The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) on Wednesday awarded $29 million to the MITRE Corporation to operate NIST’s first Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC). The FFRDC will support the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE).

The Center was established in 2012 as a partnership of federal, state, and local government working to help businesses find practical solutions for pressing cybersecurity needs based on commercially available products. It engages public and private partners through collaboration efforts and has been working with various members of various industries to identify common concerns and develop model cybersecurity guides. The Center also works with groups of vendors to address technical cybersecurity challenges common across industry sectors.

iStock Cyber Lock Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker noted that “The NIST award announced today will enable the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence to expand and accelerate its public-private collaborations through the Department’s first Federally Funded Research and Development Center focused on boosting the security of U.S. information systems.” FFRDCs act in the public interest based on Federal Acquisition Regulation rules. They are required to be detached from conflicts of interest, including biases towards particular companies, technologies, and products and organizational conflicts of interest.

The MITRE Corporation, a not-for-profit that already operates 6 FFRDC’s, was awarded a single Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDID) contract with a base performance of five years that includes three initial tasks totaling about $29 million. While federal staff will provide overall management of the NCCoE, MITRE will operate the FFRDC to support three major task areas: research, development, engineering, and technical support; operations management; and facilities management.