cs | The Contracting Education Academy

July 2, 2020 By cs

Defense information network to host data repository for contractors’ cybersecurity audits, official says

Applications are now available for aspiring assessor organizations, which will also need to have their security certified.

Information about organizations seeking a stamp of approval under the Pentagon’s new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program will be stored on the Department of Defense Information Network, according to the head of the accreditation body working with DOD on the CMMC.

Currently, DOD contractors mostly pledge adherence to requisite cybersecurity practices. The CMMC, taking effect with a rule change expected this fall, will require all defense contractors to have their cybersecurity status audited and certified by an independent third party before they can do business with the department.

The program has raised concerns among some contractors about cybersecurity for the apparatus being set up to manage the certifications and audit data, such as a repository DOD officials will use at the time of award to check whether prospective prime contractors and their associated subcontractors have achieved the necessary certification.

“DOD intends to maintain their instance [of the repository] on the DOD network and we will be responsible for populating that,” said Ty Schieber, chairman of the board for the CMMC accreditation body.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2020/06/defense-information-network-host-data-repository-contractors-cybersecurity-audits-official-says/166375/

July 1, 2020 By cs

Pandemic oversight committee launches contract spending tracker

The committee stated in its first report that financial management could be a top challenge for agencies.

**Click on image above to see contract spending compiled by the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.**

The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, established by the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, has launched an online tool to track the federal government’s contract spending. The committee is one of the various entities overseeing the government’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic and is composed of 21 inspectors general. The relief package appropriated an unprecedented amount of money, so there has been increased pressure to ensure the funds are not misspent. As of last Tuesday, the federal government has committed to 7,474 contracts with 4,115 vendors and spending of $15.9 billion, according to ProPublica.

“Users can download the entire dataset to conduct their own analysis by examining contracts by category – for example medical services and equipment, janitorial services for government buildings, and personal protective equipment and safety supplies for government workers,” said the committee. There is also “an interactive map for users to explore the total amount of contract spending by state and county.”

The committee is using numbers from the Federal Procurement Data System to track the spending and will update the tracker weekly. The committee noted that contract documents aren’t usually made public because of their proprietary information, but individuals can try to obtain them through Freedom of Information Act requests.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/oversight/2020/06/pandemic-oversight-committee-launches-contract-spending-tracker/166370/

The Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech has established a webpage where all contract-related developments related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) are summarized. Find the page at: https://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/coronavirus-information-for-contracting-officers-and-contractors/

June 30, 2020 By cs

Pentagon requesting ‘lower double digit billions’ to support COVID-hit defense contractors

The U.S. Department of Defense’s chief purchasing officer said the Pentagon has filed a budget request in the “lower double-digit billions” to support defense contractors disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Ellen Lord, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, said the Pentagon submitted the multibillion-dollar request to the White House Office of Management and Budget in order to sustain the hiring and workforce levels of key defense contractors.

When asked during a press conference to provide a more precise estimate of the “lower double-digit billions” Lord did not provide further specifics.

The funding request, made under Section 3610 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, authorizes the federal government to reimburse Federal contractors for paid leave where they have been sickened by the coronavirus, or where conditions have required healthy workers to stay home.

Keep reading this article at: https://americanmilitarynews.com/2020/06/pentagon-requesting-lower-double-digit-billions-to-support-covid-hit-defense-contractors/

June 29, 2020 By cs

Pentagon says it needs ‘more time’ fixing JEDI contract

The JEDI contract will not be awarded until at least August.

In updated legal filings, the Defense Department said it will not be in a position to award its Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract to either Microsoft or Amazon Web Services until at least August 17.

The June 16 filing comes more than six months after AWS first challenged the Pentagon’s October award of the $10 billion contract to Microsoft in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which resulted in the Pentagon pulling the contract to take corrective action on identified flaws.

According to the filing, both companies submitted revised JEDI proposals in May, but they’ll have to revise and submit bids once more because the Pentagon intends to issue another amendment to the JEDI solicitation by June 22.

“DoD continues to evaluate the offerors’ revised proposals, and more time is required to complete this process,” attorneys for the Defense Department said in the filing. “DoD now anticipates that another solicitation amendment will be necessary, and additional limited proposal revisions will be permitted.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2020/06/pentagon-says-it-needs-more-time-fixing-jedi-contract/166292/

June 26, 2020 By cs

Accreditation body to begin training CMMC auditors

An accreditation body facilitating implementation of the Pentagon’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) version 1.0 has opened up training for third-party auditors, according to an official.

The upcoming cyber requirements are a reflection of the Pentagon’s push to protect defense industrial base networks and controlled unclassified information from cyber attacks. The CMMC rules will require contractors to be certified by third-party auditors, which will ensure that companies are adhering to certain standards. As the initiative is phased in, contractors will have to meet different levels of security depending on the work they are performing, with level 1 being the lowest and level 5 the most stringent.

“We are busy doing pathfinders in the DoD. We are getting ready to launch our pilots,” Katie Arrington, chief information security officer in the office of the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said June 24 during a webinar hosted by cybersecurity company PreVeil. “The Accreditation Body opened the door for training registration for [certified third-party assessor organizations] two days ago.”

The CMMC Accreditation Body was set up to train organizations conducting CMMC compliance assessments on behalf of the Pentagon.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/6/24/pentagon-to-begin-training-thirdparty-cmmc-auditors

Applications are now available for aspiring assessor organizations, which will also need to have their security certified.

The committee stated in its first report that financial management could be a top challenge for agencies.

The U.S. Department of Defense’s chief purchasing officer said the Pentagon has filed a budget request in the “lower double-digit billions” to support defense contractors disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The JEDI contract will not be awarded until at least August.

An accreditation body facilitating implementation of the Pentagon’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) version 1.0 has opened up training for third-party auditors, according to an official.

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