The Defense Information Systems Agency is getting ready to release two requests for proposalsRFPs for big data capabilities to help the Department of Defense maintain a better understanding of its networks' security postures.
The two contracts will separate the automation of data analytics and additional tools for system operators to enhance their decision-making capabilities around cybersecurity, Jack Wilmer, DISA infrastructure development executive, said during the agency's Forecast to Industryindustry day on Nov. 2.
"How do I take all the data from the perimeter defenses all the way down to the host defenses and then actually make some actionable decisions and get some actionable information out of that?" Wilmer said. "There is a tremendous amount of volume of data that comes in from all those various sensors: — hHow do we figure out what are the right data that need to percolate up to the top?."
MORE: See our complete DISA Forecast to Industry Show Reporter.
The first contract — a single award off the General Services Administration's IT Schedule 70 expected in the second quarter of fiscal 2016 — will be for the actual platform that will collect and manage security data.
DISA current operates a government-built system based on open-source code, however the agency is open to other ideas.
"We want the best solution to the problem we're trying to solve," Wilmer said. "We want to be able to keep up with the pace of data ingest and have a standard space interface that our analytics can then access that information on."
Wilmer said DISA is particularly not interested in a single stack solution that couples data management and analytics.
"What we're looking for is that platform that we can then run any number of analytics on," he said.
A second contract — also expected to be awarded in Q2 off IT Schedule 70 — will be for the actual tools to break down the data, visualize it if needed and make actionable decisions based on the information.
"This second contract is for those of you who have an interest in providing analytics on top of that big data platform," Wilmer said.
That contract is being competed as a small business set-aside.
Along with giving the DoD better tools to manage and assess data, the information gleaned from the program will be used to create what Wilmer called the DoD cybersecurity score card.
"What we're trying to do is take all this wealth of information that we collect about our endpoints and try to aggregate it together to give senior leadership a better understanding of how well protected our enterprise actually is," he explained.
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.
