DHS | The Contracting Education Academy

April 17, 2020 By cs

Homeland Security will use a new procurement pilot program to fight COVID-19

The Department of Homeland Security announced April 9 that it will use a recently established pilot program to procure innovative tools to assist in its fight against the new coronavirus.

The new effort comes on the heels of an April 1 announcement from DHS chief procurement officer Soraya Correa, who said the department will set up a Procurement & Acquisition Innovation Response team to handle the influx of industry inquiries looking to help the department with its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The effort will involve DHS’ Commercial Solutions Opening Pilot program, established by the fiscal 2017 defense policy law and kicked off in 2019, which allows DHS to procure new commercial technologies at a faster and more efficient rate.

The department’s needs are broad, ranging from handling the shortage of personal protective equipment to converting logistics operations to support its pandemic response.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fifthdomain.com/govcon/contracting/2020/04/10/homeland-security-will-use-a-new-procurement-pilot-program-to-fight-covid-19/

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/

March 16, 2020 By cs

How coronavirus may effect federal contracts and contractors

In a March 5 letter to agency contractors, Soraya Correa, chief procurement officer at the Department of Homeland Security, told her contracting staff to keep advised of the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) using the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines.

According to the CDC, a novel coronavirus was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China in 2019. It is formally named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Correa told contractors that “if contract performance is affected due to the COVID-19 situation, such as the need for alternate work locations, or travel or schedule changes, the contracting officer is the authority to discuss this with your company.”

Since the COVID-19 outbreak in the nation’s capital within the past week, federal agencies have begun preparations for possible restrictions that could be implemented in response to the epidemic.

“If your employees must travel to affected areas, please have them contact you prior to their return to discuss possible telework or leave options,” she advised. She added that managers have their employees contact them if they’ve been in close contact with a person “known to have COVID-19” or if airport screeners told them to self-quarantine after returning from travel overseas.

The predicted contracting adjustments will continue to change government contracting regulations as COVID-19 remains a prevalent threat. For example, for federal meetings, officials urged contractor attendees to have an alternate representative ready to send, if the primary contractor falls ill.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govconwire.com/2020/03/how-coronavirus-may-effect-federal-contracts-and-contractors-soraya-correa-quoted/

February 28, 2020 By cs

DHS waives contracting rules for border wall

The Department of Homeland Security will waive traditional contracting rules to expedite construction of a wall along sections of the four states on the southern border.

According to a Federal Register notice published Feb. 20, DHS is looking to accelerate the tempo of construction projects in targeted sections of the planned border wall through a broad waiver or requirements of the use of open competition, pricing data, wage determination and other aspects of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

In a Feb. 18 appearance on Fox and Friends, Chad Wolf said a section of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, gives DHS the authority to waive the rules to expedite contracting for the wall. Wolf said the agency has used the same authority to waive environmental rules.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2020/02/18/dhs-waives-border-wall-wolf.aspx

February 4, 2020 By cs

Pentagon announces final version of cyber standards for contractors

During an event where Defense Department officials looked to dispel myths about a plan to certify the cybersecurity of its contractors through third-party audits, the department’s head of acquisitions spoke to why the rollout of the program isn’t expected to be done till 2026.

“We are doing this with what I would call irreversible momentum,” Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord said, answering questions from reporters.

Some stakeholders have said the plan to subject companies in the defense industrial base to reviews by independent auditors—instead of allowing them to self-attest to security practices—is moving at break-neck speed. But Defense officials were pressed at the event to explain why it would take such a long time to fully implement the program.

“We’re being realistic in terms of making sure we have pathfinder projects and then we implement it and learn, get the feedback, and go on,” Lord said.

While the department plans to note CMMC requirements in requests for information starting late spring, specific security levels—ranging 1 through 5, described in a final version 1.0 of the model—won’t be included in requests for proposals till the fall, when it is expected the related rule will be finalized in Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations.

Spring is also when auditors will start attending classes and CMMC training will be available on the Defense Acquisition University website, officials said.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2020/01/pentagon-announces-final-version-cyber-standards-contractors/162807/

January 30, 2020 By cs

Final DoD cybersecurity certification model due Friday

The Defense Department official leading the development of an ambitious plan to independently certify military contractors’ cybersecurity practices will review a final version of the plan Friday (Jan. 31, 2020) and shared key details for its implementation.

Stipulations of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) will be written into the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) as an update to rule 252.204.7012, which currently requires contractors handling information of certain sensitivity to implement security practices spelled out in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-171 and to report cyber incidents within 72 hours.

The major change in the updated rule—which is expected to be open for comment in the spring—will be that contractors will no longer be permitted to self-attest their adherence to the NIST-described practices, as they are now.

The new program will also introduce five levels of tiered requirements for defense contractors. Contractors dealing with information that is not as sensitive would have to meet the “basic cyber hygiene” of level 1, versus the “good cyber hygiene” that implies compliance with the NIST 800-171 controls, or the “advanced” practices that would be required at level 5.

That risk-based approach has gotten the coming CMMC some praise, but the contracting community is on high alert with concerns ranging from the cost of certification to the details of how the audits will function through a nonprofit accreditation body.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2020/01/final-dod-cybersecurity-certification-model-due-friday/162713/

The Department of Homeland Security announced April 9 that it will use a recently established pilot program to procure innovative tools to assist in its fight against the new coronavirus.

The Department of Homeland Security will waive traditional contracting rules to expedite construction of a wall along sections of the four states on the southern border.

During an event where Defense Department officials looked to dispel myths about a plan to certify the cybersecurity of its contractors through third-party audits, the department’s head of acquisitions spoke to why the rollout of the program isn’t expected to be done till 2026.

The Defense Department official leading the development of an ambitious plan to independently certify military contractors’ cybersecurity practices will review a final version of the plan Friday (Jan. 31, 2020) and shared key details for its implementation.

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