Page 9 - GCN, June/July 2018

DHS seeks smoother transition to next phase of CDM
BY DEREK B. JOHNSON
One of the early complaints about the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program was that agencies didn’t
have enough say in how the work
was executed, leading to mismatches between cybersecurity solutions and legacy computing environments.
Program leaders at the Department of Homeland Security attributed
many of CDM’s early stumbles to the structure of the task-order awards that matched agencies with integrators. Those contracts are set to expire later this year and will be replaced by a new vehicle, the Dynamic and Evolving Federal Enterprise Network Defense (DEFEND).
At a recent event that focused on the CDM program, DHS officials said the new structure will give IT leaders more flexibility to implement the program on their terms.
Carlene Ileto, executive director
for products and services delivery
at DHS, said that based on feedback from agency IT leaders, a lack of trust among DHS, agencies and contractors led to miscommunication and a failure to recognize how complex implementation would be during Phases 1 and 2, when agencies had limited influence.
“Many of our components have diverse computer environments that are very complex,” said
Ileto, who is responsible for coordinating CDM implementation across DHS’ component agencies. They’re “concerned about anyone impacting their mission, which is understandable.”
Under the initial task order, “a solution was provided without any true understanding of the computer
environment and its complexity within DHS,” she added. “As a result, many of our [agencies] have shared concerns not only about the solution but the approval granted of a solution that does not work in their environments.”
Gary Stevens, who served as the primary point of contact for CDM at the Department of Veterans Affairs, said it took time to get the right people in place. “Back in 2013, we probably did not have the right individuals engaged in CDM,” he added. “It was a very small microcosm of personnel within the [Office of Information Security] who were working on these tasks. The lesson learned is that we were making some judgments that were not appropriate for the department that we have since rectified through more holistic and more integrated programs that we’ve put in place.”
Kevin Cox, CDM program manager at DHS, said the department has restructured the way it conducts outreach to stakeholders.
“We’re really working to follow the principle that if you want to get your message out, you need to communicate it seven times [and] seven different ways,” Cox said.
Agencies’ early reviews have
been positive. “One of the things I appreciate about the way DEFEND contracts are written is [that]
as opposed to that top-down,
heavy approach we saw with the integrators primarily under Phase 1, the requirements are more clearly defined by the agencies and in large part by subagencies,” one official said, speaking on background. “This is about communication, and when it comes to CDM, 90 percent of [the issue] is about communication.” •
editor’s note
Celebrating government innovation
GCN is now accepting nominations for the 2018 Government Innovation Awards — our celebration of transformative technology that
is reinventing government at the federal, state or local level.
These public-sector innovations can center on a new technology or on the inventive ways established technology is being used to make government function better. Any technology-driven innovation in government is eligible, but we’re particularly interested in six distinct areas of IT:
• AI/Analytics/Automation • Cybersecurity
• Cloud/Infrastructure
• Digital Transformation
• IoT and Smart Cities
• Unmanned Systems Nominations may be submitted in
multiple categories, as appropriate, because convergence is often critical to the mission. And submissions stamped “other” are encouraged. We recognize that some disruptive technologies are emerging so quickly they don’t fit into existing categories!
We’re also honoring Industry Innovators and individual Rising Stars; you can find more details about the full awards program at GovernmentInnovationAwards.com.
There are great things happening in government IT. Please help us find this year’s best examples.
— Troy K. Schneider tschneider@gcn.com @troyschneider
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