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Defense Dept. awards Georgia Tech contract to support cyber security information systems

The Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) awarded the Georgia Tech Applied Research Corp. (GTARC), the contracting arm of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), a prime contract to support its Cyber Security and Information Systems Technical Area Task (CS TAT) program.

GTRI logoThis CS TAT award is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract with a ceiling value of $5 billion and a period of performance of five years.

“GTRI’s experience as the prime contractor on DTIC’s Military Sensing Information Analysis Center (SENSIAC) program, the deep bench of our large CS TAT team and GTRI’s strong and relevant past performance were key winning themes,” said GTRI’s CS TAT program manager Stephen Moulton. “GTRI leveraged several of its flagship programs to secure this award.”

Some of these programs include:

  • GTRI-developed Air Force Access Database System (AFADS): the authoritative source of personnel access information for special security;
  • Framework for Assessing Cost and Technology (FACT): an open architecture Web services-based environment that enables the interconnecting of models to provide rapid exploration of the design trade space in support of systems engineering analysis;
  • Apiary Malware Analysis Platform: this has analyzed more than 170 million unique samples of malicious binary files and executables and has generated over one billion analytical records to date
  • Prime support of Deployable Joint Command and Control (DJC2): a Secretary of Defense and Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, priority transformation initiative that provides a standardized, integrated, rapidly deployable, modular, scalable, and reconfigurable Joint C2 Combat Operations Center to designated Geographic Combatant Commands;
  • GTRI’s support for the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM): A primary information sharing data layer supported by the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and the Department of Defense.

“All of these GTRI-led programs and many others mentioned in the proposal made this award a very easy decision for selecting Team GTRI for a prime contractor spot on CS TAT,” Moulton said.

GTRI assembled a very strong research and development team of 10 academic institutions, 4 non-profit research institutes, and 23 small and large business industry partners that work or perform research in all of the CS TAT technical focus areas, which include the following:

  • Software Data and Analysis
  • Cyber Security
  • Modeling and Simulation
  • Knowledge Management and Information Sharing

GTRI initiated the CS TAT capture process in July 2014 through the team of Chad Garber (capture lead), Trina Brennan, Jerry Lett, Roberta Burke, Steve Heighton, Jim Hilliard, Amy Paronto, Chris Smoak, Steve “Flash” Gordon, Frank Klucznik, Ryan Spanier, Ben Medlin, Margaret Loper, Chuck Turnista, Mark Kindl, Tommer Ender, Steve Reeder, Tim Boone, Bill Underwood, Terry Ragan, Ben Lowers, Valerie Taylor, Michael Farrell and Matt Guinn, as well as many others across GTRI.

GTRI’s expertise in basic and applied research, advanced technology development, advanced components and prototypes, system development and demonstration, research development test and evaluation (RDT&E) support, and operational system development, in addition to its frequent collaborations with Georgia Tech faculty, multiple facility locations, open-source software capabilities and a large body of cleared personnel contributed to the award.

“This was a total team effort across GTRI and our teammates,” said Steve Moulton, Director of Strategic Program Development, Information & Cyber Sciences Directorate (ICSD).  “Thanks to all of the hard work of our CS TAT capture team and to GTRI’s SENSIAC and Defense Systems TAT (DS TAT) teams that went before us, whose groundwork greatly added to our success and our ability to efficiently capture this CS TAT award,” added Moulton.

DTIC, which reports to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (ASD(R&E)), awarded CS TAT, effective Dec. 1, 2015. The vehicle is a multiple-award, ID/IQ contract for research and development (R&D), as well as for advisory and assistance services related to R&D efforts.

In addition to GTRI, contracts were awarded to nine other large businesses and six small businesses. Small businesses are not allowed to compete within the large business (full and open) pool. Task order-level contracts (TATs) range in value, but GTRI will regularly compete for TATs with values up to $50M and higher if sponsors require more ceiling. CS TAT, like DS TAT, is now a primary and very viable contract vehicle option for GTRI and our DoD and federal government sponsors.

For more information, please contact the CS TAT Program Management Office (PMO) at cstat@gtri.gatech.edu.

Source: http://gtri.gatech.edu/news/gtri-awarded-position-cs-tat-contract-vehicle

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OFPP: Inaugural IT acquisition cadre starts work

An information technology-focused cadre of acquisition professionals will begin work, said Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Administrator Anne Rung.

OFPPThe creation of the group was mandated by the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, or FITARA.

“We are delighted that this week we kicked off our first class of digital IT acquisition specialists,” said Rung during an Oct. 26 panel discussion at the ACT-IAC Executive Leadership Conference.

“It’s career acquisition employees who partner with industry to go through this six-month experiential, hands-on training, and the idea is to put them back in the agencies to touch the IT acquisitions,” she said.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/rung-inaugural-it-acquisition-cadre-starts-work-week/2015-10-26

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There’s hope for local procurement reform amid ongoing struggles

It’s not a secret that the procurement process is problematic across all levels of government in the United States. That’s certainly true in local jurisdictions.

The Promise ...Procurement has especially been a source of frustration in tech circles, where it might not be surprising for vendors to find a root canal more pleasant than dealing with cumbersome and antiquated municipal RFP processes usually designed for purchasing physical products than IT services.

While procurement problems persist, there’s some hope, too.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.routefifty.com/2015/10/code-america-procurement-reform/122470

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Army tries to speed cyber acquisition process

The Army is trying to speed cyber-related acquisition by using a template known as the Information Technology Box.

Officials said the goal is to quickly supply soldiers with IT tools such as sensors, forensics and “insider threat discovery capabilities” in a matter of weeks rather than the months or years a traditional acquisition might take.

“Cyber doesn’t fit the traditional acquisition process that you would use to deliver a tank,” said Kevin Fahey, executive director of the Army’s System of Systems Engineering and Integration Directorate, in an article on the Army’s website.

IT Box Model

Keep reading this article at: http://fcw.com/articles/2015/08/27/army-cyber-acquisition.aspx

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Pentagon’s $11 billion health records deal to be awarded by month’s end

All signs point to the Defense Department awarding its multi-billion Defense Healthcare Management System (DHMS) contract by the end of July.

The Pentagon’s public notice for the contract, which was first released almost 18 months ago, was closed for discussion July 14, one month after DOD’s Office of Inspector General announced it would be looking into DHMS’s acquisition strategy. Bloomberg also reported a DOD spokeswoman confirmed an award would be made by July 31.

The Defense Healthcare Management System (DHMS) was chartered by the Secretary of Defense in 2013 to improve the health care of active duty military, Veterans, and their beneficiaries by modernizing electronic health care records and establishing seamless medical data sharing between the DoD, the VA, and the private sector. DHMS is administratively attached to the Defense Health Agency (DHA), with a direct reporting relationship to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (USD AT&L).
The Defense Healthcare Management System (DHMS) was chartered by the Secretary of Defense in 2013 to improve the health care of active duty military, Veterans, and their beneficiaries by modernizing electronic health care records and establishing seamless medical data sharing between the DoD, the VA, and the private sector. DHMS is administratively attached to the Defense Health Agency (DHA), with a direct reporting relationship to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (USD AT&L).

The 10-year contract is one of the largest in recent memory for DOD and is expected to have a total lifecycle value of $11 billion.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/emerging-tech-blog/2015/07/pentagons-11-billion-health-records-deal-be-awarded-months-end/118078

For more information about DHMS, visit: http://www.health.mil/dhms 

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