Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Pentagon considers cybersecurity certification for its contractors

By

In cybersecurity, you’re only as strong as your weakest link.

For the Defense Department, the area with the fewest cyber protections are the defense contractors the department works with, particularly the small businesses that don’t have the expertise or resources to build a robust security posture.

The Pentagon put together a task force to assess whether small businesses within the defense industrial base are complying with the cybersecurity framework published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and provide assistance to companies that need help.

The department issued a new rule last year requiring vendors to show that they are in compliance with NIST standards or have a plan to get there quickly. Those plans were due Jan. 1.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2018/12/pentagon-considers-cybersecurity-certification-its-contractors/153330/

See GTPAC’s video, template and other resources designed to help contractors comply with the DoD/NIST cybersecurity rules at: http://gtpac.org/cybersecurity-training-video/

DoD issues final guidance for assessing contractor compliance with NIST SP 800-171

By

The Department of Defense (DoD) recently issued final guidance for requiring activities to assess contractors’ System Security Plans (SSPs) and their implementation of the security controls in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-171.

A draft of this guidance was made available for public comment in April 2018.  As noted in an earlier post on the draft guidance, DoD’s proposed approach raised significant questions as to what role offerors’ implementation of the security controls in NIST SP 800-171 would play in bid protests, contract performance, and post award audits.  In the memorandum accompanying the final guidance documents, DoD notes that it has incorporated comments it received from the public into the final guidance.  As discussed below, although the DoD has addressed some of the issues raised by the April draft, the final guidance adds some additional concerns and ambiguities.

The final guidance consists of two documents.  The first document is “Guidance for Assessing Compliance of and Enhancing Protections for a Contractor’s Internal Unclassified Information System,” which provides direction to requiring activities for including evaluation criteria in solicitations and in contracts for assessing contractor compliance with NIST SP 800-171.  The second document is “DoD Guidance for Reviewing System Security Plans and the NIST SP 800-171 Security Requirements Not Yet Implemented,” which addresses how DoD should assess the impact and risk of NIST SP 800-171 security controls that a contractor has not yet implemented.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2018/11/dod-issues-final-guidance-for-assessing-contractor-compliance-with-nist-sp-800-171/

See GTPAC’s video, template and other resources designed to help contractors comply with the DoD/NIST cybersecurity rules at: http://gtpac.org/cybersecurity-training-video/

DoD to limit use of ‘Brand Name or Equal’ contract competitions

By

The Department of Defense (DoD) has proposed a new rule limiting the use of “brand name or equal” contract competitions, calling on contracting officers to publicly justify their need for a brand name-type product before issuing a solicitation.  The rule would implement Section 888(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017, which directed the Secretary of Defense to “ensure that competition in [DoD] contracts is not limited” by brand name references without a justification under 10 U.S.C. § 2304(f).

Background

Federal procurement law requires agencies to draft competitive solicitations that describe the Government’s needs generally, rather than referencing a specific type of product.  However, “under certain circumstances,” agencies may request a specific brand name product or its equal.  An off-brand product is “equal” if it shares the same the same salient characteristics as the brand name product. 

Contractors have at times challenged, through pre-award bid protests, agency decisions to reference a brand name product as unfair and unduly restrictive of competition, contrary to the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984’s (CICA) requirement for full and open competition.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2018/11/whats-in-a-brand-name-dod-to-limit-use-of-brand-name-or-equal-contract-competitions/

Revisions coming for NIST’s data protection guide, will address ‘advanced’ cyber threats

By

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is planning to issue a draft second revision to its guidelines for controlled unclassified information handled by the Defense Department and government contractors, in order to better address “advanced persistent threats,” according to a key NIST official.

The upcoming draft revisions are based on recent assessments that information critical for national security requires “enhanced” protections, the NIST official said at a public meeting updating industry and government officials on the data requirements at NIST headquarters on Oct. 18, 2018.

NIST’s Ron Ross said a draft revision to NIST guideline 800-171 would be issued before the end of the year for public comment. The revisions are “just in the planning stages this week” and a formal announcement will be issued soon. Ross said the enhanced requirements would be proposed for comment as an appendix to the overall document to offer additional protections beyond “basic” controls outlined in chapter three of the guidelines.

The NIST guidelines are the basis for Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, or DFARS, for cybersecurity risks issued in 2017 and still being implemented by DOD.

Keep reading this article at: https://insidedefense.com/insider/nist-official-revisions-coming-data-protection-guide-will-address-advanced-cyber-threats

See GTPAC’s video, template and other resources designed to help contractors comply with the DoD/NIST cybersecurity rules at: http://gtpac.org/cybersecurity-training-video/

DoD makes supply chain risk management a permanent performance metric

By

On Sept. 19, 2018, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) issued a corrected Class Deviation 2018-O0020, to remove the sunset provision in DFARS 239.73, “Requirements for Information Relating to Supply Chain Risk,” that was due to expire on Sept. 30, 2018. The deviation is effective immediately.

This new deviation implements Section 881 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. Section 881 made the requirements for supply chain risk management under DFARS 239.73 permanent by placing its authority under a statute (10 U.S.C. § 2239a). This reauthorization reflects the continual efforts by Congress and the DoD to increase oversight on contractors supply chain and use risk management as a metric for contract performance.

DFARS Subpart 239.73, along with its contract clauses DFARS 252.239-7017 and DFARS 252.239-7018, places a significant onus on contractors to investigate its own supply chain to minimize and mitigate any perceived security risks. Failure to meet the requirements of the regulations creates significant risk to a contractor.

  • First, there is an explicit requirement in DFARS 252.239-7018 requiring contractors to actively mitigate supply chain risk during performance of the contract. However, the clause provides no additional information or standard to what is considered adequate mitigation.
  • Second, there is an implicit incentive for contractors to ensure that their supply chain is risk-free because the contractor is not the only entity to investigate risks in its supply chain. DFARS 252.239-7018 provides the government with an incredible oversight capability by permitting it to consult both public and non-public information, including all-source intelligence, to determine whether a contractor’s supply chain creates a risk.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=743224

Cybersecurity compliance: A key to future DoD contract awards

By

In a recent address at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference, Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan emphasized that cybersecurity will become a “critical measurement” for making contract awards as well as a significant consideration in holding a government contractor accountable for its performance.

Shanahan noted that while DoD acquisitions currently focus on three critical measurements—quality, cost and schedule—cybersecurity is “probably going to be what we call the . . . fourth critical measurement.” The DoD is “going to work with [its] industrial partners to help them be as accountable for security as they are for quality.”

Shanahan also noted that adequate cybersecurity protection is part of the standard baseline of government contracting security—it is not an optional feature. He commented, “And it shouldn’t be that being secure comes with a big bill. It’s just like we wouldn’t pay extra for quality.” Consequently, government contractors should recognize that the government “shouldn’t pay extra for security,” he added. Rather, “security is the standard. It’s the expectation. It’s not something that’s above and beyond what we’ve done before.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=742094

See GTPAC’s video, template and other resources designed to help contractors comply with the DoD/NIST cybersecurity rules at: http://gtpac.org/cybersecurity-training-video/

Security assessments soon may be part of DoD government contracts acquisition process

By

Identifying threats and improving network and supply chain security has been an ongoing effort by Congress and the Department of Defense (DoD) for the past several years.

Congress has included multiple provisions in the annual National Defense Authorization Acts to spur action by the DoD to address weaknesses in contractor supply chains for electronic parts and vulnerabilities to cyber threats in contractor information technology systems. In turn, the DoD has amended the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to impose new performance requirements on contractors and subcontractors in DoD procurement contracts. This cascading effort of turning policy into contract performance has been steady but slow and of questionable efficacy.

A new initiative under consideration by the DoD could change that. In June testimony to Congress, the DoD said it has started a new initiative known as “Deliver Uncompromised” to “elevate the private sector’s focus on security.” The DoD’s goal is to establish security as a “fourth pillar” in acquisition, “on par with cost, schedule and performance.” The hope is to create incentives for industry to “embrace security, not as a ‘cost center,’ but as a key differentiator” in competitions for procurement contracts.

In August 2018, the nonprofit group Mitre Corporation (Mitre) released a report called “Deliver Uncompromised,” which describes how the DoD and the intelligence community face daily strategic attacks from foreign adversaries in the supply chain domain (e.g., software, hardware, and services) and cyber domain (e.g., informational technology and cyber-physical such as weapons systems). Mitre’s report calls for a unified focus of resources from both the DoD and government contractors to prioritize risk mitigation through enhanced infrastructure and better coordination.

While the DoD cannot require private companies to invest in specific security measures, the Mitre report recommends that the DoD use its purchasing power and regulatory authority to influence and shape the conduct of the DoD suppliers. For example, the DoD may begin defining procurement requirements with new security measures, or rewarding contractor proposals with superior security measures by elevating security as a primary metric for evaluation during the source selection process. The DoD could also include terms and conditions in its contracts that impose security requirements, and then use those contractual terms post-award to monitor contractor compliance.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=737662

GTPAC has created a video and a template to help businesses comply with DoD’s cybersecurity requirements.  These resources appear at: http://gtpac.org/cybersecurity-training-video/

Here’s a description of information security requirements for federal contractors

By

The federal government is requiring federal contractors to implement specific guidance in the form of NIST 800-171 in an effort to curb the trend of federal government data being exposed on contractor networks. This disturbing trend has occurred for a few reasons.

First, federal contracts often require the use of contractor-owned information systems to process federal information. These information systems historically do not meet the government’s requirements and, as a result, have led to information being exfiltrated by nation-state attackers.

An example of this lack of security in contractor information systems became known in May 2017 when federal contractor Booz Allen Hamilton left unencrypted Pentagon files on a publically accessible Amazon server. This resulted in 60,000 sensitive files — plenty of which referred to the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) — being exposed on the internet for anyone to access.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/09/04/information-security-requirements-for-u-s-federal-contractors/#3daa7183451b

See GTPAC’s video, template and other resources designed to help contractors comply with the DoD/NIST cybersecurity rules at: http://gtpac.org/cybersecurity-training-video/

Strict security notification and disclosure requirements for government contractors

By

Businesses that seek to obtain and preserve contracts with the United States government, or to deal in certain enumerated defense articles and services, are subject to strict privacy regulations imposed by the U.S. government.

For those under contract (or subcontract) with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplements (DFARS) place stringent minimum security requirements and reporting obligations that must be met, otherwise a business could face financial penalties or termination of its contract.

Businesses that export and import defense articles or services and related technical data must comply with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which comprise approval, registration and records maintenance requirements. If a violation of ITAR is voluntarily reported, the penalties imposed by the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) can be reduced.

Businesses subject to DFARS and ITAR should have a compliance program in place that includes an appropriate response to any security incident.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=733388

See GTPAC’s video, template and other resources designed to help contractors comply with the DoD/NIST cybersecurity rules at: http://gtpac.org/cybersecurity-training-video/

Strict notification and disclosure requirements apply to defense contractors

By

Businesses that seek to obtain and preserve contracts with the United States government, or to deal in certain enumerated defense articles and services, are subject to strict privacy regulations imposed by the U.S. government.

For those under contract (or subcontract) with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplements (DFARS) place stringent minimum security requirements and reporting obligations that must be met, otherwise a business could face financial penalties or termination of its contract.

Businesses that export and import defense articles or services and related technical data must comply with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which comprise approval, registration and records maintenance requirements. If a violation of ITAR is voluntarily reported, the penalties imposed by the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) can be reduced.

Businesses subject to DFARS and ITAR should have a compliance program in place that includes an appropriate response to any security incident.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=d5fda8c7-68e4-4a1c-a4f5-7e387e51741d

Contracting News

Read More

Contracting Tips

Read More

GTPAC News

Read More

Georgia Tech News

Read More