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Cost Estimating NewsBrief: June 20, 2025
GSA plans to ‘flip’ the role of tech resellers with OneGov strategy
(FedScoop) As the General Services Administration looks to form direct relationships with IT manufacturers to bring better value to agencies through governmentwide deals under its OneGov strategy, it’s going to disrupt a staple of the federal IT acquisition ecosystem: value-added resellers. A significant portion of federal IT contracting traditionally goes through resellers that provide software services on behalf of original equipment manufacturers that often don’t have the experience navigating or selling to the federal government. Those resellers, like Carahsoft, CDW-G and Iron Bow, however, specialize in that and provide additional services like integration, customization and support for commercial IT products. Read More
New pay claims for active-duty federal employees possible after Supreme Court decision
(Government Executive) A recent ruling by the Supreme Court could mean a new rash of pay claims for federal employees who may also serve as military reservists. The court ruled on April 30 in its Feliciano v. Department of Transportation decision that military reservists called up to active duty during a national emergency are entitled to the difference between their military and civilian salaries regardless of whether that service was substantially connected to the emergency in question. That means federal employees that also serve as military reservists may have new claims on differential pay based on their past active duty service, and the Merit Systems Protection Board, which handles the claims, may soon have more work. Read More
USPTO touts success in AI applications
(NextGov/FCW) Despite a “rough and rocky” journey, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is going all-in on generative artificial intelligence solutions to help improve its business operations. Officials from USPTO hosted a Tuesday discussion on the agency’s future leveraging AI for its various missions, the comments it’s looking for on its recent request for information on available automated offerings and the solutions the agency is currently developing. “The biggest lesson we learned [when introducing AI] was that all AI requires knowing your data, knowing data structure, data elements, data flow and, most importantly, data security,” said Jamie Holcombe, USPTO’s chief information officer. Read More
Training for the Moo(n)
(NASA Explore) A curious cow watches as NASA astronauts Andre Douglas and Kate Rubins perform a simulated moonwalk in the San Francisco Volcanic Field in Northern Arizona on May 14, 2024, in preparation for NASA’s historic Artemis III Moon landing mission. Flight controllers and scientists guided activities during the week-long simulation from mission control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Tests like this are critical for NASA’s Artemis science teams because they provide an opportunity to test integration with mission control. Read More
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