From: Bloomberg
By Chris Strohm & Danielle Ivory
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to create a $6 billion shopping hub for federal, state and local agencies seeking to shield their computer networks from hackers.
Contracts for what may become the biggest unclassified cybersecurity program in the U.S. government will be awarded as early as this month.
The agreement has attracted interest from dozens of companies seeking opportunities in a $512 billion federal contracting market that is shrinking with the wars’ end and U.S. budget cuts. The list of bidders includes top contractors such as Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) and SAIC Inc. (SAI)
“We’re not talking about buying pencils; we’re talking about an advanced technology architecture system,” said Michael Carpenter, president of U.S. sales for Santa Clara, California-based McAfee Inc., which is interested in doing work under the program. “This is the first time I’ve seen in civilian government where they’ve come together for an entire joint acquisition.”
The program follows a February executive order from President Barack Obama, which directed the Homeland Security Department to ensure that unclassified government networks are constantly scanned for threats, defended from attacks and audited for performance to ensure federal agencies are complying with computer-security rules.
Five Contractors
Agencies such as the Agriculture Department, Environmental Protection Agency and Social Security Administration have struggled to meet those requirements, according to a March 2013White House report to Congress.
The program will enable Homeland Security to work “with federal civilian departments and agencies in developing capabilities that will improve their cybersecurity posture,”S.Y. Lee, a department spokesman, said in an e-mail.
As many as five companies will be awarded contracts by theGeneral Services Administration, according to a request for bids. The $6 billion is the maximum value of those contracts during as many as five years under the so-called Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program managed by Homeland Security.
The suppliers will provide central hubs in which government agencies can buy computer hardware and software as well as consulting services to help manage employees’ access to networks, according to the government’s request for bids. Those controls have been under scrutiny following defense contractor Edward Snowden’s leaks of classified U.S. surveillance programs.
Early Warning
Technology can be used to develop an electronic, early-warning radar to identify emerging threats and provide agencies the tools they need to thwart them, John Bordwine, global government chief architect for Symantec Corp. (SYMC), a network-security company based in Mountain View, California, said in a phone interview.
The program is designed for civilian government agencies, though it also will be available to the Defense Department and intelligence agencies, according to the federal request for bids.
State and local agencies will also be able to benefit from the consistency, pricing and purchasing speed that federal agencies will gain under the program, according to the request.
While the program may turn out to be the largest unclassified cybersecurity contract in the federal government, it might not reach $6 billion, William Loomis, a managing director at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., a St. Louis, Missouri-based brokerage and investment banking firm, said in a phone interview.
Leave a Reply