Posted by
Cost Estimating NewsBrief: July 19, 2024
What is generative AI? Most of the public sector workforce doesn’t know
(Route Fifty) Uses for generative artificial intelligence are rapidly increasing as more governments embrace the technology. It has already been applied to streamlining procurement, finding data to see how cities compare to their peers, drafting communications and summarizing meetings, among other approaches. Despite the optimism and the initial use cases, though, most employees don’t have a clue what generative AI is. What is the difference, after all, between that and just plain, old artificial intelligence? Read More
DOE Develops AI Roadmap to Accelerate Technological Breakthroughs
(ExecutiveGov) The Department of Energy has created a roadmap to advance artificial intelligence adoption within the agency’s 17 national laboratories under the Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence for Science, Security and Technology initiative. FASST aims to enable AI-ready scientific data repositories at DOE user facilities and build AI supercomputers to create trustworthy AI models that would allow researchers to achieve technological breakthroughs in various scientific and energy applications, DOE said Tuesday. Read More
GSA Says Line-Item Pricing Data Leads to Improvements in Small Business Participation, Cybersecurity
(ExecutiveGov) A program that collects transactional data at the line-item level is reportedly boosting the participation of small businesses in the government contracting market. The General Services Administration said on Tuesday that the group, Transactional Data Reporting — dubbed TDR — led to small business sales exceeding large business sales by 22 percent on the Federal Acquisition Service’s 2nd Generation IT Products blanket purchase agreement, or 2GIT BPA, during the first quarter of 2024. Read More
GAO: Agencies Missing Potential Savings as Recommendations Remain Pending
(FEDweek) The GAO has said that federal agencies are missing out on potential savings of more than $200 billion as nearly 5,500 of its recommendations remain pending. GAO noted that while many of its recommendations are geared toward improving national security, public health and safety, and efficiency of government programs, its estimate for those related to increased revenues or reduced spending ranges from $106 billion to $208 billion. Read More
NASA cancels $450 million VIPER moon rover due to budget concerns
(Space.com) NASA has cancelled its VIPER moon rover program due to rising costs. VIPER, short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, was a robotic mission intended to land near the moon’s south pole and spend 100 days scouting for lunar ice deposits. The rover was slated to launch in 2025 to the moon aboard an Astrobotic Griffin lander as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative (CLPS). Now, it appears VIPER will be scrapped for parts or potentially sold to industry. Read More
DOD Accepting Applications for 2025 Edition of Commercial Acquisition Training Program for Defense Contracting Officers
(ExecutiveGov) The Department of Defense is now accepting applications for the fiscal year 2025 cohort of the Immersive Commercial Acquisition Program. Launched in 2022 by the Defense Innovation Unit and the Defense Acquisition University, ICAP works to address the need for DOD acquisition professionals to adopt best practices for commercial procurement and keep pace with commercial product cycles, the DOD said Tuesday. Read More
From raw data to real profits: A primer for building a thriving data business
(McKinsey Digital) Almost two centuries ago, Lewis Tappan and John M. Bradstreet illustrated the potential for turning data into a profitable product. At the time, businesses and merchants were expanding their operations and needed a reliable way to determine the creditworthiness of potential partners. Bankers and investors were eager for more consistent, objective information in this burgeoning economy to guide their lending and investment decisions. 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.