Welcome to The Wrap for Monday, September 22!

From the newsroom at MeriTalk, it’s the quickest read in Federal tech news. Here’s what you need to know today:

Meta Joins OneGov

The General Services Administration (
GSA
) has inked another OneGov agreement, this time with Meta to support governmentwide use of Llama, its open source AI models. While past OneGov deals have provided a discount to federal agencies on tech services, this deal is a bit unique. Because Meta makes its Llama models freely available, this eliminated the need for any procurement negotiations between the company and GSA. In reaching the agreement, GSA said it instead “focused its expertise on backend work,”ensuring that Llama meets federal requirements. “Thanks to Meta and its commitment to advancing public sector services, our federal partners now have easier access to Llama and open source AI, which offers unique benefits for federal agencies and government use cases,” said Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum. Another positive: GSA said that because Llama models are open source, federal agencies have the flexibility to maintain full control over how their data is processed and stored. Additionally, the open models will help federal agencies foster transparency and reproducibility in AI research. Sounds like a win-win situation.

Cyber Programs in Limbo

As a government shutdown looms, the future of two critical cybersecurity programs remains uncertain. Those two programs are the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (CISA 15) and the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP). Both CISA 15 and the SLCGP are set to expire on Sept. 30 without reauthorization from Congress. Last Friday, the House passed a stopgap funding measure that would reauthorize both programs. However, that measure to fund the federal government through Nov. 21 is now deadlocked in the Senate. Senate Democrats have vowed to defeat the measure, and Republicans voted against a democratic proposal to move the deadline to Oct. 31. So, what’s being done? While the stopgap measure is encountering pushback, the homeland security committees in both the House and Senate are working on bills to reauthorize CISA 15. Nevertheless, the future of both programs remains up in the air as Congress tries to reach an agreement.

DAF Wraps Up DASH 2

The
United States Air Force
has wrapped up DASH 2, a high-speed experimentation campaign that proved human-machine teaming on the battlefield is no longer science fiction. Held in Las Vegas, DASH 2 tested how artificial intelligence can supercharge decision-making during joint and coalition military operations. The event was led by the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) team. The AI systems delivered recommendations in under 10 seconds and generated 30 times more options than human-only teams. Two industry teams alone came up with 6,000+ solutions to 20 tactical problems in just one hour, with accuracy rivalling human judgment. The sprint series is part of the larger Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) initiative, which aims to modernize military command and control systems. DASH 2 included live comparisons between human-only and human-machine teams, showing clear improvements in decision speed, quality, and output volume.

DOE’s ‘Speed to Power’

The
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
is flipping the switch on “Speed to Power,” a new initiative to fast-track grid generation and transmission projects as AI and data center demand surge. The Energy Department is kicking off the effort with a request for information – the agency wants to hear how it can rapidly expand energy generation and grid capacity to power AI data center electricity demand. The effort comes at a crucial time: This summer, the DOE estimated that half of all new American electric power will be consumed by data centers come 2030, and that unless major changes occur, under the nation’s current capacity, “the Nation’s power grid will be unable to meet projected demand.” Yikes, let’s find some solutions. Responses to the RFI are due by Nov. 21.

Once again, let’s “call IT a day,” but we’ll bring you more tomorrow. Until then, please check the MeriTalk breaking news website throughout the day for the latest on government IT people, progress, and policy.

And finally, please hit the news tip jar (with leads, breaking news, or simply your two cents) at newsstaff@meritalk.com.