DHS withdraws network RFP

November 20, 2003

	An administrative misunderstanding led to the premature release of a request for proposals for the Homeland Secure Digital Network before the project had final approval, Homeland Security CIO Steve Cooper said.

An administrative misunderstanding led to the premature release of a request for proposals for the Homeland Secure Digital Network before the project had final approval, Homeland Security CIO Steve Cooper said.

HSDN will be a classified network linking the various homeland agencies.

"We pulled it back to improve it and broaden its scope," Cooper said at a meeting with reporters. He said the officials responsible for HSDN had secured approval from the first of three levels of committees that oversee departmental projects.

"They took that as a green light" to issue the RFP, Cooper said. DHS issued the proposal request Sept. 25, according to Input of Reston, Va., and withdrew it last month.

"There is nothing wrong" with the HSDN project, Cooper said, and it will now undergo the rest of its departmentwide review. Cooper is chairman of the first-level committee, called the DHS CIO Council. It can approve projects worth up to $5 million, Cooper said.

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&#009;An administrative misunderstanding led to the premature release of a request for proposals for the Homeland Secure Digital Network before the project had final approval, Homeland Security CIO Steve Cooper said.

An administrative misunderstanding led to the premature release of a request for proposals for the Homeland Secure Digital Network before the project had final approval, Homeland Security CIO Steve Cooper said.