The Secret Service is looking for a quick turnaround on a new solicitation for cyber triage tools that can be rapidly deployed on any system to remediate the effects of a malware attack.
Within the next 30 days, the Secret Service plans to issue 30 awards in each of two pools: single-user licenses and malware scanning services. Both pools will include contracts with one-year performance periods.
FedBizOps: Cyber Triage Synopsis and Solicitation
The tools will be used for external investigations, according to an agency spokesman, and not for detecting or remediating malware issues within the Secret Service. The spokesman told Federal Times the contracts are not in response to a specific malware incident.
The Secret Service is charged with investigating cyber incidents targeting U.S. financial institutions, as well as politicians and officials within the executive branch. Most recently, the agency was called upon to investigate a breach of the Democratic National Committee's networks in which hackers stole sensitive information, including opposition research on the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
The single-user licenses will be used to assess and log all files and software on a given system.
The solutions must work with all Microsoft operating systems XP and newer and must not need to be installed on a system to work. According to the contract specifications, the solution must be able to be "pushed to live systems as needed or can run directly from a USB drive."
The automated malware analysis contracts will be used to analyze that data by running analytic programs and orchestrating more than 40 commercial scanning products currently operating on Secret Service networks.
The contract specifications document includes more details on requirements for both contract pools.
The solicitation was posted on FedBizOps June 17 and responses are due by June 24. Contract officials expect to make awards within 30 days, based on a lowest price, technically acceptable consideration.
Contract officials said the solicitation has been in the works for some time but was held up by delays. The expected quick turnaround on awards will help the agency catch up on these needed tools.
Aaron Boyd is an awarding-winning journalist currently serving as editor of Federal Times — a Washington, D.C. institution covering federal workforce and contracting for more than 50 years — and Fifth Domain — a news and information hub focused on cybersecurity and cyberwar from a civilian, military and international perspective.
