Boeing wins $17.7 contract mod for precision laser guidance sets

Boeing Co. has won a $17.7 million contract modification to produce 1,496 precision laser guidance sets for the Navy, Air Force, and the governments of Saudi Arabia and Japan.

This contract combines purchases by the Navy and Air Force with purchases by Saudi Arabia and Japan under the Foreign Military Sales program, the Defense Department said in an announcement.

U.S. considers how to confront China over cyber attacks

The United States is beginning to put its foot down in light of the recent escalation of the conflict with China over cyberspying, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Obama administration has begun considering a slew of options related to how the country should confront China, including trade sanctions, diplomatic pressure, indictments of Chinese nationals in U.S. courts and cyber countermeasures.

Pragmatics taps new VP, GM of civilian business

Pragmatics has named Christopher Hegedus vice president and general manager of its federal civilian division, where he will manage and lead all aspects of the company’s service to customers.

Such customers include the State and Homeland Security Departments, the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and other federal agencies, the company said in a release.

Hegedus will report to chief operating officer Joe Brock.

He comes to Pragmatics from Science Applications International Corp., where he most recently managed a portfolio of federal customers and served as a senior program manager.

Give your boss your FB password? Yes, under CISPA

A last-minute amendment to CISPA that would have prevented employers from asking for employees’ Facebook passwords has been blocked, according to The Huffington Post. CISPA, or the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, has been a topic of contention especially in recent days, as the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill on April 18.

Protest decisions loom for NetCents losers

The big question bouncing around the market is whether or not the Air Force got it right this time in awarding its $6.9 billion NetCents 2 Products contract.

This is the second time the Air Force has made awards for the mandatory contract. Last year, the contract went to nine companies, but the Air Force pulled back after 11 other companies filed protests.

Air Force makes NetCents 2 awards, now what?

The Air Force moved ahead late Friday afternoon and has made its second attempt to award the $6.9 billion NetCents 2 Products contract, naming eight prime contractors late Friday afternoon.

The multiple-award task order contract was originally awarded last year to nine companies but after 11 other companies filed protests of the award, the Air Force quickly backed off and rescinded the awards.

Stottlemyer explains Acentia's vision for acquisitions

Bucking the tide of a sluggish and uncertain economy last year, technology and management solutions provider Acentia on April 1, 2012, acquired 2020 Company LLC, a federal health IT provider.

2020 “was a hot, high-growth entrepreneurial business” that had won numerous IDIQs and had generated interest from a number of prospective buyers, said Bob Kipps, principal at Kipps DeSanto, an investment bank that advised 2020 on the deal.

Who are the D.C.-areas' top women tech leaders?

Thirteen women have been selected as winners of Women in Technology’s 14th Annual Leadership Awards, which honor leading female professionals who have excelled as mentors, exemplified unique vision and who embody Women in Technology’s mission.

The winners are:

• Corporate: Private Sector Large Business: Elaine Anderson, CSC
• Corporate: Private Sector Small Business: Mary Knebel Gillespie, Alarm.com
• Corporate: Public Sector Large Business: Julie Taylor, SAIC
• Corporate: Public Sector Small Business: Angie Lienert, Intelligenesis, LLC
• Entrepreneur: Dawn Halfaker, Halfaker and Associates
• Government: Lorraine Landfried, Department of Veteran Affairs
• Health IT: Stephanie Pincus, National Academies of Science (Institute of Medicine)
• Rising Star: Marlene Roush, SAIC; Stacy Tedesco, D.C. Public Schools, Thomson Elementary
• Social Impact IT: Donna Rice Hughes, Enough is Enough
• Unsung Hero: Nora Robertson, Navy ERP
• WIT Champion: Kelly Moore, AT&T
• President’s Award: Colleen Oresky; Chair Sponsor Committee; Deb Hennessy; Chair GIT Share Our Success Events
• Founders Award: Nanci Schimizzi; FINRA

Women in Technology also recognized Gannett Co. with its inaugural Corporate Leadership for Women on Boards award for Gannett’s gender diversity on its corporate board and for raising awareness for diversity in the technology industry, the organization said in a release.

Winning is a team sport. Are you getting everyone to play?

Christian Gronroos said, “In a services business, all employees are salespeople.”  I have often heard executives say that they want all of their employees engaged in helping to grow the business.  How does this result actually happen?

There are employees who work on a project for years seemingly not concerned about how the contract was won.  Their employer has the contract and off to work they go.  One day when the work stops, they expect to be hired by the new prime contractor.  For some of these employees, the thought of helping their employer grow the business is not their responsibility.  I have heard project managers say, “BD is not my job.” Business development or BD people win the work; operations people deliver the work. This view has dominated our business and worked, more or less, for many years… until now.

Objectives revised for $10B NIH CIO-CS contract

The National Institutes of Health has released a new statement of objectives for the $10 billion Chief Information Officer – Commodity Solutions contract that expands the number of product categories and changes the cloud services to be offered.

The CIO-CS contract will replace the Electronic Commodities Store III contract, a 10-year, $10 billion vehicle with 40 prime contractors. It is being extended another year until the new contract is in place.