practices for developing soft skills in the federal workforce in 2025
(Federal News Network) The workplace is decidedly more casual today than it was even a few years ago. Undoubtedly inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic and the months of work-from-home dress codes and Zoom meetings, American workers are more likely to wear business casual clothing to work than ever before. Collectively, nearly three-quarters of the workforce wears business casual attire or weekend wear to work, reflecting a significant shift in professional norms and a growing emphasis on comfort and convenience over traditional business attire. This trend isn’t just reserved for the private sector. The federal workforce has also become more casual, with employees saying they dress for function, not form. Read More
Pentagon needs to ‘divest to invest,’ embrace more nimble procurement: Defense Innovation Board
(Breaking Defense) This week the Defense Innovation Board and other defense thought leaders released suggestions on how the Pentagon should rethink some of its major strategies related to innovation, warning that if it doesn’t, there could be severe national security consequences. “The world is changing very rapidly, and if we don’t do something, there’s an awful lot of dangers, everything that we’ve built in the last 250 years can be thrown away,” chair of the DIB and former New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg, said during a quarterly DIB meeting Monday. Read More
Frank Kendall on Nuclear Deterrents, Need for AI Capabilities
(Executive Gov) Frank Kendall, secretary of the Air Force and a five-time Wash100 awardee, highlighted the importance of maintaining a nuclear deterrent and the need for the Department of the Air Force to expand the use of artificial intelligence and cyber capabilities, Space Force reported Tuesday. Kendall told the audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Monday that the effort includes the development of collaborative combat aircraft, a.k.a. CCAs. Read More
The sun’s magnetic field will flip soon. Here’s what to expect.
(Space.com) The sun is on the verge of a significant event: a magnetic field reversal. The sun undergoes such a reversal every 11 years, which marks an important stage in the solar cycle. The shift in polarity marks the point at which the sun is halfway through solar maximum, the height of its activity, and the beginning of the shift toward solar minimum. The sun’s magnetic field last flipped toward the end of 2013. What causes this switch in polarity, and is it dangerous for anything on Earth? Let’s take a deep dive into the phenomenon of the sun’s magnetic field reversal and investigate the effects it could have on Earth. Read More
ICEAA’s NewsBrief is a collection of articles relevant to the cost estimating and analysis community that is delivered weekly to current ICEAA members. To advertise in NewsBrief, contact iceaa@iceaaonline.org.