The U.S. Census Bureau is asking the public for suggestions to help guide the planning and design of the 2030 census, with an eye toward soliciting recommendations on how to use new technologies, data sources and other tools to encourage more people to respond to the next census. The request, published in a Federal Register notice on Aug. 17, comes as the Bureau continues to work on the early stages of its design selection phase for the next decennial census. The public feedback will help guide the initial operational design of the 2030 census, which the Census Bureau said it plans to decide in 2024. To read more, please click here.

DFARS serves as a supplement to the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)—which governs federal contracting generally—and addresses cybersecurity risks that are unique to the defense contracting sector. As cybersecurity risks continue to grow and evolve, DFARS compliance presents new challenges every year, and defense contractors need to have systems in place that they can efficiently supplement, update, and replace over time. To read more, please click here.

Federal News Network – For the past 30 years, Congress has continued to renew the Defense Department’s Mentor-Protégé Program — but only as a pilot. After an in-depth look from outside business experts, the Defense Business Board is recommending Congress make the program permanent once DoD makes a few tweaks. Farooq Mitha, director of DoD’s Office of Small Business Programs, told members of the board on Tuesday that small business involvement in Pentagon contracting is more important than ever as the military works to counter near-peer adversaries like China and Russia. Please click here to read more.

Defense & Security Monitor – The top 100 U.S. Department of Defense prime contractors in fiscal year 2021 are ranked by total contract funds awarded. IN 2021, the DoD had defense contract award obligations were $395.52 billion. The top 100 contractors were awarded $245.76 billion (62%) of that total. To read more, please click here.

Defense News – Lawmakers are contesting the Biden administration’s proposal to scrap two nuclear investments. The first is the B83 megaton gravity bomb. The second is the sea-launched cruise missle nuclear development program. This comes at a time when global military spending in 2021 for the first time surpassed $2 trillion dollars. Please click here to read more.

Breaking Defense – Lawmakers on the Hill are proposing major changes to the structure of a program used widely within the the Defense Department to spur innovation, even as officials from DoD and industry are sounding the alarm that the US will lose ground to China in the competition over critical technologies if the program isn’t reauthorized by the end of the month. Even if reauthorized, correspondence obtained by Breaking Defense between the Hill and Pentagon indicated that lawmakers want significant changes to how the program is run. Please click here to read more.