Federal Contracts to Require Secure Timing and Navigation Under Executive Order

An executive order aimed at securing Position Navigation and Timing services such as GPS continues the administration’s trend of relying on procurement as the main lever for cybersecurity policy. It would put the Department of Homeland Security in charge of including requirements for federal contracts for products, systems, and services that integrate or utilize PNT services, with the goal of encouraging the private sector to use additional PNT services and develop new robust and secure PNT services.

But a key stakeholder says the edict is insufficient and likely to cause confusion over the role of various departments. Coordination and education of industry have “often been a challenge for government agencies, especially when the goal is to get industry to spend their own time and money without a mandating regulation or law,” said Dana Goward, president of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation.