GSA awards contract for mobile data security

The General Services Administration has awarded Credant Technologies, a mobile data protection provider, and systems integrator Intelligent Decisions a contract to protect data stored on all the agency’s laptop computers.Under the contract, Intelligent Decisions will install Credant’s centrally managed intelligent encryption software. The software will combine with services from Intelligent Decisions to secure personnel data and other sensitive information on laptops, according to the companies.The term of the deal is indefinite and the company’s software will be installed initially on 12,000 GSA employee laptop computers, said Mary Van Zandt, director of strategic marketing at Credant.She would not reveal the contract’s value.Credant introduced the industry’s first Federal Information Processing Standards-certified, intelligence-based encryption solution for Microsoft Windows that does not encrypt the operating system. It protects against the internal and external threat of a data breach, reduces management complexity, and leaves an audit trail for compliance reporting, the company said.Its software secures laptop computers, desktops, tablet PCs, smart phones, personal digital assistants and external media from a single management interface. It also integrates enterprise directories for centralized security policy management.Agencies are facing strict regulations to protect their data after several high-profile breaches last year.GSA is the third federal agency in the past three months to award a contract jointly to Credant and Intelligent Decisions for mobile computer security software and services, according to Credant. The Office of Personnel Management and the Defense Finance and Accounting Services have contracted with the companies.The Office of Management and Budget’s memorandum M-06-16 includes a security checklist that recommends best practices for the protection of personally identifiable information as determined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.Gino Antonelli, executive vice president of sales and business development at Intelligent Decisions, said the contract would push GSA closer to meeting the OMB directive.