USDA in the market for encryption technology for mobile devices

The Agriculture Department is seeking sources and quotes for automated encryption applications to protect sensitive data stored on its mobile devices such as laptop computers, USB storage devices and personal data assistants.

The department expects to have a blanket purchase agreement, from which it will purchase encryption products, in place by Jan. 1, USDA said in its posting on FedBizOpps.gov. The department anticipates purchasing 150,000 licenses.

USDA is interested in applications from Entrust Inc. of Dallas; WinMagic of Mississauga, Ontario; Utimaco Safeware Inc. of Foxboro, Mass.; GuardianEdge Technologies Inc. of San Francisco with Trust Digital of McLean, Va.; and Credant Technologies of Dallas.

The department will use a service-disabled veteran-owned business, which must be on the General Services Administration schedule. Vendors should have encryption tools available through their GSA Federal Supply Schedule or other governmentwide acquisition contracts.

The current IT environment uses various applications based on individual mission and management systems. USDA is interested in an encryption application for use departmentwide and by individual USDA agencies.

The encryption applications must comply with Federal Information Processing Standards requirements for encryption, integrate with Microsoft Active Directory, and minimize involvement and training of the agency users. It also must be able to scale from small, centralized environments to large, decentralized environments, provide automated deployment and ensure effective recovery by authorized individuals if the need arises.

Information is due Nov. 30.

Mary Mosquera is a staff writer for Washington Technology's affiliate publication, Government Computer News.