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- May 23, 2023 -

UPCOMING EVENTS

5/25/23

Sales Opportunities with Local Government Agencies – City of Madison

In-Person

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6/6/23

Acquisition Hour: Government Furnished Property

Virtual

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7/19/23

Navy Week Milwaukee – Doing Business with the Department of the Navy Workshop (in person)

In-Person

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7/25/23

17th Annual Wisconsin Government Opportunities Business Conference (GOBC) – Volk Field

In-Person

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NEWS & UPDATES

Federal Agency Cybersecurity

If you think that only DoD is interested in Cybersecurity, take a step back and look again. The following are four separate cyber-related articles about different federal cyber efforts and needs. Today, cyber is a common denominator for businesses doing business with or seeking to do business with the federal government. While “cyber” is a common idea and need of all federal agencies, their programs and specific requirements vary. Consequently, a business’ cyber practices and efforts for a current customer may not be sufficient for another customer.

Companies need to identify both common requirements as well as customer specific requirements and track their internal processes to ensure that these processes and procedures are aligned with customer requirements. This step can be critical for both contract compliance and federal government business development.

Lastly, companies cannot rely upon establish plans, procedures and policies and then move on to the next issue. Unfortunately, cyber – cyber issues are dynamic, and a company’s efforts cannot be allowed to remain static. Awareness of new threats and mitigation requirements is a key element as is staying abreast of both changing customer requirements and changing federal requirements.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is implementing a "trust but verify" approach to all of its IT acquisitions to ensure its cybersecurity components are fully compliant with President Biden’s cybersecurity executive order (EO), said VA Chief Acquisition Officer Michael Parrish at MeriTalk’s Cyber Central event on May 17.
A top policy official at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that her office has played a significant role in helping to craft the White House’s National Cybersecurity Strategy, and will continue to do so when it comes to implementing the strategy.
A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds that the Department of Transportation (DoT) can be doing more to effectively implement cybersecurity policies across the agency and its components.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is hyper-focused on cybersecurity and is conducting simulated cyberattacks to better understand the “bad actors” who are trying to do “the unthinkable,” the agency’s chief information security officer (CISO) said on May 16.

Also, from the Federal CIO, “Agencies will be required to modernize their websites and digital products, digitize forms and services, accelerate the use of e-signatures, [and] standardize and transition to central shared services and standards.”

For assistance in supporting your cybersecurity requirements contact Marc Violante at MarcV@wispro.org or Matt Frost at MattF@wispro.org or call 414-270-3600

The Joint Certification Program (JCP) Office has announced that their updated web portal is now live with some changes to the application process to make it easier and more streamlined and with updated instructions on how to apply for new or renewal certifications. The portal will also make the process to revise a current certification much more straightforward.

To access the new instructions, please visit the web link JCP Home (dla.mil). There, you will find the JCP web portal link where you will be able to access detailed information on the application process, the documents that you need to upload, as well as the timeline for the processing of your application.

The new JCP web portal (once you are registered and logged in), will allow the Primary Data Custodian and Alternate Data Custodian (if one has been designated) to keep informed of the current processing status via a convenient Dashboard where they will have the ability to keep track of and/or make changes to:

Draft Applications
Which lists any applications that are currently being worked on.
Provides ability to delete or edit an existing draft application.

In-Progress Applications
Which lists any submitted applications that are currently in the review phase.
Provides the ability to view them and see any comments from the analysts regarding any additional documents needed and/or corrections to information.
Provides the ability to upload any required documentation and/or make corrections to previous information submitted.

Also, it will allow the entity to have access to its new history of:

Completed Applications

The entity’s portal registration will allow the status of an application to be viewable via entity’s Dashboard accessible through the new portal: https://www.public.dacs.dla.mil/jcp/ext. The Joint Certification Program Operations Support Solution External Portal Users Guide v1.2 is available on this site after login.

All JCP Portal users, who have a username and password, will need to enable Two Factor Authentication (TFA) on their JCP Portal accounts. Two Factor Authentication (TFA) is a tool to help prevent unauthorized users from accessing your JCP Portal account. The following is the link with steps to download the Google Authenticator.

https://www.dla.mil/Portals/104/Documents/J3LogisticOperations/FIC/JCP/JCP%20Two-Factor%20Authentication%20Guide230501.pdf?ver=J2o_5nIiyJt9s1rZttKpWA%3d%3d

If your business needs assistance in support of their work with DLA DIBBS or their JCP certification, contact Marc Violante at MarcV@wispro.org or 920-456-9990

DoD Issues Progress Payment Update

[May 8, 2023] Today, the Principal Director, Defense Pricing and Contracting issued Class Deviation, 2020-O0010, Revision 2, Progress Payment Rates.

The issuance reflects the Department’s decision regarding a temporary increase to customary progress payment rates issued on March 20, 2020, shortly after the Presidential declaration of a National Emergency due to COVID-19. The March 2020 document increased the progress payment rate for large business concerns from 80% to 90% and the small business progress payment rate from 90% to 95%.

State regulators approve mining company's plans to drill within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest

Company must still obtain a wastewater permit and submit a $50K bond

A mining company has received conditional approval to begin exploratory drilling for copper and gold in northern Wisconsin, but state regulators say it must still meet additional requirements before work gets underway.

Canadian company GreenLight Metals, doing business as Green Light Wisconsin, wants to conduct exploratory drilling of the Bend Deposit at a 40-acre site owned by the U.S. Forest Service around 19 miles northwest of Medford in Taylor County. The deposit is believed to contain 4 million tons of mostly copper and gold.

JUST RELEASED [May 2023] NIST Special Publication NIST SP 800-171r3 ipd - Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Systems and Organizations Initial Public Draft.

This update to NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-171 represents over one year of data collection, technical analysis, customer interaction, redesign, and development of the security requirements and supporting information for the protection of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). Many trade-offs have been made to ensure that the technical and nontechnical requirements have been stated clearly and concisely, while at the same time recognizing the specific needs of both federal and nonfederal organizations.

This publication is available free of charge from: https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-171r3.ipd

If you are looking for assistance in meeting your cybersecurity requirements in your Federal / DOD contracts please contact Marc Violante at MarcV@wispro.org or Matt Frost at MattF@wispro.org or call 414-270-3600.

Bipartisan Group Looks to Fix ‘Hopelessly Obsolete’ Classification System

Legislation is aimed at reducing over-classification and improving the handling of secrets.

A bipartisan group of senators unveiled legislation on Wednesday to reform the information classification system in order to reduce over-classification and prevent the mishandling of classified documents.

“I’ve known for years that our system for classifying, safeguarding and declassifying national security information is hopelessly obsolete,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said during a press conference. “We’ve got a byzantine, bizarre, bureaucratic system that has not kept up with the times, has not moved at all to digitalization, so consequently we continue to vastly over-classify huge amounts of information, while at the same time not fully protecting our nation’s most important secrets.”

Biden-Harris Administration provides new tools to help federal agencies find diverse suppliers, advance equity in procurement

WASHINGTON — The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently launched two resources for federal agencies to advance equity in procurement: the Government-wide Procurement Equity Tool (government account required) and the Supplier Base Dashboard. These tools, which launched earlier this spring, help agencies find businesses that are new to the federal marketplace, identify qualified vendors, and track their progress toward equity in procurement goals.

“These two tools are going to help agencies make more connections with the diverse array of businesses offering their products in the federal marketplace. We’re creating a better user experience while helping ensure the government can procure the highest quality goods and services with the best value,” said GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan. “By providing our federal partners with more information when they make procurement decisions, we’re better able to set ourselves up to achieve our contracting goals and create more equity in the marketplace for everyone.”

FEATURED EVENTS

Cyber Fridays are back!

Beginning September 8, 2023

Presented by Matt Frost from WPI, Cyber Friday is a series of one-hour webinars focusing on critical topics for DOD contractors and subcontractors in cyber security, data security, and CMMC.

Registration and more information will be posted soon at wispro.org/events