GSA Makes It Easier To Buy 'Highly Adaptive' Cyber Services

The federal government's buying hub is trying to help other agencies get cybersecurity services faster.

The General Services Administration has created four new special item numbers for highly adaptive cybersecurity services. The new SINs apply to GSA's Schedule 70, which includes a list of pre-approved vendors selling IT-related services. With the new numbers, agencies might easily search for vendors who can test their IT systems or check for vulnerabilities, according to a GSA announcement.

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Under GSA's new system, evaluations of suppliers under the new SINs should begin this week; current Schedule 70 suppliers who specialize in penetration testing, incident response, cyber hunt, and risk and vulnerability assessment are required to move their services into the new SINs, according to GSA. Agencies should be able to begin buying under the new classifications Oct. 1.

The Office of Management and Budget is working with GSA to add more vendors offering these services, according to a statement from U.S. Chief Information Officer Tony Scott. GSA is also working with the Homeland Security Department on the vetting process for vendors, a GSA announcement said.

The numbers were introduced to support the White House's Cybersecurity National Action Plan, according to GSA; that effort, announced in February and designed to shore up federal cyber practices after a massive intrusion into federal background check records, also outlined the establishment of a federal chief information security officer who was named last week.