The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has awarded 17 companies a cyber security contract as part of its Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program.
The $6 billion blanket purchasing agreement covers a base performance period of one year with four additional one-year options. The contract will provide services throughout the federal government’s “.gov” networks. The individual firms will contribute hardware and software as well as planning, development and training.
CDM’s goal is to “combat threats to the nation’s networks on a real time basis,” according to the program’s page on the General Services Administration (GSA) website. CDM will allow the government to have a fluid picture of anomalies on its networks versus one-time snapshots.
The 17 companies participating in the program are: Booz Allen Hamilton [BAH], CGI [GIB], Computer Sciences Corporation [CSC], Digital Management, Inc. [DMI], Dynamics Research Corporation [DRCO], General Dynamics Information Technology [GD], Hewlett-Packard Company [HP], IBM [IBM], KCG [KCG], Kratos [KTOS], Lockheed Martin [LMT], ManTech [MANT], MicroTech, Northrop Grumman [NOC], SAIC [SAI], SRA [SRA] and Technica.
The blanket purchasing agreement is intended to provide centralized acquisition and improve technological consistency, according to GSA.
The CDM program was established after the Office of Management and Budget identified continuous monitoring and diagnostics as a cross-agency priority in 2012. DHS worked with the GSA to create a procurement plan for the project, resulting in this week’s purchasing agreement.
CDM is managed by the DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate, Office of Cybersecurity and Communications.