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Continuous Monitoring as a Service Award on the Horizon

Posted on: May 14, 2013 | Posted By: Kyra Fussell
Related Categories: Information Security, Office of Management and Budget, Cloud Computing, Department of Homeland Security

Improved cybersecurity was called out as one of three administrative priorities for FY 2014. Agencies have been inching towards cybersecurity targets, and an upcoming award may ease agency pains of implementing continuous monitoring solutions.

As described in the 2012 FISMA report, continuous monitoring covers three categories: assets, configuration and vulnerability. According to the report, all CFO Act agencies demonstrated the ability to successfully report data feeds to Cyberscope. While agency implementation of automated continuous monitoring increased in FY 2012, 7 out of 24 civilian agencies did not have monitoring programs in place.

According to the agency capability implementation, scores often appear lopsided. Overall, agency implementation would need a 7% improvement in FY 2013 to meet the implementation target. Perhaps, DHS’s continuous monitoring program will provide the boost lagging agencies have needed.

Last year, The Department of Homeland Security’s National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) announced that it’s developing a Continuous Monitoring as a Service (CMaaS) capability. The result of this effort would be an array of sensors that collects data about agency cyber security risks and presents that information in an automated and continually updated dashboard. This display will allow technical workers and managers to improve an agencies’ view of security, to counter recurring threats more effectively, and to support a data-driven approach to agency risk management.

As we previous explored, the core capabilities for DHS’s continuous monitoring fell into five areas: hardware asset management, software asset management, vulnerability management, configuration management, and anti-virus. The continuous monitoring program outlined several approaches, including a service-based solution.CMaaS solutions will be based upon NIST standards including a number of guidelines set out in NIST’s 800 series of special publications:

“Guide for Conducting Risk Assessments” (SP 800-30)
“Guide for Applying the Risk Management Framework to Federal Information Systems” (SP 800-37)
“Guide for Managing Information Security Risk” (SP 800-39)
“Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations” (SP 800-53)
“Guide for Assessing the Security Controls in Federal Information Systems and Organizations” (SP 800-53A)

DHS plans to shoulder the financial responsibility for this continuous monitoring effort because many agencies lack the resources and expertise. In December 2012, the contracting office released a request for quote (RFQ) that covers both the CMaaS and tools portions of Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM). Responses to the RFQ were due in February 2013. Strategic sourcing is expected to be leveraged using DHS funds to implement sensors (where missing), a federal dashboard, and operating services. The General Services Administration (GSA) will be charging a 2 percent fee to agencies using the broad purchase agreement (BPA). Over 40 vendors have expressed interest in the $6 billion opportunity. The performance period is set for five years. Officials have stated that they expect to issue awards before October 2013. Deltek analysts currently estimate the announcement of the awards in June 2013.

Updates regarding the CMaaS award can be found on GovWin under Opportunity ID 89183 (log in required).

Originally published for Federal Idustry Analysis: Analysts Perspectives Blog. Stay ahead of them competition by discovering more about GovWinIQ. Follow me on twitter @FIAGovWin.

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A Look at the Defense Agencies Initiative (DAI) ERP Program

Posted on: May 14, 2013 | Posted By: Alex Rossino
Related Categories: Department of Defense, Technology Trends, ERP

Since Congress first mandated in 1994 that the Department of Defense achieve full auditability of its financial statements, the DoD has engaged in multiple lengthy and costly efforts to implement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently pushed up the date by which the DoD is supposed to be ready for full auditability from FY 2017 to September 2014. Congress then adopted this date into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2013, a development that put considerable pressure on the DoD to accelerate the pace of its ERP deployments. The date changes are beneficial for the contracting community because the DoD is unlikely to meet its updated deployment schedule. This suggests that despite the difficult fiscal climate the DoD will continue funding ERP deployments and all of the related work associated with these systems. Funding means contracts and contracts mean business opportunity.

One of the many systems being implemented is the Defense Agencies Initiative (DAI). Per the FY 2014 Exhibit 300 for the DAI, the program leverages the Oracle E-Business Suite, version 11i, to modernize Defense agency financial management capabilities in 7 process areas: Procure to Pay, Acquire to Retire, Order to Fulfill, Time & Attendance, Budget to Report, Cost Accounting, and Grants Accounting. The DAI is a holdover project from the Business Transformation Agency that is now under the purview of the Defense Logistics Agency. Work on the various elements of the DAI is directed by the DAI Program Management Office (J623) which resides under the Information Operations (J6) Program Executive Office (J62) at DLA.

Background

Implementation of the DAI began at the BTA in 2006-2007 with the award of a 5 year contract to Computer Science Corporation (CSC) for the DAI Financial Business Management Solution. Since that initial award DAI implementation efforts have also commenced at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), TRICARE Management Agency (TMA), Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA), Defense Prisoner of War Missing Personnel Office (DPMO), and Washington Headquarters Service (WHS). Readers should keep in mind that this list is limited to those customers for DAI which could be confirmed. According to the DAI PMO, the Defense Applied Research Project Agency (DARPA) and the Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA), Defense Security Service (DSS), and Defense Media Activity (DMA) also have been prepped for the implementation of DAI.

Assuming it is the DoD’s intention to eventually implement DAI across all of the Defense agencies, the following agencies remain potential candidates for DAI deployment, implying that further contract support may be planned.

Contract Support

The following contracts have been identified as related to DAI implementation efforts over the period from FY 2007 to FY 2013. As we can see, a number of these are expiring in FY 2014, 2015, and beyond, providing the potential for follow-on work to be procured, or for new contracts to be competed to perform deployment services and support for the agencies listed above. In addition, the possibility exists that more contractor support for DAI sustainment will be required.

Historical Spending

Historical spending to date on the contracts listed above is as follows. Curiously, there is a considerable discrepancy between the reported base and all options value of these contracts. Likely this is because many of the contracts have remaining option years on them to be exercised. Also, it is possible that spending on many of the contracts remains unreported.

Lastly, the chart below depicts spending on these contracts over the period from FY 2010 to FY 2013. Obligations on these contracts began ramping up in fiscal 2010 to reach a high point in fiscal 2012. Now, in fiscal 2013 it looks as if spending is slowing, probably due to the uncertainty surrounding Sequestration.

Conclusions

Wrapping up, there is good news and bad news. The bad news for the DoD is that much like the challenges facing Army ERP implementations, the Defense Agencies Initiative will likely struggle to hit full deployment milestones for all of the participating agencies by the September 2014 deadline mandated in the FY 2013 NDAA. The challenge of meeting the deadline becomes even more daunting when potential cuts from Sequestration are taken into account. Should Sequestration be imposed in its current form, funding for many of the DoD’s ERP deployments would undoubtedly take a hit. This does not mean that funding will dry up. It will simply be reduced.

The good news is that in chaos there is opportunity. Given the legislative mandates, the DoD is likely to continue spending on ERP implementation. In FY 2014 the budget for DAI is $99M, out of which $52M (52%) is for development, so funding for DAI this fiscal year is not a problem, assuming an FY 2014 budget is passed. Even if the DoD is forced to operate under another Continuing Resolution at FY 2013 baseline numbers, the funding for DAI will be similar (DAI DME funding in FY 2013 is $63M). In short, DoD ERP implementations like the DAI are likely to remain excellent places in the next few years to seek out business opportunity in trying economic times.

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Lessening the Blow of Sequestration

Posted on: May 14, 2013 | Posted By: Angie Petty
Related Categories: Office of Management and Budget, Forecasts & Spending, Budget, Federal, Sequestration

OMB may have found a way to bring $5 billion of the $85 billion sequestration price tag, back into play. The recalculations would free up $4 billion from the Pentagon and $1 billion from other agencies such as NASA and DHS.

When Congress moved money around among various accounts in the Continuing Resolution which took effect in March, it restored $5 billion of the sequestration cuts due to accounting rules that govern the different accounts. According to a quote from a government official in a recent Government Executive article, “Under the law, if [lawmakers] cut those accounts below their post –sequester level, there is a provision that credits back some of the funds.” A 1985 budget law prescribes that funds be restored to accounts that had been deeply cut via sequestration.

Much of the specific calculations and data behind the restoration of funds is still hush hush. According to Associated Press article that broke the story, the process is ongoing and public officials they contacted spoke under the guise of anonymity.

Although much of the dire consequences of sequestration are yet to be felt by most American citizens, public pressure is mounting to decrease the impact of sequestration cuts. Agency budget officials have been working with Congress to permit the transfer of funds between accounts to lessen the blow of the cuts. Some agencies have been able to avoid or shorten furloughs due to this process, such as Department of State, Department of Justice, and Department of Homeland Security. Department of Defense will benefit the most from the new calculations by being able to avoid $4 billion cuts.

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GovWin Recon - May 14, 2013

Posted on: May 14, 2013 | Posted By: Angie Petty
Related Categories: Recon

GovWin Recon, produced by Deltek's Federal Industry Analysis (FIA) team, is designed to support awareness and understanding of the issues impacting the government and the contractors that serve it. Recon highlights key developments surrounding government technology, policy, budget and vendor activities.

Headlines beginning with an * include quotes from Deltek analysts.

Sequestration / Budget:

Federal IT:

Agency News:

Vendor News:

Cybersecurity:

Cloud Computing / Data Center Consolidation / Virtualization:

Mobility:

Transparency and Performance:

Analysts Assess Federal Open Data Policy

Defense / C4ISR / Embedded Technology:

State and Local:

GovWin Recon is Deltek's daily newsletter highlighting federal government contracting news and analysis from around the government contracting world. Get it delivered to your e-mail inbox, free!

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The business of business development in leaner times

Posted on: May 13, 2013 | Posted By: Chad Yarbrough
Related Categories: Business Development, Business Development Tools, Procurement, Federal, State & Local, Sequestration

As talking heads debate how the sequester will affect the economy, companies around the beltway are working to determine how it might damage their bottom line. Will they be directly affected? Will the “trickle down” eventually bite them? It’s very likely that many cannot afford the risk or choose not to take it, so they are looking to cushion any potential blow.

When budgets are tight it is easy to consider Business Development as overhead that should be eliminated; but just like the “trickle down” will eventually bite you, so will reduction of your Business Development resources. Though it may help with short term revenue projections, long-term growth and stability cannot be sacrificed for instant gratification. A thorough understanding of the market, especially when agencies are working tirelessly to rebalance their smaller budgets, is critical in order to get ahead of opportunities and align your internal resources.

Understanding how agencies and their budgets will be affected by the cost cutting and how they plan to absorb these cuts will not only put you ahead of the curve in terms of preparing for upcoming opportunities, but it will also inform you about what has been moved to the backburner. Resources saved are resources earned. For example, as it stands currently, the Navy’s operations and maintenance accounts will be reduced by more than $4B, its IT expenditures will be cut by 25% and at least a half dozen “new start” multi-year procurement projects will be deferred. Anticipating and knowing about these delays will prevent you from wasting business development valuable resources where they are not needed.

GovWin Consulting specializes in understanding each agency’s priorities and can work with your company to help uncover where that department or agency plans to shift its focus and funding. With less budget to go around it is critical to develop an action plan in order to best position your company’s products or solutions. Communicating the values and messages that resonate with your intended audience and understanding their current financial hardships, can be the difference in winning new business. Our team delivers in-depth strategic targeting department and agency solutions tailored to your company’s business priorities and sales goals. For more information concerning GovWin Consulting’s capabilities please visit our website.

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GovWin Recon - May 13, 2013

Posted on: May 13, 2013 | Posted By: Angie Petty
Related Categories: Recon

Headlines beginning with an * include quotes from Deltek analysts.

Sequestration / Budget:

DoD's military construction budget appears safe from sequestration cuts

Agency News:

Vendor News:

Cybersecurity:

Health IT:

Mobility:

FEMA Ramps Up Telework, Mobility

Waste, Fraud and Abuse:

Defense / C4ISR / Embedded Technology:

State and Local:

AEC News:

GovWin Recon is Deltek's daily newsletter highlighting federal government contracting news and analysis from around the government contracting world. Get it delivered to your e-mail inbox, free!

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A closer look at Mississippi’s IT hardware term contracts

Posted on: May 10, 2013 | Posted By: Lindsay Clifton
Related Categories: Transparency, IT Services, Contract Opportunities, Procurement, Technology Trends, State & Local

With more than 70 statewide term contracts from Mississippi’s IT Hardware Express Products List (EPL), it’s evident that the IT hardware category is a hot one in today’s market. The state took one solicitation and created 70-plus contracts offering a wide range of products including desktop/mobile-based computers, GIS-level workstations, monitors, printers/scanners, servers, storage, and video-conferencing equipment.

Mississippi has 77 approved manufacturers and 99 resellers on the IT Hardware EPL. While there is no confirmed spend value for statewide term contracts since they are based on purchases over the course of a contract, vendors may see large returns; statewide term contracts offer a large range of products and are available for use by all Mississippi agencies, universities, colleges and governing authorities.

The state has a purchase limit for users of $200,000 per project, per fiscal year for the IT Hardware EPL, which notes the anticipated high value. Mississippi also requires customers to obtain quotes from at least two EPL sellers if their purchase will be more than $50,000, which increases vendor competition. Another benefit to the EPL is that new sellers can submit proposals to get in on the action every six months.

Mississippi’s EPL Interactive website provides in-depth contract, vendor and pricing information, specifically for the IT Hardware EPL contract, but is not as robust with spending information. The site allows users to search by category, manufacturer, and seller name. You can also search by manufacturer reseller group, where a manufacturer sets a not-to-exceed price that resellers must obey; from there, some resellers will offer discounts on that manufacturer’s price. They keep this updated as the manufacturer changes any products on their website to make sure it meets state requirements.

Displayed in Table 1 are the different IT hardware categories offered under the EPL. The audio-visual components class is offered by 20 manufacturers and 66 resellers, the most of all categories. Interactive devices, which include whiteboards, voting devices and displays, is a close second with 18 manufacturers and 64 resellers. Some vendors offer both of those top contracts, like the Visix Term Contract. Deltek’s State & Local Term Contract resource has a searchable, saveable, living record for each of the more than 70 Mississippi IT hardware contracts, and 1,200 IT hardware term contracts throughout the United States.

Key take-aways

The IT Hardware EPL contract is set to expire in June 2014, and the state has indicated a replacement RFP will be released in April 2014. If IT hardware vendors don’t want to wait for the new solicitation, they can get on this contract in the next update cycle – the due date for proposals is June 4, 2013.

Forty-six states are using term contracts as an approach to purchase IT hardware. To explore more term contracts and gain insight into competitor contracts and pricing, check out Deltek’s State and Local Term Contracts resource. Not a Deltek subscriber? Click here to learn more about Deltek’s GovWin IQ database and take advantage of a free trial.

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GovWin Recon - May 10, 2013

Posted on: May 10, 2013 | Posted By: Angie Petty
Related Categories: Recon

Headlines beginning with an * include quotes from Deltek analysts.

Sequestration / Budget:

DOD furlough delay prompts anger

Federal IT:

Supply chain risks go far beyond fake parts

Agency News:

State and Local:

GovWin Recon is Deltek's daily newsletter highlighting federal government contracting news and analysis from around the government contracting world. Get it delivered to your e-mail inbox, free!

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Deltek Pulse: April in review – Transportation

Posted on: May 9, 2013 | Posted By: Nooshin Rezazad
Related Categories: Transportation

The most common transportation projects during April are listed in the chart below as well as illustrated in the word cloud (according to the Deltek GovWin IQ database).

Type of Project	# of Solicitations
Road/Street	25
Traffic	21
Parking	20
Construction	19
Asphalt	16
Paving	11
Bridge	10
Airport	9
Electrical	8
Bus Technology	6

The following states had the most transportation-related solicitation releases during April:

State	# of Solicitations
New York	287
California	247
Texas	204
Maryland	66
Florida	57
Louisiana	55

Notable projects and releases

In March, the state of New York released a solicitation for fleet management consulting services, with proposals due April 13. The contract scope includes developing and implementing a comprehensive fleet management program, modernizing the management of the state's fleet, and developing any contractual documents for new systems. A solicitation for a new fleet management system is at least 8-10 months away given the consultant’s scope of work.
The Washington State Patrol (WSP) issued a request for proposals (RFP) for an intelligent management system coordinator. The state is looking to hire a consultant to provide planning and design support of information and intelligent systems for the Washington State Fusion Center (WSFC).
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WDOT) released a request for information (RFI) to obtain information from vendors on driver's license identification card issuance and production. The solution is expected to be integrated with the WisDMV Web services, mainframe, and customer flow system (released last month), and must include the ability to utilize facial recognition software.

Notable awards

Gainesville - Alachua County Regional Airport Authority in Florida made an award to URS Corporation for its design phase services project. The final award amount is estimated to be no more than $266,308.
The Atlanta Regional Commission’s Regional Multimodal Public Transit Automated Fare Collection Study was awarded to LTK Engineering Services for $480,007
The Washington Sound Transit Board Regional Transportation made an award to Wabtec Corporation to design, install, test, and commission a positive train control system. The contract value is not to exceed $37,471,323.

Analyst’s Take

Unlike previous months, no large project solicitations were released in April. Despite the low level of activity, vendors should be prepared for a booming next couple of months, which historically are known to have many solicitations released. Additionally, solicitations that closed earlier this year will start to be awarded in the near future, and Deltek will be closely monitoring and reporting on signed contracts.

GovWin IQ subscribers can read further about these projects in the provided links. Non-subscribers can gain access with a GovWin IQ free trial.

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Deltek pulse: General government services April review

Posted on: May 9, 2013 | Posted By: Randi Powell
Related Categories: Contract Opportunities, Procurement, State & Local

April saw the highest number of solicitation releases so far this year, with a total of 1,705 identified IT-related general government (GenGov) solicitations captured in Deltek’s Govwin IQ database. Last month showed a 10.7 percent increase in the total number of solicitations released by state and local governments from March.

From April’s solicitations, we’ve highlighted the top 11 most common IT procurement categories in the state and local market:

Software/Applications – 258 solicitations
IT Hardware/Computers/Peripherals – 227 solicitations
Maintenance & Support Services – 152 solicitations
Implementation/Integration Services – 125 solicitations
Cloud/Data Center/Big Data Solution/Services – 99 solicitations
Wireless & Telecom Equipment/Solution/Services – 63 solicitations
IT Professional /Staffing/Consulting/Project Management Services – 44 solicitations
Content/Document/Records Management Systems – 35 solicitations
Education Data/Learning Management/Student Info Systems – 24 solicitations
ERP/Human Resources/Financial Systems – 18 solicitations
Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence/Analytics – 17 solicitations

Here is a look at current tracked GenGov IT opportunities:

The state of Montana released a request for proposals (RFP) for a remediation information management system. The vision for RIMS is to improve the availability and quality of the information necessary to effectively deliver timely and accurate services to support DEQ’s remediation and associated programs, and to provide data integrity and system availability. The state is seeking a vendor to design, develop, support, and maintain the state’s new system (RIMS). Proposals are due by 2:00 MST June 11, 2013.

The California Department of Education released an RFP for its standardized account code structure system replacement project on April 9, 2013. The selected solution will integrate the functions of the four components into a single, Web-based system and will add functionality that streamlines the LEA reporting process for both LEAs and CDE FAIS staff. Questions and requests for meetings are due by June 5; draft proposals are due August 1; final questions are due Sept. 27, and final proposals are due November 8. An award is planned for January 2014, and the contract will run for a base term of three years.

The Kentucky Department of Revenue released an RFP for an electronic tobacco tax filing system on April 29, 2013. The selected solution will facilitate the licensing of cigarette and tobacco-product dealers; return filing (including supplemental data); cigarette tax stamp ordering and tracking; cross-checking between taxpayer filings and manufacturers; collection of master settlement agreement data from wholesaler filings; auditing functions and reporting. RFP responses are due by 3:00 PM EST May 17, 2013.

The state of New Jersey released an RFP seeking a budget preparation and monitoring system on April 30, 2013. The purpose of this RFP is to solicit proposals for the Enhanced Decision and Information System of New Jersey (EDISON) project. The new system will replace existing decision support and publishing systems used to create and monitor the statewide budget, with a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) product. Questions are due May 15. An optional pre-proposal conference will also be held May 15. Proposals are due July 31, 2013.

The Wyoming Department of Education has released an RFP for an educator credentialing, assignment validation, and reporting system. RFP proposals are due by May 21, 2013. The state estimates an award date of June 24, and a contract start date of July 1, 2013.

April’s Market Analysis

Analyst Derek Johnson published an article on transparency success stories of Tacoma Public Schools (TPS), where he interviewed contract manager Steve Demel. The article focuses on the school district’s transparency efforts to make all contracts available online. More school districts and state and local governments are engaging in these types of transparency initiatives. This openness assists vendors in identifying future business opportunities by seeing what and how government entities have purchased goods and services in the past.

GovWin IQ subscribers can read further about these projects in the provided links. Non-subscribers can gain access with a GovWin IQ free trial.

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