The Coalition presented at a small business meeting with Khem R. Sharma, Ph.D. Chief, Office of Size Standards, U.S. Small Business Administration today.  Dr. Sharma said that for NAICS 54:  Professional, Scientific & Technical Services, SBA received over 1400 comments after extending the comment period.  He envisions a 4 month internal review of the comments then analysis and preparation of the proposed rule, internal clearance and review by the Office of Management and Budget, publication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register for comments in the first quarter of 2012.  The final rule on the NAICS codes changes by industry changes will appear in the Federal Register in approximately two years.  Latest updates on other NIACS code categories are available at:  www.sba.gov/size

View SBA’s size standards process here.

You can view comments on published rules at www.regulations.gov
For NAICS 54: Professional, Scientific & Technical (RIN 3245-AG07)
For NAICS 48-49:  Transportation and Warehousing (RIN 3245-AG08)

Please take time to submit your comments at www.regulations.gov (Docket #SBA-2009-0008) or submit your comments to the Coalition at [email protected]

GTSC is polling its members and others in the small and medium business community (up to $200 million) on the top 3 challenges they face in working with Federal agencies. Join the survey today by identifying yourself, your company, its size (revenue), your contact information and the three challenges you face. Results will be published in Government Security News Magazine in September. Email your response to: josh at gtscoalition dot com

On Thursday, a bipartisan group of congressmen announced the launch of the Defense Energy Security Caucus, a government group that will focus on educating Congress and the American people on the importance of deploying sustainable and renewable energy solutions in the US military.

Read the article from AOL News.

Federal Times reports that thousands of military contractors would face new requirements for protecting unclassified information from cyber attack, under a draft rule published Wednesday in the Federal Register.

The proposed regulation would create two layers of safeguards on unclassified Defense Department records not cleared for public release that are either provided by DoD to the contractor or else developed by the contractor on the department’s behalf:

• Basic safeguards would bar contractors from accessing the information on public computers — such as those in hotel business centers — or posting it on publicly accessible websites.

• Enhanced safeguards would require contractors to “at a minimum” follow numerous security recommendations from the National Institute of Standards and Technology when working with records such as those deemed “For Official Use Only” or considered critical to the success of a particular mission. If not following those recommendations, contractors would have explain why that level of security is not needed or offer an alternative.

An estimated 76 percent of some 64,400 small businesses awarded defense contracts last year would have to furnish enhanced security, the proposed rule said. But information security costs typically amount to about 0.5 percent of small businesses’ revenues, the Defense Department added, and are less for larger companies.

If you would like to provide comments on this rule, please email us your opinion and the Coalition will submit comments to the draft rule.

HHS has awarded $352 million to U.S. hospitals and health care systems for help in preparing disaster preparedness plans.

The money is used by health care organizations to hire experts on preparedness plans and to buy equipment including mobile medical units and communications apparatus used to stay in touch with local government officials. Funding is also used to train hospital staff members about how to respond to disasters and to put systems in place to track the number of available hospital beds.

Additional disaster preparedness money is expected to be released later this summer through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Source: CQ

A June 2011 report by the Office of the Inspector General calls for more consistent standards in data collection by the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety. According to CQ, Marine safety represents a significant portion of Coast Guard activities. The program takes up between 6 and 9 percent of the service’s budget — roughly $650 million per year in fiscal 2010 and 2011. But the Coast Guard lacks a consistent standards for gathering data on its program activities, preventing it from developing an accurate picture for how much money and resources it will need in the future. The inspector general said the Coast Guard needs to complete a better guide for marine inspector to input information into its marine safety data collection system.

The service also needs to develop standards for conducting investigations, the report found. For some activities, such as the inspection of vessels under construction, there is no consistent guidance for the qualifications an inspector must possess. The full report is available here.

Contact Leslie Adlam, Vice President, Goverment Affairs [email protected] with questions

Highlights:
>>>DHS funded at $42 billion; 3% reduction from FY11; 7% less than President’s request
>>>Chairman Mica introduces amendment to assure possibility of private screeners
>>>Amendment cuts TSA budget by 10% and redirects to Screening Partnership Program (SPP)
>>>Use of body scanners debated, upheld

June 2, 2011 the House considered the FY 2012 Appropriations bill (HR 2017) for the Department of Homeland Security. The bill provides about $42 billion in funding, three percent less than in FY11 and about seven percent less than requested in President Obama’s FY 12 budget. HR. 2017 was adopted by a vote of 231-188.
Mica Introduces Pro-Private Screener Amendment
John Mica, Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, offered an amendment, which passed on a vote of 219-214, cutting more than $270 million from TSA’s budget for airport security screeners. The approved language would mean a 10% cut in the TSA federal screening workforce, with a shift of the savings intended to be designated to the Screening Partnership Program (SPP). This will allow airport operators to continue to contract with private firms as an alternative to government screeners. If Chairman Mica’s provision were to become law, TSA would be required to hire private companies to perform airport screenings.
The timing of the amendment coincided with a report released by Chairman Mica which found that private screeners operate more efficiently and could save the government at least $1 billion over five years.
TSA’s Screening Partnership Program (SPP) was designed to meet the requirement for the “opt out” program established in the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) of 2001. ATSA required TSA to establish pilots at up to five airports where screening would be performed by employees of private companies under federal contract oversight. The law requires those contract screeners to meet all the requirements applicable to federally employed screeners. All commercial airports with federal security screening are eligible to apply for SPP. As of November, 2010, 16 airports were operating under SPP, including seven airports in Montana that were granted federal status to begin receiving security screening in 2008. In January, 2011, TSA Administrator John Pistole, completed a full review of the SPP program and decided not to expand privatized screening operations beyond the 16 airports. In response to this decision, Chairman Mica offered his amendment as part of the FY 2012 Funding Bill to ensure that private screening at airports will remain a viable option for contractors.
The body scanner used to screen passengers was also debated during consideration of HR. 2017. Two separate amendments were rejected by the House in an attempt to withhold funding for 275 additional Advanced Imaging Technology screening machines requested by the President in FY 2012. Privacy concerns among lawmakers and the public have made this technology controversial. TSA began ramping up the rollout of 1,000 whole-body imaging technology scanners after traditional metal detectors failed to identify chemical explosives concealed inside the underwear of an airline passenger headed for the United States on Christmas Day, 2009. TSA worked with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science & Technology Directorate (S&T) and private industry to develop the software, and began testing it at the TSA Systems Integration Facility in the fall of 2010.

Currently, there are nearly 500 imaging technology units at 78 airports nationwide, with additional units planned for deployment this year. TSA continues to test ATR (Automatic target recognition) enabled units that are not capable of storing or printing images. THE ATR software eliminates the need for a screening officer to view passenger images in a separate room because no visual image is produced. The new software is being tested on millimeter wave AIT units currently in airports, with plans to test similar software on backscatter units in the future. TSA plans to continually update and test enhanced versions of the software developed by private industry in order to ensure that technology with the highest detection standards is deployed.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) FY11.2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) solicitation closes on June 28, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Please note that a new Proposal Submission system has been implemented. As a result, the process to submit proposals is different than in past years. Please allow sufficient time to register your company — register early!

The solicitation includes six topic descriptions outlining the technical areas in which the DHS Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate’s SBIR Program requests proposals under its FY11.2 solicitation.
The solicitation is available on the Federal Business Opportunities web site at http://www.fbo.gov/ (Quick Search using DHSSBIR-2011-2). The solicitation will also be posted on the DHS SBIR Program Portal at https://sbir2.st.dhs.gov/portal/SBIR/.