Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Georgia Tech marks $42 million expanded research presence in Cobb County

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A Cobb County facility expanded to the tune of $42 million is expected to play a larger role in the state’s aerospace industry and the country’s defense efforts.

Officials with Georgia Tech Research Institute — a nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology — cut the ribbon Wednesday, May 8th on its expanded Cobb County Research Facility off Atlanta Road and adjacent to both Dobbins Air Reserve Base and Lockheed Martin.

Wednesday’s ceremony unveiled the redeveloped 350,000 square feet of space, which came to GTRI after it purchased for $21 million four buildings on an unused, 52-acre Lockheed Martin site in December 2017, the MDJ previously reported.  The additional space will give the university entity more room to support its research goals, which its interim director, Lora Weiss, said is of “incredible importance” to national security.

Continue reading at:  Marietta Daily Journal

Software review provisions proposed by Senate Armed Services Committee could have significant impact on DoD contractors

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As the Senate approaches the end of its debate on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019, provisions of the bill regarding access to and review of information technology code deserve close attention.  These sections, if enacted, would significantly impact Department of Defense contractors and also would affect matters associated with investments subject to review by U.S. national security agencies.

As drafted, the provisions could expose current and prospective contractors to intrusive scrutiny and significant risks.  They lack clarity on key definitions, leaving the precise scope of those risks unclear.  We summarize major issues and concerns below.  We expect these provisions to receive scrutiny during the House-Senate conference on the NDAA over the summer.

Synopsis of the Proposed Legislation

Three sections of the Senate’s version of the NDAA, which passed the Senate Armed Services Committee in May, would establish new rules designed to mitigate “risks posed by providers of information technology with obligations to foreign governments.”  Those risks involve the access that foreign governments may have to code in products or services that are offered to the Department of Defense.  The provisions also impose new disclosure requirements on the efforts of a prospective vendor to obtain a license under the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) or the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (“ITAR”).

The pending legislation would require proactive disclosure of those matters, and would impose an ongoing duty to supplement those disclosures during the period of performance on the contract.  The Secretary of Defense would be authorized to assess and mitigate any resulting national security risks through contractual provisions or other performance requirements.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2018/06/senate-armed-services-committee-proposes-expansive-unclear-software-review-provisions/

Cybersecurity — A big deal for contracting

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Almost anyone in government, if not indeed the country at large, is aware of the security risks of the information systems we are now completely dependent upon.  And make no mistake — we are completely dependent upon them.

Technology has evolved to vastly augment our human capabilities. It has affected how we complete our daily work, conduct financial transactions, travel from one place to another and socialize with one another. Unfortunately, while the sophistication of the technology on our desks and in our homes, cars and carried about with us continues to rise, this sophistication is matched, if not exceeded by, the abilities of those who would do us harm.

It used to be that the protective physical barriers of our homes or workplaces — as well as the invisible barrier of “privacy” in our private lives — kept such people at bay. However, technology has also allowed such people to transcend and reach through such barriers, intruding into every aspect of our identities and personal or privileged information. Many of us have been “hacked” or tricked in one way or another into losing this data. “Cybersecurity” is a national security threat to the nation, and so far government response is still a work in progress.

In contracting, this issue is not technically new.

Keep reading this article at: http://fifthdomain.com/2017/05/17/cybersecurity-a-big-deal-for-contracting-commentary/

 

DoD enacts rule on excluding contractors based on supply chain risk

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The Defense Department may now officially exclude contractors or subcontractors from receiving information technology contracts based on the risk their supply chain poses to national security systems.

The authority comes from earlier national defense authorization bills and it expires in September 2018. In an interim rule published Nov. 18 in the Federal Register, DoD says the authority applies to the acquisition of any IT product or service, including commercial items, so long as the contractor in question operates a supply chain that poses a significant risk to a particular national security system.

Although the clause permitting the DoD to exclude contractors will now be a part of all defense IT contractors, the interim rule notes that it can apply only to national security systems, and then only to items “the loss of integrity of which could result in a supply chain risk to the entire system.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/dod-enacts-rule-excluding-contractors-based-supply-chain-risk/2013-11-21

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