Public Buildings | The Contracting Education Academy

January 23, 2019 By AMK

Researchers: Flaws in vendor security software could leave some federal buildings vulnerable

Researchers at cybersecurity firm Tenable have discovered a number of previously unknown vulnerabilities in the access control systems of an ID card manufacturer and service provider used by federal agencies, including the Executive Office of the President.

Tenable researchers announced Monday they had found several weaknesses in the control system used by IDenticard, called PremiSys, which if exploited could allow an unauthorized person to gain access to secure buildings and disable locks, as well as exfiltrate user data or otherwise modify accounts using administrator privileges.

According to a blog posted Monday, the PremiSys system uses hardcoded usernames and passwords for administrator credentials that cannot be changed by the customers. The system also uses default usernames and passwords for database access, which the users can only change by sending preferred passwords to IDenticard, an additional step that some might not take, opting instead to leave the default credentials in place.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2019/01/researchers-flaws-vendor-security-software-could-leave-some-federal-buildings-vulnerable/154231/

March 14, 2017 By AMK

GSA puts selection of new FBI headquarters on hold

The General Services Administration (GSA) has put the selection of a new FBI headquarters on hold pending congressional appropriations, throwing into question the fate of the agency’s protracted search for a new home.

In a statement, the federal government’s real estate arm said it has worked diligently with the FBI since it first postponed the announcement in the fall but that “appropriations are necessary in order for us to make an announcement and move forward with the next critical steps under the [environmental impact study] process and ultimately make an award.”

Sites in Greenbelt, Landover and Springfield are in the running for the new agency headquarters.

It’s unclear whether current events, including the change in presidential administrations to a commander in chief with a real estate background or the recent turnover at the GSA’s Public Buildings Service contributed to Friday’s announcement.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2017/03/10/fbi-headquarters-search-put-on-hold-pending.html

September 19, 2014 By AMK

The case for experimenting on federal buildings

The government wants to try out new and potentially “transformational” green technologies on its buildings through a program that could give private sector participants a leg up in the future.

The idea is to evaluate emerging green technologies and use the findings to “inform decision-making within GSA, other federal agencies and the real estate industry in deploying the technologies studied,” the General Services Administration said in a call for information.

Qualifying technologies must be “sufficiently mature that all required laboratory or other proof-of-concept work has been completed,” but not “already broadly in use and readily available in the marketplace,” the solicitation document said.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2014/09/case-experimenting-federal-buildings/94238/

April 10, 2014 By AMK

Privately-financed development project not subject to Davis-Bacon Act, rules U.S. District Court

The Labor Department was wrong to declare a privately financed development project a “public work” that would be subject to higher wages under the Davis-Bacon Act, a federal court ruled Monday in a lawsuit brought against the labor agency by the District of Columbia.

In the ruling, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the “CityCenterDC” development won’t be built or used by the government or the public. While the mixed-use project of condominiums, apartments, offices, hotel, retail stores and some public open spaces will sit on a parcel of land owned by the District of Columbia, it will be entirely privately funded, occupied, and maintained for the duration of the developers’ 99-year leases with the city, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in her decision.

That contradicts the decision that was made by the Labor Department’s Administrative Review Board, which had determined the project was a “public work” for purposes of the Davis-Bacon Act. That law — enacted during the Great Depression to stop contractors from driving down wages with cheap labor — requires the payment of local prevailing wages to workers on federal construction projects. The Labor Department determines the wages.

Legal experts who’d watched the case had said the Labor Department’s decision could have a significant effect on construction projects if it were to stand.

Keep reading this article at: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/04/01/court-rules-against-labor-department-in-citycenterdc-case

Efforts by the General Services Administration to protect data gathered by its building lease support services providers got tangled in internal contracting rules, according to an inspector general report.

Researchers at cybersecurity firm Tenable have discovered a number of previously unknown vulnerabilities in the access control systems of an ID card manufacturer and service provider used by federal agencies, including the Executive Office of the President.

The General Services Administration (GSA) has put the selection of a new FBI headquarters on hold pending congressional appropriations, throwing into question the fate of the agency’s protracted search for a new home.

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