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Lockheed Martin’s Marietta GA facility wins major C-130J contract

January 17, 2020 By Andrew Smith

Lockheed Martin has won a $3 billion multiyear contract to deliver up to 50 C-130J Super Hercules to the US Air Force (USAF), US Marine Corps (USMC) and US Coast Guard.

The Department of Defense awarded $1.5 billion for the first tranche of 21 C-130Js on 27 December, the company says on 13 January.

In total, the company is contracted to deliver a mix of 24 HC-130Js and MC-130Js to the USAF, and 20 KC-130s to the USMC, while the US Coast Guard has an option to buy six HC-130Js, as part of the “multiyear III award”.

Continue reading at:  FlightGlobal

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: C-130, contract awards, DoD, Lockheed Martin

The FY 2020 NDAA – What the defense contracting community needs to know

January 10, 2020 By Andrew Smith

On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed the fiscal year 2020 (FY20) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law (Pub. L. 116-92).  The NDAA, Congress’ annual defense policy bill, is a critical piece of legislation for the contracting community because it provides the funding authority for programs and activities of the Department of Defense (DoD), the largest procurer of goods and services within the US government.  In addition, the NDAA is a vehicle for encouraging in some cases, and requiring in others, changes to both DoD and government-wide procurement practices.  Therefore, it is critical for the contracting community to understand the provisions of the enacted NDAA.

Budget/Funding

The NDAA provides $738 billion in topline funding for the DoD, defense-related programs of the Department of Energy, and defense-related activities of other federal agencies, with a base budget of nearly $660 billion and an additional $71.5 billion in funding for overseas contingency operations.  In total, the FY20 NDAA authorizes an increase of nearly $25 billion in national defense topline funding in comparison to the FY19 NDAA.

Continue reading at:  Dentons

Filed Under: Contracting Tips Tagged With: DoD, National Defense Authorization Act, NDAA

2020 and the Department of Defense’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Program

January 10, 2020 By Andrew Smith

2019 has been a year of pivotal developments for defense contractors in the realm of cybersecurity compliance.  The Department of Defense (DoD) issued six guidance memoranda to assist its acquisition personnel in developing “effective cybersecurity strategies to enhance existing protection requirements,” including a mandate for the Defense Contract Management Agency to include cybersecurity compliance as a part of a contractor’s purchasing system audit and approval.  2019 also saw the first False Claims Act whistleblower litigation related to contractors’ compliance with DoD cybersecurity contracting provisions.

Beyond merely focusing on enforcement of existing compliance obligations, the DoD upped the ante in June 2019 with its announcement of its forthcoming Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC).  CMMC is the next step in the DoD’s efforts to protect the government’s sensitive, unclassified information against data exfiltration, and once it goes into effect CMMC will be a mandatory, third-party certification for all DoD contractors and subcontractors.

While there remain many unanswered questions surrounding the details and implementation of CMMC, the DoD has made clear that CMMC is coming and the defense contracting community must be ready to implement these requirements in order to continue receiving defense contracts, subcontracts and other DoD-funded agreements.

What Will CMMC Require?

As currently drafted, CMMC will require all defense contractors and subcontractors to undergo a third party assessment of their internal cybersecurity technical practices and process maturity against published standards.  This assessment will result in certification at one of five levels – 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest – or no certification.  Each subsequent level is cumulative, meaning a company must meet the requirements of all lower levels to qualify for a higher level of certification.  In addition, an organization must satisfy both the defined practices and process maturity criteria within a given level across all areas of the model to achieve certification at that level (e.g., having a Level 3 assessment on technical practices and Level 2 on process maturity results in an overall Level 2 certification).

The DoD expects contractor CMMC assessments to begin in early June 2020.  CMMC requirements will start appearing in DoD Requests for Information around this same time, and they become mandatory in all DoD solicitations beginning fall 2020.  Once implemented, each DoD solicitation will identify the minimum required CMMC level a company must have to be eligible for that contract award.

On December 6, 2019, the DoD released Version 0.7 of the draft CMMC framework.  This update refines the technical practice requirements for Levels 1-5 and provides further guidance regarding process maturity expectations.  Level 1 identifies 17 basic requirements, mostly consistent with existing general government contractor cybersecurity requirements, while Level 3 aligns with full NIST SP 800-171 Rev 1 compliance.  Levels 4 and 5 require “proactive” and “progressive” cybersecurity programs, respectively, and impose additional practices derived from Draft NIST SP 800-171B and other heightened cyber standards.  These top two levels are expected to be reserved for companies handling information related to critical technologies.

The CMMC model will not be static, however: it will be adapted and revised whenever and however needed as the DoD identifies new threat vectors.  While a company’s certification is generally expected to last for  three years, including interim spot checks, model revisions could necessitate earlier reassessment.

Continue reading at:  National Law Review

Filed Under: Contracting Tips Tagged With: CMMC, cybersecurity, Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, DoD

Cybersecurity requirements likely for defense contracts by June 2020

January 10, 2020 By Andrew Smith

The Defense Department expects that by June 2020, industry will see cybersecurity requirements included as part of new requests for information, which typically serve as one of the first steps in the awarding of new defense contracts.

Ellen Lord, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said the new cybersecurity maturity model certification program is a critical part of ensuring that companies hoping to do business with the department meet important cybersecurity requirements.

“The cybersecurity maturity model certification, or CMMC program, establishes security as the foundation to acquisition and combines the various cybersecurity standards into one unified standard to secure the DOD supply chain,” Lord said.

You can read more about CMMC here:  https://www.acq.osd.mil/cmmc/
You can continue reading the article at:  U.S. Department of Defense News

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: CMMC, cybersecurity, Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, DoD, U.S. Department of Defense

Defense contractors: Prepare for CMMC in 2020

January 9, 2020 By Andrew Smith

In 2016, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) issued a Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARs) intended to better protect defense data and networks.  Beginning in 2017, DoD began issuing a series of memoranda to further enhance protection of defense data and networks via Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC).

In December 2019, the Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) issued long-awaited guidance in part governing the minimum encryption requirements for storage, transport and/or transmission of controlled but unclassified information (CUI) and technical defense information (TDI) otherwise restricted by ITAR.

The foregoing multi-year effort to protect defense data and national security networks are culminating in 2020  ̶  and government contractors must be prepared to comply or face potentially draconian consequences ranging from disqualification to enforcement.

Continue reading at:  Bradley

Filed Under: Contracting Tips Tagged With: CMMC, Cyber Security, cybersecurity, Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, DoD

DoD issues final rule restricting the use of LPTA procurements

October 4, 2019 By Andrew Smith

Effective October 1, 2019, a new rule issued by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) amends the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to limit the use of lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) procurements.  In December 2018, we highlighted the DOD’s proposed rule limiting LPTA procurements.  The final version of that rule, published on Thursday, September 26, 2019, is, as of October 1, 2019, found at section 215.101-2-70 of the DFARS.  As our earlier analysis concluded, this amendment to the DFARS significantly restricts DOD’s ability to favor low-cost options over technical superiority.

Continue reading at:  Perkins Coie

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: DoD, LPTA, NDAA

Prepare now to secure ‘controlled unclassified information’

August 29, 2019 By Andrew Smith

Nowadays, many people are familiar with at least some types of protected information, whether in the form of personal health information or government-classified information. But, contractors working with the Department of Defense (“DoD”) must remember to protect another type of information: controlled unclassified information (“CUI”). Failure by government contractors to put processes in place that protect CUI could result in the loss of contracting opportunities or potential False Claims Act-related litigation.  For more information about the far-reaching implications of cybersecurity requirements on government contractors, please also see Matt Feinberg’s blog on the recent settlement of a cybersecurity False Claims Act (“FCA”) litigation; Isaias “Cy” Alba’s piece about cybersecurity, implied certifications, and the FCA; and Dave Shafer’s analysis of current cybersecurity standards and the DoD’s plans to remedy confusion.

Continue reading at:  Piliero Mazza

Filed Under: Contracting Tips Tagged With: cybersecurity, DoD, NIST 800-171, NIST SP 800-171

Recent DoD contract awards (Aug. 15 – 28)

August 23, 2019 By Andrew Smith

Every week we will post links to the last seven days of DoD contract awards that were $7 million or more.  Contracts valued at $7 million or more are announced each business day at 5 p.m. at:  https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/

Aug. 28, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 28, 2019

Aug. 27, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 27, 2019

Aug. 26, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 26, 2019

Aug. 23, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 23, 2019

Aug. 22, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 22, 2019

Aug. 21, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 21, 2019

Aug. 20, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 20, 2019

Aug. 19, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 19, 2019

Aug. 16, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 16, 2019

Aug. 15, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 15, 2019

Filed Under: GTPAC News Tagged With: contract awards, DoD

Recent DoD contract awards (Aug. 6-14)

August 15, 2019 By Andrew Smith

Every week we will post links to the last seven days of DoD contract awards that were $7 million or more.  Contracts valued at $7 million or more are announced each business day at 5 p.m. at:  https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/

Aug. 14, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 14, 2019

Aug. 13, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 13, 2019

Aug. 12, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 12, 2019

Aug. 9, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 9, 2019

Aug. 8, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 8, 2019

Aug. 7, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 7, 2019

Aug. 6, 2019

Contracts For Aug. 6, 2019

Filed Under: GTPAC News Tagged With: contract awards, DoD

Contractors have questions about DOD’s cyber requirements

August 14, 2019 By Andrew Smith

The Pentagon is making big moves in an effort to improve cybersecurity for its industrial base, but so far the department’s biggest roadblocks early on may be the same confusion, doubt and uneven compliance from contractors that led to the vulnerabilities in the first place.

Officials from the Department of Defense and the National Institute of Standards and Technology gave updates on two nascent programs at an Aug. 8 Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board meeting: NIST’s new draft cybersecurity guidance for contractor systems deemed high value assets and the Pentagon’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program.

Both are designed to shore up different aspects of DOD’s cybersecurity regime for contractors, and both are causing heartburn among companies who are still unclear about how best to comply.

The NIST draft guidance around high value assets recently went out for public comment earlier this year.  The more than 600 responses reflect confusion about the scope and application of the requirements.

Continue reading at:  FCW.com

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: CMMC, cybersecurity, DoD, NIST

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