Page 11 - GCN, May 2017

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Boosting state and local access to security tools
BY TROY K. SCHNEIDER
The Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program, which the De- partment of Homeland Security and the General Services Administration co-manage, was intended for state and local governments as well as federal agencies. Purchases by non- federal customers have been limited, however, and GSA officials want to change that.
Jim Piché, homeland sector direc- tor of GSA’s Federal Systems Integra- tion and Management Center, said the 169,000 CDM-approved tools for network monitoring and security are available through GSA’s Schedule 70, “which state, local, regional, tribal governments have access to,” but “it’s been pretty difficult for them
to procure because the catalog is extremely extensive and because they’ve not had the right technology support from GSA.”
The agency has made some correc- tions, Piché added. “GSA Advantage \[the agency’s online purchasing por- tal\] now has the ability for state and local \[agencies\] to order directly off of it, so they can use an automated tool rather than go through an email solicitation.”
And all CDM products and ser- vices are being grouped under a new Special Item Number to make them easier to find among Schedule 70’s vast offerings.
With the Schedule 70 SIN, non- federal customers should enjoy con- sistent access to the CDM offerings.
Piché said the challenge now “is getting states and locals to use the CDM tool catalog.” •
Hawaii puts cannabis tracking in the cloud
BY SUSAN MILLER
The Hawaii State Department of Health has deployed a live seed-to-sale cannabis-tracking system in a cloud environment authorized under the Federal Risk and Authorization Man- agement Program.
Hawaii is using BioTrackTHC’s State Traceability System in Amazon Web Services’ GovCloud for its medical marijuana program.
Although FedRAMP is a federal program, the authorization gives Ha- waii’s cannabis regulators the highest level of data security available and is expected to increase the state system’s
speed, company officials said. BioTrackTHC’s system lets state and
local government agencies track the production, transportation, destruction and sales of legal cannabis.
“We’re pleased to know that our state’s seed-to-sale Traceability System is now housed in the most secure cloud server available,” said Keith Rid- ley, chief of Hawaii’s Office of Health Care Assurance. “This ensures safety and comfort for our licensees, business operators and our patients, who can all be confident in knowing their business data and protected patient informa- tion is being stored in the most secure Traceability System in the world.” •
editor’s note
GCN dig IT Awards:
A call for nominations
Nominations are now open for
this year’s dig IT Awards — GCN’s showcase of discovery and innovation in
government IT. The
awards celebrate
leading-edge
technologies and
the pioneering IT
professionals who are driving them forward in five distinct areas of government IT:
• Cybersecurity
• Cloud and Infrastructure
• Big Data, Analytics and Visualization
• Mobile
• Robotics and Unmanned Systems
The innovation can lie in a new technology itself or in the ways established technology is being used to make government
function better. Nominations can be submitted in multiple categories, as appropriate, because convergence
is often critical to the mission. There’s also an “other” option
for the disruptive technologies that are emerging so
quickly they don’t fit into any of the categories above.
Nominations will be accepted through July 30, and winners will
be honored this fall in the pages of GCN and in person at the GCN dig IT Awards Gala.
So please help us identify the best in innovative government IT. To learn more, go to GCN.com/digIT.
— Troy K. Schneider tschneider@gcn.com @troyschneider
GCN MAY 2017 • GCN.COM 7