Weekly Roundup: June 1-5, 2020

Michael J. Keegan

Pentagon names 7 new military sites for 5G testing. The Defense Department has selected seven new military installations to conduct 5G testing and experimentation in several areas including augmented reality, wireless connectivity, and spectrum sharing, officials announced June 3. At Naval Base Norfolk, Virginia, tests will focus on shipwide and pier connectivity; at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, tests will focus on aircraft mission readiness; at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, testing will probe augmented reality and training.

Supplier ownership should be considered in assessing supply chain risk . Many vendors lack transparency into their own supply chains. So how can vendors – as well as their government customers — be assured that their sub-tier suppliers do not pose threats or vulnerabilities?

Automation is advancing in federal acquisition. Although bots that automate processes are common in federal acquisition, pure AI is still in beta mode, said experts.

It’s Time to Rethink Leadership Around Leading for Resilience. I define leading for resilience as making the strategic, structural, operational, and talent and development decisions that will enable organizations to survive a shock and sustain their mission. It’s a philosophy I’ve rarely encountered in almost four decades of working and leading, in large part, because it demands a long-term view and discipline in a decidedly short-term world.

Here are 3 key parts of strategic thinking. Strategic thinking can be thought of as a three-step process, starting with a scan for information across sources, organizing that data according to our internal framings and the conscious effort to push back on our own thinking, writes Nick Noyes of Insight Experience. "Can you be more conscious of the frame you are choosing and make that thinking more visible to others?" he writes. Take It Personel-ly blog

Why reflective inquiry can help people take action. Reflective inquiry can be valuable for leaders and their teams to help them understand what stories, worries and defaults are preventing action, writes Marcia Reynolds. "When you help them put their beliefs and assumptions on the table, they begin to see the gaps in logic and inherited beliefs that no longer serve them," she writes. SmartBrief/Leadership

Crisis can give your life and career new meaning. If you feel overwhelmed, try focusing on small ways you can effect change, such as volunteering or rediscovering meaning in your job, write Frank Martela and Derin Kent of Aalto University in Finland. "A crisis can help you realize that what you want out of your career requires a change in direction," they write. Harvard Business Review

Mars researchers argue for the cyclic moon theory. Mars may have once had a ring around it that eventually became its oddly shaped moon Phobos, according to findings accepted for publication by The Astrophysical Journal Letters and presented at the American Astronomical Society meeting. Researchers say the slight tilt of fellow moon Deimos' orbit suggests that Phobos is a cyclic moon that periodically disintegrates into material that rings the planet then coalesces back into a moon. Gizmodo

John Kamensky

Unleashed. NextGov reports: “In the crunch of a crisis, federal agencies unleashed bots, artificial intelligence, 3D printers and supercomputers to flatten the COVID-19 curve.

Procurement Spending Up. Federal News Network reports: “Agencies spent more on procurement in fiscal 2019 than in any of the previous 10 years. . . . The Government Accountability Office found agencies spent $584 billion on procurement last year, up $20 billion over 2018 and more than $120 billion since 2015. . . . The Defense Department accounted for $381 billion while civilian agencies spent $205 billion.”

Emergency IT Improvement. FedScoop reports: “The Department of Veterans Affairs was one of the biggest recipients of emergency IT funding in response to the coronavirus pandemic earlier this spring. And according to CIO James Gfrerer, the VA is ‘putting every penny of’ the more than $2 billion it received for things like telework and telehealth to ‘effective use.’”

Telework Works. Federal News Network reports: “Good news from one of the first audits on how agencies are fairing under the mandatory telework requirement. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general says the agency was generally well prepared for the change. The limited audit of 37 people found many of the survey respondents said switching to mandatory telework had no negative impact or only a slight impact on their work. The IG said there were some network and connection issues, and remote working made those jobs that required paper more difficult.”

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Next Week on The Business of Government Hour: ENCORE PRESENTAION  A Conversation with Tracy Bojko and Macey Cox, co-leaders, the National Science Foundation’s Leadership Development Program. How is the National Science Foundation (NSF) building a pipeline of current and future leaders? What is the NSF’s leadership development program (LDP)? Join host Michael Keegan as he explores these questions and more with Tracy Bojko and Macey Cox co-leaders the National Science Foundation’s Leadership Development Program on the next The Business of Government Hour.

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