Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Draft DoD guidance reveals how cyber readiness will impact contract evaluations

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Editor’s Note: This post was created by Jon Williams who is a partner with PilieroMazza and a member of the firm’s Government Contracts Group. 

We have been blogging and giving webinars since last year about the DoD requirements around cybersecurity for contractors that are subject to DFARS 252.204-7012. Please view our past blogs and webinars here and here to get more of the backstory.

In a nutshell, DoD contractors operating nonfederal IT systems and subject to DFARS 252.204-7012 were required to have a system security plan (“SSP”) in place by December 31, 2017, to demonstrate compliance with the recommended security controls in NIST SP 800-171. Although the DFARS requirements were black-and-white, there was a fair amount of uncertainty late last year and continuing into this year about what contractors needed to do to comply and if/how DoD would enforce the requirements.

DoD has taken some of the mystery out of these cyber requirements in a recently-released draft guidance.

Keep reading this blog post at: http://www.pilieromazza.com/the-protests-are-coming-draft-dod-guidance-reveals-how-cyber-readiness-will-impact-contract-evaluations

See GTPAC’s instructional video on achieving compliance with DFARS 252.204-7012 and NIST guidance at: http://gtpac.org/cybersecurity-training-video/

New cyber rule requires critical documents

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Contractors and their supply chain with active Defense Department contracts, or those that plan on doing business with it, must assure that any of their data systems that transmit, process or store controlled unclassified information are compliant with National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-171 “Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Non-federal Information Systems and Organizations.”

It’s clear that meeting the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 252.204-7012 mandate to comply to the special publication is a required priority for defense contractors, subcontractors and suppliers.

Making a system security plan and plan of actions and mitigations is crucial to winning new business and keeping existing contracts this year and moving forward. Here are some tips on how to approach creating and utilizing these complex compliance documents.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2018/3/30/new-cyber-rule-requires-critical-documents

The Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center (GTPAC) has developed an instructional video and a template to help contractors comply with DoD’s cybersecurity requirements.  You can view and download these resources at: http://gtpac.org/cybersecurity-training-video/

 

Final federal rule issued on safeguarding contractor information systems

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Federal Contract InformationAfter years of gestation, a final rule was promulgated May 16, 2016 to mandate minimum cyber defenses for companies that do government business. This Federal Acquisition Regulations rule – “Basic Safeguarding of Contractor Information Systems” 81 Fed. Reg. 30439 – seeks to protect the confidentiality and integrity of federal contract information (FCI) that resides in or transits through any contractor information system.

Why this rule?

Agencies are required by the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) to protect federal information. The obligation extends to nonpublic information provided by the federal government to its contractors. Unauthorized cyber extraction of federal information has caused genuine injury to national interests. Using this new FAR provision, every federal agency now will require minimum cyber protection for FCI.

What is federal contract information?

FCI is defined as nonpublic information that is “provided for or generated for the government” under a contract to “develop or deliver a product or service to the government, but not including information provided to the public or simple transactional information. The new rule protects “information systems” rather than carefully defined information types, however. If a contractor processes stores or transmits any FCI, its information system becomes subject to minimum enumerated safeguards. Where a contractor information system hosts FCI and other, non-federal information, the rule applies to the whole system.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/solutions-ideas/2016/06/13/far-rule-federal-contractor-information/85825436/

Additional time provided to implement security controls under new cyber rule

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On December 30, 2015, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a Second Interim Rule amending its “Network Penetration Reporting and Contracting for Cloud Services” Interim Rule and giving contractors until December 31, 2017 to implement the NIST SP 800-171 security controls required by DFARS 252.204-7012.

NIST Pub 800-171
Click on image above to see a copy of NIST publication 800-171.

As noted in a previous post, DoD has already issued a class deviation giving covered contractors up to nine (9) months (from the date of contract award or modification incorporating the new clause(s)) to satisfy the requirement for “multifactor authentication for local and network access” found in Section 3.5.3 of NIST SP 800-171.  This current revision appears responsive to significant concerns raised by industry about compliance with the remaining safeguarding requirements imposed overnight on contractors on August 26, 2015.

In the Federal Register notice, DoD states that it is granting additional time “for contractors to assess their information systems and to set forth an economically efficient strategy to implement the new security requirements at a pace that fits within normal information technology lifecycle timelines.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2015/12/time-is-on-my-side-dod-hears-industry-concerns-additional-time-provided-to-implement-security-controls-under-new-cyber-rule/

Actions foreshadow uniform cybersecurity regulations for federal contractors

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Two recent Executive Agency actions lay the groundwork for a FAR cybersecurity clause in 2016.

  • Government contractors should expect an amendment to the Federal Acquisition Regulation in 2016 that mandates cybersecurity clauses and standards.
  • Companies can prepare now by comparing new government standards to their existing system protections.
  • As part of this process, companies should not just be reviewing the capabilities of their information systems, but also their written information assurance policies, training materials, and employment and third-party agreements.

cyber securityFederal government contractors handling Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) should take notice of two recent executive agency actions. Combined, they lay the groundwork for a new cybersecurity clause to be added to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) in 2016.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/actions-foreshadow-uniform-45314/

For more information on this topic, see: www.gtpac.org/tag/controlled-unclassified-information

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