NRC Seeks CDM Contract Extension, Cites Lack of “Vision” by DHS

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is justifying an extension for an integration contract related to a key federal cybersecurity program, by claiming the Department of Homeland Security failed to articulate “a complete architectural vision” at the outset of the program.

The NRC wants to add a year and $389,273 to a contract with Enterprise Services to continue implementing the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program that scans federal networks for unauthorized users and threats.

According to the justification posted by the NRC, the contract missed several deadlines “due to limitations of the lab environment provided by the contractor.” That led to inadequate testing of CDM system configurations and required additional troubleshooting.

However, NRC is not looking to switch contractors, stating that Enterprise Services has already implemented a unique dataflow that would be incompatible with another vendor. Instead, NRC blames DHS, which manages the program and structured the initial contracting vehicle for implementation.