The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded a contract to MITRE Corp. to operate a new cybersecurity research site in the Washington, D.C., area.
The federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) will support the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE), which was set up in 2012 to bring together academic, government and industry experts to help businesses secure their data and digital infrastructure.
“The FFRDC will address an urgent national requirement that scientific and engineering talent be rapidly assembled and put to work to enhance the trustworthiness of our nation’s government and private sector information systems,” NIST said. “The confidentiality, integrity and assured service shortcomings of these information systems pose a serious risk to national security, public safety and economic prosperity. Widespread adoption of components and systems designed to address threats to our information technologies is inhibited by shortcomings in usability, affordability and performance impacts. The FFRDC will enhance the NCCoE’s ability to address these shortcomings.”
The FFRDC is expected to employ 40 information security professionals, according to MITRE, which plans to partner with the University of Maryland’s Baltimore County and College Park campuses to operate the new research center in Rockville, Md.
“The NCCoE will continue to be staffed by a core group of federal NIST employees augmented by an array of experts from the FFRDC operator,” NIST spokeswoman Jennifer Huergo said.
NIST issued a request for proposals for the FFRDC in April and announced the contact award to MITRE in late September. The initial award to MITRE is for $29 million, but the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract could grow to as much as $5 billion over 25 years if all options are exercised.
The contract award came a little over a month before the CyberMaryland 2014 conference is scheduled to convene at the Baltimore Convention Center Oct. 29 and 30. The NCCoE plans to have a booth there, and its deputy director, Nate Lesser, is among the scheduled speakers.
