NewsBrief: August 15, 2025

House, Senate seek to overhaul how DoD evaluates contractors

(Federal News Network) Both the House and the Senate want to overhaul how the Defense Department evaluates contractors by getting rid of subjective performance ratings in the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System with a “negative-only” reporting system. The House Armed Services Committee’s version of the 2026 defense policy bill includes a provision titled “Reforming of Contractor Performance Information Requirements,” which would require DoD to revise the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement to create an “objective, fact-based, and simplified system for reporting contractor performance.” Read More

GSA to unveil USAi, a new tool for federal agencies to experiment with AI models

(FedScoop) The General Services Administration will roll out a new governmentwide tool Thursday that gives federal agencies the ability to test major artificial intelligence models, a continuation of Trump administration efforts to ramp up government use of automation. The AI evaluation suite, titled USAi.gov, will launch later Thursday morning and allow federal agencies to test various AI models, including those from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta to start, two senior GSA officials told FedScoop. The launch of USAi underscores the Trump administration’s increasing appetite for AI integration into federal government workspaces. Read More

Worst to first: What it takes to build or remake a world-class team

(McKinsey Transformation) Building a team is hard; building a winning team is even harder. For every organization that manages to achieve the right mix of talent, culture, and performance expectations, many more find themselves lacking in one area or another. Consider the following cautionary tales. One team of “superstars” in a large technology organization failed to gel simply because they could not agree on working norms. Another high-performing group underachieved because the executive team and line managers had very different views of their roles: Executives were frustrated by line managers’ hesitancy to make and own critical decisions, Read More

Early Earth may have had active plate tectonics far sooner than thought

(Space Daily) Researchers investigating the Hadean Eon, which lasted from 4.6 to 4.0 billion years ago, have uncovered signs that plate tectonics began far earlier than widely assumed. The era started with Earth’s formation and a colossal Mars-sized impact that created the Moon, melting the planet’s interior. Crust solidification occurred about 4.5 billion years ago, but subsequent tectonic activity has been debated. The dominant theory holds that during the Hadean, Earth existed in a “stagnant lid” state, with a rigid, immobile crust above mantle convection but without subduction or modern-style continental formation. Read More