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Federal Contracting

Done With DUNS?

GSA issues RFI for alternative to Dun & Bradstreet’s legal identifiers

GSA has issued a RFI and a draft performance work statement in pursuit of an alternative to the current legal identifiers supplied by Dun & Bradstreet. GSA is “exploring all viable means of continuing to meet its ongoing need for entity identification and validation services after the contract’s expiration.” The new RFI builds upon an earlier request from February, and primarily seeks feedback on the statement of work.

The draft states that GSA aims to fill both technical and business needs. They highlight the need to “Determine entity uniqueness, which could include the assignment and/or use of a unique entity identifier in perpetuity, validation of certain entity data, and associated services,” as well as a method of understanding the hierarchy of entities,  and “a method to determine relevant information about an entity that is being excluded from doing business with the government.”

Technical objectives include real-time data for validation services, machine-readable formatting that doesn’t require custom software, and transfer and resting data encryption. The RFI has been widely welcomed by Dun & Bradstreet, as well as other industry partners. The contract expires in 2018, so be ready for changes.

Rolling Down the FedRAMP

GSA recently announced the launch of the FedRAMP Tailored Baseline for Cloud Service Providers with Low Impact Software-as-a-Service systems. FedRAMP Tailored aims to support solutions that have low risk and low costs for agencies. This means a streamlined process for a variety of applications. Tailored also standardizes an approach to determine risks associated with cloud applications and provides the government with the freedom to use the cloud while maintaining security.

FedRAMP tailored was open for comment in January and July of 2017. The program provides base security control requirements for industry to meet. Agency authorizing officials are responsible for adding controls where necessary for compliance. GSA believes “The FedRAMP program, including our goals for Tailored, is a key part of issuing an informed, risk-based authority to operate.”

For more information, see the FedRAMP Tailored website. 

Keep it Under Lock and Data Key

GSA officials announced plans to rebrand Special Item Number 520-20 on September 20th. The SIN will act as the official Data Breach Response and Identity Protection Services offering on the Professional Services Schedule. GSA hopes that this move will offer industries and agencies more flexibility and responsiveness.

Ordering offices will “now have the ability to obtain specifically what is needed for their immediate situation,” explained Stephanie Kenitzer, professional services category community manager.

The new SIN offers “identity monitoring and notification of Personally Identifiable Information and Protected Health Information, identity theft insurance and identity restoration services, and protect (safeguard) the confidentiality of PII and PHI.”

The changes will occur with the next solicitation refresh, projected for mid-October.

When a competitive number of vendors are on schedule, GSA plans to swap identity protection services from the current blanket agreements to the SIN.

For more information see the official statement.

And the medal goes to….

 Recipients and Winners of the EIS contract

The ten prime contractors, announced on 1 August 2017, have publicly received new information on who is eligible for which task orders in various cities and categories. That data will inform transition plans for agencies, and describe the competition field for vendors.

Contractors on EIS telecom contract

GSA required all participants to bid on the top 25 EIS Core Based Statistical Areas in order to qualify for the contract. The GSA maps for the contract show Washington DC as the number one CBSA.

The data provided for the contract is more complex than similar service matrices for past contracts (like Networx) because EIS offers more options and more competition. GSA doubled the number of providers who cover the contract from the contractors on Networx, and each of 932 areas has multiple options for providers.

For more information, view the data on Interact.

Same Old Song (Ugh)

Ready for another government shut-down? Of course you’re not. None of us are. But the real possibility of a work stoppage when Congress returns from summer recess has us singing the blues all over again.

As reported in the Washington Post yesterday, the Professional Services Council (PSC), which represents more than 400 government tech and service companies, has sent out a warning to begin preparing for the expiring spending plan on 30 September. Additionally, without raising the debt ceiling, short term spending will cease. Uncertainty about spending plans and expectations from the current administration is causing the most unease.

Again, from the Post: the PSC chief executive says,” I have never seen this many moving parts this unconnected to each other this late in the game. It’s not intellectually difficult … but where do the votes come from, and is the president going to sign it?”

Stay tuned.