Army moving fast on classified cyber contract

The Army is developing a defensive cybersecurity contract for classified work and only wants companies to respond to the request for information if they have a classified network address.

Respondents need to show the Army Program Executive Office - Enterprise Information Systems that they have the right security clearances to be able to see the statement of work and other information.

The Army issued the RFI so companies can respond with their security qualifications through the Secure Internet Protocol Router Network, or SIPRNet. The notice was first released in late May and then amended this week to add a few more details.

The contract will support the program manager for defensive cyberspace operations (PdM DCO). It also has been selected for a software development pilot program using agile best practices. The pilot program is part of a requirement set out in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2018.

The pilot's requirements mean that the award will be made within three months of when the requirement is identified. A functional prototype or minimally viable product will be delivered in three months or less after the award.

Follow-on delivery of “iterative development cycles” will be no longer than four weeks apart. This will include security testing and configuration management as applicable, according to the FedBizOpps notice.

Responses are due June 27.

Companies need to submit a valid SIPRNet address and then they will received the questions and requirements they need to respond to, including program specific questions and a company specific capability statements.