GSA rethinks FIDNet solution

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2000/0717/web-fidnet-07-19-00.asp

BY Diane Frank
07/19/2000

The General Services Administration this week decided to delay its
acquisition of a governmentwide system to detect cyberattacks so that
the agency can better align the request for proposals with commercial
market solutions.

GSA released a draft RFP for the Federal Intrusion Detection Network
(FIDNet) last month and tried to leave the solicitation open enough
for vendors to offer a system specially developed for the government
or a solution based on commercial managed security services. FIDNet is
intended to provide a central place for correlating information from
civilian agencies intrusion-detection sensors.

The comments received from agencies and industry, however, have pushed
GSA to rewrite the draft so that it focuses on managed security
service offerings in which the vendor would staff the system and
monitor its output.

"We tried to encapsulate both [solutions] in that draft...and the
comments we got back basically reflected "Youre straddling the fence
here concerns," said Darwyn Banks, program manager for FIDNet.
"Managed security services seemed to be the better solution for the
government at this point for ease of use and what makes sense."

The new version of the draft RFP should be available for comment by
September, Banks said.

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