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Data-at-rest encryption products protect sensitive unclassified data on mobile computing devices and removable storage media. The “Data At Rest Tiger Team” (DARTT)—a multi-agency task force partnering with the DOD’s Enterprise Software Initiative and GSA SmartBUY—analyzed sales reports from July through December 2007 to evaluate data-at-rest encryption products purchased by state, local and federal government agencies from qualified vendors using DOD/GSA-sponsored blanket purchase agreements.

The task force’s analysis showed that, cumulatively, the blanket purchase agreements enabled these government organizations to purchase $73 million in data-at-rest products for only $15 million.

“Protecting data-at-rest has become increasingly critical in today’s information technology environment of highly mobile data and decreasing device size,” said John Johnson, assistant commissioner for integrated technology services in the Federal Acquisition Service of the GSA. “Personal identity information or sensitive government information stored on devices such as laptops, thumb drives and PDAs is often unaccounted for and unprotected, and that can pose a problem if these devices are compromised.

 “The DARTT process is a powerful tool to attain interagency consensus in achieving OMB-directed security goals,” Johnson added. “GSA SmartBUY is moving forward to establish competitively awarded [blanket purchase agreements] for compliance with the federal desktop core configuration and security content automation protocol that will bring significant value to the government at large.”

Leveraging the purchasing power of the federal government

As part of an initiative that began in June 2007, the DARTT task force employed a collaborative acquisition process using Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 8, “Required Sources of Supplies and Services,” to competitively award multiple blanket purchase agreements for use by federal, state, local and tribal governments and NATO. The team was able to achieve a consensus on stringent technical requirements and received support from the U.S. Air Force’s 754th Electronic Systems Group at Gunter Air Force Base, Ala., the acquisition arm of the DOD Enterprise Software Initiative.

According to the agencies involved, the DARTT task force enables the acquisition of information-assurance and computer-network-defense technologies at deep discounts by leveraging the purchasing power of the federal government.

 “The American public and government employees expect us to do all we can to protect personally identifiable information (PII) data on laptops and removable media,” said Robert Lentz, deputy assistant secretary of defense for information and identity assurance. “The success of the DARTT represents an important step toward achieving this critical requirement and ensuring that PII is protected at all levels of the government. This acquisition is also a key part of our information-assurance transformation strategy to strive for enterprise solutions across government.”

Government agencies that have taken advantage of governmentwide blanket purchase agreements to purchase data-at-rest products include the:

• Internal Revenue Service.
  
• Department of Commerce.
  
• Defense Logistics Agency.
  
• Department of Energy.
  
• Department of Agriculture.
  
• Transportation Security Administration.
  
• U.S. Army.
  

Also taking advantage of the blanket purchase agreements are a number of government contractors and a multistate consortium led by the state of New York. Through the GSA Cooperative Purchasing Program, numerous state and local government agencies from Ohio, Washington, Georgia, South Carolina, Michigan, Florida and Connecticut have purchased products from the blanket purchase agreements—a first in government, according to the GSA.